This Article

[JABIII]

February 4, 2007
Fowl cabal didn't hatch a luckless, duckless plot

Bryan Brasher

One night last week, for sheer lack of anything else on television, I ended up watching a program called "Conspiracy Files: Moon Landing."
For two hours, a collection of yahoos who looked anything but credible just insisted that America didn't land on the moon in 1969. They said the whole thing -- from Neil Armstrong's "One small step for man" to Buzz Aldrin's historic planting of the flag -- was nothing more than a government conspiracy devised to make us think they had traveled out of this world.

As the credits were rolling, the announcer asked viewers to stay tuned for two more episodes of "Conspiracy Files," on the JFK Assassination and the Roswell UFO crash -- and I'm sure millions of viewers did stayed tuned.

In this country, some people love nothing better than a good, old-fashioned conspiracy -- and I wonder if that fascination with premeditated misdeeds doesn't sometimes cause people to see conspiracies where none exist.

Disgruntled duck hunters, I'm talking to you.

Many Mid-South duck hunters just completed one of their worst seasons in recent memory, and now they're hunting hard for someone to blame. Like all good conspiracy theorists, they're pointing fingers (and not always their index fingers) at the U.S. government.

Last summer, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service released glowing waterfowl population estimates that gave all duck hunters reason for high hopes. After an excellent spring on the breeding grounds up north, production was up for virtually every species.

Our seasons came in November, but the ducks didn't -- and now some people are crying fowl.

I've heard some hunters say the numbers published by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service were vicious lies perpetrated to sell more hunting licenses and federal duck stamps. Some think the biologists who work for the Service just wanted to make themselves look good, even if it meant setting up millions of hunters for a big letdown.

But before you start working on a script for "Conspiracy Files: Duck Deception," you should realize that hunters in other parts of North America actually had the season we were hoping for.

Hunters in Canada, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois and even as far south as Missouri had great seasons with plenty of birds to go around. They're already giddy about the excellent conditions in the breeding regions, and they're expecting another bumper crop of ducks this year.

The ducks were out there. They just never made it here.

The only two conspirators at work this duck season were Mother Nature and Father Time -- and they don't answer to duck hunters.

We had a monumental push of mallard ducks move into the Mid-South in November, but they all flew the coop when the first big blast of winter weather hit in early December. As the season progressed, there were excellent numbers of ducks north of us, but there was never enough cold weather to push them south.

Bad weather. Bad timing. That's all it was.

So as you're oiling your gun for its offseason slumber and preparing to store more unused shotgun shells than you had hoped, you can take solace in the fact that the duck numbers were -- and still are -- incredibly good.

Sooner or later, those ducks will make it here -- and until they do, you should limit your conspiracy theories to the grassy knoll, the New Mexico desert and the surface of the moon.

Contact Bryan Brasher at 529-2343

[JABIII]

And this from ILLINOIS where they are still getting new ducks...

Waterfowl report

The duck population in Southern Illinois soared again this week - a week after the season closed. On the other hand, the Canada goose population also increased significantly for the final week of the season.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources aerial survey conducted Jan. 29 showed Canada goose numbers increased to 36,350, nearly five times last week's total. Last year at this time there were just 15,100 Canadas and the five-year average is 53,920.

The white-fronted population grew to 12,475, including 2,900 at Ballard County, Ky., 2,600 at Union County, 2,500 at Horseshoe Lake, 1,600 at Swan Lake, Ky., 900 at Burning Star Mine, 800 at Carlyle Lake, 400 at Keck's Marsh, 350 at Rend Lake, 200 at Pyramid State Park, 125 at Ten Mile Creek and 100 at Crab Orchard.

In addition, the swan population was listed at 145 - 114 at Burning Star Mine, 26 at Campbell Pond and five at Ten Mile Creek.

The duck population also increased markedly this week. Although most populations are predominantly mallards, there were significant numbers of gadwall, widgeon, teal, black ducks, pintails and ringnecks.

Horseshoe Lake had the highest population with 23,000, followed by Crab Orchard 14,900, Carlyle Lake 11,200, Union County 10,800, Rend Lake 5,600, Cache River 5,000, Keck's Marsh 3,200, Pyramid State Park 2,500, and Mermet Lake 450.

- Compiled by Les Winkeler

[Tuffy]

Not to take away from the valid point, but do you reckon any of those are from drifting BACK North? Probably not since I don't think big numbers were ever south of there this year. Crossed my mind, though. It would be nice to see some comparable discussion from Missouri and Arkansas to see if they have lost birds.