Where are the ducks? Answers

[Calibogue]

A season reduction alone will fix a lot of issues.
Also, my comment about pressure was more specifically related to SC at the current moment in time.
Heavily pressured properties have run their course while lightly pressured are holding a lot of birds.....just my observation.

[Rubberhead*]

A season reduction alone will fix a lot of issues.
Also, my comment about pressure was more specifically related to SC at the current moment in time.
Heavily pressured properties have run their course while lightly pressured are holding a lot of birds.....just my observation.

Yep but it's hard to tell a group of boys that just paid $10,000 for a blind that they can only hunt once a week or less if they're not holding ducks. I know some guys that paid that much for a couple of ringnecks and a bufflehead.

Ducks are like commodity markets - they refuse to be exploited for the sake of making money.

[Calibogue]

I agree but those very people paying 10k for a blind think SC has no ducks right now....
Yes, it's been a wacky couple of seasons for sure but IMO the amount of pressure applied to these properties is driving ducks ISO new water.
People/hunters/managers that nurture them will be rewarded....
It's time for some people to get out of the duck bizness!

[flopduster]

I bet the amount of flooded corn in Missouri alone would be enough to feed 3-4 third world countries.

And I doubt seriously these large scale hunting operations or the people who hunt prime properties 30+ days a year fill out harvest surveys


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[Palmetto Pride]

Well that was eye opening... and interesting to see their review of diver migrations vs puddle ducks. Mirrors what we were told by a La outfitter we fished with a few weeks back... “no more mallards here”.
I can’t imagine how hard that’s going to be to change, people in Missouri and Illinois will go down swinging. But the root cause and idea behind the change in the MBTA smells of conspiracy and whoever thought of it was thinking about the long game.

[willyworm]

Wah, someone took my ducks away. Wah.


Welcome to our hell.

- South Carolina duck hunters

[thawhacker]

I want the season pushed back to Feb......

This is what needs to happen for sc ducks

[LabLuvR]

The last two years have basically sucked in state and out of state. They were also two of the warmest duck seasons I can remember. There may be other issues, but imo, the warm winters are the biggest reason ducks have not migrated as usual.

[Rabbitman09]

There is an argument that the daylight photoperiod triggers migration, not solely temperature. I tend to believe the flyway federations arguments over the temp and pressure theories.

[Rabbitman09]

The damn coromarnts, loons, blackbirds, and robins are still migrating so the photoperiod has to be the driving force for migration.

[flopduster]

On my way home from a hunt in Chincoteague, VA
They say the birds are still up north!?!
I said that’s why I came north, they laughed.

Saw very few black ducks,
Brant, old squaw, surfies, and buffies saved the day.



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[willyworm]

There's tons of ducks in SC, you just can't hunt the areas they're using.

[Calibogue]

The last two years have basically sucked in state and out of state. They were also two of the warmest duck seasons I can remember. There may be other issues, but imo, the warm winters are the biggest reason ducks have not migrated as usual.

I feel pretty sure the data the FF presented in those two videos lays it out in black and white!
However, warm winter temps truly exasperates on the obvious problem with the lack of migration.

[Calibogue]

There's tons of ducks in SC, you just can't hunt the areas they're using.

And yes, there are a lot more ducks in the state than many give credit to.....

[willyworm]

Or better yet the areas you can hunt don't appeal to ducks at all any longer, due to either lack of food, immense pressure, or some other factor.

[Catdaddy]

Or better yet the areas you can hunt don't appeal to ducks at all any longer, due to either lack of food, immense pressure, or some other factor.

I would say immense pressure, however the lack of migration and new birds every 7-10 days also weighs heavily on those areas that look perfect but the ducks avoid like the plague.

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[2thDoc]

i understand where cali is coming from, but IMO his comments only pertain to his area.

The bayou meto gets pressured like no other and that is where catdaddy's comment comes in to play--new birds.

I have a few spots in SC that typically hold ducks and dont have any right now. and they havent been pressured AT ALL.

there is a lot of local nuances that come into play. in SC, we still need weather and its has to be REAL weather to move the ducks through all that food available north of us.

FWIW, my friend from KS killed a few limits of mallards at his watershed as it began to freeze last week.

[Calibogue]

i understand where cali is coming from, but IMO his comments only pertain to his area.

The bayou meto gets pressured like no other and that is where catdaddy's comment comes in to play--new birds.

I have a few spots in SC that typically hold ducks and dont have any right now. and they havent been pressured AT ALL.

there is a lot of local nuances that come into play. in SC, we still need weather and its has to be REAL weather to move the ducks through all that food available north of us.

FWIW, my friend from KS killed a few limits of mallards at his watershed as it began to freeze last week.

I'm not speaking specifically to my area because there are places that have birds in those that don't just like every other part of the state. There are some really strange caveat because I know as well as you Kevin, places that typically held Birds did not this year and it was not because of pressure. When you figure out these migratory Birds you let me know.

[LabLuvR]

I’m going to stick to my guns about the weather being the predominant problem. My buddy in Louisiana said the second split was the worst he has ever seen. it also was one of the warmest we’ve ever had.

[YoungBuckTX]

I went duck hunting today... where I could see most of the lake. I saw zero ducks. Zero duck hunters. and found zero duck food. It's a multi facet issue for certain.
Why can't aerial surveys be done right now in the Midwest, and locate the millions of lost birds?
Are corn ponds in the south losing birds as well?
Guess we will have to join them, or quit.