Refuge reports

[JABIII]

Santee NWR- dry
Pee Dee NWR- 100 geese

Missouri
•FOUNTAIN GROVE: 11,000 ducks (mix of species), 200 geese. Hunting has been fair. On Saturday and Sunday, 69 hunters took 183 ducks.

•SWAN LAKE: About 30,000 ducks (mix of species). Good water, good habitat conditions.

•SQUAW CREEK: 143,000 ducks (mix of mallards, gadwalls and pintails); 5,000 geese (mostly white-fronts). Excellent conditions.

•BOB BROWN: 17,800 ducks (mix of species). Good water, habitat conditions. Hunting has been good. On Saturday and Sunday, 78 hunters took 376 ducks.

•NODAWAY VALLEY: About 10,000 ducks. Good water, habitat conditions. Hunting has been good.

•GRAND PASS: 25,000 ducks. Hunting has been poor to fair. On Saturday and Sunday, 97 hunters took 263 ducks. Heavy pressure.

•SCHELL-OSAGE: 7,000 ducks (mostly mallards, gadwalls and pintails). Hunting outlook is good. Eighteen blinds will be available for opener.

•FOUR RIVERS: 17,000 ducks (50 percent green-winged teal, the rest a mix). Water conditions very good; food conditions fair. There will be 24 hunting positions available for the opener.

•OTTER SLOUGH: Less than 10,000 ducks (mostly pintails, gadwalls, teal and mallards); a few thousand white-fronted geese. Hunting outlook is fair.

•DUCK CREEK: 3,500 ducks (mix of species); a few geese. Conditions are good. Fourteen hunting positions are available.

Kansas
•CHEYENNE BOTTOMS: 26,000 ducks (a mix of species); 10,000 geese (mostly white-fronts). Pool 5 is getting the heaviest waterfowl use. Access is still marginal.

•MARAIS DES CYGNES: 10,000 ducks (mostly pintails, teal, wigeons and a few mallards); 500 dark geese. Hunting has been fair. Hunters averaged 1.7 ducks per person on opening weekend.

•NEOSHO: 10,000 ducks (mostly gadwalls, teal and wigeons); 200 Canada geese. Hunting has been fair to good. Heavy pressure.

•FLINT HILLS: 4,000 ducks (mix of species). Hunting has been fair.

•PERRY: 2,500 ducks (mostly teal, gadwalls, wigeons). Hunting has been fair. Conditions are fair to good.

•TUTTLE CREEK: 2,000 ducks (mix of species). Hunting has been good.

•MILFORD: 8,000 ducks (mix of species). Hunting has been fair to good. Ducks are scattered. Water conditions are good.

•QUIVIRA: 40,000 ducks (mix of species); 300,000 white-front geese, 5,000 sandhill cranes. Refuge is closed to hunting because of arrival of whooping cranes.

•MELVERN: 1,500 ducks (mix of species). Hunting has been fair to good. All marshes are full.

•CLINTON: 2,000 ducks (half teal). Good water, habitat conditions.

•HILLSDALE: Less than 2,000 ducks (mix of species). Hunting has been good. Good conditions.

•GLEN ELDER: 8,000 ducks (mostly wigeons, gadwalls, redheads); 2,000 Canada geese. Hunting has been fair to good

[Dook]

I read something this weekend on Fountain Grove, seems like they had and average of 4.83 ducks per hunter, with only 5 or 6 parties turned away at the draw during the first 2 weeks.

I want to go check out MO's public land, I here more and more each year and me curiosity is up.

Looks like another road trip!

[JPC3]

Dook:
You may want to think twice about making the trip to hunt MO public impoundments. We have been hunting out there the last 6 or 7 years, and unfortunately it has become more and more difficult for out of staters to get an opportunity to hunt. We used to go out there and get drawn no problem. If it didn't work out, we had several farmers that would let us hunt their fields near the impoundments for $50. Ahh those were the days! Now, the MDC has restricted 50% of the hunting slots to MO residents only through a reservation system, and the remaining positions at the WMA's are pushing pretty slim odds. Last time I went we got lucky and were 1 of 15 groups drawn out of 275 hunters. It's hard to swallow a 13 hr. drive to go against those odds (especially when your trusty backup farmer who used to charge you $50, now charges $500 to hunt sheetwater). We can thank certain DU articles and the commercialization of duck hunting in general for that. I can't blame the farmers though! I will say that the state of MO should serve as a model for creating excellent duck habitat and hunting conditions. Some of their corn ponds rival the best private ponds around, and the results show annually. If you go, you WILL see a ton of birds, but good luck gaining access to hunt their asses. Just food for thought before you make the drive.