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Thread: 20 Year SC Duck Trends

  1. #1
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    Default 20 Year SC Duck Trends

    See below some duck data for the past 20 seasons in SC...I'll take the credit for the upward trends in Goldeneye and Eider harvest. Longtailed ducks should show positive too once the 2020-21 season info is released but it's not statistically meaningful because so few are killed in SC. What is meaningful and not surprising is the the average mallard harvest has dropped from around 35k in the early 2000's to 12k in recent years. USFWS reports on "Domestic Mallards" but they are not very good at separating tamies and boat ramp mallards from wild mallards from just the wing. I had a drake mottled duck get reported as a hen domestic Mallard. I believe that a lot of the mallards being reported are actually release mallards only because I believe there are way more than 4,000 tamies killed in SC.

    What may surprise folks is that Woodduck numbers are starting to weaken. We might have had too many seasons with a 3 bird limit. Wood duck harvest jumped up in 2008-09 which was the first season of 3 birds. It was good for a little while but seems to be dropping to previous levels even with the higher limit. It might be time to make the big boy decision to bring it back to two.

    The trend calculation is nothing fancy - Least squares slope over long-term average but it shows, I think, a meaningful trajectory.
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    '08 - '12 was the last time I can remember any decent cold weather during the seasons.
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    I’d be interested to see what the population of the Black Bellied Whistling Ducks have done in the last 20 years in the Lowcountry. I know they have grown, but by how much and how big of an area are they encompassing now.

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    Quote Originally Posted by BEAR View Post
    I’d be interested to see what the population of the Black Bellied Whistling Ducks have done in the last 20 years in the Lowcountry. I know they have grown, but by how much and how big of an area are they encompassing now.
    ebird...in CY2000 there were three dots in the Southeast outside of Florida. CY2020 way too many to count. Our kids are going to kill the heck of out BBWDs.
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    3 1/2 MAGNUM,
    I never even thought about that but you bring up a good point...
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    Yep. If you could quantify it, it would be interesting to compare hunting pressure to that graph.

    Mike

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rubberhead* View Post
    ebird...in CY2000 there were three dots in the Southeast outside of Florida. CY2020 way too many to count. Our kids are going to kill the heck of out BBWDs.
    I’m definitely blown away by the amount I’m seeing in cape romaine nwr fishing this year.

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    This is a duck survey that includes mergansers. Though I agree with the general trend this shows, BC of my initial statement, I question its credibility.


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    Quote Originally Posted by TXFowler View Post
    This is a duck survey that includes mergansers. Though I agree with the general trend this shows, BC of my initial statement, I question its credibility.
    It's the harvest estimate based on the USFWS wing survey results - it's a good guess.
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    Quote Originally Posted by TXFowler View Post
    This is a duck survey that includes mergansers. Though I agree with the general trend this shows, BC of my initial statement, I question its credibility.
    Trust the science bro! JK

    Over the last 20 years or so I've participated in many years of wing surveys. I've sent them countless Poule d'eau wings and they have yet to tell me whether it's a hen or a drake.

    I'm no statistics dude but the science that goes into estimating harvest data is way too complicated for me to understand, but I have to trust their findings. The graph RH posted definitely shows the trend that I'm seeing, not just here in SC either.

    Regarding wood ducks, I've had some absolute barn busting hatches with over 400 making it out of my nesting boxes in one season. I figure at best a 25% success and some years I lose hens to predators, abandonment or just having horribly low hatch success with only a few making it out of the box. A neglected nesting duck box won't turn out more wood ducks I can promise you that.

    Regarding BBWD's, if you build nesting boxes they will use them! Especially if you make a larger entry hole, it saves them from having to try to claw and scratch to make a bigger hole. They fight over my boxes behind our camp in S. La. I am adding more boxes when I'm down for teal season. If you have BBWD's flying over your house, corn up your yard and get a nesting box up, they'll use it. They're pretty tame during the Spring / Summer, just like a goose.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rubberhead* View Post
    It's the harvest estimate based on the USFWS wing survey results - it's a good guess.
    I know. I was being sarcastic. If I wasn’t, people would be calling in a welfare check to make sure I was still alive.


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    2017 was my last best year. Lots of strange northern ducks and a snowy owl sighting. It was cold as sh*t that year.

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    Quote Originally Posted by cajunwannabe View Post
    Regarding BBWD's, if you build nesting boxes they will use them! Especially if you make a larger entry hole, it saves them from having to try to claw and scratch to make a bigger hole. They fight over my boxes behind our camp in S. La. I am adding more boxes when I'm down for teal season. If you have BBWD's flying over your house, corn up your yard and get a nesting box up, they'll use it. They're pretty tame during the Spring / Summer, just like a goose.
    Someone put one up on Pine Island at Edisto, presumably for whistlers. I don't know if they would even find the box on the box on a beach, but I have trouble believing hatchlings could make it to the nearest brackish water and vegetation to survive. Probably would have to navigate the South Edisto River to the golf course to have a chance. There are a handful in those ponds.
    Last edited by WNM; 08-06-2021 at 07:43 AM.

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    Maybe if you donated some tube socks they could make the walk to brackish.

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    It's been 7 years since the Great Pee Dee has been in it's banks from NC to the Coast. There are a ton of wood ducks killed down that stretch. With so much water, they only need corn ponds for roosting.
    "Rivers and the inhabitants of the watery elements are for wise men to contemplate and for fools to pass by without consideration" -Izaak Walton

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    Chicora Wood boosted the corn supply in Lower Pee Dee.

    And I laughed SW!!
    DILLIGAF

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sportin' Woodies View Post
    Maybe if you donated some tube socks they could make the walk to brackish.
    I was trying to point out they can't walk to any non-ocean water, and it's even harder to swim with socks on.

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    Quote Originally Posted by WNM View Post
    I was trying to point out they can't walk to any non-ocean water, and it's even harder to swim with socks on.
    Buddy of mine attempted to raise a rescued BBW duckling a month ago. Apparently the duckling was found 47 miles offshore at an oil rig platform some friends of his were fishing. Their thought was that it fell off the platform where it was hatched. Maybe they're more salt tolerant than we know?
    Listen to your elders. Not because they are always right but because they have more experiences of being wrong.

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