Ever wonder where the phrase "slim pickings" originated?

After the fourth, miserable, Louisiana duck season in a row, I can venture an appropriate guess.

Believe it or not, we did kill plenty ducks in the past in the Bayou State. And during those days, it was traditional to pay someone to "pick" the feathers of those ducks at about a dollar per bird. Usually it was a country lady or gentleman who had plenty time on their hands.

And in the duck heyday of Louisiana - with 16 or so hunters killing a limit of birds in any one area and on any given day - the dollars added up for extra grocery and Christmas money for some very needy families.

Recently, I passed near an old picking barn and the elderly lady reported meagerly that her "picking" days were over. "There's just no more ducks mon cher," she said. "The clubs just don't bring the birds like they used to."

And now it's official. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries just released their January 2005 winter survey, and there were no surprises.

In aerial overflights, the LDWF estimated some 2.5 million birds in January in Louisiana - almost a million ducks less that last January's estimate of 3.4 million. This figure is also below the previous five-year and long-term averages for Louisiana (3.9- and 3.1- million birds respectively). And mostly the big ducks were affected, with mallards and pintails notably well below average in the surveys. Wigeon populations were also officially down.

At work on Tuesday, Gary Inhern of Ville Platte said, "No birds this weekend," in his honey-hole blind nestled between Chicot Lake and Miller's Lake in Evangeline Parish.

Another buddy, Danny Fruge' of Sunset reported, "We killed a few geese, but there weren't any ducks," where he was hunting this weekend near Gueydan.

Louisiana wildlife commission member Henry Mouton of Lafayette said that he spoke recently with guides in the Lake Arthur area, and they're having a tough time finding a few precious birds. And these are choice, wintering waterfowl lands with a long tradition of killing ducks.

"The Marsh Club at Vinton reported that not a single duck was killed recently," said Mouton. "They're normally limiting out on birds, and they're not seeing any ducks."

Mouton also reported on another location to the north near Columbia, where cut timber and rice fields combine for a well managed waterfowl haven. "During the first split in 2000 alone, they killed 450 ducks there," said the commissioner. "Last year the numbers were around 136 ducks in the first split.

"This year, they were only able to take 32 ducks during the first split, and they're hoping to end the second split with 75 birds," explained Mouton.

"At Oak Grove, where it used to be 160 ducks a day for 16 hunters and 16 guides, recent hunts there resulted in only 60- and 61- ducks during a two-day period," added Mouton.

"It's terrible . . . I picked up a Quik Quarter and I saw more Go-Devils and hunting boats for sale than ever," emphasized Mouton. "People are giving up and planning to shut operations down next year. It's just not a pretty picture here for duck hunters in Louisiana."

The LDWF's recent aerial survey sampled coastal and inland areas in the southwest, southeast and the Catahoula Lake region. It also reported, "The low estimate is somewhat difficult to understand after a very strong Arctic cold front drove temperatures well below freezing from Canada south to Louisiana, just prior to and during Christmas. Parts of south Louisiana even experienced snow and freezing rain.

"However, one extreme was followed by another as the following weeks have been very mild in Louisiana, with 10 to 14 degrees above normal temperatures and new record highs set in the 80's."

The reasons for such limited ducks in Louisiana skies?

No one is talking these days. They're afraid to go on record. And I can't blame anyone with all the hoopla over last year's "Where's the Ducks" forums in Louisiana.

For sure populations are down - but not that drastically.

Yes, the weather was warm, but most Louisiana waterfowlers seem to be of the opinion that we should have witnessed more birds given the population numbers. Maybe the count is only on paper as some waterfowlers nationally are claiming.

I have heard people say the migration has changed, but the scientific jury is not out on that hypothesis. We have only a couple of radio-telemetry studies going on that people are aware of - one in Arkansas and the other here in Louisiana. By the way, those mallards have not moved much since they have been tracked - especially the ones in Arkansas.

One thing I have watched continuously online is the amount of snow over the Mississippi Flyway. Only in the last few days have we any snowcap that has been tracked to northern Arkansas - and most of it is not near deep enough to cover no-till fields in most Mississippi Flyway states.

Where's the ducks?

Well let's just say . . . you better start fishing.

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