Wood Ducks, The King in SC USFWS

[cajunwannabe]

Still 50% of our harvest.
145,841 Wood Ducks of 298,600 ducks harvested.
Almost 3x the Wood Ducks harvested in 2023 vs 2022 and total ducks harvested in SC almost doubled from 2022.

And folks wonder why I love working duck boxes....somewhere out there is a kid who shot his or her first duck and it came from one of my duck boxes. Kind of a cool thought.

https://www.fws.gov/sites/default/fi...nd-2023-24.pdf

[JABIII]

The King on the plate, too...

[Whaler_Dave]

Fine work sir.

[Drylok]

The King on the plate, too...

Indeed they are. Wonderful… Every time.

[Sasha and Abby]

Still 50% of our harvest.
And folks wonder why I love working duck boxes....somewhere out there is a kid who shot his or her first duck and it came from one of my duck boxes. Kind of a cool thought.

https://www.fws.gov/sites/default/fi...nd-2023-24.pdf

That is awesome... thank you from so many of us for your work.

[Johnny Reb]

Great work Paul!


I curious why 2023 harvest is significantly more than 2022 for almost all species?

[Rubberhead*]

The truth is that that's bad news...it means that since nothing else is around, we're turning to what are mostly resident wood ducks. I'm guilty too.

[Calibogue]

Interestingly, I/ we have been killing a banded summer duck it seems like every season lately none of them are from South Carolina. They're all from the Northeast and up into canada.
I get what you're saying but don't discount the fact that there are truckloads of Summer ducks that do migrate here from the Northeast.

[YoungBuckTX]

They're filling the void of the non existent big ducks

[duce44]

I had 13 eggs in my box the first time. They all were gone . Figured snake. They came back and had 3 eggs. 2 are cracked in box box but never saw any. What should I do cajun?

[tman]

0 domestic mallards killed in 2022...... rigggggghhhhtttt

[cajunwannabe]

I had 13 eggs in my box the first time. They all were gone . Figured snake. They came back and had 3 eggs. 2 are cracked in box box but never saw any. What should I do cajun?

Predator guard, cut all limbs above and around the nesting box, block any possible gaps around the 4 x 4 or whatever pole you use underneath the predator guard. Snakes are relentless and will find a way to get the eggs. If guard is correctly in place, raise the box and guard. High water events can make nesting boxes accessible and snakes are on the move during high water.

[duce44]

Thanks. Limbs could be problem. Its in side ditch in my yard. Coolest shit watching hen go in box and once in box drake leaves.

[cajunwannabe]

Hens can be pretty tolerant when checking nests too.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Hw5GCnBIXRA

[willyworm]

Thanks again Paul for all the work you do to sustain the woodie population.

To Cali's point, I too have seen many wood duck bands that were banded in the northeast. I'd be willing to bet that we get more migratory woodrows that residents.

I was hunting open water one days when I saw 2 massive flocks of birds circling, just looking for a place to settle in. But the flock formation was very odd. It was obvious they weren't big ducks, they didn't act like wigeon, but were too big to be teal. They were woodies. It was evident they had just migrated in and I was astounded when they got close enough for me to hear the whistles. I'd never in my life seem wood ducks flock up like that and may never see it again. It was a very cool to just watch em cause let's face, you can't really "work" a flock of wood ducks. They just do whatever the eff they want.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[Quack07]

Interestingly, I/ we have been killing a banded summer duck it seems like every season lately none of them are from South Carolina. They're all from the Northeast and up into canada.
I get what you're saying but don't discount the fact that there are truckloads of Summer ducks that do migrate here from the Northeast.

Same here. My group has harvested multiple bands per year in the same area of Williamsburg county for the last 5+ years. All from the Northeast US or Canada.

[Hogg]

Same here. My group has harvested multiple bands per year in the same area of Williamsburg county for the last 5+ years. All from the Northeast US or Canada.

Two seasons ago a friend shot a woodie banded in Idaho.

[welltaut]

I know we grow a bunch around here, but I've always assumed a lot are migratory as well.

I've killed 2 banded woodies in Richland Co....one was from somewhere in Vermont, the other from Ashe Co, NC.