MS River

[Buckwabit]

In your honest opinion...IS the MS River being so low all duck season the reason for the low bird count in the Delta this year?

If not..what in the HELL is going on. I haven't seen this low of a number of birds since....ever!

[driveby]

I think it has to do with the drought and the farmers getting to turn under almost every field in the delta. There doesn't seem to be as many pumped fields this year either. No food + no water = no ducks.

[madrod80]

I talked to a game warden that thinks the flyway is shifting west into OK. They are killing a lot of birds out their in the peanut fields. I can say as someone who hunts the river that the past five or six seasons have been very poor. You just don't see ducks working back and forth or up down the river the way you did ten or more years ago.

[Coach]

I agree with the flyway changing...You don't see the traveling ducks you use to see along the river..Something has changed..We hunt maybe 1/2 mile from the river adn we'll be lucky to see hardly any high flying trading ducks...

[ransco33]

I really believe the lack of water all around has really hurt us. We are hunting a place barely a mile from the levee ourselves that has had a great history of hunting, and we just haven't had ducks all year. The lack of food and water around us is the only conclusion we've been able to come to. Worst year I can remember for sure.

[brake man]

I agree with the flyway changing...You don't see the traveling ducks you use to see along the river..Something has changed..We hunt maybe 1/2 mile from the river adn we'll be lucky to see hardly any high flying trading ducks...

I agree 1,000%! We used to see flights of ducks coming and going from the river. I haven't found the link this season for the tracking mallards site, but I watched it the past several seasons. One thing I noticed was that the tracking trends shifted westward over the years. Historically, the ducks would come east toward the MS River and then fly south (give or take a few miles, of course). The tagged mallards seemed to be coming through NW Arkansas, through Little Rock, and then out the SE corner of Arkansas.

We definitely don't see the numbers of ducks we have seen in the past. Duck hunting still is a lot of fun, though!

[GAHEEL83]

Last year the concern was that the flyway had shifted East.

What gives?

[duckter]

Flyway shift? Who knows? I do know this, West Texas seems to be getting more and more birds every year (according to a friend out that way).

[farmerc83]

http://home.mdwfp.com/Wildlife/Species/ ... spx?id=323

MDWFP mallard tracking site.....shows alot of peak bird numbers in central to east Texas and not many in MS.

[tunica]

Ducks aint dumb them texans cant hit nuthin aint got hair on it

[tha bugman]

Lack of water plain and simple

[greenheadgrimreaper]

Other than a short term small scale satellite tracking program that basically means nothing for now, are there any scientific studies that show the flyway is permanently shifting? Is a permanent flyway shift something that is even known to have of occured? Is there any REAL insurmountable data, not joe-blow.com? Do ducks decide to move elsewhere for no apparent reason other than a conscious desire to head off into the "wild blue yonder"?

I just don't buy it unless there is some sound scientific evidence. What I do know is that habitat changes because of man and our INABILITY to adapt. I think the birds are just adapting to us. However, I don't think a flyway "shifts". I don't think birds say F*** this we're movin, hun. If the birds are leaving the Mississippi River flyway and going elsewhere it just means this: we need to take a good look at what they ( the "new" flyway) are doing, and what we're doing. Or possibly, what we're NOT doing. I firmly believe from an intimate knowledge of my local hunting area in "micro" flyways, for lack of a better phrase. I hope to possibly do a GIS project on it one day. Anyhow, I believe that when these smaller flyways are interrupted it can be detrimental to the flyway/ entire area as a whole. Obviously, natural conditions do not apply. Could this possibly be the problem in YOU'RE area? Are these reports all up and down both sides of the river? Sometimes I think good conservation takes a back seat so folks can distort things to fit certain theories. I cannot remember the numbers or source, but there a fewer wildlife biologist that hunt now, than ever before. I think conservation needs to focus more on the hunter and the hunted, less on the scientific ego's. After all, it's those two that know what conditions are like more than any.

I'd be willing to bet you the ducks aren't leaving us, more vice-versa. I'd be willing to bet you their home range doesn't feel so much like home anymore.

[quackheadbp]

Good stuff man. Looks like your thinking a little deeper than most on the subject and I like your outlook on how to better our chances on birds. Best post I've seen in awhile.

[madrod80]

I know the game warden mentioned that the dust bowl conditions of I believe the 1930's could have caused a shift but that migrations weren't tracked then so there is really no telling. This is a simple explanation as to why it would shift. Enviromental changes may have caused the shift and it it is returning to the actual migration route. I am not a scientist just passing along a story. I do know a guy that has hunted in southern OK the past three years and have hammered mallards consistently every year. You can also check out No Mercy Hunting Club on Facebook and check out their photos.

[greenheadgrimreaper]

Yeah...but that's 3 years and 1 duck club and some hearsay. We've had an outstanding season while most in our area have had a dismal season. Partly because of 770 acres of roosting habitat being drained. What does our season prove? Nothing. It means we know this area better than most on a dry year. Dry years are usaully unreal in our area but this year it has been horrible due to the aforementioned drained area. Also, did ducks decide to shift consciously? Or have habitat conditions went belly up? The birds are just doing what they've been created to do-adapt. Some call it evolve, but last I checked they didn't turn into a different species.

And to be sure, for millenia the Mississippi River bottomland timber were the haunts of the mallard duck. Long before flooded rice fields, flooded timber and natural marsh was where they wintered-long before the Dust Bowl era. I just think it's irresponsible for us to simply write it off as a "flyway shift". It's much more complex than that- IF that is what is really happening.