I told you so

[j.r.]

DUCK NUMBERS ARE A BIG FAT LIE!!!!!!!!! I understand that yes some people did kill some ducks I did so also but the numbers are not there I hate to be a stick in the mud about this but I think the limits should be dropped to 4 ducks I am telling you if we keep trying to kill 6 duck watch what I say 10 yrs watch what I say we might be back to the old limts of 3 ducks or just cut the seasons out . I hope that I am wrong but thats the way I see it.

[duckkiller]

well in my oppinion they didnt have a reason to leave up North until late in the season, and the last few weeks I saw a ton of birds, just couldnt do much with them

[missed mallards]

It's not cold enough for them to come south. It's a migration, and if they are not pushed they will stay. There's no reason to come south when they have all the avaliable 'stuff' up north for them to strive. Have you gone out of the state "north" to hunt this year? Just curious.

Your not going to wear a fully insulated Jacket in 75 degree weather are you? Heck if there was a plentiful supply of beer and women at one bar there would be no reason for me to go to another. I'm like a duck, when i find what i want and can get plenty of it, I'm Stayin.

[deadbird05]

i have seen some of the refuges up north bring in truck loads of corn into thier fields. it is stalling the migration and making the ducks hang there as long as they can and some will not leave. they are staying even when it freezes over.

[Wildfowler]

I finally had ice form on my boat on the last day of the season. The first time this happened all year. We had about 8 days straight of dense fog, followed by three weeks of 70+ degree high temps. Why would you expect there to be any ducks migrating south?

I personally think the limit should be "x" number of ducks per species. When the scrap ducks overrun your rice field you could kill 6 of each specie. It's not like they are interbreeding with one another and perpetuating the duck population as a whole. I had plenty of days this year when I thought that 6 ducks were not enough because it was over too fast. BTW, I had plenty of goose eggs too. More this year than last year, and maybe more than in a long time.

Not too change the subject, but why do you think the price of gasoline fell all winter long?

Why not let us kill 6 Teal and 6 Gadwall, 6 Spoonbill along with 2 Wood duck, and 4 Mallards, etc if they all showed up at the same time?? Kind of like the point system, only better because all you fellows who didn't do so well in math won't have to worry about adding correctly.

Check with the guys in MO and Iowa to see how they did this year before you claim the sky is falling. The answer may not be in your own back yard, since the birds don't live here year round.

[sportsman450]

I finally had ice form on my boat on the last day of the season. The first time this happened all year. We had about 8 days straight of dense fog, followed by three weeks of 70+ degree high temps. Why would you expect there to be any ducks migrating south?

Because weather is not the only factor influencing migration. Instinct, for one, is probably a stronger factor than weather. If you were following the satelite mallards this year, the biggest push all year was during a warm spell. Kinda blew the "It's just the weather" theory out the window.

That being said, I don't think total duck numbers is the biggest problem. In my opinion, it's pressure. Non-stop 60 day seasons from September through January from North Dakota to Louisiana with every puddle in the delta bein shot day after day. Couple that with farming practices that leave plenty of food north of us and much less food in the Mississippi delta, and you have our current recipe for fewer ducks in our skies.

Also, I believe that the slaughter of young ducks in the breeding grounds caused by spinners, has meant that fewer and fewer ducks have been "trained" to migrate.

[MSDuckmen]

You guys kill me with this stuff. Same old song different year.

[mudsucker]

:lol: You guys kill me with this stuff. Same old song different year.

That's what I was thinking Duckmen!

[Anatidae]

I think they all stopped in Branson and Dollywood, myself. Ducks have gotten turned-on to the Country Music scene, ya know. I think since Tracy Byrd has gotten so much exposure on the OLN, the ducks just follow those guys around wherever they go. Even that bozo on 'Flyway Highway' has his own following......I mean, it must be something else, cause I know that guy couldn't find a duck on his own, if you sat him on a 3 acre pile of corn. He's sit there and tell you, "We're here at Bust a Bootlip Lodge, sittin' on this pile o' corn......the ducks have been here all year......but so far, they haven't showed-up today....."

[jwarwick]

Think of the ducks flying in the sky from here to there to yonder as fish do in the sea. Its basically the same thing. Their movement through the air is so effortless that they can easily move to the area that has the best conditions for them.
We hunters are stuck to plodding on the ground, either in our waders or in our Suburbans. Our world is very small compared to the ducks world. They are free to roam continents on a whim, while we only see our duck hole and the adjacent neighbors land as duck habitat.
To me, its a miracle that the ducks visit the same place two years in a row anyway! It is really wishful thinking we do when we expect to have scads of ducks in our hole year after year after year. The ducks move about more dynamically than that!
I think that this season the ducks spread out further North than usual because of the weather. I'm waiting to see what the duck kill numbers are in MO and TN!

[Click]

I just want to dance.

[Bankermane]

Here's a link to a Missouri Duck Hunting site. It may open your eyes to what is happening. They have ducks; just not able to kill them.

Cafe Outdoors

[jwarwick]

banker
that link taint workin
what did the site say about MO ducks?

[h2o_dog]

Same old song different year.

I quit singing a couple of years ago. But now I'm starting to understand.

60 days and 6 ducks doesn't really matter. They could raise it to 10 ducks per day and hunt 10 months out of the year (and they very well may if it sells more stamps, licenses, etc.). So long as the current refuge opportunities exist, hunters aren't going to be able to significantly dent the bird population.

My .02 and observation. Opinions may change over time. Actual mileage may vary.

[torch]

jr I don't think the numbers are a lie. The numbers are correct. look at the Missouri Dept of Conservations web site. Look for the refuges and the numbers. The migtration hasn't made it past mid missouri. The last big migration we had here in Mississippi was the 99-00 season. The freeze line was around Cleveland and we had 16 days of teens at night and 20 's during the day. We hunted a field for 31 straight days in the afternoon and never killed less than 60 birds.