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With so many frustrated hunters and so many different theories, what is the consensus choice for this season being so bad? (hunters having great hunts are not allowed to participate in this poll! )

Everyone seems to vent their frustrations on different threads, so lets hear what everyone thinks is the main reason in their opinion.

Now, I realize that some of these options go hand-in-hand. For example, lack of cold weather up north wouldn't matter if the dates were changed. But even if the dates were changed, you could still have a mild winter.

webb, i agree many of these go hand in hand but, in my opinion with the tradion we have had with the warm winters i believe the season should start later and end later. i am sure that it will never happen but try it for a couple years and see. as i said its just my opinion
good luck
kev.

I guess I am being a little vague in my question. Is this the reason for this particular year, or duck hunting in general? My reasoning was this particular year because even if the dates were changed and we could hunt through mid-February, would it solve the problem? We may not know until that time because it may still be mild. What if there is not many ducks in February?

this year it has just been too hot and they have not received enough funky weather up north. it just seems to me that we are having year after year of this same kind of weather so, is this going to be something that sticks around for many years ahead( we do not know).all i know is the past 4 to five years i have hunted in light clothing too often verses bundling up like we used to 10 or so years ago.
kev.

57 Degrees today

For those of us who had the opportunity to hunt in the 60s and 70s,the weather is not a good enough excuse.While the weather did influence the hunting,things were NEVER like they are now.

The two biggest differences that I see,are:
1)The number of ducks holding on refuges
2)The reduction of food sources in the lower central delta

When the Lake George WMA was in rice and beans,it ALWAYS held 50,000+ ducks reguardless of the weather.Now that it's in weeds,it holds-50 ducks.This has got to have an affect on the surrounding areas.

none of the above, you expect to blast them out of your hole everyday and expect them to return......no way.....

judge jb

Judge, I'm sure glad someone had the balls to say it. Best piece of advice given on this board all season. When duck numbers are off a little bit you can't keep hammering the same old holes day in and day out. Just look at what a deer does. Put a little pressure on their but and see what they do. They quit using the same routes and patterns. Same with any game!!!

Your right judge. Another thing is that it doesnt matter how many refuges DU makes up north, if there is snow and ice locking everything up then the ducks will move. There have been bad seasons before and the good ones return when the weather pattern cooperate. All we need is for ol Mother Nature to be in our corner and we'll see the ducks. There are plenty of ducks, all we need is some cold @$$ weather and we'll be flinging the steel at em again.

Sportsman 450, you are a wise man and maybe some others may catch on some day but I doubt it. I wasn't even around in the 60's and early 70's, but I remember the late 70's and 80's. I know of several other properties that held a slough of ducks every year that are now in WRP. They dont hold hardly anything now.

None of the above..... have ya'll seen the Duck Commander videos?? They killed em all!!!!

After getting to know Webbmaster a little better,.... I would like to change my vote to "IT'S THE ALABAMA BOYZ FAULT" !!!

Rip Em !

judge, i agree with your comment but, i am sure not everyone who has had a crappy year are continually hunting the SAME hole. i have hunted with my broinlaw whose club consists of about 300 acres of slough. we have not and do not hunt the same place over and over. also know of a couple different outfitters with several thousand acres having the same kind of year as most.
good luck
kev.

Well my two cents are the loss of habitat is key to the lower numbers in the historically proven duck grounds. I have worked up and down the MS Delta and the north delta has the higher numbers because the landowners put out the food. The landowners leave more crops for the ducks and create more impoundments than anywhere else I have seen. The majority of the central delta is farmed to the turnrow and nothing is left. Without hot food to provide forage the ducks are not going to stop. Waterfowl need variety to survive and in a large amount. If many field edges were impounded and allowed to return to moist soil areas during the summer this would cut out some crop space, but not enough to notice and the work to create these areas would be relatively inexpensive.

lol @ alabama boys