Declining duck hunting

[CBU93]

Duck hunting has been in a decline for longer than four or five years….way too many reasons to point to any singular factor but a combination of all leads us to this point. I do think the biggest factors are weather cycles (like fifty to hundred year cycles), I think the boom in snow goose populations, farming and other land use practices, and equipment advances have forced ducks to change their habits and flyways…I have had better hunts on non desireable waters than in traditional duck hunting meccas.

admittedly, I think the internet has helped devalue my own enjoyment at times by seeing others success when I may be lacking.

 

[Ed B]

Bug money has ruined it, huge swaths of crops that clubs leave standing in order to hold and attract ducks. I've heard stories of 100+ miles along the river where crops are left for duck food up north.

Also say a recent study (wish I could find it, maybe Osborne research had it) about how duck activity tracked on radio transmitters showed a huge shift to nocturnal activity during Dec-Jan. Maybe it's always been that way but the increased hunting pressure definitely feels like a cause.

As long as we can scrap out some and still have a few great hunts I'll keep at it, plus the fellowship is what keeps me coming back.

 

[WilcoKen]

IMO the biggest factor is weather. It's not as cold as it was in the good days. Not even up north. The big front we had at Christmas had ducks here (mid TN) like it was 30-40 years ago. It was so nice to see.

I also like what Displced Vol said--quality or quantity? I'm voting for quality. I wouldn't have said that a few years ago. I was fine to pass shoot whatever and be happy. Now I much prefer a mallard that will work and be manipulated in to the spread. Mild weather and unrelenting pressure makes that tough to do.

BSK-I know you collect data and study the whitetail deer and probably know what a deer thinks because you have studied the species for years. I would love to know what ducks think--specifically mallards. I try to listen to these guys on this waterfowl forum and also others I know. Hopefully this thread will contribute to our learning.

 

[drake799]

I think it's basically all the things you can think of but I'll put my tinfoil hat on and say the main thing IMO is all the farming and managing that's done for ducks these days. All up and down the flyway Not just up North but everywhere. Animals aren't as stupid as we think they are. They'll all adapt to survive I think there is a lot more water/crops these days for them to sit on and not be disturbed Just my thoughts anyway

 

[MickThompson]

As far as weather goes, the best day I've ever seen was early January- 60+ and thunder booming at daybreak

 

[poorhunter]

We noticed a big decline in migrating geese to Southern Indiana before I quit duck hunting…25 years ago. The WMA we used to hunt was pretty reliable for a couple of really good weeks of goose hunting and then a few great days hear and there. Ducks were the same. Beginning in the mid 90's things started to change and by the time 2000 rang in there wasn't hardly a goose killed.

 

[NumberOne]

Haven't duck hunted in years but I'd say the shear amount of duck hunters now and how educated they are probably is the number one reason. Just like fishing now on any big reservoir in the South. You got more duck hunters/fisherman that are more educated going after limited resources.

Also, nothing is a secret now with the internet and social media.

 

[bluewinged46er]

I took up this sport 3 years ago. I am kind of glad that I never hunted ducks during the heyday because all it takes for my son and I to have a great day is a couple of ducks setting their wings over our decoys. If we kill one, then we have had an awesome hunt. We hunted hard this year with two tier 2 draws, multiple mornings on a Corp of Engineers lake, some jump shooting, and a day spent in an outfitters blind who was kind enough to salvage a day when our Sand Hill Crane hunt got called off. We killed ducks almost every time out but we worked hard. We never limited out, but we have some really cool memories from this season as well as several ducks in the freezer.

Duck hunting may be on the decline, but my expectations are lower than most of yours. Even with the challenges I am loving this sport and plan to hunt as long as there are ducks in the air and breath in my lungs.

 

[beefydeer]

I feel like in Obion and Lake counties where I am, duck hunting is still growing but the number of deer hunters have declined.

 

[Dodge Man]

IMO the biggest factor is weather. It's not as cold as it was in the good days. Not even up north. The big front we had at Christmas had ducks here (mid TN) like it was 30-40 years ago. It was so nice to see.

I also like what Displced Vol said--quality or quantity? I'm voting for quality. I wouldn't have said that a few years ago. I was fine to pass shoot whatever and be happy. Now I much prefer a mallard that will work and be manipulated in to the spread. Mild weather and unrelenting pressure makes that tough to do.

BSK-I know you collect data and study the whitetail deer and probably know what a deer thinks because you have studied the species for years. I would love to know what ducks think--specifically mallards. I try to listen to these guys on this waterfowl forum and also others I know. Hopefully this thread will contribute to our learning.

I can't fully believe the weather part. Right before Christmas it was down to -15 to -30 degrees in a lot if the North and we got no new ducks.

 

[Bgoodman30]

As far as weather goes, the best day I've ever seen was early January- 60+ and thunder booming at daybreak

Same here but we're talking about weather from Nov-Feb not just one day.. If we have a cold fall/winter with several named storms that include snow and you don't have a good duck season you might want to evaluate your duck hole...

 

[Bgoodman30]

I can't fully believe the weather part. Right before Christmas it was down to -15 to -30 degrees in a lot if the North and we got no new ducks.

There were more ducks counted in early Jan than the last 3 seasons. We saw large migrations heading south several days before the big freeze and during, most of them so high you could barely see them.. I believe the ducks passed over us because TN was still mostly dry and completely frozen..

 

[WilcoKen]

I can't fully believe the weather part. Right before Christmas it was down to -15 to -30 degrees in a lot if the North and we got no new ducks.

Yeah. Whatever it was Chrismas night and the day after that caused them to flood in to my area--thats what we need more of. Maybe they held on as long as they could up north and finally gave in to heading over here (middle-where we had good water). I really dont know. Whatever it was, we need more of that. Those numbers had not been seen here in a long, long time.

 

[Dodge Man]

Haven't duck hunted in years but I'd say the shear amount of duck hunters now and how educated they are probably is the number one reason. Just like fishing now on any big reservoir in the South. You got more duck hunters/fisherman that are more educated going after limited resources.

Also, nothing is a secret now with the internet and social media.

There was a lot more duck hunters in my area 20-25 years ago then now. There might be more duck hunters in some places.

 

[Levee Jumper]

There was a lot more duck hunters in my area 20-25 years ago then now. There might be more duck hunters in some places.

100 boats with 15-25 hp outboards all parking and walking from the river is much less impact on Tigrett than 20 surface drives with the additional boat ramps. When I hunted it in the 90's ducks used all kinds of places in that bottom that they don't now due to pressure.

Add to that the fact that the bottom is filling up, there are significantly less ducks in that bottom than there use to be. Good duck holes 25 years ago are now deer bedding on normal water.

 

[Grnwing]

Reading through the posts, it appears most of you duck hunters feel the hunting has really declined over the last four or more years. Do you believe that is because of 1) declining duck populations over-all, 2) changing flyway location, or 3) not enough cold weather to force ducks south, or a combination of the three? I haven't kept up with the duck research and I'm curious.

Populations fluctuate and we have been under liberal limits for a long time. Flyway's as a whole aren't changing but the habitat conditions within those flyways has changed along with farming practices. Snow cover has decreased over the fly ways and allows the birds to spread out more. I learned early on that to be consistently successful at killing ducks, you need to be mobile and willing to adapt. I would love to own some duck land but good duck land isn't a GPS coordinate, rather it is where the conditions are right.

 

[Don'tDrinkTinks]

Weather, weather, weather.. Plenty of ducks around. There is still lots of corn available for ducks to feed in all night.. Last season was the first time I had run an ice eater since 17-18 season. This season we had one big freeze that lasted 3-4 days then it was 60 degrees again..

Those years when you're scrambling for ice eaters, fuel and how you're going to bust out a hole is when you're killing ducks..

This right here

 

[double browtine]

I think weather is the biggest factor. However, the cost of the equipment, and the work it takes to get a blind ready, daily hunting costs (food, round trip costs to the hunting location, etc.) just makes it not affordable for the enjoyment. It takes a lot of work just to get there and get set up to watch blue skies!
I have hunting rights to a small private land slough hole that used to hold quite a few ducks each year but the last few years haven't been worth the efforts. I haven't duck hunted the last 4 years.
I grew up hunting Springville Bottoms in the 1980's with my dad. That was the good old days! 3" lead shot out of a Browning A-5 would kill a duck dead easily out to 50 yards or more. I saw plenty of ducks killed on follow up shots out to 60-70 yards. I was a teenager back then but it was always a lot colder in late December than it is nowadays. I remember seeing lots more ducks back then too. Ducks being missed with steel shot by sky blasters has not helped things either. Not many people want to spend the money on tungsten shot or bismuth shells just to kill a few birds.
That is my 2 cents!

 

[Don'tDrinkTinks]

I'm late to this party but I'll share what I have experienced. Weather weather weather is what I can contribute. If you've hunted AR then you've had more water than you've had in years. My lease is a flooded field so we have water but natural water def helps. Also we had a good hard freeze for three days after the split so if you've got an ice eater you're golden. We smashed ducks after the thaw. Like killed 200 in 3 days. If you haven't killed more than you have in the past couple of years than I'd hate to say it but you're doing something wrong.

 

[Harold Money jr]

I only read some of the responses so forgive me if I've said the same thing as others, here goes my take on the reasons why we kill fewer ducks
1)There are less River bottom crop fields and the ones that are there are either leased out and hunted or set up to drain better so no water is held like 30 years ago when I started.
2) winter fishing is more popular and the ducks can't find a place on back waters where they are not pushed off.
3) similar to #2 there's a bunch of young guys and starting duck hunters running ducks up where ever they can find em. They don't have a place to rest
4) there are huge private refuges that hold millions of ducks all winter long. My friends place had 250,000 for a few weeks this winter and consistently held 100,000+ for the whole duck season. It's one of many that do that yearly, I'm not convinced that's an all bad thing though.
5) the private areas don't freeze like they seemed to in the past and the ducks aren't pushed to the lakes and rivers.