Tennessee Mallard Project Video

[Dodge Man]

Any theories as to why the refuge counts are down, outside of the ones I just tossed out? Every one's theories are just as valid as anyone else's

Like you said I don't think most ducks might down past the freeze line anymore. If you look at nesting pair count's Mallard numbers are down over 50% since 2016 to 2023 counts. As well as the refuges are not manned the same way or nearly as well as they were 10 years ago. They don't pump water on them nearly early enough to stop the ducks that are migrating in early November. A lot are not planning food on the refuge like they once did. I have heard they do not have the budget to run pumps to keep water on the refuge or do repairs needed to hold water around Reelfoot.

 

[4scout]

I have definitely noticed that on the 2nd youth hunt in Tn, after the regular season has been closed for a little over one week, the ducks move around a lot more and decoy within range much better. Not every year but most years if the weather is decent. The ducks don't seem to be as wary.

 

[Dodge Man]

I have definitely noticed that on the 2nd youth hunt in Tn, after the regular season has been closed for a little over one week, the ducks move around a lot more and decoy within range much better. Not every year but most years if the weather is decent. The ducks don't seem to be as wary.

i have seen that some years. But that would mean that the only answer is to have season closed and basically only open on weekends.

 

[Stlbaseball1]

Any theories as to why the refuge counts are down, outside of the ones I just tossed out? Every one's theories are just as valid as anyone else's

My opinion based on field experience and annual duck numbers is that there are not near as many mallard ducks (not even close).

 

[Iglow]

When I started in the early 80's young people didn't have the money to have a boat/motor, bunch of decoys,$1500.00 shotgun and clothes/waders to stay even somewhat warm or at least bearable. All the duck hunters I knew and saw besides my 2 buddies (same age as me) were in their mid 30's or 40's on up.
Now, same as bass boats, there are bearded wonder kids with 18' war eagles, mud motors or late model 4 stroke outboards and a doublecab 4x4 v8 f250 or equivalent going at it with equipment we could only dream about back then. Where the money comes from, I have no clue. But they are out there, lots of them.

 

[WilcoKen]

That is my strategy this year. Wait for ice up. May only get a day or two but it'll be productive. Or, atleast have odds in my favor.

Save a lot of gas, time and hassles too. I probably hunted 30 days 2 years ago then 20 days last year. This year I expect to hunt 10 max. I will hunt for the 1st time this year tomorrow morning--just to hang out with some old friends. It's close to home. I expect to see a few stale, local ducks. It has become not worth the trouble. But I am fine with that now.

 

[WilcoKen]

When I started in the early 80's young people didn't have the money to have a boat/motor, bunch of decoys,$1500.00 shotgun and clothes/waders to stay even somewhat warm or at least bearable. All the duck hunters I knew and saw besides my 2 buddies (same age as me) were in their mid 30's or 40's on up.
Now, same as bass boats, there are bearded wonder kids with 18' war eagles, mud motors or late model 4 stroke outboards and a doublecab 4x4 v8 f250 or equivalent going at it with equipment we could only dream about back then. Where the money comes from, I have no clue. But they are out there, lots of them.

All that high $ nonsense for a few wood ducks. Lol.

 

[Antler Daddy]

I would like to just go duck hunting one time in my life.

 

[yellalinehunter]

All that high $ nonsense for a few wood ducks. Lol.

Or like Luke Bryan and kill some black jacks

 

[yellalinehunter]

I would like to just go duck hunting one time in my life.

Where you at?

 

[yellalinehunter]

Save a lot of gas, time and hassles too. I probably hunted 30 days 2 years ago then 20 days last year. This year I expect to hunt 10 max. I will hunt for the 1st time this year tomorrow morning--just to hang out with some old friends. It's close to home. I expect to see a few stale, local ducks. It has become not worth the trouble. But I am fine with that now.

Y'all might get lucky and catch em ahead of the front

 

[Dodge Man]

When I started in the early 80's young people didn't have the money to have a boat/motor, bunch of decoys,$1500.00 shotgun and clothes/waders to stay even somewhat warm or at least bearable. All the duck hunters I knew and saw besides my 2 buddies (same age as me) were in their mid 30's or 40's on up.
Now, same as bass boats, there are bearded wonder kids with 18' war eagles, mud motors or late model 4 stroke outboards and a doublecab 4x4 v8 f250 or equivalent going at it with equipment we could only dream about back then. Where the money comes from, I have no clue. But they are out there, lots of them.

You know good and well if dose not take all that for a High school age kid to go duck hunting. I was hunting in the late 80 and early 90s. I hunted 30+ days a season, i didn't own any high end equipment. I barrowed a 1100 12, had a doz decoys and some rubber hip boots. I would go with friends dads, walk in on public land or use a small boat and paddle in. I went to high school in the early to mid 90s and most everyone I knew duck hunted and deer hunted. Hell back then once we were able to drive we would go duck hunting every morning before school and be in our seats by 8am. We could leave our guns and all of our equipment in the truck. A lot of days we would hunt morning and afternoon after school. But when i got a full time job my first purchase ever to require payments was a Brand new Go-Devil boat from a dealer in 1995. It was a 16x48 with a brand new 18hp go-devil. I don't really see many kids these days with anything we would not have had back then if it was available. I went to school with plenty of kids that drove newer trucks, had the newest 4wheeler, had newer boats and motors.

 

[Bgoodman30]

I think he is missing something, he is only looking at a small portion of current data. The area he is doing the study has roughly the same hunting pressure or less then it has had in my lifetime. Some people are building new fields to flood and new blinds. But most blinds in West TN have been hunted for decades in the same spot. I have hunted the same area in WTN that the study is taking place for almost 30 years . He has actually asked to lease a portion of our hunting property to make a small rest area. Most of the public land around west TN gets hunted no more now then it did 20-30 years ago. In fact they have made most public land close at 3pm to give the ducks a place to rest in the afternoon.

I there has to be more to it to make the major change in ducks travel patterns then hunting pressure. There has been a big change in the past 5-7 years. There has not been a major increase in hunting pressure in that time.

Didn't he say that 75% of the surveyed duck blinds are hunted everyday?? I think this is a TN mentality and somewhat cultural that you have to hunt 60 days. I have been hunting them for 30 plus years and this kind of pressure seems to be a recent phenomena. Also it was a rarity to hunt daylight to dark…

The ducks are trained alright they arrive already programmed to know when the closing bell is. Now it's being passed on to generations of ducks. I like his idea of smaller reserves is a great one. I also believe they need some small amount of pressure to keep them guessing and not programmed.

 

[Bgoodman30]

Even if you say there is more hunting pressure in some areas, other have less pressure. I just feel like the answer is not that simple. Most ofthe refuges in West have been surrounded by flooded fields full of crops since the 1980s. They continue to flood more fields and leave more crops all along the rivers that ducks travel.


It seems to me like the ducks are getting as lazy as a lot of Americans on government assistance. They get tons of free food and don't move unless someone makes them. There is standing crops in every field for miles around the refuges. Why would they travel long distances to find other food?

Generational welfare no doubt… When White lake was still a young refuge the tree tops would covered with birds on backwater looking and bombing any hole. Now they barely fly to the woods… I was actually happy that the corn on White lake flooded… Instead of just leaving as a rest area TWRA flew in enough jap millet for 200 acres but only about 70 acres matured…

 

[Dodge Man]

Didn't he say that 75% of the surveyed duck blinds are hunted everyday?? I think this is a TN mentality and somewhat cultural that you have to hunt 60 days. I have been hunting them for 30 plus years and this kind of pressure seems to be a recent phenomena. Also it was a rarity to hunt daylight to dark…

The ducks are trained alright they arrive already programmed to know when the closing bell is. Now it's being passed on to generations of ducks. I like his idea of smaller reserves is a great one. I also believe they need some small amount of pressure to keep them guessing and not programmed.

I would guess part of that is because of so many different shifts in the factorys these days. Groups of people sharing a lease that some are off every day because they work nights. Or some are off during the week and work weekends and some are only off on the weekends. You can't blame people for hurting when they are off. Not everyone is off on the weekends anymore. Its also a problem with the high dollar leases. If someone pays $2500-$5000 per person they will want to hunt that spot as much as possible.

 

[Bgoodman30]

Look at the historical refuge count #s. West TN refuges do not hold near as many ducks as they used to which leads me to believe either there are less ducks or they are being held somewhere else.

It's mostly weather including drought. I think we have got used to warm and dry falls that we forgot it used to get cold…. It has more to do with what's up north and it was 60 degrees in Nodak last week… Yes there are less mallards but if the rivers were out they will come… The near future forecast looks bleak though.. Sad

 

[thirdwilliam]

Chene has some good video's out

 

[Don'tDrinkTinks]

That is my strategy this year. Wait for ice up. May only get a day or two but it'll be productive. Or, atleast have odds in my favor.

I'm doing the same thing this year. I'll save hundreds in gas and get more sleep and time with my family. I'm not wasting time and money to kill 6 ducks between 5 people.

 

[Chickenrig]

When I started in the early 80's young people didn't have the money to have a boat/motor, bunch of decoys,$1500.00 shotgun and clothes/waders to stay even somewhat warm or at least bearable. All the duck hunters I knew and saw besides my 2 buddies (same age as me) were in their mid 30's or 40's on up.
Now, same as bass boats, there are bearded wonder kids with 18' war eagles, mud motors or late model 4 stroke outboards and a doublecab 4x4 v8 f250 or equivalent going at it with equipment we could only dream about back then. Where the money comes from, I have no clue. But they are out there, lots of them.

Iglow
You have to take in effect that alot more 20-30 yr olds are still living with their folks and they sre using daddys toys . These younguns if you will don't work much if at all and take full advantage of this . When i lived in S Fla a lot and i mean alot of these "kids" would say they had leases out of state ( turkey, duck , deer , you name it ) and i know for a fact that deep pocket daddy was paying for it . Money today is the driving force behind that

 

[hillbillyfab]

Never duck hunted before, but found the videos interesting.