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This has been one of the most unusual springs I remember Cold & Wet -

As of this past weekend - I have still not seen any Broods - & many ducks are still paired off (actually alot of hens must be attempting to re-breed because of water rising & wiping out nests)

So I would doubt any of the counts this year (or I hope they do them a month later than normal)

But then I have seen & talked to someone doing these counts & from what I got out of it --- I cannot put much faith in ithem ever

The 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 ducks seasons fell during two droughts years for the southern portion of the MS Flyway, a record setting drought. It was so dry that farmers planted their corn in late February of 2000 in MS.

The hunting was so bad in 1999 that the number of ducks observed did not meet hunters expectations ( the largest fall flight ever predicted was to occur this year), so as a results to the large number of complaints received due to the lack of ducks, the USFWS quit making fall flight predictions.

Ringbill, good points. Just hearsay until I can get the reports, but I was told today that the areas trapped for predator control using LA and AR duck stamp funds ended up costing $115-$120 per predator. I hope to put my hands on these reports to see for myself. That sounds high.

I don't mind going out on a limb by making a prediction on this years duck season. We will at least have a 30 day season. You can bet the farm on that!

SB wrote:I don't mind going out on a limb by making a prediction on this years duck season. We will at least have a 30 day season. You can bet the farm on that!

LMAO "I don't care who you are, that's funny right there."

Chad I'm glad ya got some thick skin my friend. Thanks for keeping us informed with your perspective.

Hi Scott,
The cost per predator is certainly out there...I don't have that myself but they pay the trappers a flat rate, so it should be simple. I agree the gains in nest success are impressive. I've worked a summer at the Lonetree site in North Dakota and you could, in my opinion, see the difference both in terms of the number of nesting ducks you found and number of broods you counted. Nonetheless, I really don't care about that until I am convinced it can be afforded and implemented on a meaningful scale. That doesn't mean that Delta can't or shouldn't continue to learn about it - there's also some good waterfowl ecology to be learned there, such as understanding density dependent effects. However, for my money, grass and wetlands are where it's at, and I will continue to work to protecting and restoring these habitats and wait for the days we have the luxury to change our emphasis. I think we all agree that a united front for a CRP type program in Canada might net us the most ducks in one fell swoop.

See you on Monday SB.

Josh

Pictures taken just south of Wing, North Dakota (yesterday). Another landowner who just realized the land that had been grazed for the past 10,000 years was really meant to be cropland. Depressing!






These were native grasslands where ducks annually nest. Now, the native diversity of that grassland is lost forever.

Get in contact with Agent Mulder and Scully this appears to be an X File.

Po Monkey Lounger wrote:You boys that don't remember many ducks in 1999 either must not hunt very much or have selective amnesia to support your anti-DU diatribe on this thread (as if DU controls the annual duck migration ).

Agreed. 99 was as good of a year as I've ever had.

Chad Manlove wrote:Pictures taken just south of Wing, North Dakota (yesterday). Another landowner who just realized the land that had been grazed for the past 10,000 years was really meant to be cropland. Depressing!

Damn...

1999 was my best year......course I'm a yougster compared to some of you other guys......



1997 and 1998 weren't bad either. Don't know what the heck happened since then, but something damn sure did, cause we ain't had 1/10 the ducks we did then!

NE MS has been SLLOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

All it takes is 7 million yearlin's and whip out your spinners and you can do it like 99 again.

What it takes is a good flight of ducks, water (when many others do not have any), location (being where the ducks want to be), good stealth camo/boat hide/blind, good calling, optimal use of decoys (to present a realistic looking spread with motion), good shooting by the hunters, high performance underwear, some screamin' Delta juke joint blues, and some fine whiskey. All these things came together for a magical season in 1999 for the Wooly Swamp boys.

We've had some good seasons since then (none were bad), but none quite as good as 1999 as far as numbers harvested.

One man's "drought" or famine, is another's feast.

And as far as the fine whiskey Po'Monkey was preachin' about, I would highly recommend KENTUCKY TAVERN !

(give me a little afro man too.)

So Po'Monkey, did you or did you not use a spinner to harvest your record 500 in 99? That's key to my point. Ducks got to AR in good numbers during our Christmas 5 day split and yes we slaughtered them until the end of the season about mid January. Before late December there was no overflow water in 99/00.

Everyone that had a spinner set up in a parking lot killed ducks that year so unless you didn't have one it's hard to say if you really had ducks.

Approx 500 was how many that chessie retrieved ----I didn't say how many our club harvested -----we hunted a good bit without that chessie

I'd say we had a few ducks