Let's have a report on how the ducks are treating you. Lots of birds? No birds? Spotty? How is it going?

Thanks, RS

Hunted both days this weekend.Saturday morning zero wind,lack of birds and not one shot fired.This morning light rain,low cloud deck with clearing,temps plummeting and winds gusting to 35 out of the West.We got nine but all within a half hour.Mixed bag of Widgeon and Gadwall.. the main body of mallards still seems North of us in S.Dakota at present.DU site says 750K in the Dakotas.

Not any more. Arctic air moved in with 4 to 14 inches of snow north of I90 (I90 and I29 still partially closed), blizzard winds. Below zero in Sioux Falls and it just gets colder north.

Son is going to like to hear that. He is hunting Nebraska late this week.

Not many in Kansas yet. Cold front came in last night with single digit windchills. We can only hope that they are on their way.

We have limited out every day since this past Saturday with a very mixed bag-- canvasback, redheads, greenwings, gadwalls, mallards,ringnecks,widgeon, pintails--and one suicidal shoveler.

Had to break ice this morning in Mississippi. Supposed to warm back up which will slow things back down but it is good for now.

Just finishing packing up the vehicle to drive up to Knotts Island on the northern Outer Banks (Back Bay and Albemarle Sound). Going to hunt MON-TUE-WED, hope to have a good report when I return.

Selling everything. To much roost shooting before hours here in MN and fisherman that think decoys attract fish.

Having a great season here.
Haven't been out for about 2 weeks, but trap is up to 68 ducks and 4 geese.

i know how you feel. Had a guy outside the deeks this am at 10 til legal trying to find a spot to setup. Watched 2 guys ride around in a 100yd circle for 30 minutes trying to get their bearings in the fog. Gotta love it. I usually head to arkansas a couple times a year but my hunting partner can't go this year so i'm stuck here with rubberheads in SC

Been a pretty good year so far. Until the last few days the mild winter has kept the big water open. Lately though, a few have started to move to the rivers and creeks. Mostly mallards with a few teal.

Tonight was a truly unexpected surprise. Shortly after this picture was taken I got another pair. These are not common in this area and I was pretty excited.

Quite rare for our neck of the woods.

Poor pic though.

Been hunting some in AR so far. Been limiting or close most days, even with the warm weather.

Might as well shoot the out house on this end. Mid mt just me on that though.

Sucks in TX often. Often its not until seaosn is almost over that we get the over educated birds in great numbers this far south. Sometimes never.

Finally with some of the last few fronts I've been starting to see enough numbers that it may be worth going out to give it a try.

Of course after last years amazing season, we are due a drought for a few years on hunting.

Jeff

Lots of geese, like thousands of canadians, have moved in.
Haven't been out for ducks for a few weeks, but trap and i are going in the morning.
Some friends have said that there are lots up by the dam, so hopefully, down where i hunt we will have a great morning.
Charging the battery for my lucky duck right now.
Better report tomorrow.

Your Rem 870 has seen some duck seasons.

Doc

Duck hunting here in New Jersey has been spotty, goose hunting in the fields is really picking up since it snowed.

Spent three days on Currituck Sound the week before Christmas - some ducks but pretty spotty (shot three ducks in three days - a few parties got into them better and got two or three each). Heading to Arkansas in ten days for a three day hunt in timber and flooded fields - hope to get in a little more gunning there.

Hope to get a good hunt in next weekend. Waterfowl lost out to uplands and big game again this year, but GuNR and I found a few birds in MT.

"Your Rem 870 has seen some duck seasons."

Doc

It has seen a few. I was reflecting the other day that although I now own several "better" shotguns, this one remains the most lethal.

Floated the river last Saturday after the big water froze. I can't remember having a better shoot. Flocks of hundreds of mallards coming up around many river bends. Float takes about two hours. After thirty minutes we had our limits of beautiful late season drake mallards. After a day like that I cleaned up and organized my steel shot, cleaned and oiled the 870, and stowed the waders. Now for devil birds!

Pretty good late season in the Imperial Valley in Southern California. Not too many green heads but lots of Gads, teal, and the omnipresent spoonies.

Hey Odessa,

Where in Arkansas are you going? I am heading to the Bayou Meto area south of Stuttgart next week. I spoke with a buddy out there today and he said that there is a lot of water out there and it is scattering the ducks. They have had great season until the last couple weeks. The recent rains have driven the birds to new areas. We are hoping that they return soon. It seems like we go through this ever few years. To date we have never had a blown hunt. Some years are surely better than others, but we have always done pretty well. Good luck out there and let me know how you do.

Tim

Tim, heading to the Cache River area near Brinkley - did great there last season, going to try it again. Duck hunting is always a crapshoot in being at the right place at the right time - but looking forward to my trip none the less.

Odessa,

We always see a lot of waterfowl when we go through Brinkley on the way to Stuttgart. I hope you wear them out down there. Have a great hunt and go Pirates...... and Mountaineers too!!!

Tim

Again you post great pictures.

Doc

mtmiller,

What species of swan is that pictured in the third photo that you posted? I saw my first wild swan the other day and, after consulting the reference book "Ducks, Geese and Swans of North America", I want to say it was a trumpeter swan but can not be certain.

Thanks, RS

Limited on ducks Saturday, Sunday, and this past Monday along with a handful of snows that passed too close. Lots of water here and the birds are scattered across the delta.
Species included mallards, gadwalls, redheads, canvasbacks,scaup, and green winged teal.

Two weekends left to go.

We hunted last Saturday just south of the Bayou Meto in Arkansas. We had a great eaerly fight of Wood Ducks and were able to connect on several Mallards as well. Sunday was a different stroy. We had lots of hard rain mixed in with lightning and thunder. Heavy rain has surely scattered the birds all over the place. My guess is the season in Arkansas will be tough from here on.

Rip,

The swan in that picture is a Tundra.

My season is LOOONG gone, but it was a most excellent season! We raised more mallards for you boys to shoot than any time in the last 30 years or so. And goose numbers are still amazing! If you didn't have a good season this year in the central flyway, you need to seriously reconsider your options. It doesn't get better than this.
a picture of snows taken less than a half mile from my house...

and another of mallards from my doorstep

Hunted last THUR-FRI-SAT (during the warm front) north of Brinkley AR - flooded fields around the Little Dixie - McClelland area. Fairly decent amount of ducks flying, mostly Mallards, Gadwall, with a few Blackheads mixed in occasionally. The shooting was all pass shooting, the ducks never committed to our decoys, but we (three gunners) nearly limited out on THUR (14 ducks) and had less gunning on FRI-SAT, but still everyone took some ducks; 3 - 4 each on FRI, two each on SAT morning. With the big front moving in on SAT, we knocked off at 1030 and began the 18 hour drive home at noon. Odessa

Being from Charleston SC, we have a very large amount of waterfowl habitat, I think it falls in the arena of 4th largest on the east coast. However extremely poor management has jumped our birds out yet again due to a lack of food. We consistently have flightss in the 5000-10000 range and greater sit for a couple of days and then jump to Fl.

This is such a shame for our state as most of the habitat is land that has been donated by the previous owner to the state along with a waterfowl trust fund specifically to provide monies for managing waterfowl. If you look over the dike and into the impoundments and fields of the ACE basin, The Santee Coastal Reserve or South Island and the Yawkey Center you will see broken dikes, over grown fields full of phragmites which havn't even been burned. Its a travesty as the money never leaves the politicians pockets and historically these areas have been a base point for the migration.

Having been at it for 20 years I still manage to scratch a few limits of quality birds but its usually a hunt that lasts till 11 am or so.

Oh to live in S Tx.

This year is one of those TX years... I hunted twice in teal and never fired a round. We've had about zip for ducks since. Not nearly enough to waste the time hunting. Had some friends that just HAD to go... and never saw a thing on a couple of trips.

Of course if I made time to head to the coast, you can almost always shoot a few redheads and a pintail or two but sometimes you have to work hard for them too.

Just not really worth a flip this year.

But it needed a rest, last year was the best duck season I can ever remember seeing. You could stand in the middle of the river and kill your limit. Even on the last day of season you could do it that way. Even without decoys. We owe em some back this year.... A buddy that guided took over 1000 birds off one stretch of river last season...

It sucked.

I don't see many ducks down here until the season has closed. It just isn't worth all the bother for this.

I hunt Iowa since it's practically throwing distance across the river but as usual the season in these western zones closes before good concentrations of green heads arrive.Bout ready to hunt Nebraska high plains like I did years ago as the seasons don't close as early and waterfowl concentrations are better earlier and later.

Our worst year for birds in twenty years! The drought must have pushed the birds around us. Disappointing at best.

Had the second great year in a row in these parts. Next year promises to be another great one, condsidering the amount of snow that we have on the ground right now. Should fill up all of the potholes and make for some great nesting and stopover for both ducks and geese again.

What do you expect with a bright white shiney face and hands? Not to mention that looks to be a bluebird day.

hey guys, i will go to the u.s. for a little hunt soon. can anyone tell me where to best hunt ducks?

I believe that all duck seasons are currently closed and will not open until September 2013. There might still be some late season snow goose hunts open in tne northern tier of states and Canada.

Cheers, RS