Why the ducks didn't reach Louisiana.

[jchief]

More money being paid for hunting, more people "working" on attracting ducks.

More rice in Arkansas than Louisiana, especially SW La

Weather patterns changing

More saltwater intrusion = less for ducks to eat

Etc.

Some place just hold birds because of no pressure, food, flight paths, etc and they kill in those areas. If you are not in one of those areas, the season sucks.

[AubreyLaHaye458]

Originally Posted by jchief

More money being paid for hunting, more people "working" on attracting ducks.

More rice in Arkansas than Louisiana, especially SW La

Weather patterns changing

More saltwater intrusion = less for ducks to eat

Etc.

Some place just hold birds because of no pressure, food, flight paths, etc and they kill in those areas. If you are not in one of those areas, the season sucks.

This.

And on too of that, the birds get down to Kansas/Oklahoma/Missouri and don't have to leave. There's plenty of feed for them there. And when they get a big freeze the birds just find flowing water or open fields with feed in em. It takes like up to two weeks of snow and freezing condition for those ducks to have to move south from areas like that and that just didn't happen.


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[bgizzle]

Originally Posted by AubreyLaHaye458

This.

And on too of that, the birds get down to Kansas/Oklahoma/Missouri and don't have to leave. There's plenty of feed for them there. And when they get a big freeze the birds just find flowing water or open fields with feed in em. It takes like up to two weeks of snow and freezing condition for those ducks to have to move south from areas like that and that just didn't happen.


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Conditions like we have now? More reason for the season to open around thanksgiving


"Go ahead, share your opinion! I won't cry"

[AubreyLaHaye458]

Originally Posted by bgizzle

Conditions like we have now? More reason for the season to open around thanksgiving


"Go ahead, share your opinion! I won't cry"

I agree. Or open at the same time just have a longer split.


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[jchief]

Originally Posted by AubreyLaHaye458

I agree. Or open at the same time just have a longer split.


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Open a week later and a week to the split.

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[MarshRat89]

Originally Posted by jchief

Open a week later and a week to the split.

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Perfect solution, that puts us ending feb 2 this year.


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[MarshRat89]

Originally Posted by jchief

More money being paid for hunting, more people "working" on attracting ducks.

More rice in Arkansas than Louisiana, especially SW La

Weather patterns changing

More saltwater intrusion = less for ducks to eat

Etc.

Some place just hold birds because of no pressure, food, flight paths, etc and they kill in those areas. If you are not in one of those areas, the season sucks.

Potlickingisahabit this is my thoughts exactly to the T. So if they have all the food they need further north and areas large enough for them to rest. What will make them continue south?

My answer would be Ice. The last 2 weeks of the season they had no choice but to come down. Larry said himself in this area it takes extended periods of cold weather to push them.

Wouldn't it seem more logical to be hunting during periods when this is more likely to happen? Why start the season the first week of November when all we're getting is lil pissant fronts. We had isolated successful days during the first split when we received big pushes of bluewings. For most people the switch wasn't really turned on till the last two weeks of the second split.

The season is closed now and we are stacked with mallards and pins. The landscape of our flyway all the way down has changed. Migration patterns have changed as a result of this.

It's time we make changes to adapt. Quit basing our season dates on old science. I'm no biologist and don't claim to know it all. I do however spend a lot of days in the fields in a lot of different areas.

Yes, We still get ducks. But not near the numbers that make good hunting wide spread. Just my thoughts.


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[bgizzle]

Originally Posted by MarshRat89

Potlickingisahabit this is my thoughts exactly to the T. So if they have all the food they need further north and areas large enough for them to rest. What will make them continue south?

My answer would be Ice. The last 2 weeks of the season they had no choice but to come down. Larry said himself in this area it takes extended periods of cold weather to push them.

Wouldn't it seem more logical to be hunting during periods when this is more likely to happen? Why start the season the first week of November when all we're getting is lil pissant fronts. We had isolated successful days during the first split when we received big pushes of bluewings. For most people the switch wasn't really turned on till the last two weeks of the second split.

The season is closed now and we are stacked with mallards and pins. The landscape of our flyway all the way down has changed. Migration patterns have changed as a result of this.

It's time we make changes to adapt. Quit basing our season dates on old science. I'm no biologist and don't claim to know it all. I do however spend a lot of days in the fields in a lot of different areas.

Yes, We still get ducks. But not near the numbers that make good hunting wide spread. Just my thoughts.


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And u would think they would change that so we can concentrate CONSERVATION efforts to better suit us and killing ducks which is what conservation is all about.... Right?


Nope ! They wont


"Go ahead, share your opinion! I won't cry"

[Goooh]

Originally Posted by bgizzle

And u would think they would change that so we can concentrate CONSERVATION efforts to better suit us and killing ducks which is what conservation is all about.... Right?


Nope ! They wont


"Go ahead, share your opinion! I won't cry"

If numbers aren't supporting it, why would more killing be necessary?


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[bgizzle]

Originally Posted by Goooh

If numbers aren't supporting it, why would more killing be necessary?


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If the season would be open now numbers would support it


"Go ahead, share your opinion! I won't cry"

[Goooh]

Originally Posted by bgizzle

If the season would be open now numbers would support it


"Go ahead, share your opinion! I won't cry"

Would numbers support opening the season now? Do numbers say we have way to many ducks and need to thin more than we are?


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[bgizzle]

Originally Posted by Goooh

Would numbers support opening the season now? Do numbers say we have way to many ducks and need to thin more than we are?


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They weren't in this area then bc of the baby fronts. Hatch numbers were good. They here now which makes it relevant to kill em now


"Go ahead, share your opinion! I won't cry"

[Dogface]

Originally Posted by bgizzle

If the season would be open now numbers would support it


"Go ahead, share your opinion! I won't cry"

Are you saying the ducks are just showing up now? If so I disagree. Same thing happens every year when the season ends. During the season the birds find a way to survive and avoide the areas that have heavy pressure. They raft up in big water or go to the preserves and become mostly nocturnal. After the season when all the noise from boats, 4 wheelers guns, etc stops they return to the fields and marsh. I don't think they are migrating down this late in the year. I would like to see the season the Sat before thanksgiving and have 1 zone at most 2. Having 3 zones in a state this size doesn't make sense.

[Big Hutch]

Many factors have contributed to the overall lack of ducks in Louisiana this year and the very alarming long term decline in both ducks and geese wintering in Louisiana. That is not to mention the change in species composition/percentages in the numbers. This is some of my thoughts.

1. Major Changes in Agriculture. This is a vicious cycle and a bad long term trend from a LA hunting perspective.

a. Massive Reduction in the Number of rice acres in Louisiana. Arkansas now plants almost 4 times as much rice as Louisiana. 2012 numbers (rounded) LA - 350K Arkansas - 1.3 Million. Why fly past a buffet? You can also dump habitat loss from erosion and intrusion into this if you want. It just magnifies the issue.

b. Widespread use of Clearfield rice varieties. Now farmers can kill red rice and other moist soil plants and still grow rice which means after the rice harvest there is little to no food in our fields. Less quality on less acres.

c. Changes in Ag up the flyway. Ethanol subsidies have resulted in massive acreages that were once planted in other crops now planted in corn. These same subsidies have resulted in hundreds of thousands of CRP nesting habitat being turned into cornfields. Less nesting habitat and more available desired high energy food means less ducks and less motivation to migrate.

2. Explosion of new habitat and hunting operations in the mid continent portion of the flyway. This new habitat and/or better management for $$$ has resulted in a large population of ducks and geese that now don't need to migrate past a certain point. Mallards and geese like to feed in dry fields. As long as adequate resting/roosting habitat and food exists they won't move.

Personally I believe those are the 2 biggest factors. But I have been wrong before although I don't remember when. Wait let me ask my wife ... LMBO.

I don't buy the pressure arguments because a mallard that has never been south of Missouri doesn't know what kind of pressure is in LA unless they are a Salty Cajun member ... . Now I'm not arguing that pressure doesn't effect the distribution of birds that do come down. I'm talking about the birds staying in the mid continent.

Just random thoughts.
Robbie aka Big Hutch