"Where are all the ducks?"

[RumRiverRat]

The severe lack of habitat and the poor condition of the little habitat when have is the problem.

There are plenty of ducks out there.

I am having a great season.

Find a few lakes with freshwater shrimp/wild celery/wild rice and other food and you can shoot tons of ducks.

My best spot this year has been a 200 acre lake with an average depth of 8 feet and a max depth of 20.

It is loaded with aquatic invertebrates that Canvasbacks, Redheads, Scaup, Ring Necks and other ducks love to eat.

It has a small creek that flows into it, the well oxygenated water attracts the invertrebrates and the slight current adds motion to the decoy spread.

There is a nice point on one side of the lake that everyone tries to get and I have hunted it, but the spot where the creek flows in has been the best.

[jparrucci]

I think it is a bunch of all the above. Lack of GOOD habitat is key. Like another poster said, cattail WMA's don't produce ducks. They produce resting areas during migration, but few ducks actually get produced here. GRASSLANDS around the wetlands is key. I still can't believe the DNR/DU etc haven't made this a higher priority. Next is the water quality of said wetlands. The ducks need food. Minnow and carp infested waterways aren't much help for long term goals. We need celery and wild rice ponds and steams. Eliminate the minnows and carp. Although lack of water is a key, the lack of QUALITY wetlands is a bigger key. Why are we not installing more nesting boxes? From everything I have read, they have been very, very successful. Predators are another issue, and with fur prices down the toilet, that isn't getting any better this year.

[jparrucci]

It seems like the DNR/DU seem intent on just getting their hands on land as top priority, regardless of the conditions. Western MN WMA's are nearly all cattail lined for the first 50 feet from shore. We need grasslands. WE as hunters and citizens need to demand more of our officals from both of the above. You can buy up all the junk wetlands you want, without quality habbitat, that water is no better than the water in your swimming pool.

[RumRiverRat]

Junk WMAs and WPAs is the majority of what the MN DNR likes to brag about.

A lot of the WPAs are complere worthless for duck production, they produce almost no ducks.

[chub]

Agreed!

[jparrucci]

Couldn't agree more RRR. I see migrating ducks on them when I hunt out west (usually pheasant hunting) but there is nothing that is going to produce ducks on that type of habitat. Muskrat huts everywhere! I see no lack of yotes, fox, raptors, skunks, and coons out that way too. Never do I see grasslands leading right up or even close to the edge of the water. Then the water itself doesn't have shrimp, celery, rice. It is full of minnows usually.

[honker23]

Water is number 1

MN used to have more water than SD/ND, now we don't. Bring up google earth and tell me if you are a duck which path would you take. We are at the mercy of mother nature....if we get a big west wind we shoot ducks. If it is N or NE they go dwon the Missouri river. Ask guys in Missouri and Texas and Arkansas if the numbers are down

[jparrucci]

Having more water is great, but if it isn't good wetlands, it doesn't matter. Most of our WMA and WPAs will not hold ducks, because they are so degraded. Lets work on the ones we have now, or aquire land that is worth it. Added dozens or hundreds or cattail slews, will do nothing to keep, produce, or attact ducks.

[chub]

Water is number 1

MN used to have more water than SD/ND, now we don't. Bring up google earth and tell me if you are a duck which path would you take. We are at the mercy of mother nature....if we get a big west wind we shoot ducks. If it is N or NE they go dwon the Missouri river. Ask guys in Missouri and Texas and Arkansas if the numbers are down

I don't think anyones arguing about overall numbers. The problem as I see it is, we can't even raise enough of our own birds to support the opening weekend.

[kelly-p]

I usually stay out of discussions like this because I do not think that there is any one answer to why we have fewer ducks now than in the past but here are some things I have noticed through the years for you to think about. I have grown commercial wild rice in paddies since it started in the late “60’s” so I have spent my entire life dealing with water and ducks and crops on a daily basis.

Water

Almost all of our paddies get their water from ditches flowing by them. From when we started growing wild rice in 1968 until (I believe) 1993 we only had to turn on the emergency pumps one year to save the crop from drying out. Roughly 1 year out of 25 the pumps were needed. Now we have gone 15 years with only one year where we didn’t need the pumps. MN may still be getting the same amount of rain as decades ago but now we are getting one month of flooding followed by 3 or 4 months of drought. Rather then a good rain shower every week and the ditches keep steadily flowing now the ditches go from flowing out of their banks to dry and back to flowing out of their banks to dry. Again and again and again.

Predators

Like has already been mentioned people don’t fur trap like they used too. My Dad and I used to trap full time for 1 1/2 months. Everybody around here trapped in the fall. Now hardly anyone traps. When I was growing up to see a Coon around here was very rare. Now they are all over. Skunks are everywhere. Seeing the duck numbers dropping in our rice paddies through the years I decided that it had to be predators getting the duck nests and the young ducks along the dikes as the water and food sources had remained the same for years. I started building nesting islands for the ducks out in the paddies. 20 feet wide, 30 feet long 3 to 4 feet higher then the water level covered with grass. In my mind it would be perfect for nesting ducks. In the water away from the predators, a steady (within 1 to 2 inch) water level so the nests don’t flood and as the wild rice is about 1 1/2 feet high when the ducks hatch the ducklings are under cover immediately in a food rich environment with all the invertebrate life there. While when the ducks were hatching they could not be seen out under the rice crop or around the islands I started watching to see how many ducklings there were in the ditches around the outside of each paddie. I started seeing 4 to 5 times more ducklings in the paddies with the islands then the paddies with out islands. After a few years of seeing this I contacted DU to see if they wanted to come look at or study this as there has to be a reason why I was seeing 4 or 5 times more ducks on my right then on my left. DU sent a letter back that they were not interested and nicely told me I didn’t know what I was doing. In any case I kept building islands until I quit counting went it went over 100 islands. They are a real pain to combine around and do field work around but I figured I'd be standing at St. Peters gate someday needing all the help I could get and maybe he would consider that I tried to help the ducks out.

Food

Wild Rice is good but the main reason ducks first come into wild rice is for the rice stalk borer worms and rice head worms. When the worms are done feeding on the rice they swim on top of the water to shore to get under cover for winter. That is real easy picking for a duck. Watch for white to light tan worms about 3/4 to 1 inch long swimming on top of the water. Around here the ducks will move many, many miles to get to a place where the worms are moving. When wild rice ripens the kernel falls off the head and goes to the bottom. If the water is 14/16 inches deep the puddle ducks have a hard time getting down there to get it. This year with the collapse of the wild rice market I put some other crops in. In one paddie I tried some Barley. After combining it I just left it uncultivated. My neighbor has some flooded wild rice stubble about 1/2 mile away. The ducks will fly over the wild rice to get into the barley. Almost all fall when I drive by that 18 acres of barley stubble 300 to 500 ducks take off. I think that North Dakota grows more barley then anywhere else in the nation??????

A place to rest

I feel that ducks need a place undisturbed on open water to sit and rest. Here we have Norman Lake. A lake sitting out in the bog. The ducks will sit there day after day coming out in the mornings and evenings to feed. If they are shot at there or disturbed they leave the area and do not come back no matter how much feed is in the area. There are very few places in MN where they can sit and rest undisturbed.

Sorry this got so long. These are my opinions right or wrong but they will give everyone some things to think about. Good luck hunting. I haven’t shot a duck in about 8 years now. I just like seeing them around.

[Musky Buck]

I here ya on the water table, my oaks are dying like crazy and an alledged expert claims the water table was dropping faster than the roots were reaching, not sure I believe it but ? Oak wilt was ruled out. ?

[chub]

Good info.

[jparrucci]

Great post Kelly-P, seem to reaffirm my stance that the vegetation and food is one of the most important factors.

[Random guy]

Almost all fall when I drive by that 18 acres of barley stubble 300 to 500 ducks take off.

Yup! Almost makes me want to start duck hunting again.

[Gordie]

great photos Jonny P makes me wanna be in your area

thanks for the photos

[Lonedrake]

If they are shot at there or disturbed they leave the area and do not come back no matter how much feed is in the area.

Exactly. Great post!

[fishingguy]

just tired of the phrase "were are all the ducks" sorry for the rant

My guess you and many of the guys posting on this thread are fairly young. I do understand how you would get bored, and maybe a bit upset with the title. Your young enough were you really don't know any better. The last 10 years or less is all you know. I have had the good fortune of seeing it from, lets just say, older eyes. Was a die hard, hard core like many of you younger guys are now. 40 plus days, 2 cases of shells, and 300 bird seasons. So the question came about after me and my buddies lived thru much better years. It was not intended to insult or upset you.

[riverrat56]

I only know what I have seen since I started duck hunting ~5 years ago, and from what I hear its pretty crappy compared to what it used to be.

All I can say is that I enjoy every minute of it, ducks or no ducks. Sure I go out there to watch some birds work and hopefully knock a few down. But I love to sit in the blind and [PoorWordUsage] with the boys, talk about some of stupid things we've done while chasing ducks, argue about how the decoys are set and where were going for lunch.

Where are all the ducks? There's still enough around to keep me happy.

[Gordie]

I only know what I have seen since I started duck hunting ~5 years ago, and from what I hear its pretty crappy compared to what it used to be.

All I can say is that I enjoy every minute of it, ducks or no ducks. Sure I go out there to watch some birds work and hopefully knock a few down. But I love to sit in the blind and [PoorWordUsage] with the boys, talk about some of stupid things we've done while chasing ducks, argue about how the decoys are set and where were going for lunch.

Where are all the ducks? There's still enough around to keep me happy.

yea what he said very well put riverrat

[bassislife]

I had the pleasure of growing up in the 70's when it was crazy with ducks!! We could go out just about every weekend until the ponds iced up and shoot our limits of ducks with single shot 20 gauges! Pheasants were also thick, but a goose on the other hand was very, very rare.

I do think this is my last season hunting waterfowl in MN. I had been over in the Dakotas the last few years and thought I'd try it this year back in MN. What a mistake I made for opener!

[delta dude]

We all pretty much agree we need grassland for nesting cover. Than I have one question. On the opener I noticed a wpa full of grazing cattle next to twin lake at ortonville. Grass was all trampled down. This was not a one day deal as there was a electric fence strung inside the wpa boundries. I could not believe this was allowed to happen, is this what we are paying our duck stamp money for? You guys in that area next time the warden checks you ask him about this. I wonder how wide spread this is.

[B. Amish]

grazing is a strategy used instead of fire. they're trying to stimulate the grasses with a disturbance. prairie evolved with a 100 million bison grazing. they try to replicate that with prescribed flash grazing.

[Random guy]

It is actually perfect, cattle create new growth, aerate the soil, raise heck on weeds, take out the brush and fertilize all at once. Good idea I think.

[B. Amish]

grazing also doesn't destroy nests in the spring and remove winter habitat for the resident wildlife in the fall. i wish they would do more of it, a lot more...

[carpshooterdeluxe]

grazing also doesn't destroy nests in the spring and remove winter habitat for the resident wildlife in the fall. i wish they would do more of it, a lot more...

there will be more grazing. especially during dry years when burning could be a dangerous idea.