"Where are all the ducks?"

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

I don't know what the answer to the question is, but I know that I hunted duck opener for about 10 year straight, and haven't gone out on opener for the last 3-4 years. I used to hunt every weekend, but maybe make it out 3 or 4 times per year now. A good day now is seeing 50 ducks, a bad day used to be seeing 500. It will be pretty hard to get future generations interested in the sport with numbers the way the are.

[Jmnhunter]

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...

actually cattle do destroy nests-unintentionally; when we were nest dragging you would see nests that were trampeled and sometimes even the hen that was trampepled to death.

--the cattle dont destroy that many nests to matter so grazing hardly effects production

[B. Amish]

you're right. my statement was a bit too general. grazing during nesting season will destroy some nests, but fire will take them all.

[broken_line]

okay heres my point of view.. be happy we are even able to hunt, drop the limit to 3 if there are little ducks around, if all you care about is #s of birds in the bag go to the grocery store buy a duck or chicken toss it in a zip lock bag and start bragging, i used to be all whiny bout geese. but after one of my older hunting buddies had a heart attack i realized to enjoy what you get and use what you got while you have it.. sorry im a little bitter... as far as cows.. geese LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE! cows.. there is a gravel pit that has 3 small sloughs about 20 acres of water and a good 300 acres of pasture with a ton of cows there are a good 200 to 300 geese in there in the sumeer and 500 or so ducks stop in later in the fall. theres a place like this up the road with no cows and no birds.. quite a few pheasants and crows tho..

[John Swanson]

Broken, I too have noticed that geese love cows. there is a farmer down the road from mine and he only has about 20-25 cows in a small muddy pen and there must have been 50-100 geese sitting in there with them and this is everyday not just once in a while. Plus the pen is only 10ft from the road. funny site to see.

[Lunker]

That's cause they are pickin feed out of the cow leftovers...

[Finlander]

Nothing like pre-chewed food! Remember Saturday Night Live!

[CANOPY SAM]

There are a lot of good thoughts here, and reasonably accurate insight, but Kelly's observations are spot on, and as always, very well articulated.

Nesting, feeding and loafing conditions have to be darn near perfect for real waterfowl success. It also doesn't take excessive hunting pressure in any area to completely blow birds out.

As an old river rat in Northern MN I too have noticed the dramatic changes in seasonal weather patterns. We just never get those quiet, steady 2-4 day soaking rains like we used to. Now we get violent thunderstorms, downpoars, flooding, and subsequent drought.

Barley is another missing piece of the puzzle. I remember well October days back in the late 70's and early 80's when a good shower would leave water standing in local low-lying barley fields. The mallards would be thick for weeks.

I'd bet a real wet spell prior to the major migration would bring a lot of birds thru MN. This certainly doesn't answer the question of fewer nesting birds, but it would likely lift some spirits in terms of hunting opportunities.

One also has to remember that migrant waterfowl will often return to the place, or near to the place of their own birth to nest and raise their young. If MN's nesting habitat has been rapidly diminished over the last 50 years (which it undeniably has) it would stand to reason that fewer and fewer ducks are nesting in our state - as they weren't hatched here in the first place.

I sure wish I could afford those darn non-resident license fees for ND!

[Scott M]

Thought this was a good read and fairly representative of the cross section of Minnesota waterfowlers this year:

Duck hunting dying off

by Glen Schmitt, Nov. 8

St. Cloud Times

Duck hunting in Minnesota certainly has lost some of its shine in recent years. There just doesn't seem to be the same enthusiasm among hunters to chase ducks in the state.

Even opening weekend went off without much interest, and — after that — duck hunters have been downright hard to find.

Participating in those traditional late season hunts, when big rafts of diving ducks would migrate through the state, is pretty much a thing of the past — even for the hardcore duck hunter.

State wildlife officials and waterfowl experts know duck hunting in Minnesota is losing interest. Waterfowl stamp sales have shown steady declines in recent years and this year was no exception.

According to the most recent numbers by the Department of Natural Resources, duck stamp sales dropped another 6 percent from this same time period last year.

Keep in mind that last year was already poor from a participation standpoint.

There are many theories surrounding the lack of interest among Minnesota's hunters for each passing waterfowl season. But the most obvious answer is simple — we don't have much for hunters to shoot at.

This year was a prime example. Opening weekend was basically a bust even on some of the states more noted waterfowl production areas and traditional duck hunting locations.

The limited number of hunters that stuck with it during the second week of the season shot some birds thanks to a major weather front that moved some ducks into the state.

But even that was nothing close to the type of quality duck hunting we once saw across many parts of Minnesota. Given duck numbers during the most recent waterfowl seasons, that second week was probably as good as it's going to get.

We are now into November, which used to provide the best shooting of the year in this area for divers and northern mallards.

While most people were deer hunting, and if there was open water (like this year), avid duck hunters would experience their best shoots of the season.

At the very least, we saw ducks. Certain parts of the state would hold huge rafts of bluebills, canvasbacks and flocks of migrating greenheads. Even in Central Minnesota, an area not traditionally known as a hot spot for diving ducks, we saw and shot our share of 'bills and cans.

But that's not the case this year ... or the past several years, either. In fact, when is the last time you saw a big flock of ducks? I mean the type of numbers that really wanted to make you go out and set some decoys.

I'm afraid duck hunting in Minnesota is a dying sport. Based on the numbers and enthusiasm to hunt ducks in this state, it certainly appears that way.

[candiru]

You also need to remember that when they talk of waterfowl stamp sales that also includes people that strictly goose hunt. People that strictly goose hunt is a segment of the population that did not really exist 20 or so years ago. The drop in Duck hunter numbers is probably steeper than that of duck stamp sales.

[RaininFeathers]

I see these reports of the duck stamps being down but I don't see the proof when I head to the swamp. Each year it gets worse and worse. This year was unbelievable...over 15 trucks at a spot that used to get 6 or 7 on opener. Had to get up at 330 every morning to make sure we got our spot this year. I'm sure it depends on the area you are in but it sure seems like there are just as many hunters as ten years ago if not more. Maybe all the amatuers who jump shoot and sit on dykes and pass shoot have given up and all the die hards are at it twice as much. As for the ducks when the dakota's have water don't expect much to come through MN. Would you fly over MN and get shot at every lake you stop at our fly through the dakotas with food and water everywhere with minimal hunting pressure. If the dakotas dry up they get forced our way. You hate to hope for the duck factory to dry up but that will improve our hunting ten fold.

[jparrucci]

I'm a proud jump shooter on opener! Why go play with those crowds at 3:30am when I can go jump woodducks alone with ponds to myself? I don't do that the rest of the season, but thats my opener every year.

[Finlander]

Saw that more than once: dry Dakota's = good duck hunting in Minnesota!

[HunterLee]

Saw lots of geese floating south this am, did see one nice flock of ducks also. As long as we get some north winds they will be floating through. Hope they are around on Monday so I can shoot some.

[jparrucci]

There are some geese around, but according the DNR itself, duck numbers at the moment in MN are very very low. Lets hope for the freeze up in Canada soon.

[BigGrassBass]

For the first time all fall I have just this morning started seeing Mallards using small local ponds. No large groups, but then again, they were not there yesterday. These are big birds. They look like grey footballs with green heads. I think it is slowly starting!

[phishnerd]

Just looked at the 10 forecast for Saskatoon. Not good. Highs in the 50s with no precipitation at all. Maybe a few flurries at the end of the week but nothing that's going to move any large amounts of birds... maybe we'll see a little push for the last 2 weeks of Wi southern zone but it doesn't look that promising. I keep reading and hearing people say that the migration is already here but I really don't think it has even started. I have a friend who was just up in saskatoon last week and he said it is absolutely loaded with birds. Without some colder sub-freezing temps or snow they don't have any reason to leave (tons of food and lots of water). The only good thing is all the rain we've had in the last month has filled in some of the sloughs and raised water levels in the rivers...so I got that goin' for me, which is nice!

[buckx37x]

gotta say this was the worst year weve had in many years. yea some had a good year but for us south of the metro,it was not pretty. we always could count on some good woodie hunting, and ok mallard field shooting but not this year, o,well we will keep at it its to fun to keep hoping and trying.

[SORNO]

gotta say this was the worst year weve had in many years. yea some had a good year but for us south of the metro,it was not pretty. we always could count on some good woodie hunting, and ok mallard field shooting but not this year, o,well we will keep at it its to fun to keep hoping and trying.

Same with my father and I. This is by far the worst year we have ever had. Between the two of us we only shot just over a box of shells and got 15 ducks and 2 geese.

[Musky Buck]

I just realized after 10 days of deer hunting I never saw a duck or heard a quack or wings whistling by. I hunt on a river and near a goose refuge and never saw a single mallardo, that's a first. Quite a few honkers, but even the geese are way behind normal numbers in the area, are they someplace else or are the numbers of geese down a bit to.

[bisekb]

I will have to agree with most of you out there. This was a pretty poor year for waterfowl, granted the season is not over yet but it does not look like a solid freeze up will be moving any ducks soon. South of the metro here we had a few good teal shoots, but where did the woodies go? and mallards what do they look like?? I think i forgot! I guess all a guy can do is wait for a better year, or dust off the ice fishing gear!!

[Musky Buck]

The thing about ducks are we can blame the dakota's or whatever the case may be, but are they that smart that shooting pressure can move them west also? I thought that theory a bit but in the hay days everyone was getting good shooting and they'd even come right back into you after several volleys of gun fire. I do think most decent water is heavily hunted and there are very few spots a hunter can't reach leaving very few sanctuary types of water. The river that runs through my property I haven't seen a duck in since August. Where my main deer grounds are I saw zero ducks during rifle season. A few ponds had nothing and nothing was flying around any of the days. These areas receive no pressure and the birds still are MIA. ??????? It'll be over in 11 days although it never even began in my 3 counties I used to hunt the plentiful ducks in.