Puppy dog had to catch a wounded one.
Last couple of weekends have been DISMAL. Our place has always been a roost. This time of year it usually holds 750-1000 birds. The birds leave and filter back in mid morning and we usually have really good hunting. Usually can’t do back to back days…. But give it 3-4 days off and great hunting.
Not lately. Nothing comes back until after shooting light. Nothing is getting shot at so it’s not like we burned them off. With no northern fronts I think we have the same ducks that were here at Christmas and they have found a place or ten that they really like. These pacific fronts aren’t strong enough to move birds from Ks and Ne.
Anyone else seeing similar patterns?
Not lately. Nothing comes back until after shooting light. Nothing is getting shot at so it’s not like we burned them off. With no northern fronts I think we have the same ducks that were here at Christmas and they have found a place or ten that they really like. These pacific fronts aren’t strong enough to move birds from Ks and Ne.
Anyone else seeing similar patterns?
This has been the crappiest waterfowl season that I can ever remember. We usually shoot hundreds of birds, and we've been twice and killed eleven lol. The last four years has been a steady decline. Even if ducks are lower than usual there's still always enough to hunt at least along with thousands of geese. There's not even any geese this year.
It’s been a banner year- if you like shovelers.
Darn nice!
I wished I had shovelers. A.) it would just be nice to have some ducks in front of me, ANY duck B.) I actually eat and like shovelers..... they taste just like duck to me. lol
Same here, there's zero difference in taste between a mallard a pin a gad a wigeon or a shoveler and the shoveler is the coolest looking of them all imo. Teal on the other hand, eat better than any other waterfowl.
I rank ducks in eating quality like this;
Wood duck
Teal
Mallard
Widgeon
The rest of the puddlers
Divers
However, I do remember eating a shoveler a few years back that tasted like boiled eggs.
We had a decent duck season, a gigantic roost stayed a property away from ours for most of Nov and Dec and would drop in to our place right at shooting time.
Like someone else said, strange absence of geese this year.
Listened to cranes above us all of Oct through Dec also.
Been to Kansas a couple of times Waterfowl covers the ponds there
It has been a pretty decent year for us. It was really good until the Christmas freeze, then it dropped way off to a trickle. The last few weeks if you don’t see any within 30 minutes, you won’t. At least from our experience so we usually head home 7:45-8:00.
I have been going 4-5 days a week and even if it is slow, sure better than sleeping in.
I have been going 4-5 days a week and even if it is slow, sure better than sleeping in.
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- Caliber: 12 gauge
