PACIFIC FLWAY
As the next storm system moves into the Pacific Northwest, duck and goose hunting remains good to excellent in most of Washington and Idaho. Duck activity has slowed in western Montana and goose hunting is fair to good in most areas. Hunter success in Utah is improving but remains poor to fair in most areas. In Californian, hunter success is limited to new arrivals. Lingering masses of pintail, mallards and gadwall have resorted to extreme nocturnal schedules to avoid hunting pressure. Hunter success is best in areas with the least pressured and educated birds. Hunting improved dramatically for Arizona hunters over the past week with an influx of disoriented arrivals including mallards, gadwall, wigeon and teal.
CENTRAL FLWAY
Goose hunting has replaced duck hunting in the northern portion of the flyway and should remain good to excellent throughout the Dakotas until substantial snow cover arrives. Duck and goose numbers are on the rise in eastern Colorado and Nebraska waterfowling remains good to excellent on ducks and geese — both big & little and light & dark respectively. Hunting improved dramatically in Kansas over the past week as pressure and continued cold drove additional birds south — including excellent numbers of lesser Canada geese and mallards. The post-storm frenzy has curtailed slightly in Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico, though smaller groups of flight birds are arriving daily. Puddle duck and goose shooting is fair to good in most areas with cold temperatures and snow heading towards northern portions of the prairie over the next few days.
MISSISSIPPI FLYWAY
Goose action has been heating up throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Iowa. With reduced bag limits this season most northern hunters are having little problem getting a limit of dark geese. In Iowa, snow goose hunting is difficult at best — despite fair to good numbers in localized areas. Duck hunting has improved slightly in Illinois and Indiana as ice builds on smaller water to the north. New arrivals are providing fair activity while those that have been around for the past two weeks are shifting to nocturnal feeding schedules. Duck hunting remains good to excellent in most of Missouri — the flyway\’s hotspot. In Arkansas the post-storm frenzy has subsided and a good number of arrivals have been harvested, pressured south or sitting tight on rest areas. Hunter success is best on private, well-managed land. Activity improved only slightly over previous weeks in Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana over the past week. Most arrivals are call-shy educated northern birds.
ATLANTIC FLYWAY
In Vermont the interior season closed with more open water than ducks — leaving most hunters as disgruntled as those in the Upper-Midwest over the current climate trend. With a marginal strength storm in Canada at this writing the outlook for any drastic change in waterfowling success in the Atlantic Flyway over the next week is unlikely. Brant numbers are up all along the coast as far south as New Jersey with inland goose numbers running a parallel upswing. The first good reports of bluebill arrived from New York, as well as an influx of gadwall in Pennsylvania — which good for hunting but a dismal indicator of how delayed the migration schedule is. Sea duck hunting is fair form Boston Harbor north and poor to the south. Pintail numbers are increasing on most refuge areas in the central portion of the flyway but harvest is low due to ample food supplies in these safe havens. Woodducks are well hidden in safe roosts from Virginia through Georgia — where ring neck numbers are on the rise again. In Florida, hunter success is a varied as the bag which can include anything from bluebill to teal — with hunter success low.
