With freezing temperatures locking up water in parts of North Dakota and snow accumulation in British Columbia, parts of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, migration activity kicked into high gear this past week as northern hunters enjoyed the first hard push of the season. Ducks were on the move through most of the central and western parts of the nation. With a warming trend expected over the next week, hunters should have an opportunity to capitalize on this activity before it is pushed too far south.
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It was a good week to be a duck hunter in the northern tier this week. Duck activity was near peak levels in the northern border-states and good to excellent as far south as 40 th parallel for mallards and other late moving species.
From Northern California to the Mississippi Valley, duck numbers rose with the season’s first cold temperatures and, in some areas, the first early freezes. Ice in the Prairie Pothole regions of North Dakota helped push a number of birds south and east in to Minnesota. While smaller potholes in the region are locked tight, make no mistake there are still ducks in the North Dakota on larger bodies of water and areas south of Highway 2.
Snow goose activity in the Central Flyway was on fire this past week, with birds now present from Nebraska to Missouri. Teal, gadwall, and pintail continued their migration into drought stricken Texas, where hunters are cleaning up in areas with managed water and along the Gulf Coast.
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PACIFIC FLYWAY:
From Washington to Northern California, goose activity was good to excellent the past week flight birds reported all across the northern portion of the Flyway. Mallard numbers are good to excellent in Western Montana and Idaho. Pintail numbers continue to climb in the Sacramento Valley with mallards good.
CENTRAL FLYWAY:
Flights of migrating snow geese filled the skies over the past week, along with mallards in Eastern Colorado, Nebraska and South Dakota. Teal, gadwall, pintail and widgeon numbers continued to climb in the Texas Panhandle, Kansas and Oklahoma as wintery weather in the north compressed early migrating species further south.
MISSISSIPPI FLYWAY:
Mallards have arrived in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa and Illinois as the first band of accumulated snow appears across northern portions of the flyway. While wood ducks and teal are still present in the northern states, their numbers are declining as the move south into Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee. In the eastern part of the flyway, duck activity remains slower in Indiana and the Ohio River Valley.
ATLANTIC FLYWAY:
Duck activity in the east remains slow for this time of year from Maine to Delaware and all points in between. Canada goose numbers are good to fair in most places with local geese still outnumbering migrants. Sea Duck numbers continued to climb over the past week along the northeastern shore, with Brant numbers rising slowly in New Jersey. Teal and wood duck numbers continue to climb in the southern portion of the flyway as birds trickle south into the Carolinas.
