Mallards have begun to move out of Canada according to the latest Mallard Migration Status map from the Missouri Department of Conservation. Mallard numbers have increased in northwestern North Dakota, as well as central Minnesota. Drought Conditions across the eastern Central Flyway and western Mississippi Flyway continue to impact waterfowl distribution at this time, with the bulk of migration birds sticking to river systems and large water impoundments.
Hello folks, and, as always, welcome to Waterfowler.com.
As gadwall, pintail, teal and widgeon creep slowly to the south in the Central Flyway, their options for good habitat diminish quickly. There are many concerns amongst waterfowl biologists that even if birds push to coastal marshes in the south, their need for inland fresh water will not be met on traditional wintering grounds. While some predict birds will continue south into Mexico, and others hope drift east to Louisiana or Mississippi, wherever the birds end up the hunting will be simply off the charts.
While hunters in the Atlantic and Pacific flyways are experiencing much better habitat conditions, delays in the rice harvest in northern California have had a negative impact on hunter participation and success. Many hunters in the Sacramento Valley will experience continued delays until the harvest is complete and fields are flooded. Hunting on public lands was delayed for the first time since the 06-07 season and will go on record as only being the third delay in past 26-years. The good news is, there is still plenty of season left and an abundance of birds yet to come.
As the ducks and geese progresses south each weekend hunters greets another opening day from now until Thanksgiving weekend when waterfowl hunting is open across the nation. Waterfowler.com encourages our members with an Android smart-phone to download and submit reports using our new Migration app, for FREE at:
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ATLANTIC FLYWAY
Youth Waterfowl days kick off in Maryland on October 29th and resume again on November 5th. Teal, and wood ducks numbers remain good to excellent in the northern portion of the flyway with, all other species fair to good and black ducks low. Hunting in Pennsylvania remains fair to good with teal and wood ducks still filling the primary slots in the daily bag limit. Ring-neck duck numbers are on the raise in the northern portion of the flyway along with red heads and, to a lesser extent, scaup.
MISSISSIPPI FLYWAY:
Mallard numbers are on the rise and central and southeastern Minnesota and the upper pools of the Mississippi River. Diver hunting remains good to excellent as Canvasback numbers continue to climb on Pools 8 & 9 (reaching nearly 80,000 as of the last survey). Teal and wood ducks continue to move into south form hunting pressure and hunters in the north are being treated mixed bag of teal, wood ducks, mallards, pintail, widgeon, gadwall and a host of divers – with all species present but in low numbers. In the drier western part of the flyway ducks are sticking to the Missouri River system, and in the eastern part of the flyway, large bodies of water near recently harvested fields are providing the best action.
CENTRAL FLYWAY:
Hunting remains good to excellent in Montana and North Dakota at this time. Mallard numbers have decreased slightly in Montana as birds begin flights south a spread across the flyway. The bulk of the mallard population remains in Canada at this time and hunters are waiting on flights before an Arctic Clipper forces a fast and furious flyby. Gadwall, pintail, teal and widgeon numbers are fair to good in South Dakota, Colorado and Nebraska at this time.
PACIFIC FLYWAY:
Hunting improved dramatically over the past week in Idaho, Oregon and Washington, with mallard, pintail, widgeon and gadwall numbers continuing to climb. Goose numbers in the Klamath basin rose slightly over the last week. IN California bird numbers are good to excellent for this time of year from the far north to San Diego. Refuge reports for manages areas in the south were good to excellent for the opener, with teal, pintail, mallards and northern shovelers filling the slots in the primary bag limit.
Until next week, safe hunting.
