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As the most expansive drought in nearly half a century continues its grip on the Midwest and Great Plains, teal hunters are scratching their heads and postulating hunting strategies for coming early seasons. With extremely limited, wet habitat options during the migration the record number of migrating blue and green-winged teal will be concentrated along river the river systems and other large water impoundments. For a species that thrives and offers great hunting success in shallow, inundated areas with ample forage, the drought conditions will challenge bird and hunter alike this September.

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It’s hot. Damn hot – and dry. Not that you needed us to remind you or anyone else of that fact but misery loves company. Should these conditions continue into the start of the early teal season, there only two favorable outcomes that we can envision; mosquito larva will still be akin to a crusty dried grain of sand, and when you find a group of teal, it will be a mind numbing concentration of them. Of course, the number of hunters compacted into these areas of limited water will parallel the record number of birds expected in the migration. Continue reading

The results are in from the 2012 Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey and waterfowl hunters have a significant reason celebrate. The recorded 46.5 million birds is up 7% over 2011, 43% above the long-term average and the highest ever recorded! Yes, you heard correctly, the highest waterfowl populations ever recorded. While pond counts were down significantly over the extremely wet 2011, pond counts remained 9% above the long-term average.

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The 2012 Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey results raise the bar on population and habitat management with an all time record number of birds. While bag limits are set to manage a no-net loss in populations, it is obvious that low harvest years, such as 2011, can boost overall waterfowl numbers in a big way.

Teal numbers continue to skyrocket with green-winged teal up 20% over last year and 74% above the long-term average. Blue-winged teal are up 3% over last year and rest at a whopping 94% above the long-term average. Mallard numbers settled in at 15% above last year and top out at 40% above the long-term average.

Pintail and wigeon were the only species that remain below the long-term average, with pintail numbers down 22% over 2011 survey results and -14% on the long term average. Wigeon were up 3% over last year but remain 17% below the long-term average.

The published results and other detailed reports are available online in .PDF format at Flyways.us (link below). While our summary covers the highlights, Waterfowler.com recommends that out readers review the detailed document for regional survey data and detailed information on the black duck survey.

While the numbers are clearly astounding news, as waterfowl hunters realized last year, big numbers don’t always equate to outstanding harvests and record breaking seasons. Clearly, the mild winter and drought conditions of 2011 played a vital role in hunter success. As we look at the current drought monitor for 2012 (link at right), habitat conditions will need to improve significantly across the US before the early seasons begin in less then two months. While record numbers of teal will begin their migration near the first of September, if you don’t have water, those numbers will be of little importance to your success. In short, we need rain, desperately before then in many states.

Waterfowler.com encourages our members to begin their preparations for the coming season. During the month of July a number of states host drawings for public access and blind construction permitting, so be sure to check federal, state and county management offices for opportunity in your area.

Until our next report, spread the news. Ducks are back – in record breaking numbers.

With the spring waterfowl surveys completed the results will be tallied and published in the 2012 Annual Waterfowl Habitat and Breeding Survey in early July. As we await the results and the subsequent proposed frameworks for each flyway, there are plenty of things to keep the off-season waterfowl hunter busy during the summer months.

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Throughout the duck-hunting season, hours are often passed in the duck blind discussing improvements that can be made before the next season. As life would normally have it, the duck-hunters time during the off-season is quickly consumed by other high-priority, non-hunting projects. As the years pass, there always seem to be those off-season projects that never come to fruition unless they are a dire priority — such as a blind rebuild due to unexpected mishap while conducting a “controlled” burn. Continue reading

With portions of the spring waterfowl survey complete the initial observations reported by the field and aerial crews vary greatly from region to region. As expected, the pond counts will be lower in most areas but breeding pairs appear to be higher than last year in a number of zones. Whether the increases are due to the abundance of birds produced last year or shifts in breeding pairs to areas with favorable the overall data collected thus far will likely result in overall breeding pairs down slightly from last year but better than expected.

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If you haven’t been following the survey crew reports on FLYWAYS.US, shame on you. We simply cannot provide enough gratitude, support and promotion for the survey crews that not only work hard to collect the data used to determine the duck seasons each year but take time to provide reports on their findings throughout the survey season. In addition to the a summary of their observations, the pilots and ground crews post images of their travels and truly put you in the cockpit and in touch with the topic of duck production. Continue reading

The spring waterfowl surveys have begun and reports have already begun to roll in at FLYWAYS.US. As expected the mild winter has had some impact on seasonal wetlands but early reports indicate fair to good conditions in central Canada, with heavy spring rains recharging many areas in the east. While it’s still too early to make any definitive assumptions for the entire breeding area, we will follow the reports with a hopeful outlook. Hello folks, and, as always, welcome to Waterfowler.com.

For our readers, real-time reporting is the stuff dreams are made of. Throughout the hunting season, we wait for good news to arrive from our participants that the migration is underway and birds are on the move. If you are anything like us, and we’re sure some of you are, we think you’ll find similar excitement in the survey team reports at FLYWAY.US. Continue reading

Record high temperatures across most of the nation during March resulted in a fast and furious spring migration for snow geese. Hunting in the northern reaches of the Central and Mississippi Flyways was difficult at best as birds quickly moved north. While the unseasonably warm temperatures have been tough on light goose hunters, the spring field trial season has begun in many states and both dog and trainer have been enjoying the pleasant weather.

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The mild winter that left many ducks and geese lingering in northern states during the general waterfowl season thawed quickly this past month. Spring seemed to have sprung right into summer temperatures and light geese, ducks, swans and cranes pushed their way north towards their nesting grounds. Continue reading

As the first groups of snow geese begin to arrive in North Dakota, spring has spring across the nation in grand fashion. Flights of juvenile geese remain scattered from northwest Missouri into Iowa and Nebraska. With record warm temperatures and southerly winds pushing them back to the breeding grounds, light goose harvests in the central portions of the Central and Mississippi Flyways is expected to drop significantly over the next week.

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“Got time” in the Mound City, Missouri area has switched gears to “getup and go time” over the past two weeks. Snow goose numbers at the Squaw Creek NWR rose to a peak of just over 1 million birds, and then dropped to 300,000 by the next survey. While juvenile geese are still being harvested at this time, open water in the north is inviting them home to the breeding grounds in a hurry. Continue reading

A series of snowstorms will cross the Plains this week, adding snow to the migration barrier of mid-continental light geese – extending the opportunity hunters have along the snowline. At this time geese are strung out from eastern Colorado to Western Illinois with the concentration of birds in northwest Missouri excellent at this time.

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While there has been no shortage of light geese this season, hunter success has varied greatly in the Central and Mississippi Flyways as the first dense flights of adult birds have moved north. As hunters wait for the arrival of juvenile flocks that migrate later, they have been constantly reminded how difficult this species can be to hunt when trying to decoy these massive flocks. Even with the aid of electronic callers and mind-numbing volumes of decoys, success is not an absolute. Continue reading