Category: Migration Updates

Dads, favorite uncles and mentors where smiling ear to ear over the weekend and the next generation of waterfowlers may have gotten the best weekend of the season to themselves.

Hello, folks, and, as always, welcome to Waterfowler.com.

The groundhog has spoken and as far as he is concerned winter will be around for a while. Snow has continued to fall across much of the breeding grounds and with a little luck the snow pack on the duck factory will continue to build to optimal levels. Continue reading

That’s a wrap! Well, sort of. This week marked the close of the 2003 – 2004 Regular Waterfowl Season but will offer a special youth hunt this weekend and the Snow Goose conservation season is still ahead. So it’s not over yet.

Hello, folks, and, as always, welcome to Waterfowler.com.

Only a few days remain to get your name in the drawing for the WFC South Africa Waterfowl Hunting Adventure Sweepstakes. Join Waterfowler.com before January 31, 2004 and you will have a chance to win a waterfowl hunt-of-a-lifetime in South Africa.

Thanks to Waterfowler.com’s ongoing partnership with Frontiers International, one very lucky duck hunter will experience the grand pursuit of exotic waterfowl and upland game species with their hosts, Game Bird Safaris in South Africa.

The South Africa Hunting Adventure includes a 5-night/4-day hunt with Game Bird Safaris in South Africa. This trip is to be taken May through July of 2004, and will be a mixed-bag hunting trip for francolin, guinea fowl, doves, pigeons, ducks and geese. The trip will include round-trip economy air transportation from your closest metropolitan airport to New York and Johannesburg. Accommodations (based on double occupancy), all meals with wine, beer and soft drinks, all land transportation in Vryheid until departure; hunting licenses, services of professional hunters, laundry service, and 14% VAT applicable in South Africa. See the WFC Home Page for full details.

The Spring snow goose season is about to get underway, be sure to update and/or renew your WFC membership now to keep you on the X as the final leg of the season gets into high gear.

Has this season left you with a story or two to tell? WFC would like to share your memories from the 2003-2004 season with your fellow WFC Members. Submission guidelines are now available on the Home Page of WFC. Click on the Submission Guidelines link located in the upper right navigation menu on the WFC Home Page for the complete guidelines.

And now, on to the Migration Update.

With the regular season over and most waterfowlers just now gearing up to do their part for the conservation order, we will take a breather from the regular Flyway-by-Flyway Report this week.

As the main focus for North American waterfowlers shifts from ducks to geese, we encourage all our users to participate in the WFC Migration Mapping System. Be sure to select “Light Geese” from the reporting menu when logging in your observations. In seasons past, WFC members and users have found this feature incredibly valuable for keeping them “in the know” about light goose movement as the spring return migration gets underway.

WFC would like to encourage all our members and users who reside in states offering a special youth hunt to make an extra effort to get the young one out and involved. These young men and women are the future of our tradition and they deserve all of our best efforts in showing them the wonders of our favorite passion.

The post-season blues are being widely reported. Although for some the season has been over for awhile, the official end is always felt across the map. Plans for next season are no doubt already underway and now we wait and watch as the birds we so love begin their return to their breeding grounds. With fingers crossed and a few extra dollars kicked in for conservation, North America’s waterfowlers steady themselves for the wait. Hopes, prayers and personal efforts will fill our time as we do our part in the off season to ensure the best for the continent’s waterfowl population. In hopes that next fall the skies blacken with returning waterfowl as we again reach another opening day.

Light Geese anyone? Only one weekend remains in the regular waterfowl season, but the prospects look bright for several of the late season states and the conservation season is ready to roll.

Hello, folks, and, as always, welcome to Waterfowler.com.

As the season draws to a close so does your chance to get your name in the worldwide waterfowling hat. Join Waterfowler.com before January 31st and you just might extend your season with a once-in-a-lifetime trip to hunt ducks and geese in South Africa. Continue reading

The Atlantic Flyway is poised for a major migration as a brutal cold front races east across the upper east coast and the New England States.

Hello, folks, and, as always, welcome to Waterfowler.com.

Winter looks to be coast hopping as the regular season winds down and the midsection of the country is staring down the barrel of a warming trend. From a nationwide perspective, suffice it to say there is a 100% chance of weather.

With the crazy weather and migration patterns of this season perhaps it is time to try your waterfowling luck in a new local, say, South Africa? Become a member of WFC before January 31, 2004, and you will be automatically entered in the drawing for a 5-day, 4-night adventure with Game Bird Safaris in South Africa. Current members are automatically entered; see our home page for full details.

While the memories are still fresh in your mind, and you can still locate the pictures from this season, why not share your stories with your fellow Members. Waterfowler.com is looking for tales, tall or true, from our Members. Submission guidelines are available on the WFC homepage. So dust off your writing hat and let us share your season with the rest of our waterfowling brethren.

Members, please check on your profile and update or renew your membership and member profile. With the latest issue of Waterfowler.com Journal heading to mailboxes and the light goose conservation order just around the corner, now is the time to make sure you are up to date and up to speed.

And now, on to the Migration Report.

PACIFIC FLYWAY

Most of the upper flyway will see a warming trend over the weekend and with it improved travel conditions, at least for hunters. Warmer weather will most likely mean a lower chance of any new bird movement, but in many areas of the upper flyway, just being able to reach the birds that are around should be enough for a good weekend of gunning.

Last week’s cold front looks to have moved fair numbers of both ducks and geese down the coast and into interior portions of the flyway. The Great Basin can expect cold temps to hang on for the weekend and with the cold weather bird activity should be high.

CENTRAL FLYWAY

The western and northern portions of the flyway have been seeing a strong movement of geese over the past week. From MT down to CO the reports coming in are of rising bird numbers and hunter success.

After a hard freeze-out, the central portion of the flyway has a small warming trend coming and could see some bodies of water reopen, thus holding waterfowl in the region.

Southern portions of the flyway saw a moderate increase in bird numbers and hunter success after the recent cold snap. Bird numbers will most likely remain stable over the weekend as the warming trend reduces pressure on birds to move south.

MISSISSIPPI FLYWAY

Dark goose numbers in the upper flyway states continue to be strong. From Iowa down to southern IL and across to OH the goose migration is on. As snow returns to much of the Great Lakes region more southward movement of both ducks and geese can be expected, and with reports from WI still telling of large numbers of geese in that state the best may be yet to come for goose hunters in points south.

The states along the Mason/Dixon Line appear to have picked up a few more birds over the past week. Reports from AR and TN have been improving in most areas but are still below expectations for the late season. Further south, in MS and North LA, duck numbers have remained low, with only small pockets of higher concentrations being reported. Birds in these areas are reported to be very susceptible to pressure and likely as not to change feeding and loafing areas overnight. Light goose numbers are high in both areas.

Far southern portions of the flyway also report scattered increases in duck numbers with light geese in good supply across most of the area.

ATLANTIC FLYWAY

The upper flyway is in the grip of a Clipper System that will most likely lock up all but coastal waters and drive ducks and geese out. High winds and frigid weather forecast for the coming days will make conditions treacherous from the northern border of the US to as far south as Virginia. Hunters in this region are urged to take extreme caution if they choose to venture out as the front moves through.

Mid- and southern portions of the flyway should expect a respectable push of birds this week as the strong front turns most waters in the northern flyway into skating rinks.

The large lady is in the wings warming up and with only two weekends left in the regular season the house lights are dimming. Light geese will become the name of the game soon as waterfowlers prepare to greet them on their northern migration. But as we all know, “It ain’t over till it’s over.” So keep faith, cross your fingers and make the most of the remainder of the season.

The first week of the New Year was a weather maker. As waterfowling for the 2003-2004 regular season enters the home stretch it looks like winter will cooperate. The potential is there for the last few weeks of the season to brighten up the faces of weary waterfowlers in many areas of the nation. Snow, wind, rain and cold—now that is the weather that warms the heart of a waterfowler! Hope springs eternal, as they say.

Hello, folks, and, as always, welcome to Waterfowler.com.

Just a few weeks remain of both the regular waterfowl season and the opportunity to get your name in the hat for the latest WFC Hunting Adventure Sweepstakes, a once-in-a-lifetime waterfowl hunt in South Africa. Become a member of WFC before January 31, 2004, and you will be automatically entered in the drawing for a 5 day / 4 night hunt with Game Bird Safaris in South Africa. Current members are automatically entered; see our home page for full details. Continue reading

Christmas is fading into memory and the year that was 2003 is all but gone. So what will the New Year bring?

Hello, folks, and, as always, welcome to Waterfowler.com.

Waterfowlers across the country hit the field last week to knock the shine off their new toys. For some, Santa brought fresh batches of ducks and geese while the holiday left others wondering if part of their wish list was lost in the mail. But a new year is just ahead and there is still plenty of time for the birds to make up for some earlier slow days. Continue reading

‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the camp, the gun dogs where snoring, all muddy and damp.

Members were pacing from reports they had got, migrants were moving on cold winds they’d caught.

With mouse buttons clicking in the glow of blue screens, members were posting like you’d never seen.

Come mallards, come pintails, teal and geese, on widgeon, on gadwall and spoonies the least.

Their wings they will whistle and hens will quack, you’ll never sleep now, well, maybe a nap.

So hang up your waders and nestle in bed, dream about decoys and big green heads.

As the season continues and we wait for this night, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good flight!

— Happy holidays from the entire WFC staff.

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Old Man Winter is making an early appearance in much of the US and the onset of the season has hopes running high for a big push of birds in time for the Christmas Holiday.

Hello, folks, and, as always, welcome to Waterfowler.com.

Thanks to the ongoing efforts of the National Wildlife Federation and many supporting organizations, waterfowl hunters can rest easier this holiday season as President Bush abandonned a rulemaking-plan that would strip isolated wetlands of protections provided by the Clean Water Act. Details of the Bush Administration decision can be found on the WFC homepage. Continue reading