PACIFIC FLYWAY:
If you are in Washington, Oregon, Idaho or northern Nevada it\’s time to get out and go hunting. Hunters in the northern portion of the Pacific Flyway have experienced the most consistent mallard shooting of the season over the past 4 days. Goose hunting remains consistent in most areas with new geese arriving daily.
In Utah, hunting remains slow and pre-freeze panic is not uncommon among hunters in the state. In all likelihood new birds will arrive as hunting pressure increases to the north. If the next front brings ice along with it, expect a rapid here today and gone tomorrow peak season in Utah.
Northern and central California mallard, pintail and goose numbers continue rise. Reports indicate these birds have run the decoy gauntlet to the north and are educated, call shy and wary. Reports deem hunter success is best achieved with very small or very large decoy spreads. Note: very large has been reported at 200+ decoys.
In southern California teal numbers remain strong with mallard and honker shooting best along the Colorado River. In Arizona hunter success drops off quickly east of the river.
CENTRAL FLYWAY:
Over the past 7 days shooting was nothing short of incredible from North Dakota clear through New Mexico. Since the front has passed ice has taken hold in both North and South Dakota. Goose shooting remains fair and ducks are confined to large bodies of open water and the Missouri River corridor.
The frenzy has subsided in Nebraska and action will continue to taper off as ice accumulates and ducks move to warmer feeding grounds. Shooting in Oklahoma remains good too excellent on most big ducks and geese. Reports in Kansas are spotty and range from seeing thousands to nothing. Goose hunting is consistent and ducks are moving in dense, but limited flocks. In all likelihood, the ducks that didn\’t stop in Kansas are those that continued to ride the jet stream as it curled back up into Arkansas with the determined masses being slung-shot off into Texas and New Mexico.
In New Mexico hunter success reached early season high with mallard, teal, widgeon and gadwall. In Texas goose hunting is insanely good and, well, let\’s just say they\’ve earned their star on ducks. Numbers are building daily on mallard, pintail, teal, widgeon, gadwall and the list, as they say, goes on.
MISSISSIPPI FLYWAY:
Without a doubt, the recent storm has severely impacted the number of ducks that will be seen in the eastern portions of the Mississippi Flyway this season. Thankfully the storm passed far enough east before every bird was forced down the Central Flyway and hunters in Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas have reaped the benefits from the recent storm system. Mallard numbers continue to rise in Arkansas and snow goose numbers a multiplying rapidly. With ice building in western Iowa, duck and goose numbers are expected to climb in Arkansas again over the next week. Oddly enough, Arkansas was the first state to see an influx of birds last week — leading us to speculate that most arrived on the jet stream as it curled back north out of the Central Flyway. It wasn\’t until winds shifted to more northern and then westerly flows that waterfowl numbers increased in Iowa and Missouri.
East of the Mississippi River, hunters in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio are shaking their heads wondering if it will ever happen this season. While the recent storm did chase an estimated 100,000 new mallards into the Illinois River corridor, the count is well below the peak migration average. Thankfully, Canada geese continue to trickle down the flyway providing field hunters with consistent shooting.
To the south, mallard shooting is fair in Kentucky and Mississippi with little change expected over the next 7 days. In Louisiana and Alabama, teal, woodduck, wigeon and gadwall continue to comprise the primary bag with pintail fair and mallards low.
ATLANTIC FLYAY:
Black duck and mallard shooting remain fair in New York and Pennsylvania with smaller duck numbers dwindling. Sea duck numbers are steady along the coast north of Massachusetts, with brandt numbers increasing slightly over previous weeks along the New Jersey shore.
Ducks remain low in New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and Virginia with isolated pockets of pintail reported inland. With few new arrivals of big-ducks and lingering woodduck and teal, the outlook has changed little over last week for these central Pacific Flyway states.
Reports are rolling in from North Carolina of wayward pintail providing great shooting in non-traditional stomping grounds. These isolated pockets of birds are providing a welcome surprise for hunters in North and South Carolina where woodduck and teal numbers remain steady and mallard and black duck numbers low. Scoters and long-tails are low with mergansers and bufflehead fair.
In other off beat reports, consistent groups of ringnecks were sighted flying back north along the coastal areas of Georgia and the Carolinas on southerly winds. Woodduck shooting remains excellent through most of Georgia and teal shooting fair south into Florida — where ringneck shooting was excellent and is now fair.
