Hunters across the breeding ground of North Dakota and southern Canada this past week were granted a crystalline view of nature. Green shoots of spring stretched skyward through a late blanket of snow. And while hunters took to the field to harvest the final returnees from last falls migrations, next year\’s travelers began to appear – fuzzy, yellow and flightless – in the breeding grounds of the north.
As reported in the Times-Picayne, transition and tension could be found in the human aspect of waterfowling as well this week, with the debate over the use of public lands by private enterprise cropping up in Louisiana as one example.
Delta Waterfowl this week released another statement regarding the questions that surround last fall\’s migration. But as with any issue surrounding waterfowl, the opinions of what happened and (more urgently) what needs to happen in the future are as varied as the species themselves.
Under the threat of another possible El Nino and the continued reality of drought on the prairie waterfowlers may spend more time watching the weather channel this summer than reruns of last falls hunting shows.
North Dakota looks to be in it \’til the bitter end. Reports of fair to moderate success continue to come in from the far north of the state, from Bowbells east. But by and large, Canada is the place to be for May snows of the feathered variety. Large concentrations of geese are still holding in southwest Manitoba and south eastern Saskatchewan, and hunter pressure is light. With some freezing weather forecast to remain on the region through the early part of the week chances are good that the birds will remain.
So with the orchestra warming up and her in the wings, it looks as though waterfowlers still desiring one last go before wrapping up the wild and weird migration of 2002 can still find birds, but time is of the essence.
