Duck Breeding Grounds Report

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WHERE WERE THE DUCKS?
(HUNTERS WONDER ABOUT WEB FOOTED FRIENDS)
by Steve McCadams
www.stevemccadams.com

If the ducks just knew how much hunters spend in anticipation of their arrival? If they knew how early we rise and how far we traveled. And the long hours scanning the skies, wading mud, and braving the elements of bone chilling winds, heavy rains, and ice.

Leaky boots and cold feet. Saturated raincoats and water down the back. Stubborn starting outboards and trucks or four-wheelers buried in swamp muck.

Would it make any difference? That’s a question often asked by waterfowlers across the nation and especially after a season like the one just passed.

It was a tough one. Many waterfowlers spent the season wondering where the web-footed friends from the north really were? Several states throughout the Mississippi flyway endured a poor season where low numbers transformed into poor harvests.

Portions of key waterfowl areas never saw a big influx of ducks. Although some states such as Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, and Iowa had a flurry of activity early in their seasons, the rest of the year was unproductive.

Mississippi and Louisiana hunters were also singing the blues late in the season when they normally benefit from late migrations.

Frustrated southern duck hunters spent most of the hunting season looking north for birds that never came.

“They were looking in the right direction,” says Rob Olson, director of Delta Waterfowl’s United States office, “but not necessarily at the right time of year. The problem with ducks isn’t so much what’s happening up north during hunting season, it’s what’s not happening up here in the spring. We’re just not getting much production.”

“Hunters need to understand that the duck population has been falling for several years, and with a severe drought on the breeding grounds we likely got very poor production again last spring.”

Olson has heard the rumors about ducks being shortstopped. “They’re being shortstopped alright,” he says, “9 out of 10 are being shortstopped before they ever get out of the egg. We have a production problem on the breeding grounds.”

WEATHER IS ALWAYS A FACTOR

“The preliminary analysis of mid-winter inventory data suggest that South Dakota and Iowa will have their highest or second highest early January duck numbers since the surveys were started,” said Ducks Unlimited’s Dr. Tom Moorman, Director of Conservational Planning at DU’s Southern Regional office in Jackson. MS. “Obviously, neither of these states is known as "the place to go" for January duck hunting.....their seasons close in December. Normally by December their landscape should resemble the tundra. It should not be able to support large numbers of ducks.”

Arkansas biologist Mike Checkett, Waterfowl Program Coordinator, had this to say: “the main factors that were likely responsible for this year’s season are not new, low duck numbers and weather. Because of continued drought, we have witnessed two consecutive years of poor production in the heart of the breeding grounds in prairie Canada and the northern U.S., where many of Arkansas ducks get their start. This produced a diminished fall flight of mostly adult ducks. These adult ducks are "hunt smart" and are quick to find protected habitats where they remain until forced by weather or disturbance to move.”

“In addition, there just were not as many ducks flying south this year as in the last 5 years. Secondly, mild weather conditions and little snow cover throughout the Midwest from early December to early January compounded the problem. Daytime high temperatures extending as far north as the Dakotas were often above 50 degrees. Many ducks, especially mallards, will stay as far north as possible before persistent cold weather, accompanied by ice and snow, covers their food supply and pushes them south. This year, a consistent pattern of very little snow cover and mild temperatures across the upper Midwest once again allowed many ducks to remain there for the winter.”

Reports from the Midwest indicate that there were substantial numbers of mallards and other species of waterfowl in Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, and Indiana in late December.

DUCK NUMBERS WERE DOWN

The winters of 1998 and 1999 were every bit as mild as the past winter, yet hunters in the lower reaches of the Mississippi Flyway killed record numbers of ducks those years.

So what changed between 1999 and this year? Delta’s Olson says the biggest difference is the number of ducks in the population. “In 1999 the mallard breeding population was 10.8 million birds and we had excellent water conditions on the breeding grounds. Last spring we were down to 7.5 million breeding mallards and the prairies were in a full-fledged drought.”

“Hunters’ expectations are based on what they saw in the late ‘90s,” Olson says, “but we simply don’t have the ducks to support those expectations. Gadwalls are down 42 percent from their late ‘90s peak, greenwing teal dropped by 26 percent, bluewing teal 43 percent, shovelers 48 percent and pintails, redheads and canvasbacks all have seen near 50 percent decreases in their breeding populations.”

Another critical element, Olson says, is drought. “May ponds fell 41 percent from 2001 to 2002. Parts of prairie Canada were the driest they’ve ever been and wetland conditions deteriorated in the Dakotas as well. When you start the breeding season with a third fewer mallards (than 1999) and don’t get much production, it’s easy to see why hunting was poor.”

Olson notes the breeding population actually began to slip in 2000 when water conditions on the breeding grounds were still relatively good. “That’s a concern because it suggests there are a number of factors limiting duck production.”

Olson says production continues to be a concern across the prairie breeding grounds, citing studies by Delta, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and other agencies showing a steady 70-year decline in nest success.

“Numerous studies have shown that nest success across the breeding grounds averages 10 percent. That means 9 out of every 10 nests initiated don’t produce a single egg,” Olson says, “and countless studies have shown that the biggest single factor inhibiting nest success is predation.”

WHAT ABOUT NEXT YEAR?

Waterfowlers wonder what next year will bring? Shorter seasons and reduced bag limits could be on the horizon but nothing is official until late next spring when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Canadian Wildlife Service make aerial surveys. Several factors will enter the criteria such as brood surveys, May pond counts, hunter harvest surveys, and more.

Many Tennessee waterfowlers complained this year when the lack of ducks caused many to point the finger of blame at Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency’s lack of food in several wildlife management areas.

Yet extremely wet conditions this spring made planting of crops in lowland areas impossible. And, there were many private hunt clubs that had adequate food yet never seemed to attract or hold large numbers of ducks.

Like a football or basketball team who just came off a bad season, there’s hope that next year will be better. After all, optimism fuels the fire of waterfowlers between seasons so there’s no reason to change the way of thinking!

Steve McCadams
is a professional hunting and fishing guide here in the Paris Landing area and host of The Outdoor Channel's television series IN-PURSUIT.

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