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DUCK HUNTERS ABOUT TO SING SWAN SONG
by Steve McCadams
www.stevemccadams.com
January 28th, 2005

    Duck and goose hunters in the Volunteer State are about to sing a “swan song” with their duck calls. The last weekend of the statewide season is here and Sunday’s sunset will drop the curtain on yet another tough season for the bulk of waterfowlers.

    Locally, Kentucky Lake hunters were hoping for one more blast of cold weather that might end the season on a good note but it appears the weatherman will not deliver. Mild temperatures throughout most of the week have not stimulated duck movement and the forecast throughout the weekend is a continuation of mild conditions.

    With the exception of a few scattered success stories, hunters have endured another below average season. The numbers of ducks were down in this area, due in part to mild weather and flooding along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers that scattered ducks over a four-state region.

    The most recent waterfowl surveys from Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge here on Kentucky Lake and Cross Creeks National Wildlife Refuge on nearby Lake Barkley reflect the trend in duck numbers this season.

    Aerial survey taken last Friday along the three units of Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge showed a total of 100,116 ducks. In times past, the mid to late January surveys have totaled more than 200,000 but the latest survey was 38 percent below the previous count taken two weeks ago and 12 percent below last year at this same time.

    Numbers of geese were low too with only 5,288 counted. The figure is 18 percent below last year’s count taken at the same time.

    Here on the Big Sandy unit there were 30,098 ducks out of the total count. The Duck River unit had 66,548 while the smaller Busseltown unit had a mere 3,470 ducks.

    Cross Creeks National Wildlife Refuge (January 21st) showed a total of 17,412 ducks, which was up slightly from the previous week’s count but still 18 percent below last year at this same time.

    The total number of geese at Cross Creeks was 2,901.

    Meanwhile, a few blinds were bagging mallards, ringnecks, and some scattered pintails, canvasbacks, and greenwing teal this week in Camden bottoms WMA and to the west in the Obion and Forked Deer River drainage.

    A few blinds at Reelfoot were bagging ducks but overall success was down in most areas. There is still a lot of backwater along the Mississippi River that was holding ducks this week and that continues to work against local hunters.

    With thousands of acres inundated with water, the ducks have had a lot of choices for food and rest areas in addition to state and federal refuge units.

    It appears the lion’s share of Tennessee duck hunters will close the books on another season where cold fronts were rare and duck numbers were low.

Steve McCadams is a professional hunting and fishing guide here in the Paris Landing area. He has also contributed many outdoor oriented articles to various national publications.

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