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Duck
Hunters Face High Water and Warm Weather
by
Steve McCadams
www.stevemccadams.com
Tennessee's second segment
of the statewide duck season kicks in Saturday morning and it's shaping up
to be a carbon copy of the early segment two weeks ago. That is, warm
weather and too much water.
Extended periods of mild weather have dominated the weather scene both
here and to the north. That alone is not in the best interest of waterfowl
migrations but the real story is the rain and high water.
Too much water. That's what every duck hunter is saying and battling
as the second segment opens. Most hunters were just beginning to recover
from the floods of two weeks ago that damaged blinds, levees, roads, and
various
other aspects of the hunting scene.
Both the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers have been on a rampage this past
week, inundating lowland areas and flooding thousands of acres of row crop
acreage. That means the ducks have a lot of places to go.
While some hunters adapt and change locations with the use of boat
blinds or temporary setups where wading is part of the equation, other
areas suffer and fall victim to the situation at hand.
Locally, hunters are not seeing a buildup in waterfowl numbers in
either state or federal refuges. The same goes for most of TWRA's wildlife
management areas.
A few ducks were using Big Sandy and the upper end of the Big Sandy
bottom above Gin Creek. West Sandy hunters haven't seen much activity
there in the lower bottom but a few ducks were reportedly using the upper
end
where flooded timber and shallow water offered appealing refuge to
meandering ducks.
The story was almost the same over on Lake Barkley as Dover Bottoms
wildlife management area was low numbers of ducks reported using that
unit. Camden bottoms were harboring a few ducks in the open fields but
numbers
appeared to be lower than normal.
West Tennessee has several ducks but most have scattered this week and
headed further west where the Mississippi River is out of its banks. All
along the river are flooded fields where ducks have a Mecca of feeding and
resting opportunities.
"We didn't need more rain and warm weather but it appears that's what
we're going to get when the season reopens," said World Champion Duck
Caller Mike McLemore. "Many of the ducks that were using the Forked Deer
and Obion bottom drainage have moved west to the huge area of backwater
from the Mississippi. Until we get some cold and dry weather, it's going
to be tough for many duck hunters in this area,"
Meanwhile, joining the second segment of duck season will be the
opening of goose season here in the Kentucky and Barkley goose harvest
zone. Both seasons will run through January 31, 2002.
Goose hunters will not have to tag and check in birds this year as
they have in times past. Bag limit will once again be two Canada geese
daily.
No recent waterfowl counts were available from area refuges but
numbers of geese and ducks are somewhat lower than normal. Hopefully, that
will change once rains stop and cold weather finds its way down south.
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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