Where Were The Ducks ??

[Jeff-Widgnwhacker-Wallis]

This was sent to me by Troy Reno from Delta Waterfowl. Thought I would share with all here.

January 29, 2004

For immediate release….
Where Were the Ducks?
BISMARCK, ND—Waterfowlers will remember 2003-2004 as the season that came
in with a roar and went out with a whimper.
Early last spring a blizzard roared across portions of the prairie
breeding grounds providing much-needed relief from several years of drought.
Countless newspaper and magazine articles predicted duck numbers would soar
to levels not seen since the record harvest of 1999.
But the promised season never materialized, leaving many
hunters—particularly those in the South—asking, “Where were the ducks?”
Rob Olson of Delta Waterfowl’s US office says he wasn’t surprised by the
disappointing season experienced by many hunters. “It’s true the breeding
grounds received good precipitation last spring,” says Olson, “and I have to
admit we were at first hopeful that production would be improved. But those
hopes evaporated as quickly as most of the water.
“I cringed when I read glowing reports about the great fall flight that was
coming,” says Olson. “Based on what? Even after the blizzard, the May pond
count across prairie Canada—where most of the ducks settled last spring—was
just five percent above the long-term average,” says Olson, “and by July,
the pond count in Canada was 16 percent below average. The brood index was
24 percent below the long-term average in prairie Canada and seven percent
below average across the pothole region.
“It doesn’t take a team of accountants to predict that average conditions
and below-average brood counts don’t add up to a huge fall flight.
“Besides,” Olson says, “water is only part of the equation. Wetlands
attract nesting hens to an area, but once the ducks settle they need large
blocks of grass nesting cover in order to be successful. There isn’t a lot
of grass across most of prairie Canada, and as a result nest success in many
areas is too low to maintain the existing population, let alone expand it.”
Olson says Delta tried to temper hunters’ enthusiasm by saying it was
“guardedly optimistic” about the coming season, but Delta’s caution was
trumped by persistent reports of a “banner year” of production on the
prairies.
When the promised ducks didn’t show up, another rumor started making the
rounds: Large numbers of ducks were wintering in places like South Dakota,
Minnesota, Wisconsin and Nebraska.
“Hunters were concerned about reports that South Dakota had 50,000 birds in
January. South Dakota did have 50,000 ducks in January, but that’s less
than a third of the 172,000 mallards that winter in South Dakota on an
average year,” Olson says.
“In 1999 South Dakota wintered 154,000 mallards, and in ’97 South Dakota
wintered 530,000 mallards. Hunters from southern states enjoyed great
hunting those years, because there were enough ducks to go around.
“According to the midwinter surveys from 1948 through 2002, South Dakota,
Nebraska and Kansas hold an average of 43.5 percent of all the mallards
surveyed in the Central Flyway each winter. In the Mississippi Flyway, 30
percent of all the ducks inventoried each winter can be found in a handful
of northern and mid-latitude states. This isn’t anything new, it’s been
going on since before most of us were born.”
Olson says checks of Central and Mississippi flyway states have revealed no
unusually large buildups of ducks. “The big fall flight didn’t shortstop,”
says Olson, “it simply didn’t exist, at least not in the numbers hunters
were led to believe. This was an average year, nothing more.
“Unfortunately, hunters were promised a great fall flight, and when it didn’t materialize they were disappointed. I think the continent’s waterfowl
hunters deserve better than that. It’s time for some straight talk about
ducks, and we should start by admitting that one of the reasons for
disappointing fall flights is that we have some serious production problems
on the breeding grounds.
“We continue to lose grasslands at an alarming rate, wetlands are under
siege and predation continues to take a huge bite out of production. Those
are the messages hunters need to hear.
“After all, if hunters don’t understand the problems, how can we expect
them to support our efforts to correct those problems?”

For more information, contact John Devney or Rob Olson at 888-987-3695.

[Jeff-Widgnwhacker-Wallis]

Hey Dick,

Don't tell anybody , but they are all sitting on the Sewer Treatment Plant, gotta love the taste of them birds

Jeff

[JEDJR]

Jeff, very good article. I know the hunters every year down here are sick and tired of a banner year that never materializes. What excuses are left?? We had a real cold winter? We had no hurricanes?? we had plenty of water?? We were told that different farming practices and more agricutiure in the mid-west was short stopping waterfowl?? I agree with Delta, we really need to look harder at the numbers as I dont think they are there. Until we do what we should have done 3 years ago, reduce bag limits and days, we will continue to see this. I dont even hunt ducks anymore unless they fly over my goose spread. I hunt strictly geese because I can depend, no matter what, that the snows and specks will be here every year!

[Jeff-Widgnwhacker-Wallis]

JEDJR,

I hear ya , I also believe that the Predator Management program and Voluntary Restraint program are vitaly important to raise the number of birds.

Jeff