Quote:
Originally Posted by noodle creek
"Natural migration" what is that? Is there a such thing. If biologists are right and we are having record hatches every year what is there to worry about? Animals are good at adapting for the most part, and it seems that waterfowl are doing just fine. The country has changed a lot in the last 30 years as far as farming technology is concerned, and it will continue to change drastically. No matter how hard anyone tries, the ducks are never going to go back to their "natural migration." We hear every year about record hatches, so there are plenty of ducks.
As far as them reaching louisiana, plenty of ducks still winter here. The problem is, 70% of duck hunters couldn't kill them these days even if you stuck them in one of the best blinds around. I killed 1061 ducks out of my blind this year and hunted everyday. I have a pretty good feel on how weather plays into our particular marsh. When the hard cold fronts hit, the mallards would show up for 2 days and leave as soon as it warmed up. Yes the ducks stop up north probably now more than ever, but there are still PLENTY of birds down here. To even talk about 30 and 3 right now is absolutely ridiculous.
Aerial surveys in my opinion are a joke. I fly pretty often in small planes, and it is hard as hell to see ducks from the air. Also, how are you going to see birds in the timber? Surveyors could easily miss one pond or one field that could be holding tens of thousands of birds, therefore making surveys look disappointing.
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I agree with your point about the "natural migration."
Sounds like you have a good place. I have several friends that places like that; they kill limits day in and day out every single year. But, you've got to remember most people hunt in places that tend to be up and down. What everyone saw this year was more down than up. Heck, my lease is usually pretty friggin awesome yet we struggled this year. Another couple friends I know have bang up spots and they struggled too. Overall this was definitely a down year!
Aerial surveys are not an exact science. I look at them only as stick to measure by. Of course they can't count exact numbers. I look instead at the relative change in numbers. And yes, they can't fly over every area but that doesn't mean those counts don't hold some merit. Seems to me this year the counts were spot on. The low numbers were proven to me on the ground.