Everyone always says they "do better earlier." My take on this is simply the fact that, well, of course the first theee weeks or so are going to be best. Birds haven't been hunted for 40 or 50 days yet, and they are simoly just a little bit easier to kill. The last few weeks of the season will be more challenging, no matter when the dates are.
For the most part, IMO, the birds that get here in late Oct./early Nov. are not going to continue south if they aren't being hunted. Of course a few pintail and divers will head to coastal Texas and Mexico, but the greys, widgeons, ringnecks, spoonbills will probably hang around. Aerial counts prove this for the most part. Waiting an extra week may not make a difference, but it certainly doesn't hurt. I may be wrong, but the December count usually shows more birds than November.
I'm a marsh hunter, south of the Intracoastal, and I wish they would have just left the season alone and let it be 2nd Sat in Nov. We have excellent hunts in late Jan. The birds are here then, just can't hunt out of a poorly maintained blind with a few dozen decoys that haven't been moved once since opening day and mojos going everywhere and expect to kill them like you did on opening day.
Last, I feel bad for the rice field guys that aren't going to be hunting for the first week and a half or so. Have to remember that the coastal zone icludes lots of these guys. Have to make opening dates good for everyone. Gray ducks in the marsh aren't going anywhere, might as well wait that extra week and allow everyone to have a good first split.
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