All over but the crying....

Carl

Carl

Well-known member
Staff member
Stick a fork in duck season 2014-15.
Goes down as the worst season ever for me since I started this game back in 1997. In fact, I killed more, and more importantly, saw more ducks that first year when I had no idea what the hell I was doing, vs. this year.
Very few ducks in our area this year and I just could never get on the X. Sorta feels like I have lost my groove. Still optimistic for next year, but kinda glad this one is over.

On an ironic note, my buddy got out yesterday, killed a limit of teal and scaup. Passed on a flock of shovelers too. First shovelers he has seen all season. On the way out, he did some riding and saw more ducks than he has seen all season. This morning on the way into work, I saw more birds than I have since before the season opens. Looks like the migration may have finally started. Go figure.
 
Carl, my season was just as bad here in VA. I only shot 6 birds the entire VA season, and I hunted at least 15 times I would guess. I shot more birds in a week in Vermont back in November! Our birds were here one day and gone the next. Scouting did no good unless you moved on the birds that day. Spent the last 2 days on the water and shot 2 birds. Saw some, but much fewer than we expect this time of year, and those that we saw were not going to decoy no matter what. can't compete with a few hundred live birds in a raft within sight of where we are set up. We had fun, ate good, broke a little ice, roughed up a few decoys and didn't get hurt, so it was not all bad! Already talking about what we will do different next year.
 
Same here fellas the worst i have seen since '99. If it wasn't for a couple of fair days in the last 2 weeks the season would have been a bust.
I am beginning to think i do live in fly over country.
 
Carl

We had a slow season as well. Last year was one of the best season's I ever had. This year was one of the weakest in terms of duck numbers. The aerial surveys showed 70k ducks right before the opener. The first week in January the surveys showed 37k ducks. One of the lowest on record I'm told.

Over the years my outlook on seasons has changed. I'm thankful for another year spent hunting with Thomas and good friends. Ducks killed doesn't make or break a season. I think this was my 32nd and the changes since season #1 are incredible. Over the years I've known some guys who were hardcore numbers guys and they don't even hunt anymore. We don't do this to pay the bills or win some Word's Greatest title. We do it because we enjoy the sport and all the diversity it offers.

I ran into a hunter yesterday that has been on the WMAs longer than myself. 40+ years and he's still hunting, artificial knees and all, and we had a nice chat after sunset about how things were and now are. I think it's safe to say both of us are still intrigued by chasing ducks and the time spent with family and friends makes it an activity we will continue to engage in.

On the ride home last night Thomas and I had a nice discussion about his college years and how misguided so many freshman are about their reason for attending college. We frequently drive 2+ hours round-trip and a lot of the times it's just me and Thomas and we simply talk. Now I ask, how many parents get that uninterrupted time with their kids and have a chance to share philosophies on becoming a responsible adult? Not to mention our plans for next season!

Eric
 
Carl,
Wasn't any better up here in my neck of the woods. Never really saw any push of ducks on the Mississippi until after the season closed. The reports and photos were amazing out of central Iowa if you were a field hunter. I shot two woodies and three geese all season. We lost a lot of or season due to the river freezing up in November and I lost all but one day of deer season for the same reason. Like you can't wait for next season and we'll do it all over again.
 
Very good points, I agree with them all.
For me, the disappointment is not really in the number of ducks I didn't kill, but in the fact that we had so few ducks. it was just simply frustrating to be sitting in a spot that should hold hundreds of birds and see nothing. Nothing. Well, nothing but coots.

You are right about changes. Since I started back in '97, the habitat has changed, weather patterns have changed, hunting pressure has increased and it seems that the migration pattern has too, and none of these changes have been good for someone chasing ducks on Mobile Bay.

But I am an optimist and will be right back out there next year!
 
I had some good hunts this year and some real duds as well. But that's about par for duck hunting. The weather patterns this year in Oklahoma was crazy. Seems to me the ducks were a couple of weeks behind on their migration routines. We had one pretty good cold spell for around a week early in the season and then one mid way through the second half of the season. Otherwise temps were above normal. I think it played havoc on their migration times,routines, and paths. I shot 80% Mallards, 15% G.W. Teal, and the rest were Gadwalls and a couple of ring-necks, L. Scaup, Spoonies. We usually shoot a much higher % of Gads than that. Saw very few divers on the lake like I'm used to seeing. I was hoping for a new species for the wall but did get a Gad/Mallard hybrid. I guess it will have to suffice for this year. Already making mental preparations/plans for next year.
 
Bird numbers were good here but in my neck of the woods the pressure has gone up dramatically..Waay too many "duck commanders"...I grew up on the marsh I hunt and when I was coming up in the sport if we saw 5 duckboats in a season it was alot..Now in a 1/2 mile radius of my mooring area I can count over 25 duckboats..Plus the influx of non locals launching at the public ramp is just killing this area.
 
This year was a slow year (to put it nicely) in these parts as Ed stated. We saw some birds but not cooperative birds, they had their sights set on other waters. The birds never really showed up in the numbers we would like to see, partly because of the weather. It went from above average temps to locking the blind in ice the next weekend so I think we were bypassed by a lot of the flights. The geese showed up and we managed 2 decent hunts on them. Nothing like heading to your blind to pull decoys and see well over a hundred geese come off the water around it.....if it wasn't for bad shooting and dogs leaving the blind while birds are locked up we might have shot a few more than we did.

Even though it was slow I wouldn't trade it for nothing. Where else can a person go to enjoy lukewarm coffee and little donuts? Not to mention many of the worlds problems are solved right there in a duck blind, while enjoying the previously mentioned finer things in life!

...and if anyone is looking for them I think all the mallards, goldeneyes, and common mergs are here on the Mississippi! They decided to come back and enjoy our warm January weather!


The planning has begun for next season.............
 
This was the first time in 3 years that wetlands had water in them in my area. They were almost dry before early goose and teal seasons in September, but a little timely rain gave enough water for a decent early season. The wetlands were almost dry again before regular season and a bit more timely rain gave me enough water to hunt. I was able to chip away at 2-3 birds most days I hunted. Never had a skunk till the night before Halloween, but that wasn't due to lack of birds. We froze up that night and it put my season on ice until a warm-up when things started to thaw out. Then the goose hunting picked up in the fields and on the river. The goose shooting held on till the middle of January. The season is over but geese are still around. Any day I get a couple birds is a good day. This season was really full of variables but it was way better than the previous 2 seasons in my area.
 
Well, I had a good year. It was my 30th season. Killed the least number of ducks in Ohio that I have in a long time.

Dealt with the crazy numbers of newbies, and tried to stay out of their way.

Got a new pup and enjoyed watching her figure it out. Did some training,

Missed a few, saw only a few more.

Spent time with great friends, laughed a bunch at myself and even more at them.

Took my young kids out. Taught them some new curse words.

Looking forward to next years lousy season.
 
So, in a year where bird numbers were estimated to be so high, what do you attribute the sub-par season to? We had no late-season pulse of mallards to speak of, and bluebill numbers on the Great Lakes and large inland lakes were low (southern end of Green Bay reports differed significantly). Nearly 90% of the corn was still standing in the agriculture areas in the UP when the season closed...coupled with a nearly three week freeze-out kept birds moing through and not lingering on most loafing waters.
 
I can confirm similar results to Carl's from the other end of the US portion of the Atlantic flyway.

Up here, I think a couple of things contributed to a bad year for hunting while duck numbers were said to be high.

The weather didn't help us much. It was a warm fall and a late migration from what I saw. It was also very wet, which spreads the ducks out rather than concentrating them. This can make for better jumpshooting, but birds that are a lot tougher to decoy, and I almost always hunt over decoys.

At the other end of the season, we had a pretty late ice-up, which is what we count on to move birds to the coast for our late season hunts.

I also did a bad job of picking my days, and ended up hunting a bunch of bluebird days when the hunting was tough.

On the other hand, it was a banner year for woodcock and grouse in my area.
 
So, in a year where bird numbers were estimated to be so high, what do you attribute the sub-par season to?
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For us, 3 things seemed to have changed the migration pattern:

1. Back in 2005-07, the hurricanes and drought that followed killed back thousands of acres of grass beds. Birds got here in 2007 & 2008 and there was no food. So they left and wintered somewhere else. Some of the grassbeds have recovered but we are still at least 2,000 acres less than what we averaged in 1997-2004.

2. Winter seems to be 3 weeks later then it used to be. And milder. It used to be we could plan on getting a strong cold front with screaming north winds every week, pushing in new birds. That just hasn't happened in the last 10 years. This December, we did not have a single morning below freezing. I have a 4-in1 parka I bought in 1997, I used to wear it all season. I bet I haven't worn it more than 3 times since 2006.

3. Hunting pressure has increased. The birds, now restricted to fewer acres of grass, get pounded on by all the duck commander wannabe's that have come out of the woodwork. Everyone says getting new people into hunting is supposed to be good for our sport, but I am beginning to wonder if the balance hasn't tipped too far in some areas, ours included.

In the end, few birds on fewer spots getting chased by more hunters.

So its not one single factor, its a combination of things. Until our grass beds fully recover and (if) winter weather patterns get back to "normal", I don't know if we will ever get back to the "good old days" of 1996-2005 when we saw many, many more birds than we do now, and a greater variety of ducks too.
 
I had the same issue with not able to get into the groove this year. Seemed like we were never where the birds wanted to be, Gear problems and bad decisions. Didn't even hunt for the first 3rd of the season because broken outboard and truck. Managed to get into a few birds on all but 2 hunts but nothing was ever quite right and didn't have any great days. I think something broke on each of my last 7 trips out. I wasn't to sad about this season ending and put it behind me. Now it's mending all my gear and getting ready for October.
 
Nothing like heading to your blind to pull decoys and see well over a hundred geese come off the water around it.....if it wasn't for bad shooting and dogs leaving the blind while birds are locked up we might have shot a few more than we did.

Even though it was slow I wouldn't trade it for nothing. Where else can a person go to enjoy lukewarm coffee and little donuts? Not to mention many of the worlds problems are solved right there in a duck blind, while enjoying the previously mentioned finer things in life!

The planning has begun for next season.............
I have to agree with Mark, even though it was slow I wouldn't trade it. I will say I brought the donuts but it wasn't my dog running around the blind spooking birds that was another member of our group. My dog wouldn't leave the blind! We need to work on that!...LOL
Like Mark said, already planning for next seasons blinds, boats and dog training!
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As long as I can remember...Every time we are told - Banner Year / Record Duck Production / Get Ready / Plan Trips / Buy More Stuff = A season that usually sucks. In 50 years of waterfowling I have done much better when the "experts" say Low Production, which may lead to lower and restrictive bag limits. Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah...

Like calling for a major snow storm and everyone runs to the grocery store. Very good marketing.
 
As long as I can remember...Every time we are told - Banner Year / Record Duck Production / Get Ready / Plan Trips / Buy More Stuff = A season that usually sucks. In 50 years of waterfowling I have done much better when the "experts" say Low Production, which may lead to lower and restrictive bag limits. Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah... .
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That same sentiment came up quite a few times on hunts this season. We had a push of birds before Thanksgiving on that cold snap like a lot of the rest of the country and then it was pretty much dead up until we had another cold couple weeks to finish up the season. Even then the birds were here today, gone tomorrow.
 
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