I hope you had a speedy recovery Eric.
Rick makes some good observations as does Phil. I still believe Phil is in one of those last magical places on the Mississippi River and that once the birds get to pool 13 they leave the river and either hit the Illinois River or head back to the Mississippi river around Grafton, IL. But you've heard me say this before. Grafton has in recent years decided to restore some wetlands due to recurring flooding rather than build a flood wall as so many towns on the Mississippi have done trying to alleviate flooding. I believe we are seeing so many ducks in the fall waterfowl counts done by the Bellrose Waterfowl Research Center in this area because of the wetlands. I just returned from a trip to North Western Arkansas visiting my wife's family over the holiday. I had a chance to talk to a couple of my old hunting buddies and they tell me like Rick says the ducks aren't there anymore and places like Bayou Meto are hunted hard by the Duck Dynasty want to be's. My friends are doing there hunting now in Kansas and Oklahoma. So that tells me the ducks are still migrating to get to places like Oklahoma and Texas but more and more are using the central flyway rather than the Mississippi Flyway. Now why is Habitat Flats still seeing the numbers they advertise and Eastern Arkansas is not? Your guess is as good mine.
Rick makes some good observations as does Phil. I still believe Phil is in one of those last magical places on the Mississippi River and that once the birds get to pool 13 they leave the river and either hit the Illinois River or head back to the Mississippi river around Grafton, IL. But you've heard me say this before. Grafton has in recent years decided to restore some wetlands due to recurring flooding rather than build a flood wall as so many towns on the Mississippi have done trying to alleviate flooding. I believe we are seeing so many ducks in the fall waterfowl counts done by the Bellrose Waterfowl Research Center in this area because of the wetlands. I just returned from a trip to North Western Arkansas visiting my wife's family over the holiday. I had a chance to talk to a couple of my old hunting buddies and they tell me like Rick says the ducks aren't there anymore and places like Bayou Meto are hunted hard by the Duck Dynasty want to be's. My friends are doing there hunting now in Kansas and Oklahoma. So that tells me the ducks are still migrating to get to places like Oklahoma and Texas but more and more are using the central flyway rather than the Mississippi Flyway. Now why is Habitat Flats still seeing the numbers they advertise and Eastern Arkansas is not? Your guess is as good mine.