Why Are All the Ducks Disappearing?

Massive controversy has been brewing in duck hunting for years now about duck migration. Duck migration estimates have shown that ducks are not coming down in the numbers once seen prior to early eras.

Even duck hunting in Arkansas, once seen as the duck capitol of the world, has shriveled somewhat.

Duck guides in Arkansas, duck guides in Missouri, and in other states on the flyway, can attest something is different.

Duck hunters are blaming state agencies, conservation agencies, and outfitters for the decline.

Who is to blame??

Jason Cruise, host of Mossberg's Rugged American Hunter series, takes on the conversation in a transparent fashion.

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[virginiaswampboys]

You may be correct on the fact that it is mostly weather related. However, the “refuges”, in addition to the hunted impoundments, only magnifies the weather problem exponentially. The average duck hunter, especially here on the Atlantic flyway, no longer sees waterfowl feeding in the traditional areas, such as the rivers, creeks, marshes, guts, and swamps. (Generally). The ducks are concentrated in these “legally baited corn ponds “. I once complained that there were no ducks around one season to a state biologist. He disagreed saying… “there are plenty of ducks, we just counted 10, 000 down at a particular spot”. Of course the spot was right next to the largest impoundment corn pond farms in the area. They had the numbers they wanted to see from their flight. It didn’t matter that the majority of the entire watershed was void of ducks. This is the new state of waterfowl hunting.

[jesseauer]

It is likely a combination of factors, but legalized baiting by deliberate flooding of standing ag is unethical and should be banned. Either ban that or allow all forms of baiting. carving out set-asides or special rules for some like this is a serious abuse of the North American model of conservation.
I am glad to see a member of the industry at least showing some concern about this issue. Hopefully others in the industry will follow suit.

[shaneallman]

I have been hunting for 40 yrs. I agree with some of the comments and disagree with some. When I was younger, we still killed lots of ducks during hot winters. Wearing shorts inside our waders and sweating throughout the hunt. There’s no doubt that farming practices have changed and so has the migration destination flight paths but there is something going on way beyond weather and food. Maybe the bird flu but something has made the ducks completely vanish in a very short time. Poor breeding conditions hurt but we’ve had that before. Entire guide services had to pretty much shut down this year because they were only shooting 4-8 ducks a trip with 5-10 shooters. They normally average about 5 ducks a gun all season, every season. The TX coastal prairies struggled, LA coastal marshes and rice fields struggled, AR struggled, MO struggled, Kansas struggled, ND hunters struggled. Was the hunting good in Canada? Yes it was but I can only speak about Mallards, Widgeon, and geese. I posted a FB post on a big waterfowl hunting forum 2/3rds through this past season asking guys how their season was going. 90% stated it was the worst they had seen, especially those that have hunted more than 20 yrs. They were from all different states. You can bet that if they aren’t killing them in the Dakotas, we damn sure aren’t killing them in TX. We had severe cold temps in January that included several inches of snow along the TX and La coast but still didn’t get the push of ducks. I personally am concerned for the future of waterfowling.

[BMD]

The MSFW has shifted more west, I live and hunt in MS and have seen the decline since 2010. We killed them when the weather was warmer and not vary many hard freezes just like today.

When Missouri can flood unharvested corn fields and Oklahoma has figured out ducks like peanuts, there isn't any reason for them to travel further south. Weather is "a" factor but not "the" factor. We need to reduce the duck count to 4 mallards with a 1 hen limit, scale back the season to 30 days until we can see if it's helping the resource recoup.

We can not continue to do what we are doing or ducks will go the way of the quail. The frustrating part is that all that's ever done is "talk/video/podcast discussions" on the same subject "Where are all the ducks"? How much longer are we going to wait to try something to replenish them?

We are going on 15 years of decline, regardless of what the "Feds and State" game biologist say with their same response YOY of " record mallard hatches and numbers". It's just pure BS and the average hunter knows it. We had better come up with a plan quickly and react in the same fashion or it will be too late.

[wowbud]

“Water itself brings ducks” NOOOO FOOOOD brings ducks. Food with water is best. All of these guys acting like baited holes isn’t the issue are the ones baiting. The amount of clubs I know people in and have gone to that these boys BRAG about pure baiting and 2 guys shooting 50 ducks or 10 guys shooting 200 ducks in a day, the issue is this.

[joshgreer]

I agree that the older I get, the more it is about the time that you spend with others. When the federal government changed the law about flooding agriculture fields in the late 90s, the imprinting has changed the duck, and they do not need to fly to find the food sources that they use to .I still love it and the time that I spend with friends.

[jacoblogsdon]

The MAV was the first area to be privatized. Now its central Missouri and Kansas. With Central MO and KS being the corn belt duck haven. The private land duck conglomerates in the MAV have had to reduce the amount of acreage they flood to be able to concentrate the birds. The current model for waterfowl conservation is GREED.

[nelsonoutdoors]

I appreciate you waiting to put the video out. I think you touched on a major factor to what’s going on. It’s a fact, ducks don’t move if they don’t have to. Out here in Utah the last three seasons (especially this season though) we didn’t get a good freeze until after the season, only then is when we had our fantastic push of birds. We’re certainly blessed here in Utah most of our wetlands are open to the public, so I don’t see a lot of what others complain about in reference to outfitters and flooded fields. But what I do see is mostly weather related.

[millsoutdoormemoirs]

Listened to a lot of opinions on this issue. Hunt close to 5 states every year. Rivers, reservoirs and pot holes. Without a doubt, this is the best description I’ve heard.

[blackdog-qz]

Your video hit a sore nerve with me, I'm from central Minnesota and have been hunting ducks for over fifty years, I can`t comment what is happening down south but up here it`s been going downhill for the last 25 years and the old timers would have said it started in the 1940`s. Back in 1993 our duck season in MN was only 30 days long with a 3-duck limit with restrictions, 2024 season was 60 days long with a 6-duck limit with restrictions and added early goose, youth and teal season and late goose season.
Back when I started hunting in the early `70s the USF&W said the continental duck population was at its lowest in history, I can tell you there were a lot more ducks back then and now today we can hunt twice as long with twice the limit.

Yes, climate change is a problem but I'm not getting into that argument, I'm not a demolishincrat.

Farming practices have never been favorable for waterfowl. Drainage has caused two major problems as I see it, first we have lost all are small ponds so no bedroom water for puddle ducks along with no nesting cover. Second problem is where is all drained water going, well some goes into the watershed and ends up in the Gulf and the rest goes into the local shallow lakes that use to be duck ponds but are now small lakes that now hold fish year around and don`t freeze out, what's the problem with that, well fish and minnows eat all the small bug life that is in these lakes. We used to have lots of freshwater shrimp 50 years ago stuck to the bottom of the decoys as you picked up your spread at the end of the day but today there are NONE! You need to remember we raise the ducks up here in the north land and if there is no food in these ponds for the ducking's to feed on there are no DUCKS.

Predators are a BIG problem. As a kid I along with a lot of other people use to trap, we kept the problem at bay, fur prices were good, and you could make good money at it. Today fur has no value at all and in fact most furs you can't even get rid of. Around where I grew up, we trapped fox, mink, weasel, racoon, and skunk yes skunk, I got 12 bucks for my best skunk and a coyote once in a while. Today we have all that's listed with a lot more coyote and now possum, otter, fisher, big cats, and even a wolf or two come through. So, it's no wonder we don`t have ducks anymore that for the most part require dry land to nest on.

[oldguysplaymetal]

I have been hunting for 45 years, and I am a land owner and long-time contributor to Texas conservation programs. Wile there will be multiple opinions on what has caused the disastrous change in migration, one thing is absolutely certain: in a span of just about 10 years, the number of birds migrating to coastal Texas has diminished to a trickle. I usually flood about 15 acres of natural wetland on the middle Texas coast, and for the last 3 years saw literally no ducks, no geese and a just a very rare few sandhill cranes on that property. When I first bought it, I'd kill specklebellies and ducks on the small ponds and flats even when there was just smartweed and pencil grass. Its gotten so sparse that I now travel ~800 miles west to Lubbock to kill geese and cranes. When you factor in how much coastal rice and wet crop has turned into the grotesque sprawl of Houston, its likely we will never again have the kind of hunting here that was so common in the 80's through 2010 or so.

[freerider]

1: Warmer weather in fall/winter keeping them in Canada much longer
2: very dry conditions in prairies cause bad hatching
3: avian flu silently killing many (refuges increase this)
4: guides/leases baiting and piling them up

[hm-yb]

You hit the nail on the head, I believe there's some other issues that need to be addressed also:
-What fields you can legally flood state to state possibly needs to be adjusted.
-It's fun to visit other states and hunting fish, but some midwest states are getting over ran by out-of-staters putting too much pressure on the Ducks, and leaving very few opportunities on public land for residents.

[birddawg]

After 50 years of hunting, farming, & managing land for waterfowl & other game, I could write volumes on this topic. I’ve not only had conversations & debates with waterfowl biologists & forestry managers, I’ve participated in & allowed my property to be utilized in numerous waterfowl & land management studies.

While there are numerous factors that stimulate waterfowl to migrate, and weather is certainly always a major factor a signal for many waterfowl to seek new environs, there are two issues that have had great influence on waterfowl migration in the past 25+\- yrs. First, technological advancement & political policies have made “no till” farming a wide spread & normal practice. Every decade has seen this practice expand but consider that by the early 2000’s, Canada & virtually every US state in the grain belt leave enough food on the ground to feed every duck & goose in North America. Bottom line is unless we are in the midst of the worst winter in history, waterfowl need not travel far to find ample food. Second, WRP & CRP, which farmers, landowners, outfitters, etc… all thought was easy money, has been devastating to waterfowl & waterfowl enthusiasts especially in the Southern end of the Mississippi & Central Flyways. At best these were misguided & mismanaged government programs per the norm & filled with fraud & deceit at their worst. Millions of acres of winter habitat have been removed in these flyways. Food & water sources that had been around for generations either disappeared or where changed to the point where waterfowl either over fly, shifted there routes, or simply choose not to migrate due to the abundance of food now available to the north of historical ranges. Unfortunately waterfowl hunting has likely changed forever in the Delta.

[CADwaterfowler]

Surely you have to mention added hunting pressure as well. Since the rise of social media and the internet waterfowl hunting has been increasingly popular. As Jason mentioned its been about 10-15 years since duck hunting has started becoming more difficult, thats right around the time I starter noticing more and more people doing it. Has this pressured the birds to different migration routes? In my area in southern Ontario we used to harvest plenty of ducks, the ducks are still arriving but they are harder to find and when they get here they know where its safe and stay within city limits.

[josiahwise]

Hunter from coastal NC here. Weather is definitely a large factor, we had several really good cold fronts this year and overall a colder winter than we’ve had in several years and the duck hunting was considerably better than I’ve seen in a while. What caused that change in the weather is the real question and what can we do about it? I certainly don’t have the expertise to answer that, and if this is one of earth’s regular changes we may not be able to affect it at all.

I do think refuges and some works that’s been done by groups like DU plays a role. Refuges keep them safe and it’s not unusual to find all of them holed up in there during the day and only flying out at night. A lot of habitat works is done further north in the breeding grounds and a lot of people are now managing specifically for ducks so they just don’t need to leave as early. It’s certainly frustrating for hunters, but overall probably a good thing for total duck numbers.

Around here there is also a lot of speculation that while the migration is probably not as strong as it used to be, the birds we do get are also more spread out. You hear of decades ago birds just piling in to Lake Mattamuskeet and the few hunting clubs in the area, whereas now we just don’t see that happening as often. But we also have exponentially more waterfowl impoundments now that they can choose to go to so they aren’t as concentrated.

I don’t know what the solution is. I would like to see and shoot more ducks most years, but to me it’s more important that we have plenty of ducks around long term, even if that means I get to shoot less.

[glennjohnston]

Here in Eastern Oregon, the trend is "later" as well. We just got winter the last week of January into February. I live by a reservoir and the ducks just showed up the last couple of weeks. And, the seasoned closed the week before. I have watched this trend the last 10 years or so...my two cents!

[trevorblair]

Here in AZ is seems the migration is just later. Not less ducks, they just don’t show til mid February.

[brittpereira]

Growing up around the Houston area. We were surrounded by rice farms and wetlands today are malls and track homes we once had great duck and geese hunting . I would say loss of habitat in this area is the biggest problem.

[TheBowhunterinNB]

I live in Canada and we have ducks staying year round, something I never seen in my childhood