Bad year
 

Anyone else having a bad year for ducks? According to the migration reports they're still shooting wood ducks in New Hampshire :eek: all the birds around here are local birds, and even teal won't play the game WITH the addition of cork decoys

I've barely been but some of the boys in Canada are having a fair season. Still lots of ducks around here. Though the friends I have in Southern Illinois and Tennessee are getting their share some days.

yes slow here in NH, this cold weather should get them back to the salt water/:corn: scott

I was at Reelfoot Lake in TN for Thanksgiving, no ducks, wore a t-shirt in the blind...

Our season is over here in vermont and we had a fair to good season. Love doing it but think I will now sleep for a month. We probably put about 60+ ducks on the strap. Although reports are for increased blue bill numbers and a raised limit of 4 vs. 2 this year I did not shoot or see any. Unusually large numbers of bufflehead here. Whistlers a little late and intermittent. It is hard to think that given the hundreds of eiders on our Maine hunt that they are not healthy in numbers but the truth you are not seeing thousands which has been the case in the past. The weather is troubling to me for many reasons.

Mine has been really bad so far, as I have not been out yet. We are supposed to get a good invitation in the next few weeks, so hopefully luck will change. The NH and Nice Shot are waiting

It was a strange season in Interior Alaska. The swans were leaving Sept 1, at least a full month early. Our shooting was pretty much over by late September when normally the very best shooting at the big mature northern birds is in mid October. I was figuring the birds knew something we didn't and it came true with a near record cold November and temps in the -40 and 50's in December.

We are experiencing an odd year so far as the early ducks were plentiful and widely distributed. However, now that the big storms have had their run, birds are scarce and some have possibly gone back north. The remaining ones are concentrating on public and private refuges. Northern CA birds will reverse commute to Oregon and sometimes Washington if the fields are not yet covered with snow.....so I've been told by the biologists.

At this point, a very different year than normal with big early rains and not too many ducks killed (as reported by the local picking shed).

Hunters are an optimistic bunch...possibly even more so than real estate agents! We (both) wait in hope.
My wife is an agent (ret.)....no one was intentionally maligned while posting this report. Brian

It's a very strange season nationwide, it would seem

I hunt in central NY. The wigeon, teal and gadwall were thin this year. Hugh numbers of mallards came just before Thanksgiving and stayed until our season closed 12/9. Went out on our marsh yesterday and mallards have left---tons of geese and a few black ducks. We also had more wood ducks this year than ever and they stayed until early December.

At least you had a season :crying: we had nothing but resident birds. We don't get that many migrants this area because of the Sound

NH 10 Inaugural Duck Hunt
 

Took my NH 10 that I bought earlier this year duck hunting for the first time. It was a short but sweet hunt. Dad and I went in some flooded timber behind his house. Lots of wood ducks came in and flew around providing a few good shots. Took just six shells so to not over shoot it. I got two wood ducks and Dad got one. My dog Gator enjoyed it more than anyone and I would probably have gotten one or two more if he had kept still. Clean kills with Nice Shot

Still tons of ducks in this area, the big lakes are full of birds. Season is in across the river till middle of January. I should buy my new Canadian license and start hunting after January 1st but probably won't.

Destry

We have had an abnormally dry year (severe drought) and so the prairies have not been holding birds. The coastal marsh has been good all year and my Grandson and I got to go after Thanksgiving and did pretty good. Should have limited out, but our shooting was a bit off, but seeing my 14 yr old Gson having fun hunting ducks is what it's all about.
http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/...787c49d743.jpg
Our guide Capt Billy, my GSon Kyler, and proud Gpaw!

Absolutely no doubt it's different in Nova Scotia this year. There are fewer blacks around but acting oddly from other years. Whistlers only a few compared to hundreds in our small harbour other years. Geese the same. Always with duck hunting, though, I've been the only shooter hereabouts sometimes and out of my blind 15 minutes after daylight while all the others don't get a shot. My nephew last week had blacks coming ones and twos and could have killed 50. As always, too, I keep hoping before year's end current colder weather will send birds our way.

Destry - Just returned from my friend's marsh this afternoon. Never took the safety off

Big lake is full of ducks by all reports. Couple friends have been hunting and shooting them up every time they go. Too late in the year for me to think about buying a license. Maybe after Jan. 1st who knows.

DLH

That is heck of a nice piece of wood on that NH. Do I see checkered cheek panels? Original or restock? I really enjoy shooting my old NH too.

Still very slow in my neck of the woods too as far as ducks go.

Thank you Pete. Yes there are checkered cheek panels. I have a back log of letter requests, but am looking forward to seeing how this one checks out. It shoots quite well as well.

Well it's supposed to get cold, which'll be nice. Push some birds down our way, or so we hope

http://i609.photobucket.com/albums/t...117_075954.jpg

Nothing but mottled ducks and summer ducks for me so far this year in the lowcountry.

A banded mottled? Wow, that's a rarity. I didn't even know the banded them since they really don't migrate. Where did you shoot it?

Destry

Very slow in eastern NH and southern Maine...

Hopefully it gets better before 1/9/13 (NH) or 1/5/13 (ME)..??

John D.

Dad said he saw 70 or 80 geese fly into the marsh last night, that's a good sign as the residents are becoming nocturnal

They are banded locally here in the ACE Basin. That one was banded in 09.

Pretty slow here in the low country of SC. Started strong around Thanksgiving, grays,mallards , some teal and woodies. Nothing left butt some woodies.Really need some cold weather north of us to push them down.
David

We're hoping for weather north of US :rotf:

getting cold here in NH. seeing more ducks, but now the salt water hunting is getting hard with all the ice being made at night, getting hard to get a boat out, went today with Pete, we got into a few with our EH an NH 10's. might get out a few more times before freeze up. scott

Good ;) supposed to get snow Saturday

I could give you some today, we got plenty :rotf:

We got 5-6 inches dropped on us in a few hours last night. I was out, the roads were awful. I considered walking home they were that bad.