The thoughts of the past waterfowl season now linger in the minds of those who live for the right to slap on waders and hit the duck hole.
To some, the season became a success. To others, it was a brutal let-down.
Early reports of rain in the key breeding grounds had many duck hunters gleaming with pictures of hunts that would end with a limit of greenheads. But that picture never developed.
Rob Olson, Director of U.S. Operations for Delta Waterfowl, said he wasn’t surprised at all when the duck season never materialized.
“It’s true the breeding grounds received good precipitation last spring, and I have to admit we were at first hopeful that production would be improved,” said Olson. “But those hopes evaporated as quickly as most of the water.”
Early season reports did look promising, but unfortunately, it’s the late season reports that count. Many hunters never got word of the drought that took place after the rain came. This left the hunters grasping for something that never quite took place.
“I cringed when I read glowing reports about the great fall flight that was coming,” said Olson.
“Based on what? Even after the blizzard, the May pond count across prairie Canada-where most of the ducks settled last spring-was just five percent above the long-term average,” said Olson. “By July, the pond count in Canada was 16 percent below average.”
Obviously, many of us Southern boys didn’t get the message.
Waterfowl forums posted scores of messages reading, “ducks are here, time to start shootin’ away!”
And that was true. The only problem was that those ducks call Mississippi home all year long. Hunters were simply killing local ducks with a small mixture of migrating birds.
Many hunters on the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Waterfowl Forum reported no sign of a migration.
Many others voiced that this season was the worst in a long time, and others reported it just average.
This season was a bust for many, but a bad day of hunting is better than a good day of school.
We can only hope for a successful breeding season and a little rain when the time comes. But until then, we can just be thankful for the right to hunt those flying frenzied things.
Rank your waterfowl season:
Five-Smoked ’em
Four-Got my limit
Three-Killed a few
Two-Got a Merganser
One-Should ha’ slept in
Send your votes to Jake Fagan at [email protected].