Let's Be Honest . . .

It's bad.  Really, really bad.  Family, club members, and random strangers that I chat with on duck hunting websites are contacting me regularly and demanding explanations for exactly what the heck is going on.  Well, to be honest, I think "normal" is what's going on. 

Okay, so in perspective, we're 14 days into the 2014-2015 duck season.  We killed 48 on the opener, and we've killed a grand total of 51 during the succeeding 13 days.  That sucks, and I recognize that, but from a historical perspective, it really isn't as bad as it sounds . . . at least not yet. 

Here are the facts:  We were holding thousands upon thousands of birds the first week of November when the crew showed up to brush blinds.  However (and this is a BIG however), that flock was composed almost entirely of pintails and blue wings, and those birds should have been gone by mid-October.  And, in much the way that they absolutely should have, they bolted the second week in November.  Then, as fate would have it, a very, very strong cold front hit.  Things froze.  Birds showed up.  Lots of birds.  There were mallards, shovelers, green wings, and gadwalls out the wazoo, and we were holding as many of em as anybody around, right up until the day before season opened.  Things looked good, but its important to remember that one has to view that from the proper prospective:  it was as dry as toast up here, and every wet spot had seven hunters in it.  And so, as quickly as opening morning came and went, the birds made tracks, and we're left holding empty bags. 

So what does all that mean?  Glad you asked.  Here's my observation and belief with regard to why things truly suck for duck hunters in NEA right now:  The birds that were here in late October and early November were our September birds, and they were late.  I dunno why, but they were definitely late.  The second flock that showed up, full of the mallards, GWT, shovelers and Gaddies, were the ones that we're accustomed to hunting during the first couple of weeks of season.  The reason for the extraordinarily high number of mallards included therein is fairly simple:  there just wasn't any water in the woods.  As for why they bolted, I'd give the same reason.  There was no place up here to stop off for a drink without being hammered from daylight to dark.  The mallards we shot were tiny little birds, which clearly signifies the fact that they're not the mid-season flock that everybody thought they were hunting.  That flock, when it leaves, NEVER comes back.  We just didn't hold em like we normally do. 

As for that mid-season flock I mentioned, history dictates that they don't show up until mid-December, but to their credit, they stick when they get here.  After a freeze, they're back the very day it thaws.  They hang around until the last week of January, and when they're gone, they're gone for good. 

My money says to expect a great day of hunting between the 12th and 16th of December, and that the hunting will get better from there until the first week in January.  Here's to hoping that I'm right.