John Flores: La. waterfowl hunters should be ready for changes

I moved to the state of Louisiana 37 years ago, and as a result of that decision became an avid duck hunter, never missing a season. The thing about growing old, depending on how long you live, you have history that often spans a couple generations.
In any span of time, you see things and learn things. Your beliefs change. And sometimes change is hard.
After annually reading statistics, reviewing biological studies, and covering stories in the field where I’ve gotten firsthand information through interviews from professionals, I believe it’s possible the glory days of duck hunting may be behind us.
That’s not to say limits won’t be had going forward. Some guys always seem to find the “X” where ducks want to be. What I mean is simply there are real factors scientifically proven that seem to point out there are fewer ducks migrating to our state for the winter.
Point of fact, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has conducted Mid-winter Surveys annually for over two decades. Based on that data, during the five-year period from 1996-2000, Louisiana on the average wintered 60% of all ducks in the Mississippi Flyway. Statistically, 60% reflected 3.820 million ducks.
However, from the most recent five-year period, 2016-2020, the data revealed only 40% of all Mississippi Flyway ducks now winter in Louisiana. That’s the data. The anecdotal seems to reflect the science.
Hunter Andras, a Chackbay resident and avid duck hunter, hunted public land 95% of the time throughout Louisiana this season. Through this week, Andras says he has made a total of 27 hunts with one weekend left to go that he plans to spend hunting ducks in Oklahoma.
Andras said, “This season has been a head-scratcher for sure. It started out strong and slowly declined. We harvested more quality big ducks, but the numbers were not abundant. Even though last year was the largest decline I’ve ever seen in numbers, this year exceeded that. It honestly looks like migration patterns are changing and birds are not pushing south like they need to.”
This week, I made a hunt with Bill Lake, owner/operator of Bayou Guide Service. Lake fishes from spring to fall, but winters he spends duck hunting in the marsh south of Gibson. One of the things he pointed out was the lack of subaquatic grass. Normally, the ponds in the marsh he hunts is carpeted with thick vegetation. The absence of plant-life in some areas seems to be a result of a record number of hurricanes this past year.
Lake and I limited on our hunt, but one thing stood out. Every duck we killed was a Ring-necked Duck, which are a beautiful diving duck species.
During the December aerial survey conducted by the LDWF, the department estimated some 2.21 million ducks in the state. That number was 14% below last year’s December survey and 21% below the long-term December average of 2.79 million ducks.
What’s interesting is, of the 943,000 ducks estimated in the southeastern part of the state during December’s aerial survey, 605,000 or nearly two thirds were diving ducks. Much of the southeast during the glory years was considered dabbling duck territory, where Mallards, Widgeon, Green Winged Teal and Gadwall were abundant. That has now changed where Ring-necked Ducks, Scaup and Canvasback are abundant in the region.
Morgan City resident Mike Helper is yet another passionate duck hunter. Helper hunts private land between the Atchafalaya River and Wax Lake Outlet. Helper mentions he has had above average teal seasons the last two years because they have had significant amounts of natural forage. However, he says due to multiple hurricanes this past year they lost 95% of the aquatic grasses in their ponds.
Helper says he was able to be successful by finding food sources, hunting the flyways ducks were using to get there, and using large spreads of decoys. The tactic paid off where he was able to “pick off” a few ducks.
Helper said, “On days with fronts pushing through I’d change patterns to north to south flyways and hunt birds passing though large decoy spreads. We mainly killed Blue Winged Teal, Gadwall and Mallards were second, and Green Winged Teal were third.”
Another statistic, where ducks are concerned, is wintering Mallards. During the 1996-2000 Mid-Winter Survey, 29% of Mallards in the Mississippi Flyway wintered in Louisiana. In the most recent 2016-2020 survey, only 6.9% of the Mississippi Flyway Mallards now winter in Louisiana.
The LDWF Wildlife Management Areas Hunter Participation/Harvest Summaries from the Atchafalaya Delta opening days of November and December’s first and second duck season splits reflect these low Mallard numbers.
Back in November on opening day there were 496 actual bag checks conducted by LDWF biologists. Mallards made up a paltry 2% of the ducks harvested. On opening day of December’s second split, where 138 bag checks were conducted, 8% of the ducks harvested were Mallards.
Though there was a slight improvement from November to December with only 1.3 birds harvested per hunter on opening day of the second split, essentially only 10 or 12 ducks bagged were Mallards.
Low waterfowl numbers aren’t limited to ducks. Greater White-fronted Geese or speckle belly numbers have also been in decline.
Mid-winter surveys of White-fronted Geese during the 1996-2000 five-year average indicated 80% of this species made Louisiana their winter home. However, the most recent 2016-2000 survey revealed only 18% of speckle bellies winter in Louisiana.
Outfitters like John Saucier, owner/operator of Sportsman Charters in Gueydan, have been highly impacted by these precipitous declines. This year has been no exception.
Saucier said, “It’s been a tough year for sure. It’s been up and down. I think a lot of factors hurt us this year. For one, the main reason I think is the 16-day Arkansas early speckle belly season that started Oct. 31 and ran through Nov. 16. That change really crippled us if you ask me — on geese anyway.
“Other factors are Sabine being closed,” Saucier continued. “Nobody really knows what we have. That’s over 100,000 acres. Our birds are so much smarter when they get south of Arkansas. And, I would say it’s because of pressure. I’ve been doing this a while now and our numbers are down 25%.”
Other changes that have occurred over the 37 years I’ve hunted ducks and geese in Louisiana have to do with agriculture, coastal land loss, hurricanes and hunting pressure.
When I made my first goose hunt in Louisiana over 25 years ago, there were rice fields from Erath all the way to Lake Charles. Now sugarcane is on the doorstep of Gueydan — the “Duck Capital of America.” Sugarcane has no redeeming wildlife advantages as a crop.
Another issue is coastal land loss. In spite of strides being made to reduce wetland loss using BP Horizon Oil Spill money, Louisiana’s coastline is still imperiled.
Lake pointed out small islands on the marsh he hunts that continue to get smaller and smaller with each passing year. The impact of coastal flooding from storm surge and saltwater intrusion continues to plague our coastline.
Hunting pressure and climate change are also factors that have impacted migration patterns. Ducks need a place to eat, preen and rest. Areas with high pressure cause ducks to change migration patterns.
While hunting ducks and geese in Oklahoma during New Year’s weekend, one of the guides told us they haven’t really seen a big push of ducks from further north yet. This surprised me, since we were 600 miles northwest of my home in Louisiana. He was talking about birds coming down from Kansas and Nebraska.
Essentially, big quality ducks such as Mallards, Gadwall, Widgeon and Pintails were still being harvested well north of us, with only a few weeks left in our Louisiana duck season.
Andras said, “I’m really hoping for a pattern change even if it’s 10-years down the road to teach my kids the traditions I learned. But, it’s hard to predict if we will ever have the glory days we’ve all had a chance to experience.”
Where ducks are concerned, times have changed for Louisiana’s waterfowl hunters. Whether or not things get worse in years to come remains to be seen. One thing for sure, they better get used to change.