I have been hunting waterfowl in Oregon for 40 plus years, this season for me, and I expect others have been extremely slow, sure I have had good shoots, but overall much more challenging than in the past, I guess that’s why they call it hunting. I hunt mainly Sauvie’s 3- 4 days a week most of the season, with an occasional trip on the north coast or Umatilla area. Not whining (but kinda) Is this due to a slow migration, mild winter or other causes? I am sure we will hear more answers during our spring surveys for what that’s worth. I always feel successful when I get out whether I get a limit or skunked, just enjoy being out, but concerns on lack of birds. I hope others are having better success than myself.
Waterfowl thoughts
Wheeler@nehalem
21 - 40 of 78 Posts
I couldn’t find that polar vortex photo but I’m still searching. However, I did find an interesting GPS data of a mallard that was tagged Arkansas and migrated to the NW territories. From reading the article, the mallard followed a couple of storms to the Pacific Flyway and continued south until it was harvested in Arkansas.
To me, this year was weird but definitely climate affected.
![Image]()
To me, this year was weird but definitely climate affected.
Ridiculous. The last 20 seasons have been great. The season structure should not allow waterfowling in Feb. Pair bonds are formed. We already get 107 days. If we have an off year, so be it. Climate change has ZERO to do with it. Western Oregon deals with a lot of photo period migrants. They come regardless.
All estuaries plugged full of ducks. Zero lack of birds. They aren’t flying like normal. Full Moon, zero weather last 9 days culprit. Birds dry feeding at night, loafing all day.
Joined
·
1,120 Posts
I will never support this.
The biology of the birds hasn’t changed.
Killing them when the hens are preparing to migrate and lay eggs/sit on nests and the pair bonding is happening is not a good idea.
Some of these ducks have been shot at for 5 months, that’s long enough.
I agree sprigdog/the-next-one. While this season wasn't great by any stretch of the imagination, there's no way the season should run longer. In fact it should be done by about now, IMHO. It used to end around the 15th.
FWIW - My "indicator pond" still hasn't got any Wigeon. A few years back they showed in February.
On a personal note, my shot per bird ratio is great. It's easy when you only shoot a few times per trip........
FWIW - My "indicator pond" still hasn't got any Wigeon. A few years back they showed in February.
On a personal note, my shot per bird ratio is great. It's easy when you only shoot a few times per trip........
For clarity, the Feds set basic season structure.
ODFW only works within framework set by Feds.
Jan 31 is end of regular season. End of story.
To be honest, I don't know how the vet hunt ended up in Feb.
I see birds paired up in Early December. This becomes more of the norm by Xmas.
Hunting only takes a small piece of the population. Habitat and predators are the big driving factors.
ODFW only works within framework set by Feds.
Jan 31 is end of regular season. End of story.
To be honest, I don't know how the vet hunt ended up in Feb.
I see birds paired up in Early December. This becomes more of the norm by Xmas.
Hunting only takes a small piece of the population. Habitat and predators are the big driving factors.
Joined
·
3,183 Posts
This year was slower for me, birds around but tough. Last year we had enough wigeon we had limits in time for breakfast, this year not so much.
Joined
·
827 Posts
On the private ground that I have the privilege to hunt, we have harvested a quarter of the number of birds we got last year, in the month of January. This month of mild weather gives a whole new meaning to the term "dry January."
Went out east over the weekend to see if we could find hungry birds flying the big river in the (late!) cold snap. First outing was a bust - six hunters one bird. Second outing was better - three guys just a handful short of a three man limit - but we padded the total with a handful of buffies. Once again, on the drive along I-84 I saw lots of birds on the river, just not a lot flying.
Agreed that season should end in January. And it's not a population crash - data does not indicate that. It's tough weather. And the trend is not encouraging. I like the observation above about migration - birds to react to the daylight, and when days get shorter, the birds fly south. And early mid-season is good when new birds arrive. But cold, blustery, wet weather makes the back half of the season. And this season - no weather = lousy hunting.
Went out east over the weekend to see if we could find hungry birds flying the big river in the (late!) cold snap. First outing was a bust - six hunters one bird. Second outing was better - three guys just a handful short of a three man limit - but we padded the total with a handful of buffies. Once again, on the drive along I-84 I saw lots of birds on the river, just not a lot flying.
Agreed that season should end in January. And it's not a population crash - data does not indicate that. It's tough weather. And the trend is not encouraging. I like the observation above about migration - birds to react to the daylight, and when days get shorter, the birds fly south. And early mid-season is good when new birds arrive. But cold, blustery, wet weather makes the back half of the season. And this season - no weather = lousy hunting.
Joined
·
587 Posts
Yep, you are spot on with your post. Lack of weather for sure put a hurt to the end of the season. Skunked for the first time this year last Sunday.
Joined
·
51,961 Posts
Not cold enough, too much food up north. If the birds aren't hungry, they're not going to move. Same thing every year..
It's not so simple as "Too Warm" (Or whatever excuse you wanna pick).
Salt Lake had a ton of water added into it in the last few years. Which pretty much always helps ducks. This is a vast piece of water that supports astounding numbers of ducks. Add in better food, and the birds will find it. They have been stopping there for thousands of years. They will find it.
California got a ton of water the last few years. So much so, that they went from planting 80,000 acres of rice (Pretty much the best crop for ducks calorie wise) to 500,000 acres. Plus a bunch of wetlands that were previously dry (Read "Plants grew there in huge volume" Which is duck food) flooded. The volume of habitat and food available there is hard to comprehend unless you have flown over the region over the last few years.
S OR/NO CAL have lost a ton of important wetland acres. Klamath is well documented over last 30 years. As is Tule. These waters used to support MILLIONS of birds. Which are now going elsewhere. If you take away the places they have gone for a a thousand years, they are gonna bail eventually. We have also lost a ton of water from Summer Lake CA/OR/Nevada border. All of which used to be loaded with birds.
Add in a warm and very importantly dry (If snow buried feed, ducks will hang out for a few days waiting for a melt. But past that, they gotta migrate to food) winter. I have seen several times when E OR/WA/ID got widespread snow, and a few days later, the West side gets a ton of fresh ducks. Never happened this year.
IMO, a lot of the birds stopped their initial migration in Canada. And stayed there, as warm weather didn't force them to move any farther South. Why so many birds short stopped this year is a mystery to me. But I would bet with good confidence we will begin to hear crazy good hunting reports from areas that traditionally peter out in before Xmas. It's well known that ducks love to hang out at the freeze line (So long as food doesn't get buried in snow....which it usually does at some point).
The thing that shocked me most was the lack of wigeon. They predicted a 55% population increase on them. Which makes for a ton of yearling (Easy to fool into decoys) birds. The lower river usually holds a bunch of wigeon. And it did this year.....but it sure as hell didn't see 50% more than were there last year (Or previous seasons). I can only speculate that they stopped short, and never came this far south. Someone had a helluva year on those yearlings. But it wasn't me.
Considering how reliable my usual spots have been for the last 30 years, and how slow they have been all season, all I can say is this year is an anomaly. I fully expect next year, we will go back to seeing our regular amount of traffic in areas we always have. The last 10 years have been great for me. Even though numbers on paper are declining.
If we see a 3 bird limit on pins next year, I would be astonished if my average doesn't go up. I pass on more pins than teal...or spoons....or divers (Save lower river).
Lots to look forward to.
Salt Lake had a ton of water added into it in the last few years. Which pretty much always helps ducks. This is a vast piece of water that supports astounding numbers of ducks. Add in better food, and the birds will find it. They have been stopping there for thousands of years. They will find it.
California got a ton of water the last few years. So much so, that they went from planting 80,000 acres of rice (Pretty much the best crop for ducks calorie wise) to 500,000 acres. Plus a bunch of wetlands that were previously dry (Read "Plants grew there in huge volume" Which is duck food) flooded. The volume of habitat and food available there is hard to comprehend unless you have flown over the region over the last few years.
S OR/NO CAL have lost a ton of important wetland acres. Klamath is well documented over last 30 years. As is Tule. These waters used to support MILLIONS of birds. Which are now going elsewhere. If you take away the places they have gone for a a thousand years, they are gonna bail eventually. We have also lost a ton of water from Summer Lake CA/OR/Nevada border. All of which used to be loaded with birds.
Add in a warm and very importantly dry (If snow buried feed, ducks will hang out for a few days waiting for a melt. But past that, they gotta migrate to food) winter. I have seen several times when E OR/WA/ID got widespread snow, and a few days later, the West side gets a ton of fresh ducks. Never happened this year.
IMO, a lot of the birds stopped their initial migration in Canada. And stayed there, as warm weather didn't force them to move any farther South. Why so many birds short stopped this year is a mystery to me. But I would bet with good confidence we will begin to hear crazy good hunting reports from areas that traditionally peter out in before Xmas. It's well known that ducks love to hang out at the freeze line (So long as food doesn't get buried in snow....which it usually does at some point).
The thing that shocked me most was the lack of wigeon. They predicted a 55% population increase on them. Which makes for a ton of yearling (Easy to fool into decoys) birds. The lower river usually holds a bunch of wigeon. And it did this year.....but it sure as hell didn't see 50% more than were there last year (Or previous seasons). I can only speculate that they stopped short, and never came this far south. Someone had a helluva year on those yearlings. But it wasn't me.
Considering how reliable my usual spots have been for the last 30 years, and how slow they have been all season, all I can say is this year is an anomaly. I fully expect next year, we will go back to seeing our regular amount of traffic in areas we always have. The last 10 years have been great for me. Even though numbers on paper are declining.
If we see a 3 bird limit on pins next year, I would be astonished if my average doesn't go up. I pass on more pins than teal...or spoons....or divers (Save lower river).
Lots to look forward to.
I hunted my all time favorite spot on the big water today. Normally this spot is good. Especially the last week of the season. I brought home two birds. I had several groups work the decoys, then leave. Not their first rodeo. I did let a big bull Canvasback land right in the kill hole, 25 yards. What a cool bird. I'm glad I didn't shoot. I sure wish Mergansers were a separate limit. I shoulda shot a few anyway.
I think that's a wrap for me.
I think that's a wrap for me.
Joined
·
8,004 Posts
If they did, they are being awful tight lipped about it. I have probably less than a dozen wigeon I have killed this year, and the usual number is over 50. I don't know any hunters on the pacific flyway that are beating up the wigeon.
I got a few baldpate. Lower river... it's hard to not kill some. Seen some good wigeon number days on the island since December. Lots of flights coming off lower river (Flight ducks up in the stratosphere. All flying same direction). Ran into a few wigeon last weekend in Washco. Not epic. But a good chunk of the bag. But not great numbers like you would expect in a good brood year.
My guess is they stopped in Canada. Weather was warm til December. Maybe they went to Utah or California after that.
We got a decent push of birds in early November. Those early birds fly on photo period. It might be 70F, but you can bet a push is coming last few days of Oct/First week of Nov. Since the big freeze hit the middle of the country, I haven't heard any epic reports of fresh birds bombing in.
Maybe weather was so stale region wide that local birds (Educated ducks that don't play nice) simply stayed in one spot all season. But that doesn't explain the overall lack of traffic. Idaho/E OR/WA didn't freeze up til January. And there's still no snow to bury feed.
The feds are ok at population guesstimates. And they didn't predict a 30-50% collapse across the board. Add in the Boreal region (They make a ton of pacific flyway birds up there and in Alaska) had decent nesting conditions last spring.
Had the bird flu got them, there'd be reports of dead birds everywhere. Like we saw on squeaky geese a couple years back.
They are able to fly a long ways (Pintails nest in the middle of the continent, and fly here....from North Dakota/Manitoba/Saskatchewan).
They just didn't come here this year. In large numbers.
In the midwest, there are planes that fly over refuges that count birds. Does that happen here? If so, anyone have links to that data?
Joined
·
2,640 Posts
I know they do fly-over counts on Sauvies, not sure where else they do. I don't know a way to see those results or even if they're published.
Joined
·
4,038 Posts
Side note. Roger's has some cheap ammo deals right now. Cheapest I've seen in years FYI.
![Image]()
![Image]()
rogerssportinggoods.com
12 Gauge 3" 1 1/4oz 1450FPS Speed Shok Waterfowl Loads, Case of 250
Find Federal 12 Gauge 3inch 1 1/4oz 1450FPS Speed Shok Waterfowl Loads at Rogers Sporting Goods. Always Free Shipping over $99!
rogerssportinggoods.com
Joined
·
1,324 Posts
I really think they should extend the season one week for the hunters like me that Suck at Duck hunting. They could call it Suck-a-Duck week. How much are sucky duck hunters going to hurt the population anyway? I bet no birds would die. They would just get a little smarter....
Joined
·
4,038 Posts
Feb 1st is a hunt day for veterans in Oregon.
Joined
·
827 Posts
Well . . . this season was a bummer. (Ammo discounts are the silver lining I guess.)
But I heartily subscribe to the notion that you can't win if you don't play.
So I'm gonna get out my long-johns and drag out the dekes for ONE LAST JOB this weekend, and see if I can put a duck on the strap.
And if I don't succeed, I'll enjoy the sunrise and a hot lunch with friends.
And in 9 months . . . we'll do it all over again!
But I heartily subscribe to the notion that you can't win if you don't play.
So I'm gonna get out my long-johns and drag out the dekes for ONE LAST JOB this weekend, and see if I can put a duck on the strap.
And if I don't succeed, I'll enjoy the sunrise and a hot lunch with friends.
And in 9 months . . . we'll do it all over again!
21 - 40 of 78 Posts
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
