Duck numbers may be down, but still robust this fall

Published 4:42 pm Saturday, November 3, 2018

Everything is relative and that includes the number of ducks expected to migrate south this winter. Despite a dip in waterfowl breeding numbers, last year’s count was still the seventh highest on record, coming just two years removed from the highest count ever.

As the migration is beginning, that should be good news for Texas waterfowlers. The only questions remaining are will the birds make their way to Texas, when and where?

“Most species were either unchanged from the previous year to down slightly, with pintails and scaup declining the most,” explained Kevin Kraai, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department waterfowl program leader.

The first season opened Saturday in the North Zone after having opened last weekend in the South. The early season closes in both zones Nov. 25 before reopening Dec. 1-Jan. 27 in the North and Dec. 8-Jan. 27 in the South.

The High Plains Mallard Management Unit is also already open and runs through Jan. 27.

With heavy rains in September and October, Kraai said conditions are set up for a good season.

“As a duck biologist, things in Texas for this time of year could not be looking better. Reservoirs and ponds are mostly at capacity or above, rivers are swollen, marshes are full and fresh, and rice fields are full of water. This scenario is excellent for attracting ducks to winter in Texas, and for them to have a successful winter period finding a good mate, staying fat and hopefully having a successful breeding season that will send even more ducks to Texas next year,” he said.

Kraai added, however, that conditions might be too good, giving the advantage to the birds.

“On the flip side, even though we will likely have much more ducks in the state this winter taking advantage of the abundant resources, it typically is a good equation for decreased success and duck harvest for our hunters. Simply, more options for the birds on the landscape to avoid hunters,” he said.

The hope is that a cold winter throughout the Central Flyway will push birds into Texas and concentrate them for hunters. Unfortunately, NOAA is predicting this could be a warmer than normal winter in the northern states. If that forecast is accurate, it could shortstop species like mallards and geese. However, other key species in the Texas harvest should still migrate into the state.

“It could certainly impact our success for white-fronts, snow geese and small Canada geese. Most of the high harvest species in Texas migrate despite cold weather and really like freshly flooded landscapes like we have currently in Texas. Flooding and rain events can be an even stronger migration queue than cold weather sometimes,” Kraai said.

Although mallards are the species most hunters would like to take, they actually rank seventh in the state’s total harvest behind gadwalls, blue-winged teal, green-winged teal, redheads, shovelers and widgeons.

The harvest reflects a number of things, including what species are most likely to show up in Texas in the largest numbers, but also that 55 percent of the state’s duck hunters live on the coast and shoot about 52 percent of the ducks taken annually.

Combined, the Rolling Plains and the High Plains typically produce the second- highest number of ducks thanks to the amount of food available in the Panhandle. The key there is water availability, and even thought much of the state was flooded the last two months, rain in the Panhandle was iffy at best. A little rain can still make a difference there.

“As usual, there is rarely anything resembling widespread rainfall up here on top of the rock. Large areas have seen little rain at all and some small areas received over seven inches. We went from less than 1 percent of the playa basins holding water to maybe 5 percent. Ducks and cranes are already enjoying the new water on the landscape,” said Kraai, who lives in Canyon.

Without the farming of other regions, East Texas ranks well down the list in total duck harvest even though it does have the water. That does not mean hunters cannot have a good hunt if they do their scouting, and that will be the key if it stays wet.

Running alongside duck season is the goose season, opening this weekend across the state. The season runs through Feb. 3 in the West Zone and Jan. 29 in the East. The majority of the hunting is still along the coast and in the Panhandle where hunters can double up on sandhill cranes. While hunters should still see good numbers this winter, getting birds to decoy could be difficult.

“The reports from the Arctic breeding grounds for geese are rather bleak. Researches have been quoted as saying ‘a complete bust in reproduction’, basically, leaving a giant flock of highly educated adult geese winging their way toward Texas,” Kraai said.

Since 2000, Texas duck hunter numbers have peaked as high as 140,000 (2001) and dipped as low as 45,000 (2013). After falling to 60,000 in 2015, the numbers climbed to about 85,000 last year.

There has been a trend in recent years where hunters are going farther in search of wintering mallards. Faced with inconsistent hunting throughout the season in Texas, more and more hunters are crossing the Red River each season to hunt Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska and in some cases as far north as Canada.