quote:That theory is certainly plausible. My only question is how do you explain why this is only happening on the Eastern flyway? Surely there are people in the upper part of the central\Mississippi flyway doing the same thing, but how do the ducks still make it down to Mexico?
Originally posted by bossdog1Duck hunting in this state has been in a steady decline for over 30 years. The population migration to the coast has disrupted and impacted the Eastern Flyway migration significantly for the most Southern coastal states. Many acres of farmland in coastal Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia have learned to short stop the migration by keeping food forage at a premium during our duck season in Nov., Dec., and Jan.
quote:
Originally posted by skinneejquote:That theory is certainly plausible. My only question is how do you explain why this is only happening on the Eastern flyway? Surely there are people in the upper part of the central\Mississippi flyway doing the same thing, but how do the ducks still make it down to Mexico?
Originally posted by bossdog1Duck hunting in this state has been in a steady decline for over 30 years. The population migration to the coast has disrupted and impacted the Eastern Flyway migration significantly for the most Southern coastal states. Many acres of farmland in coastal Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia have learned to short stop the migration by keeping food forage at a premium during our duck season in Nov., Dec., and Jan.
They don’t have to. The entire Mississippi flyway is an impoundment. Nothing but flooded agru fields. There’s alot less feeding opportunitys on the eastern flyway since the down fall of the rice plantations. It’s kind of like fishing in a mudpuddle while your friend has all the fish in a bucket.
quote:So your theory is that ducks in the central flyway know what food is available all the way down the flyway before they get there and can make a proactive decision to just "go for it" knowing that they will find food along the way, whereas the ducks on the East Coast know that there isn't as much food to the south and
Originally posted by freedomfisherquote:
Originally posted by skinneejquote:That theory is certainly plausible. My only question is how do you explain why this is only happening on the Eastern flyway? Surely there are people in the upper part of the central\Mississippi flyway doing the same thing, but how do the ducks still make it down to Mexico?
Originally posted by bossdog1Duck hunting in this state has been in a steady decline for over 30 years. The population migration to the coast has disrupted and impacted the Eastern Flyway migration significantly for the most Southern coastal states. Many acres of farmland in coastal Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia have learned to short stop the migration by keeping food forage at a premium during our duck season in Nov., Dec., and Jan.
They don’t have to. The entire Mississippi flyway is an impoundment. Nothing but flooded agru fields. There’s alot less feeding opportunitys on the eastern flyway since the down fall of the rice plantations. It’s kind of like fishing in a mudpuddle while your friend has all the fish in a bucket.
No. My theory is that there stopping for an easy meal on the Atlantic. Where they have an abundance of easy meals thru out the Mississippi flyway. The increase in northern development of impoundments have an exact correlation with lack of ducks on public waters. The only chance we have is for a northern deep freeze. Which only seems to happen after the season. Pour a 100lb sack of shell corn out and tell me where all the ducks go.
But they have easy meals on the upper part of the central flyway too. What makes our ducks stop and theirs continue?
It’s colder in the Midwest. There waters freeze moving the duck south. It never really gets cold enough below Virginia to push our ducks down any further. Which may have more to do with it than the impoundments. My main point is that because of the Mississippi flyways abundance of available food they have 10xs the ducks whe have. They can afford the ducks that get “short stayed”. And freezing temps will eventually make the ducks migrate south regardless. We are not as lucky to have thousands of acreas of flooded farm land to our north to raise the same amount of waterfowl. We have mostly concrete and steel to our north. So we have a more limited amount of ducks. And they’d rather stay in the safety of a dike that maybe gets shot once a month instead of public waters that get ram shacked every morning at sunrise.