A Look Back at the 2012 Duck Season

The 2012 duck season has come and gone, and while the majority of the season left us discouraged and disappointed, we ended on a high note and had some memorable hunts to close out the last week or two of the season.

Expectations were high going into the season, but the majority of November and December consisted of unseasonably warm temperatures and dry conditions.  We were fortunate enough to get a couple very timely rains in October to prime our river enough to pump and give us a season, yet there wasn't enough to allow us to flood our timber.  I believe that alone would have made a significant difference in the outcome of our season, but what can ya do.  There were ducks in the area but there was very little movement with the temperatures as warm as they were, and more mosquitoes were probably killed from the blinds in November than ducks.  We still got in a few decent November hunts but nothing like we had hoped.

December approached with little relief in sight from Mother Nature.  We finally got a much needed cold push on the 10th that heated things up for a bit, and the mallards seemed to have found our flooded corn like we had hoped.  Even then though, we weren't seeing as much usage and movement in our immediate area that we hoped....and the hunts were still hit or miss.  We still managed to have some good hunts and as always, good times in the blinds with friends and family.

Finally, once the shallow water in the area started icing over around the 23rd or so, we saw another significant increase in duck movement in the area.  From then on through the close of the season, things were much closer to what we had hoped and expected coming into the season.  There were still a few iffy hunts, but the majority of the hunts we were seeing excellent movement in the area, and anywhere from a couple hundred to several thousand mallards were calling our corn home.  I could never get tired of hearing the roar of mallards getting up in waves out of the corn when we arrive in the early hours of the morning, or watching them funnel in after sunset.

We witnessed duck numbers like I have never seen before for the last week of the season.  I've had some big groups of ducks work our spreads before, but nothing like we had the last week where it wasn't unusual to have over ~1,000 ducks working our spread all at once.  Several times we found ourselves not even touching our calls or guns, and just watched "the show."

Lastly, after the last 3 or 4 seasons of saying we were going to take up field hunting, we finally bit the bullet and gave it a try when the ducks were hitting a lot of the fields in the area.  Got some layouts and full body dekes and experienced some of the most amazing hunts I can remember....talk about massive groups of ducks up close and personal!  Didn't have my camera with me in the layout on those hunts, but did get a video or two (see below, more to be uploaded later)

Now it's time to start planning for next season...........!!!!

(click on first image, then use arrow keys to quickly navigate through the full-sized pictures)

The Season That Never Was: Part Deux???

Here we are over halfway into the season and so far this has been one of the more disappointing seasons that I can remember....yes, even more of a letdown than last year, which at the time, I thought was one of the worst seasons in a long time.  Similar to last year, we've had a "perfect storm" of events working against us as we are still attempting to recover from a historic drought.

Although our wetlands are more lush and "ducky" this year than they ever have (with the exception of no flooded timber due to lack of water to pump from in the river), it hasn't been enough to overcome the after affects of the drought.  The corn crop through much of the state of Missouri was abysmal, much of it burning up and never putting on any ears.  There were some successful stands scattered throughout our area, but the dry conditions allowed the farmers to harvest the crops and work the soil over, leaving no waste grain for the ducks to feed on.

Also as a result of the drought, there is very little water in the area on both developed and natural wetlands that rely on rain and runoff to fill up.  We were fortunate enough to get a couple timely rains that allowed us to flood our two fields, but not enough to flood our timber.

The local conservation areas around us have been holding plenty of ducks throughout the year, but beings that there isn't much for food and water in the area, they don't have much reason to move.  To top it off, temps have been unseasonably high, which again, gives no reason for the ducks to move.  We are just coming off of the first week in December where temps have been in the 60's and 70's....unheard of!

That's all my theory, and I'm sticking to it!

All is not lost though....yet, at least.  Recent surveys to the north revealed that there were 750,000 ducks in South Dakota along the Missouri River Valley, and another 500,000 along the Illinois River Valley this past week.  Well over 1 million ducks that have yet to pass through, and the forecast is actually showing a glimpse of hope right now.  The Dakota's were hit with some snow yesterday, and there's more to come through the weekend.  Parts of the states are forecasted to see "blizzard-like" conditions over the weekend, and the mercury will be dropping here in Missouri as well.  We should finally see some "ducky" weather for the first time since the push we had on November 11th and 12th.

We're all still not getting our hopes up with the poor food and water conditions in our area, but some new ducks in the area and colder temps are just what we've been needing.  Would be nice to get a good rain also but that ain't gonna happen anytime soon....but hey, at this point we will take what we can get!