THE Weekend for Ohio Duck Hunters

Regardless of the status of your beard or how you prefer your tea, this weekend we can all be “duckmen”.  This Saturday, October 19^th, is the first official day of waterfowl season for Ohio. Not ‘Early Teal’ or ‘Early Goose’, but the legitimate season that we have all been waiting for. The sound of wings cutting through the sky, the sight of your lab making her first retrieve, or just the time spent with good friends; whatever drives you to hunt ducks, this is your weekend.

This year’s regulations are very similar to the past but with a slight change in geese bag limits. The daily bag limits are listed below.

*Daily Bag Limits
Ducks: Daily bag limit of 6 ducks not to include more than 4 mallards (only 1 of which may be a hen), 3 wood ducks, 1 black duck, 2 redheads, 3 scaup (bluebill), 2 canvasback, 1 mottled duck, or 2 pintails.
Mergansers: Daily bag limit of 5, not to include more than 2 hooded mergansers.
Coots: Daily bag limit of 15.
Geese: Daily bag limit of 3 Canada geese, 10 light geese (snows, blues, or Ross's), 1 white-fronted goose, and 1 brant.

Possession Limit: The possession limit is three times the daily bag limit, after the second day for all waterfowl.
Shooting Hours: Daily hunting hours 1/2 hour before sunrise to sunset for the regular waterfowl season.



Sadie's first retrieve at 5-1/2 months old.
Taken during the WV early season.

This season lasts until Nov. 3^rd. These dates exclude the Lake Erie Marsh Zone. For the full list of seasons and regulations, visit wildohio.com. For some great migration information, visit ducks.org and check out the Migration Map.

If you aren’t familiar with hunting waterfowl, I suggest going with someone who is. The regulations and types of ducks you can and cannot shoot can be overwhelming. Ducks and geese are considered ‘federal’ animals. This means you could be committing a federal offense if you are hunting them incorrectly.

With that being said, this is a season meant for making memories.
Have fun and be safe.

 

The Off Season

This time of year is reserved for cookouts, turkey hunting, fishing, and scouting. Although, it is quite early to start scouting, it’s fun to get out and see what the birds are up to. Similar to turkeys, waterfowl are breeding, sitting on nests, or leading little ones to and from the closest form of water. It is a pretty neat thing to see. Whether you are a hunter or not, no one complains about baby geese marching around parking lots and parks (that’s reserved for when they’re older).

Turkey season is a great way to get outside and is also a good excuse to inspect your shotgun. I usually don’t get greatly overwhelmed by this season, but this year has been fun. I had the chance to harvest a beautiful mature bird on opening day, and a second the day before season went out.  I had a close call, trying to call a bird in for a close friend a few weekends ago, and we’ve had a blast chasing the old thunder chickens. We had worked a bird all morning and finally had him within just 15 yards, but we’ve all been there… he came in directly behind us. I’m sure I’ll write something about it in the future, but hopefully with a happy ending. To hear the full scoop on my opening day bird, you can read my article at the Gallia Hometown Herald, under “Outdoor Outlook”.

With May, comes fishing. After you’ve given a noteworthy shot at a longbeard, try to hit some stripers on the river. May is usually a productive month for Hybrid Striped bass to make a run, and it’s also a great chance to see what kind of birds are in the area.

April was a fantastic month for bird watchers throughout Ohio. Species I saw on the river included: Buffleheads, Lesser Scaup, Pintails, Black Ducks, and Widgeon. One night while bass fishing on a lake near Jackson County, I spotted several full plumage Blue Winged Teal. To me, a full plumage teal is one of the most beautiful birds. They are rare to see around these parts, and their story is just as beautiful as their coloration.

Teal are the last bird to leave, and the first to come back. Cinnamon teal are primarily a western bird, and unless you travel, you’ll never see one. But blues, and sometimes even greens, pass right through our state. In September they start their flight, which leads them to the Gulf of Mexico, Central, and even South America. They soak up the warm weather until early to mid-April, providing us with a glimpse of their spring plumage as they travel through to nesting sites.

Songbirds are everywhere. Indigo buntings, blue-winged warblers, and gold finches are in abundance this year. Magee Marsh, near Lake Erie, has had a number of birders in the past few weeks appreciating the wildlife. Some of these birders volunteer to clean up the park, and help the DNR by removing certain unwanted plants that are poisonous to songbirds.

Get out and enjoy this weather while it’s here. In a few months, we’ll be lying in a snowy field or breaking ice with our waders.

Waterfowl and the Ohio River

“It’s all about the Lake”, Jim said, gazing off into the distant hills. His eyes seemed wise and always in need of finding something. Jim has been a conservation officer his entire life, and now in his retirement, he is constantly searching for the next bird, buck, or walleye. The “Lake” he is referring to, of course, is Lake Erie. If you are a waterfowler, and especially a duck hunter in the Mississippi flyway, his words hold great importance for your hunting season.

 

I live and hunt in southern Ohio. The river runs right through my little coal barge town, and often before the swamps and lakes have even begun to freeze over, we quite frequently choose to hunt the river. Swamps are fun and usually easy to hunt, especially in early season when the majority of our puddle ducks haven’t migrated south yet and wood ducks are plentiful. All you need is a pair of waders and maybe a dog and you can shoot your limit of woodies over a half dozen decoys on any given cloudy day in a healthy marsh. Most wetlands here in the southern part of the state have vehicle access within a mere hundred yards of where these birds roost.

Another great place to get a pile of birds is over a cut cornfield, and around here it’s hard to throw a rock without hitting one, outside of town. About halfway through our early season, farmers start to harvest their corn and leave plenty behind for our tasty, feathered friends. Many Saturdays, my friends and I would get a pizza and a few dozen decoys and shoot birds all afternoon in a freshly cut field. Woodies, mallards, Canadas, and the occasional prized black duck is what we primarily would take, but the true prizes were found on the river.

To hunt the river takes more effort, but the possibilities are virtually endless. The essentials are: a boat (obviously), a dog (hopefully), and a couple dozen floaters rigged for at least 15-20 feet. With a boat comes licensing, lifejackets, fuel, etc. But, with hunting the river comes scaup, buffleheads, redheads, and on occasion, even the trophy canvasback. Of course, none of these are a guarantee but we are talking about hunting; nothing is guaranteed.

The logic is really quite simple, but the devil is in the details. According to the Ohio DNR, as many as a quarter of a million birds can live on Lake Erie on any given day. As the weather gets colder, these birds start heading south, and a great deal of them use the river as a navigational tool, feeding and roosting on it all the way to the Mississippi or wherever else they decide to winter. Birds north of Lake Erie often end up at the lake later in the season, as it is the coldest time of the year. And on the rare occasion (as of late because of consistent unseasonably warm winters for the last few years) when the lake freezes over, those birds are forced to fly further south. These birds are primarily arctic birds, so the cold weather isn’t what is pushing them down, but the absence of water.

Back to the birds who live on the lake throughout the year. These birds are not considered arctic birds, therefore, when the weather becomes uncomfortable, they leave. This means anywhere south of the lake is fair game. The majority of ducks fly the river because their final destination is the Gulf of Mexico or the southern states in the flyway. Either way, the river is their avenue. Common sense tells us that any swamp, crop field, or golf course within a short distance of the river is a good place to find migrating birds. Experience shows us that some of these birds want to stay right on the water. Plus, divers like to dive, thusly, we hunt over the water.

Of course, we should hunt fields, swamps and the river, but often during late season these birds are educated. They don’t like to eat in fields during shooting hours, and swamps are intimidating before the sun goes down. Remember, these birds have been shot at every day for months on their way to your blind. Instead of trying to draw them off the river, it may be easier to take the show to them.

We are not in the best part of the country to kill a massive diversity in species as you would in somewhere like the Dakotas, Arkansas, or down south, but the river has become the pathway for all types of waterfowl to journey south. This past season alone, my hunting companions and I spotted over ten different species in one day. These birds are out there, we just have to learn where they are going and how they are getting there.

 

 

foggy morning on the Ohio R.

 

Jake and his first goose, taken in a field along the river

 

Check One Off the Bucket List

With 50-60 degree temperatures all over the state this past week, hunters found themselves in a strange predicament. Many expected low numbers and low activity, but were pleasantly surprised. Reports from across the state actually appeared to show relatively good numbers still in the area. Although nothing moved quite as much during daylight hours, due to the high temps, there still was a strong population in the region. Most of us expected the birds to have practically vanished overnight, but it seems birds south of us in the flyway were making their way back north, thusly passing right through the southern and central part of the state.

This weekend looks like a great opportunity for some late season action. Bitter cold temperatures that we haven’t quite experienced will hopefully push birds back down. Stay near big water because the birds you see will most likely be on the move. Most small marshes have been shot out by this time of the season, but new birds means new opportunities, so feel free to experiment.  Personally, all my luck has been on the river and near major wetlands. This past weekend, in fact, a personal goal and lifelong dream of mine became a reality.  I harvested my first speck.

If you aren’t familiar with the term “speck”, I’ll explain

White fronted geese, also known as Specklebelly geese, are a distant cousin to our all-too-familiar Canada goose. They are a western and arctic dwelling bird. The majority of specks summer in the arctic, somewhere between Alaska and northern Canada. They either migrate down the west coast to California or Mexico, or they come down the Central Flyway to the gulf. In order to see one in the Ohio valley, a specklebelly has to make some major mistakes.

This particular goose flew into the spread amongst twenty Canada geese. They landed just out of our decoys, and just out of range. After watching the group for what seemed like an hour, I realized one of those geese didn’t have a black bill. About a millisecond after I made this connection, another group flew in but this time they were landing right on top of us. As my brother and good friend (retired Ohio conservation officer, Jim Splete) started to shoot at this new flock I knew it was my one chance at a bird of a lifetime. Then the purest of all luck rained down and I watched my prize fall to the water.

Maybe that was a bit dramatic, but it is exciting to imagine the diversity in the region. There’s only a couple of weeks left and I recommend taking a friend and hitting the water. And to think I almost didn’t hunt this weekend.

 

Foggy, misty morning on the Ohio R.

 

 

My first Speck and a Canada

 

 

 

 On the way back to Ohio the night before. God painted a beautiful sky for us.

Late Season Pressure

Season ended on January 6th for the northern portion of the state, but the south still has until the 27th. This part of the season is probably the most exciting for most of us. Often, this is the waterfowl hunter's opportunity to see rare species, larger than usual flocks, and a higher probability of collecting bands. Any time of the year southern Ohio is fairly consistent in delivering birds. The main catalyst for success is indisputably the weather, and this time of year provides the optimal conditions for a full bag.

Northern Ohio holds the key, to not only the rest of the state's bird population, but also to the potential success of the southern states in the Mississippi Flyway. This key is Lake Erie. There exists a constant population of waterfowl on the lake. It is not uncommon to see various species that many of us would consider "rare" this early in the season. But the rest of the state may never see these birds until Lake Erie freezes over. In warm winters, like the this one, it may not happen during hunting season.

If you look around the web very much at all, you’ll quickly see complaints from hunters who live north of Columbus. They're complaining about the late season’s early end date. What most people don’t realize is that no state has the power to extend a waterfowl hunting season. The federal government mandates, per flyway, how many hunting days will be allowed, and the state simply plugs these numbers into dates they find appropriate and with the most potential to be successful. Many hunters feel like the season puts the north to a disadvantage by starting a week early, and after seeing the unseasonably warm winters we’ve been having in recent years, I think I agree. Nonetheless, the south absolutely needs this final week.  In my opinion, the last week is usually your best chance for success.
 
With the end of a season comes pressure, and lots of it. I started my hunt today in the field I limited in last weekend. There were plenty of birds on the river, but nothing came into the field. Educated birds. For the afternoon I went to “Sandfork Wetland”, a wetland built by Ducks Unlimited and maintained by the state. I’ve had great success here in the past, but not today. After hours, I walked around the marsh looking for spent shotgun shells… found about four boxes worth. Pressure.
 
Without going into hunting ethics (first article after the season will address ethics), the massive amount of shells shows me that I wasn’t the only person taking advantage of the local “honey hole”. This is why it’s important to have a plethora of hunting locations. I try to find a new spot every year, I don’t always find one, but it’s a good thought. Now I know I need to move on to the next location to try my luck. That being said, it was great to get out and enjoy God’s creation today, and I wouldn’t have traded it for sleeping in. I've never regretted going hunting, but I've often regretted sleeping in.

@OhioWaterfowl

Cornfield by the Ohio R. in Gallia County



 

Sandfork Wetland- "Honey Hole"

 

 

 

FINALLY

I don't know exactly how many posts have been made on DU's Migration Report Map, but it was on the money this weekend. I've been hunting almost every other day for the past two weeks, and the numbers have been disappointing. It seems everywhere I go people have been saying the same, at least here in the southern part of the state. I traveled to Cleveland about a week before the new year, and there were birds, just not as spectacular as previous weeks. I was also in Columbus this past week, and saw a relatively good number of birds, but yesterday was unlike anything I've ever  experienced.

I've been hunting the southern portion of Ohio, primarily Gallia, Lawrence, Jackson, and Meigs counties, since 2005. Three years ago numbers were extremely high, but this year has proven to be setting the bar.

Current weather conditions: sunny, mid 30's, low wind, thousands of birds. My hunt started with setup around 3pm in a cornfield right off the bank of the Ohio. The snow that had been sitting on that field for the past week and a half and had finally melted, and the harvested corn was visible. It seems the birds had finally found a place to feed.

If you're in Ohio and not hunting this week, get out there! The temperature is going to reach 60's by the end of the week for much of the state, and these migrants are hungry. The place to be right now is near a food source. The entire upper half of the state is covered in snow. Find a field or some water that isn't frozen... because the birds are here and reports are showing more to the north and on the way.

This has been a good week for me. My first limit of ducks for this season, including a hybrid and a black duck. Also, harvested a banded mallard earlier in the week. Email or tweet me with what you're seeing!

@OhioWaterfowl

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Migration is Upon Us

It appears as though the birds have really started pouring into the buckeye state in the past few weeks. With the northern OH season starting, reports of huge numbers of mallards are all over the web. The Ducks Unlimited migration report is on repeat, with many of the entries attesting to the numbers. Almost every hunter I've spoken to believes this season will be better than last year.

2011 was predicted to be "a year to tell your grandkids about", according to many in the world of ducks. But, it was proven otherwise just a few days into the late season, when traditionally peak numbers of the migration are in the midwest. The population was up 11%, which reflects the improved condition of the breeding prairies in the U.S. and Canada. The Prairie Pothole Region was engulfed with water, providing ideal conditions for record breaking bird numbers, but the majority of the country was in one of the worst droughts many of us have ever experienced. The result was poor hunting, and a very skewed migration pattern for many birds coming through Ohio.

Everyone is optimistic about this year, including myself. It's plain to see that the birds are here. Lake Erie is covered with southbound mallards, and the river in the south is filling with birds everyday. The difference is the weather. With an acceptable amount of rainfall, many marshes are still holding water. Big improvement from 2011. Not an overage of water by any means, but hopefully enough and more on the way. Many of our friends to the southeast haven't seen these kind of numbers quite yet, but it appears that it's just a matter of time. Mid to southern parts of the Mississippi flyway reports show a healthy number of birds, and historically that means ducks for VA, NC, SC, and GA.

This year, populations are up again. According to DU, the overall duck population is up another 7% from last year's record numbers. That brings us to 48.575 million birds. I do find it interesting that this year we haven't heard much about the status of black ducks, a species with great concern considering the population drop over the last decade. Ohio is one of the few states to still see black ducks year after year. Look for them late in the season, as they are usually one of the last birds to migrate.

Needless to say, 2012 looks to be a good year for the duck hunter. Southern Ohio's season starts in just a few days, and all it takes is a good cold front to bring down some incredible species.

Happy Hunting.