By M.D. Johnson

This week, I’m coming to you folks from Habitat Flats in Sumner, Missouri, and the heart of the Mississippi Flyway. I’ve been here since Saturday, November 3, and while I would consider the hunting nothing less than spectacular, owner Tony Vandemore and his crew are watching the skies--and The Weather Channel—for the next big front to push new birds southward.

“We’ve been killing ducks,” Tony told me as we headed out that first day, “but we’ve been dealing with no wind now for better than a week. There’s weather in the Dakotas, though, and things ought to get good this weekend.”

South Dakotan, Ben Fujan, who guides for Vandemore and drove in from Sioux Falls last night (November 7), speaks of excellent bird numbers to the north and east of Missouri--ducks just poised to start making their way to the Show-Me State and points south. [ Read Full Post ]

By M.D. Johnson

Unless you’ve been living under the proverbial rock for the past week (which really isn’t an excuse; today, even rocks have Internet access) you know that Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast and points inland through the Ohio Valley very hard. It’s rain and wind for Ohio, Indiana, and eastern Illinois here in the Mississippi Flyway. Thus far, we Hawkeyes have been spared anything save for mild temperatures and a touch of grey sky. Our best from the Midwest and South-Central to those in the Atlantic Flyway as the cleanup and rebuilding begins.
 
Along the easternmost part of the Mississippi Flyway in Trumbull County, Ohio, my cousin, Jim, writes to tell me the dreaded in-between time has officially arrived. “The first split in Ohio came to an end yesterday (28 October),” Jimmy said. “I thought with the cold temperatures and wind/rain, we’d see some new ducks, but nothing much. A handful of high-flying mallards and Canadas. Now it’s back to the gym until the second half starts on 24 November. Hopefully, the predicted 3-5 inches of rain from Sandy will help with our water conditions.” [ Read Full Post ]

By M.D. Johnson

Despite the weather coming through Iowa right now, I reckon what they say about the “October Lull” might actually have some truth to it. The blue-wings, along with quite a few of the locally raised wood ducks, have long since headed to warmer climes southward, and the northern birds – the hoped-for migrators – have yet to arrive, leaving – well – not a whole lot between the rivers here in the Hawkeye State at the moment. But enough with the glass half-empty.
 
There is weather, though. A big – not massive, but big – cold front sweeping down from the Dakotas through the Upper Midwest brings with it hope for ‘fowlers in Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and lands to the south. There are birds ahead of that front; perhaps not the swirling black clouds of mallards, but goodly numbers of grey ducks, green-wing teal, widgeon, and sprig. The truth is, it’s still far too nice in Canada, and gunners north of the border continue to do quite well in both the fields and on the water. [ Read Full Post ]

By M.D. Johnson

In northeast Ohio, where I grew up, wood ducks were synonymous with beaver swamps. Oh, you’d find them on the creeks (pronounced cricks, and spelled that way too sometimes) and we’d kill a few on the east branch of the Mahoning River, if we floated it early enough in the season. But usually, wood ducks, flooded pin oaks, duckweed, and buckbrush all went together like little kids and trick-or-treat.
 
Now, I’m hearing that hunters in Minnesota are seeing clouds of woodies in the cornfields. I guess it makes sense, what with the marshes here in the Upper Midwest dramatically dry due to the summer drought. No water, no duckweed, no invertebrates; so the birds are going to the most abundant and most readily available food source going these days – corn. I did hit flights of wood ducks in a cornfield cut for silage on the opening day of Iowa’s early season one September. It was a lightning quick, right-at-first-light deal, but it was fascinating to see the colorful drakes and their drab girlfriends twisting and turning over stubble as opposed to cattails, ‘coon tail, and dark water. Sharp eyes could tell drake from hen; sharper shooting skills could bring home a pair like these, courtesy of that eastern Iowa morning. [ Read Full Post ]

By M.D. Johnson

We’ll start in the southern reaches of the flyway this week, and work our way back up north. A reverse migration, so to speak.
 
I’m in Buras, Louisiana–a guest of Ducks Unlimited and Ryan Lambert’s Cajun Fishing Adventures. A handful of colleagues and I are here from points ‘round the compass to hunt teal and see for ourselves just how the incredible ecosystem that is southern Louisiana is disappearing on a daily basis.

[ Read Full Post ]