This is always a hard time of year for me. Made worse because my plans for the day have been OBE'd (overtaken by events) so I'm flailing about for the next best thing. I just read again about the events at Reelfoot Lake this morning. Sounds quite tragic (2 dead millennials, 1 dead 70-year old) in a duck blind dispute? Hard to imagine what the actual story there is, the information being released is quite cryptic. I'm also reading a number of news stories lately about a very rural part of Pennsylvania that I used to hunt and fish in. Absolutely gorgeous country there....look up "Dent's Run Gold" if you want to be entertained a bit about a missing Civil War payroll and a recent FBI excavation at the site. I actually called an old acquaintance of mine in the area yesterday to get the local perspective.

I just drove 1100 miles through the mid western snowstorm to arrive home safely. They were many times during the drive home I could have used some thing off topic.

Duck season ends today. Now what?

Similar here. I'm slowly cleaning out the truck, guns, shells and bending some wood

I’m skinning birds for the taxidermist now.
Pooped.

Around here, it's the worst duck season that any of us can remember. Zero rain between mid November and early January, temps in the 90s in January, no significant weather up north to drive the ducks south, no ducks.

Ducks have learned the same thing geese did: there's no point in flying any further than necessary to escape winter. Get used to more seasons ahead like this one.
JR

There must be a hell of a lot of ducks somewhere, 'cuz they ain't up here either. We also had a terrible season and the birds "never came down". Makes no sense.

Bad duck season, but a great late dove season. I took 87 during the last season, which ended today. That's much better than what I had hoped for. There are seasons for game birds, and there are seasons of change. Nothing stays the same for long. Look forward to next season ........ and tomorrow. Both are a gift.

SRH

Cant speak for ducks, but when the Pa'tridge season was open is was above average round these parts. Especially the later December season.

Doctor friend of mine spent north of 30K this year on food plots, impoundment improvements to a duck and deer property he owns. Results were so bad that he won’t talk about them. In years past he shot 200+ ducks, 50-75 geese and several fine deer on his property. He decided to make it better this year. This year his total was 11 ducks, zero geese and last I knew zero deer. He had food but little water until mid Fall. The ducks never came. To add insult to this I took him and my son on a hunt on state land. Between the three of us we shot 15 ducks and two geese. So he had his worse year in ten years which we equaled or exceeded in one trip. John is grumpy about it.

Just on observation, there was really good appearing duck production in the potholes, but they do tend to move on when there's no open water. Geese on the other hand seem to be all over the wheat and hay fields of the plains into late January. I hope there is good late winter moisture prior to nesting, as I get the impression that the birds weren't forced to concetrate and may send more heading back north. The overall numbers may be on the rise.

Replacement - I hunted in the Sacramento area and experienced those same conditions, except the temp never hit 90. Most days there were no birds flying at all, and it only improved briefly when we finally got some weather in the last ten days. With so little rain, California is in for another terrible fire season.

We only hunted Sac once this season, and it was the opening afternoon of pheasant season, after we had gotten our two roosters each. We walked on at Delevan and other than one Hail Mary, did not fire a shot. I have a friend who farms north of Sac, and he floods his rice every year, partially for ducks. He told me he wanted to invite us up for a hunt, but there were no ducks. Just a rotten season, with few exceptions. I'm in So Cal and we hit 94F around the second week of January. I only hunted about eight days this season because of other priorities, but total bag was four ducks for the season. Good news is that I still have most of my ammo during this shortage.

Fortunately the bird watching is good on the rice farm I hunted this year. Just as we were about to pick up our dekes at sunset yesterday, a dozen tundra swans landed right in front of us. I'll remember that sight long after I have forgotten three months of empty blue skies.

I cannot imagine duck hunting when the temperatures are in the 90s. That just ain't right. But, I guess you do what you have to do.

SRH

I’m with you Stan. Frankly if it’s over 50 it feels too warm.

By the same token, right across the river from me in S. Carolina (kerrliner), deer season opens in August. August in this clime means the three "S"s ......... sweat, skeeters and snakes, none of which make hunting enjoyable. And, who wants to clean a stinkin' deer in the sweltering heat?

I don't know about deer hunting in August but we hunt teal in 90+ F weather. Frankly, I can't wait. I do plenty of REAL cold weather hunting and I'll choose moderation every time if I can get it, but from -20 to +90 F hunting beats sitting at home.

ALL OF 2020 WAS NOT BAD HUNTING!

We hunted pheasant on a private farm in South Dakota in late October 2020 and limited each day.

Deer hunting in Missouri was good in 2020, near a record harvest. I got my buck in the first hour of the first day.

JERRY

After a couple of frustrating duck seasons I rediscovered deer hunting with a muzzleloader. I also made trips to Maine and the Adirondacks. We had a very good Woodcock season here in Virginia. Have to make adjustments I guess.

Yes,it`s a lot more fun hunting what you have than what you have not!

Yes...the way things are going, muzzleloading may make quite the comeback.