Best season report I’ve heard yet. Way more straight forward than any Delta or DU report. Keep them coming.

Justin, this is one of the admirable and most honest breakdowns I've heard yet. Thanks 👍

I love the way you describe duck hunting… you give a really good perspective on it all… I’m 19 and I’ve been doing it all my life and you said it right it is WORK.

I love this conversation the last few years. Thank you

Love this video Martin. Thank you for putting that data together. Makes total sense of what we saw in South Texas. We didn’t even shoot our first full limits till Jan 1

Great report! As a young man that has been following yall since I started hunting 10 years ago, thank you! Got some great advice out of this video!

Really, really great information. We have been tracking ducks shot in our blind for 25+ years to try and see patterns, but I have never added the data to my numbers that you brought. Thank you for getting me to think differently about how other factors impact duck numbers.

In Michigan the majority of ducks didn't come down until the season was about over. Saw more ducks after the season.

@scottleggejr

Жыл бұрын

Our season opens this weekend, but I'm quail hunting until after Christmas, then it's game on. Too many idiots out in the early season, they burn out in the warmer weather and we pick it up late-season.

Thanks for the video! Kinda new to all of this. My son loves it so I naturally have to enjoy what he enjoys. I’m 47 and never really had the person to show me but together me and my 11 year old are all in. We have a spot that we are going to try and help give the birds some food and some rest and hunt a few times. Keep the videos coming. Especially the planting and habitat videos. Not all of us have someone to help us along the way. Hopefully I can teach my son the right ways so he can pass it down to the next generation. Thank you Mr Martin and thanks for taking the time to educate us all! God bless and stay safe!

@AdrenalineTurkeyCall

2 жыл бұрын

I got into it the same way for the same reason. Now my son is grown and on his own and I’m left with the desire and pretty much no one to hunt with. I wish my son was 11 again. Treasure what little time you have left with him living under your roof.

@scottleggejr

Жыл бұрын

Another "dad inspired" waterfowl hunter here. He killed his first duck before I did because of the early youth season. I can't wait to get out there with a gun too.

Great video and information. Mother Nature can be tough, hunters have to adapt. I am from Ohio, but have been going to ND for 20 years, we stayed home because of the drought. Hopefully, the weather cooperates, and the pothole region rebounds. Our field notes have seen the Gadwall population in decline the last 4-5 years in ND. Thanks for all you do for the Wildlife. Mike Fry- Ohio

I'm brazilian. I've been watching Martin at duck commander since 2014 I'm a fan of your wild american lifestyle.

I have been keeping a log for over 10 years of hunting. Ever since I was inspired by "The 10 Commandments." Greatly increased my success and a portal back in time to look back on and plan for future. It tells a very interesting story. All duck hunters should do it. Thank You for all you do.

Great advice, you are making more sense than others on this topic

Love the educational background going to work! Your the man Justin!

Well said, couldn’t agree more… it’s was rough in south Texas… Rough.

I’m so glad you said something about the Halloween mallards. We get them crazy here in north Alabama and it kills me to be golfing and watching the greenheads tornado over the hole we hunt

We appreciate your report from this season. Looking forward to seeing those recipes and suggestions on prepping the habitats for this coming season. Also love y’all’s duck call room chats.

Great report. I've always said that "duck ponds" can hold/short stop some ducks, but they alone cannot stop a migration - its takes a lot of things to keep the ducks we have north of us. And don't count on DU, Delta and the USFW service to be your sole source of info - do like you said, use your experience to tell you what's going on. And be smart hunters and travel - go where the ducks are if you can. Again, great report.

What we do to help with the nesting in our area is only morning duck hunts. We just go deer hunting in the evening.

We had a good year In Iowa … but we had low water and it was cool but not cold but so did north and South Dakota the big pushes were after the season closed

I seen way more ducks this years stay all winter then I have in the 12 years here in north central Wyoming.there was enough open water for them and the real cold snaps were brief and we really didn’t have any cold weather before dec 21

Hunted and fished the prairie pothole of Canada this year. Lake Manitoba is two or three feet below normal. You are right. Water = ducks in the pph.

Good info Justin , I have noticed over the last few years the efficiency of newer combines are no help for waste grain falling to the ground they are set to get as much grain in the hopper as possible and I think the farmer deserves that but dad gum I remember the days of 9600 John Deere combines that was spitting more out the back than was going through the header sure made some good field hunts oh well we will make it work somehow

Similar observation as you. Ducks were few up until first week of January or so when we got water. First backwater was a great amount of ducks but they were call and decoy shy. They just wanted to hide back in woods and thickets. I could only get singles to behave. Lots of already paired birds early it seemed.

Ducks are really really good at finding secluded hiding. Most of the time it’s not a open hole. It’s just a sliver in the canopy.

Definitely some good points that I haven't thought of that was good stuff 👍

Awesome info and presentation !!!!!!

I can tell you this, I do not know how the duck how many ducks we had but up here in North Dakota the goose hunting was phenomenal

Here in Wa state it was great. Limits all the way to the closing day. Sorry we kept all the the birds up north.

Trapping plays a big roll in habitat management as well. That is one thing i have taken up in the past few years and it is fun to do.

@chrisfortner4692

2 жыл бұрын

Me too, hope you are getting a good price for your hides. Coons, fox, coyotes are hard on all birds from turkeys to ducks. Keep it up

@shedandtrailersupply889

2 жыл бұрын

Just started duck hunting this year. Trapped 7 coons and a possum around my pond and river frontage in a few weeks.

It was a down year for my numbers in NW WA State. But I took my largest number of species ever. Pintail, Ringneck, Bufflehead, Mallard, Green Teal, and scaup.

i saw so many gadwalls this year they decoy great but we only shot one the whole season we just shot mostly mallards.

We went to North Dakota in October and we was hearing from a lot of sites drought there but when we got to the property we hunted there was a pretty good bit of water in every pothole we drove by and ended up killing 233 and 5 geese in 5 days!

incredible information.

Excellent video explanation.

We appreciate you sharing us this video

Thanks Justin good stuff

Couldn't agree more. Had the same season as you

Here in Oklahoma, we killed 98% Gadwall. Didn’t see the Pintails, Widgeon, Green Wings, Ring Necks etc that we normally see.The mallards seemed about what they normally are but we only killed a handful. Last year we had a Pintail or Widgeon nearly every hunt, same with a Ring Neck, personally I think the birds stayed North due to a lack of cold. I do think we had a push of birds later in the season, January 20ish. Saw a group of Canvas backs and a big groups of teal show up. Out of the Gadwall we shot only a handful of juvies, but we did see a bunch of Gadwall in general. Still a great season, love the videos keep ‘em coming. Excited to see the fishing videos this summer!

@ducksinmyhearttaylor3957

2 жыл бұрын

Just no cold to make them leave the Dakota’s and Kansas this year

@ducksinmyhearttaylor3957

2 жыл бұрын

Our best 3 days was the last 3 of the season

It’s impossible for it to be any worse in Louisiana for me. Can’t harvest less than 0. That’s from private flooded timber and flooded ag fields. I only saw 6 ducks the hole season in Madison Parish at our place. It gets a little tougher every year. I love it too much to quit. I’m headed north till I at least have the opportunity to harvest ducks again.

We had a lot of gadwall in Ohio this year. Had a couple days that that’s all we shot. Good year for woodies up here as well.

I hope that you are sharing all of these numbers with DNR

Great report Justin! We had similar results here in Oregon in the Pacific Flyway. So many adult/smart birds. Have you hunted in Oregon/Sauvie Island? We shoot 50%+ Mallards. I'll trade you a hunt date:)

Would like to see preparations for yalls duck season

I started a rest area two years ago that I don’t hunt and our numbers went from 1209 last year to 1577 this year over 50 percent of ducks we killed where full of rice off the rest area which is 70 acres of unharvested and 15 acres of flooded timber with it I am seeing first hand how food and rest benefits birds we are also feeding rice and corn after season to help with bird health after a long winter

I shot two bands in a day this season! 3 total. Not bad for a 2nd season. Got out on abt 12 hunts.

@berniegordon6338

2 жыл бұрын

You are either trying to troll people which is hilarious or I hate you

@ViolationNation

2 жыл бұрын

I got about 12-15 hunt. A skid steer bucket of mallards and another bucket of geese and no bands.

@berniegordon6338

2 жыл бұрын

@@ViolationNation we killed 1200 ducks this year. 150ish snow geese this spring and not a single band

Yeah man I'm down in SW Louisiana and I've hunted ducks/geese probably 3 times in the last 10 years they just don't make it down here anymore. I had several hundred acres of private rice fields in the heart of our flyway down here that we had blinds sunk in levies across several miles of fields. At all our blinds we had flooded rice in front for ducks and dry in back for geese and we would just go scout seeing where they were at right at dark and go hit them there the next morning and we use to hammer both every year but it fell off so fast. I know people who never fired a shot hunting rivers/marshes and some who only shot a few woodys and guys who hunted rice fields only shot a few teal and only seen a handful of geese. But I agree if ducks and geese don't have to travel down they don't and also think hunters have got way better at managing habitats and that's holding those birds in their area for much longer then it use to which again I agree if I had those resources I would do it to. I've just focused on deer hunting and taking trips to hunt mule deer elk and moose or some of those monster white tails they have up north and just waiting it out eventually those birds will make it down here again.

Good video......thank you

All I killed up here in southern Illinois was gadwall this year

Corsacana Texas was not good at my pound. Only 4 ducks. No grease.

Here in South Arkansas we had a mediocre year at best , only time we really nailed them was right before a cold front

Here in CA we had best season ever. But the weather is changing. We get crushed with rain in beginning of the season then that’s at. Ducks left after Jan 7th. You could pick off your limit but consistent good hunting stopped there Additionally, mallards in CA for us were NON EXISTENT. I shot 60 ducks this years … 2 mallards. Our mallards are local, and we are stuck in annual droughts. I’d go as far to say mallard in CA is on solid decline Additionally, pintail limit in CA should go to 1 in October/November, 2 in December, 2+1 in January. Could’ve limited on pintails most days

@ducksinmyhearttaylor3957

2 жыл бұрын

Same here in Texas on the pintails

@ducksinmyhearttaylor3957

2 жыл бұрын

We only shot a handful of gadwall and when Martin explained it it made total sense what happened to them

Cannot continue to have 60 day season with dry conditions on the breeding grounds. 6 duck limit needs to stop, seems more about generating money then the well being of the ducks.

@DUCKDONKEY

2 жыл бұрын

We get 7 on the West Coast

I think the volume in numbers is more important than percentages! Example:4:1,8:2,16:4,32:8,64:16….etc. All 25%,but very different volume. Percentages don’t tell the real story. More research needed,to figure this out. ✌🏻

Good video

500+ ducks sheesh must be nice lol I wouldn’t complain about that

How do I pull these calls apart I got two I need to clean and I can’t get them apart

In regards to self management there are a number of times where things work out well for us on let's say the first 3 volleys and we decide let's get out of here short of our limit and let the birds have it. Maybe we're doing that for selfish reasons but hey we do it.

One thing I did notice here in S. Texas this season more than any other were the lack of Coots! Not like we care to shoot them, but where the heck did all the coots go?

@ducksinmyhearttaylor3957

2 жыл бұрын

We saw it too in West Texas. Very few

@josephlulinski2846

2 жыл бұрын

Drastic decline here in Illinois and Indiana also

Definitely a tougher season

Y’all should make duck and bacon kabobs that has been marinated over a while in milk or pickle juice

You shot more ducks than we did up in northern minnesota

Also were in Illinois so north of yall and I can tell ya something else that has has changed going back 30 years anyways. That is hot water lakes and and fall tillage practices. If they have open water and food they're not going any further south absent of a major weather event. Keep in mind this is just my opinion and Phill always says opinion are like elbows, most folks have a couple

The greenheads and pintails were in Kansas two weeks ago and lots of them. Water never really froze this year. Dang COVID! Another thing that I noticed, wildlife agencies and du have designed all the public hunting areas the same. The birds are getting wise to them after a couple of close calls. The extra food fields do not help. The farmers ponds stay full of ducks and lots of food close by. Makes it tough.

@scottleggejr

Жыл бұрын

Are they all shaped like a "V" pattern? There's a duck lake by us they put in and pumped and the shape of the water, the dams, then "structure" is all "W" or "V" shaped. You're supposed to put a blind in all of the points for more hunter coverage and a better yield as they come in to it.

Fascinating

here in oklahoma the last 3 years have been bad

What’s wrong with Justin’s left eye is he having the bad case of pinkeye?

It was my worst year ever up here in northern minnesota

i agree.... to many factors

Not sure where this video is going but last season here in Iowa.. worst duck hunting in the 27 years of hunting here...

I have a saying that goes "if it ain't blow'n, I ain't go'n" There are exceptions of course, big geese in the corn field we can whack em without wind but man. The wind is your friend for sure

I agree with everything duck population is stable I hunt in South Dakota and I will only disagree on the galdwells they where absolutely everywhere they where the #1 duck by far for me 2 years in a row over 70% of my ducks have been galdwells. mallards have been hard to come by and actually haven’t seen many of the nesting in my area last 2 years

Way we don’t have a lot of ducks in Saudi Arabia?do u now

I miss the old commander hunts with jase and his dad

I will be hunting for the first time in the 22'-23' season here in CA. This video helped give me perspective. I will definitely go in to this doing my part to help preserve the species and making smart choices while enjoying God's creation. Thanks!

@bobcostas1331

2 жыл бұрын

Congrats man… get ready to be hooked. Where you going in CA? Central/north/south/Bay

@ry-man4354

2 жыл бұрын

@@bobcostas1331 for my first experience I'll be going to the Los Banos area which I believe is considered central, if I'm not mistaken. I'm on the coast but not incredibly far from those public areas. I also have a few work buddies in Oregon and over in Fresno who want to take me out to show me the ropes. I can't wait cause I'm sure I'm going to love it. I already got a pair of Rogers waders, avian X outfitter pack of mallards, and my first shotgun I chose the sxp

@bobcostas1331

2 жыл бұрын

@@ry-man4354 awesome man. You’ll learn a lot - be sure to practice calling in your car and have buddies that let you call. Changed the whole game when I called my first bird in vs. having someone else call them in. Los Banos is on the rise last year. Enjoy!!!

@ry-man4354

2 жыл бұрын

I haven't even been duck hunting yet and I've already got duck depression.. is that normal??

@bobcostas1331

2 жыл бұрын

@@ry-man4354 it’s crippling. Just wait

The changing climate is changing migration patterns, along with magnetic true north. I can only speak for Washington, we didn’t have a good year, hardly any ducks…..the middle path flyway will be the most affected because it is the largest. Anxious to see what the numbers look like

You're not addressing the flooded corn subject completely. The argument has been distorted to a degree by stating people believe flooded corn fields hold all the ducks. What gets lost in the bickering is that the issue at its core is if hunting flooded corn in ethical as many folks see it as legalized baiting. Most hunters don't have the opportunity to hunt manicured Robertson land and have to hustle for a few ducks. So with so many natural environmental factors affecting duck numbers in the south, the perceived legalized baiting of flooding corn is just salt in the wound.

My last 6 hunts the score was " 2,2, 0,0 ,5,0. This year is one of the dry years. No ducks migration only few flocks. One of the worst year I have ever faced in hunting.

CK out suspicious observer channel for what's happening with the shift in the magnetic poles. The more it's moved the faster it's moving. They're having to constantly recalibrate all the gps satellites. Birds and fish that use the magnetic field to navigate will be and have been thrown off course. Salmon have started to have major challenges and just aren't showing up to spawn in the rivers. Dudes got the best comprehensive look at what's happening. With the poles shifting it's weakening the magnetic shield and allows the solar storms the penetrate farther into our atmosphere which is what took out the forty satellites a couple weeks ago. The solar storm the took them out was a thousand times smaller than some previous storms. A solar emp will reach us soon and shut it all down. Climate change has very little to do with humans and everything to do with the sun. It's about to get real folks.

Thing I would like to see is that all limit numbers should be the same no matter what state ur hunting in. All states should have the same limit no matter what breed of duck it is

@CincoRojo

2 жыл бұрын

I actually disagree with that… dusky ducks should remain at 1

Drought is ND, SD, MN ruined duck production. Plenty of snow this winter will recharge the wetlands in these states. Better days ahead.

Great video!... I been trying to research why duck season was bad, and articles say it was drought up north.. But could it be cause of climate change as well? "Natural climate change " not man made.. I did notice I haven't seen any Robins in southeast Louisiana, till today and it wasn't many . So that has to tell you something. 🤷‍♂️

Need a rule to be off of Catahoula lake at a certain time but you know that won't happen

🙂

That’s what the west zone has but us east boys don’t get anything let me explain I’m not complaining I’m just saying is let LA open and close at the same time

You don’t know what you are talking about; I have not seen a duck in my marsh in Louisiana for the last five years, regardless of the weather.

I have been duck hunting for 45 years in tidewater va on a brackish tidal river on a high marsh with natural food and I have hunts on this river that dreams for duck hunter that are made of . Five years ago we noticed a pretty significant decline on the mallards and black ducks but the gadwal population seemed to be up but for the past four years nothing I go a minimum of once a week shot three teal this past season I have googled why this huge decline in the ducks in tidewater I have not found one explanation it's like know one gives a rats ass and I know I'm not the only one that hunts this river from the middle of September to the middle of Oct the two of us cut brush patch muskrat holes in the wood on seven blinds purchase blind license it truly hurts to the core what the hell has happened to the ducks .

Crazy how we do things an destroys the population of animals we all love to hunt but no one thats causing the big issue like big companies want stop the old habits so it's killing out everything

are you kidding me 650 birds “we didn’t kill a lot” i killed 3 birds past season only 3 ducks

Thoughts on why South Carolina duck hunting has declined so much over the past 20 years?

@tsmcl38

2 жыл бұрын

More and more duck hunters. South Carolina has never had a lot of ducks, the Eastern flyaway isn’t great. Lived in Columbia my entire 51 years.

@muddycreeksportsman8574

2 жыл бұрын

Neighborhood development.

Ducks just don’t migrate as far south as they do. No reason to. Plenty of food available. Nothing really freezes up. Pressure has caused them to change their migration patterns. Oklahoma gets more ducks then Arkansas does now.

2 Timothy 2:3 Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of JESUS CHRIST

Chemtrails

It's the same way with deer hunting. Not many deer here in the west. Drout and disease. Our fishing here isn't too great either. Seems like the past 3 years it's steadily gotten worse. Everyone is asking what's up with the fishing.

During 1960s 1970s plenty ducks I mean thousands upon thousands and there were a few hundred hunters and south Louisiana, the last decade or two have been thousands upon thousands of Hunters putting pressure on millions of Acres 5 days a week, it's all about the money, Hunters should be limited to 25 ducks a season, the Mississippi Flyway is not what it used to be

@josephshaikh2533

2 жыл бұрын

Dying trees have hurt the Mississippi flyway more than hunters ever will

Geo engineering

Drought ,Farming practices , Predators, over development of Lake Shore an river systems overpopulation of human beings an pollution

22 years of records at our farm in NW LA. With a couple exceptions, every year has been a little worse than the last. No doubt climate change and new hunting/farming techniques up north are the substantial factors. But we can’t do anything about that down south. If I was in Missouri I’d be doing the same thing. I hate it, but It’s past time for some tough restrictions to be made. And asking LA duck hunters, myself included, to go less or shoot less voluntarily is not gonna cut it.

Last 2 years in IL and MO have been worst I've seen in 10 years and I'm being conservative

We hunted only ten days you hunted 38 maybe your group should cut back to 3 a piece a day, you guys slaughter the ducks