Those first light coots always get the best of me.... LOL

Backcountry Birds said:

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The science shows most ducks are paired up by mid-January. And re-pairing rates if you kill a mate after mid January is fairly low. If we cared about science informed decisions we would shift the season earlier not later.

But if you think Lousiana is upset about flooded corn up North now, just try to tell a Cajun he can't shoot ducks after mid-January!

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I am curious about this - genuinely curious, not questioning your point.

Obviously, birds don't migrate based on the calendar, it's weather and food dependent. If the weather is shifting later and later each year (or not happening at all), why is it that we believe the birds pair up based on the same calendar date each year?

I'm not an expert, but I imagine mating behavior isn't always directly tied to migration. Many animals, including deer and ducks, have an internal clock triggered by the photoperiod. This essentially functions as a calendar, since the amount of daylight remains consistent on the same dates every year.

hurricanejake02 said:

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Backcountry Birds said:

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The science shows most ducks are paired up by mid-January. And re-pairing rates if you kill a mate after mid January is fairly low. If we cared about science informed decisions we would shift the season earlier not later.

But if you think Lousiana is upset about flooded corn up North now, just try to tell a Cajun he can't shoot ducks after mid-January!

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I am curious about this - genuinely curious, not questioning your point.

Obviously, birds don't migrate based on the calendar, it's weather and food dependent. If the weather is shifting later and later each year (or not happening at all), why is it that we believe the birds pair up based on the same calendar date each year?

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Same questions.

I didn't know the data on when the ducks are paired up for mating. I just know that numbers migrating south seem to be declining due to the changing weather patterns.

I'm certainly not a duck biologist; but I really don't think moving the season back a month is going to negatively affect species numbers more than other environmental and habitat loss factors are; certainly isn't going to help things - and maybe that's the bigger point - but I really don't think pairings are occurring in January in Texas based on watching lots of ducks. You're still shooting 2-3 year old ducks without full breeding plumage, they aren't getting primed for mating and pairing.

Mating is typically occurring in March/April/May as their breeding grounds unfreeze. Pairing obviously before that, but that's not to say that those two birds are locked together for the year - the hen will breed as able as will drakes.

I know that roughly 10 years ago, hunting the same piece of saltwater marsh on the coast for 20+ years, by January we were seeing groups of 2-6 birds flying together. You only saw the bigger groups earlier in the year.

It changed how we placed decoys through the season, and how many we put out.

Not hunting the same area anymore, now hunting inland rice, but any birds we saw over the last few weeks were still in groups of 20+, some in the hundreds. Not all working the decoys, but moving in the area. This is both teal and pintail (we weren't seeing much else except the occasional gadwall).

Too many variables to say that they aren't pairing up at the same time frame, just all of the anecdotal facts I have to go on.

bull can + mallard! Where the hell was this?

Nice!

So. Damn. Good.

20-year old in Illinois drowns after trying to save his dog in an icy pond

txaggie02 said:

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20-year old in Illinois drowns after trying to save his dog in an icy pond

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Terribly sad….

gonemaroon said:

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Got a really nice cinnamon the last weekend - think it was the last bird of the day, came cruising in

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Now that's how you finish!

Hopefully you had about 8-10 guys hunting with you

More like 14...

I counted at least 32 chocolate heads after I made the comment above and it looks like more. Although there is one spoony at the end. So at least 11 people to make it legal

Limit was 3 this year? Must be nice to actually see pintails!

Yep, 3 pintails was really nice this year! Although its one of those grass is always greener type of deals.

The amount of guys I talk to up North that smash green heads and would kill for as many pintails we have is funny considering I would gladly trade my pintails for some green heads.

Now how many friends do you have if you have birds? Friends are never in shortage