Where the hell are the birds?

This season sucks so far. Getting sick of seeing empty skies!!

The weather has been to warm

I hear cold weather is on the way Chris, hopefully we see a big change soon! Any days off for you to hunt this week?

I am outta work till jan 22nd so I always have days off to hunt except Thurs.

Well I'm off Monday and Tuesday. Not sure if I'll gun local or head down the coast for Buffies, but I'll let ya know. Maybe we can hook up.

yeah for sure let me know if you head down this way I got a few puddle duck spots if you wanna go let me know

It was slow again today eveywhere from what I heard
We need some ice north of us soon or this season will go down as a loss

I need to start packing dirty magazines to keep me from falling asleep out there this year, f'ing lousey...by the time the birds move through here season will be over. Jim i'm loving the benelli, slept with it for the first 2 days, the wife keep smacking me in the middle of the night when she felt the barrel on her ass, she thought i was trying to get in.

too funny Steve that is a sweet gun

Definitely has been very slow so far on the coast for me. Scratch a bird here or there, not even many black ducks around yet. Ponds are loaded around the area, but no ice to push the birds out. Hopefully something changes soon.

Craig, good to see you here

Jim Donofrio wrote:Craig, good to see you here

Same to you Jim. Still need to get down your way at some point this season, just haven't had the weather to justify taking days off yet as we all know how the weekends are

Got ya good there. It will hapen but we may only end up with a 3 week season

This has been the slowest year, for me since i started gunning. The flight birds are not here in delaware, at least where i gun--I guess it is better than last year for me, since i had a bum hip and did not get out once. Gotta count my Blessings, though--The treks on the marsh have been great fun for me, and the fellowship and bs time is always great with the guys on the place.
Ah well, there is always Argentina in may! hehehhehhe

Davey Welsh wrote:This season sucks so far. Getting sick of seeing empty skies!!

Hey Dave, there is supposed to be one heckuva meteor shower next week, so keep your eyes open on the way out, and before sunrise--Geminids!

George is that right next? week hope its clear! I love those events

I was out this morning and did not see much except for a few blacks flying in the upper atmosphere. There were plenty of Brant but they don't open again for another 3 days. Where is that cold weather? We need a good push....

Yeah its shaping up to be a brant and buffy kind of season. From what i see on the weather forecast, its going to stay in the 40s the rest of the week into next..hopefully it gets colder.

I am a few states north of you and we are in the same boat as you guys. I have been chipping away at what birds are here, but with out ice, the birds are spread everywhere.

We managed a few blacks by nine--gave the dogs something to do! Going to try tomorrow, since it will still be overcast, with a 15-20 mph wind from the wnw-hopefully, it will stay just there.SW most of the day today--On a good note, we did not have a new hatch of skeeters, although, with today's temp in the 60's for a while, who knows what tomorrow will bring?

They have no idea what they're doing with these population estimates. This state is covered with Blacks. COVERED. I've shot more blacks this year than I have any other duck...and thats saying something considering you can only shoot 1 per day. We need a 2-3 bird limit on these things because either they're pushing the Mallards to go elsewhere or something is screwed up in this flyway. Why should I be seeing thousands of Blacks and only a handful of mallards.

Big problem with that thought may be:
N J and DEL are pretty much the major wintering grounds for the atlantic flyway BD. I think you can be sure that the flight mallards are STILL not here, BUT what you are seeing are good numbers of locals, who occasionally succumb to shot, especially the juvies.
I note with some sadiness that the blackduck will hybridize itself out of existence, due to the siren call of the susie duck!! Each time you shoot anas rubripes, check carefully for the markers-White underwing, no white on spec, which seems to be more difficult to find annually---I recall blacks having a greenish violet speculum, but more and more, am seeing a dark blue instead. Hoping this is just a phase and not a dna marker suggesting more mallardization.
Today's was a juvie, but a male-no big mottling on the bill and much lighter colooration on the yellow olive side.
Damn, i knew that MFA would eventually come in handy. HEHEHEHHEHEE

George, of all the blacks I've shot this year, which is probably close to 20 (shoot one nearly everytime I go out), only 1 was a hybrid. I just shot one yesterday that was a beautiful, big fat Jersey drake black duck, no mallard in him at all. I just find it alarming that over the last, lets say 2-3 seasons, I am seeing predominantly black ducks...everywhere I gun. I hunted a teal/woody spot opening day this year and the first bird I shot was a black. My mallard spots have produced a Black duck on every outing. Last time I went out, me, my brother my dad and cousin hunted. We split up in two groups. Each of us shot a black. Only 3 mallards to the bag. Terrible. And they say blacks are smart...lol! I should take video of this dumbasses just pouring into my decoys.

Dave Its no different down here. Just these blind laws here are putting a damper on my season. Going to Chickahominy swamp on Saturday and Monday.

It's funny how things change as a few years ago my local area I hunted was exactly as Davey describes, guaranteed a black duck and hope for some mallards. Now, I've shot two black ducks this year and way more mallards and this is on the coast. This has been the trend the last few years now, either mallards pushing the black ducks out or just not having the large migration of black ducks move in yet... There are some other factors in my area that I 100% feel attributed to duck patterns changing, but overall I've definitely been seeing more mallards.