Photo by Ken Archer

Early autumn has come and gone, and it's time now to prepare for colder weather waterfowling in our region. Part of your success will hinge on the areas you select to hunt and types of decoy spreads and blinds you use. But another large influence on your bag results isn't under your control. That variable is, of course, our very changeable and unpredictable weather. Here is a quick look at how the weather impacted our last two seasons along the Atlantic Flyway.

ATLANTIC FLYWAY TRENDS
Most hunters and wildlife biologists considered our two most recent seasons "average" with the best success rates coming late each winter. The fickle weather, which was too mild during most of the season, initially resulted in fewer birds migrating from Canada and the Great Lakes region.

Waterfowl biologist Min Huang said that hunting success was poor during the mild weather. But mid-winter counts were about average across the flyway. "We wintered good numbers of birds on the Atlantic seaboard, but just didn't have a lot of cold weather to make the birds move," Huang said. He also noted that for really good waterfowl hunting success, we need some inclement weather and freezing temperatures to push those birds around and force them in to feed. "A lot of birds were there," Huang said, "but just not available to hunters because of the mild weather."

Fortunately, that changed later in the season when strong cold fronts in early January pressed birds down the flyway. The problem, however, was that while some areas had great shooting, other parts became so bitterly cold that traditional late-season spots froze solid. This condition made access difficult or impossible for waterfowlers and drove some birds even farther south and out of the region.

Although the overall seasons were average, black ducks and mallards appeared plentiful and the numbers of scaup -- a population that has been in decline since the 1980s -- seemed to improve. Some diver species like mergansers have been increasing, while others, such as canvasbacks, goldeneyes and buffleheads, were reported as stable. The best news is the burgeoning population of non-migratory or "resident" Canada geese, which have become so numerous that they're being called pests by many landowners.

Many regions in the Atlantic Flyway offer bonus goose-only seasons to curb the growing numbers of Canada geese, which are ruining farmland, golf courses, beaches, playing fields and corporate lawns. As with ducks, your chances of good success rates on late-season honkers are weather dependent. The colder the weather, the more the birds are pushed and concentrated into any available water sources. Assuming you can find and access the birds, you'll need flexibility when designing your decoy rigs depending on what type of water you plan to hunt.

DO YOUR HOMEWORK
Before you worry about what type of rig to set, you first need to do your homework. Waterfowl are creatures of habit. Once freezing conditions have chased them from their normal feeding, watering and resting areas, they soon find new locations and, if not disturbed, return to those spots day after day. But setting a big rig and then sitting and waiting in miserable conditions to "see if you're in the right spot" isn't a pleasant or efficient hunting method.

To find new spots and flyways, you need to do some legwork by scouting with binoculars to see how the birds are behaving. Look for puddlers sitting on the water, standing on ice, commuting over points or alighting on marshes or corn fields to rest and feed. A concentration of bird droppings on ice, riverbanks or coastal rocks is a giveaway to recent activity.

Look for divers commuting from one feeding area to another or moving from their overnight resting waters to daylight food sources, such as shellfish beds.