# Texas Waterfowl Numbers Tank



## AvianQuest (Feb 7, 2006)

This is something Iâ€™ve been harping on for decades, often with tons of push back from folks who refused to see what was coming. 

The annual Texas Mid-Winter Waterfowl Survey is the gold standard for how successful our waterfowl hunting seasons should be. By this point of each season pretty much all of the birds that are going to be here are here and typically any late migration flights that come down due to harsh weather up north are offset by us losing birds that fly into Mexico because of the combination of cold and poor habitat conditions. 

Starting with geese, back in 2000 we had 1,000,000 light geese, 330,000 white-fronted geese and 75,000 Canada geese. But the 2018 survey that has just been conducted only found 191,000 light geese, 17,000 white-fronted geese and no Canada geese. In all we have lost 90% of the geese that once wintered here. 

Ducks fared no better with 3,030,000 birds compared with 6,120,000, a loss of 50% from last year. The coastal region which traditionally held the most ducks had just 521,000 birds, 76% fewer than last year and only a third of the 22-year average. 

Statewide mallards were down to 366,000, an all-time low and only half of the 22-year average. Redheads, normally at 251,000 dropped to 43,500.

But the number of hunters on public land continued to set records. Many did well depending on the location and weather, but the East Texas public hunting areas had poor success. 

Hunters blame the increased acreage of rice and/or corn being grown in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas or Missouri and that certainly is a factor, but of more importance is the dramatic loss of wetland habitat here in Texas. Waterfowl will gravitate to areas that have plenty of food, water and places where they arenâ€™t constantly being disturbed from heavy hunting pressure or development. 

Rice, once an important food for waterfowl is far less of a draw today here in Texas. Our rice production is down over 70%, mainly due to the high cost of irrigation water and the fact that the farmers canâ€™t always depend on getting water in many areas of the state. Even so, it used to be that the harvesting of fields left significant amounts of waste grain being left on the ground. But improved strains of rice and the newer, more efficient, combines have resulted in very little rice left in the fields.


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## Sgrem (Oct 5, 2005)

Have for sure seen it and felt the continued decline over the past several years. Not sure what the answer is....but it is getting noticeably slimmer and slimmer numbers in our flyway.


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## Hpnewby (Dec 1, 2015)

I had the best season my my life.


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## Reynolds4 (Jan 18, 2010)

My uncle I were talking about the geese numbers earlier this year. Back when he was farming rice in El Campo during the 80's and 90's he would do some guiding for geese and said that guys would come down from Arkansas to hunt geese here because they had none there...well, compared to the numbers we had here. Now you hardly hear any flying over at night. But like you mentioned...rice production has declined significantly. 

I would love to be able to give up my day job and farm / restore a couple thousand acres of prairie and rice land, although it wouldn't solve the problem it would be a start. Pipe dream...I know!


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## daddyeaux (Nov 18, 2007)

Agree on this. This was my worst season in a long long time. And I hunt every weekend of the season. Starting with early Teal.


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## Bearkat (Jul 18, 2008)

Its been pretty obvious for a while that our numbers have been going down. Boggles my mind that we continue with the "conservation" light goose season.


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## grand poobah (Nov 6, 2007)

*Conservation season*



Bearkat said:


> Its been pretty obvious for a while that our numbers have been going down. Boggles my mind that we continue with the "conservation" light goose season.


1. The conservation season has nothing to do with the amount of wintering geese in Texas
2. There is a lot of guides that get an extra 3 weeks of income to stay in business so the rest of us can hunt.

#2 Can be debated but the guide services do a lot of extra works to rice farm and farms in general that benefit everyone. From roost ponds that the average hunter couldn't pay for in a lease price to rye grass for late season birds.

3. Rice production will never come back to what it was but it has come back strong in Eagle Lake area and Brazoria county(I heard).

The geese have not come back to match the increase rice production but why does any hunter want to give up any opportunities. I don't deer or hog hunt but if they want to extend the seasons in some counties why should I care.

Just my little thoughts


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## Sgrem (Oct 5, 2005)

We also had a couple significant freeze events that pushed a lot of birds South. I saw more birds on the coast before those freeze events.....less birds after.


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## Sgrem (Oct 5, 2005)

Another consideration has to be the hurricane and coastal flooding. There was SO MUCH water inland that the ducks had plenty of lil ponds to be in. So any pressure at all and they could dissappear to a different pond. Seems like the ducks were there....but hard to get in numbers as we have seen in the past. Very spread out instead of dense rafts in the fewer ponds.

Maybe same case for where they have historically taken the surveys location wise.


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## KDubBlast (Dec 25, 2006)

So what can be done to help increase these numbers here in Texas? More wetlands, more farming of rice?


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## Bullitt4439 (Sep 18, 2014)

Yea goose numbers are way down in the East Bernard area of the prairie. In 2000-2007 you used to be able to drive back roads and scout tens of thousands of birds. Now, it seems like you are lucky to see a few thousand. 

The duck hunting has been as good as ever this year. Central Texas near Round Rock was loaded with Greenheads, Gadwall, Wigeon, and Scaup all season. 

The coast was hit or miss for us this year with most of the ducks we shot being Scaup, Pintail, and Spoonies. 

The teal have been completely absent from where we hunt, only shot 1 all year which was highly disappointing as I feel they are the best eating duck. 

Not a biologist but I can say rice production has tanked in the East Bernard area and the goose numbers have gone with it. 

My friends in Louisiana have had more geese than they have ever seen in their lives, and they have plenty of rice.


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## Gulfgoose (Sep 25, 2017)

We definitely saw the loss around the prairie. Without a couple of key spots our season would have been a bust. The amount of specklebellies this year compared to last was very noticeable. We did have a pretty good year on the snow geese thanks to the high number of juvies. I'd give anything to have the number of snows like you guys talk about.


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## TeamJefe (Mar 20, 2007)

KDubBlast said:


> So what can be done to help increase these numbers here in Texas? More wetlands, more farming of rice?


Join Ducks Unlimited if you haven't. They spend a considerable amount of money on habitat restoration. On our property we took an old rice field that hadn't been farmed and turned it into approx 200 acres of flooded wetlands with help from DU


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## TxDuSlayer (Jun 24, 2006)

It's not only the loss of rice crop on both sides of town but also the loss of habitat. I used to duck hunt where Katy Mills mall is now. This is a big factor as well most of the Katy prairie is subdivisions now. 

I remember in the early 90's coming home from deer hunting in Uvalde with a friend from high school. It was routine to see the sky covered in thousands and thousands of geese and ducks. You could watch geese start to land by the thousands right there on the side of I10 .


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## TatterTot (Jan 6, 2006)

TeamJefe said:


> Join Ducks Unlimited if you haven't. They spend a considerable amount of money on habitat restoration. On our property we took an old rice field that hadn't been farmed and turned it into approx 200 acres of flooded wetlands with help from DU


Can I hunt it? Asking for a friend.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## AvianQuest (Feb 7, 2006)

Katy Prairie....exact same location...


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## Reynolds4 (Jan 18, 2010)

That's a crying shame!


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## daddyeaux (Nov 18, 2007)

Maybe, just maybe, if more of these subdivisions floor every year we can get the wetlands back.


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## Gulfgoose (Sep 25, 2017)

AvianQuest said:


> Katy Prairie....exact same location...


This right here speaks volumes.


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## aTm08 (Dec 30, 2011)

KDubBlast said:


> So what can be done to help increase these numbers here in Texas? More wetlands, more farming of rice?


Have 3 foot of snow cover the flyway from the dakotas all the way to the pan handle and have it stay for a few weeks. Take away their food sources north of here and they will make their way back to the coast.


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## AvianQuest (Feb 7, 2006)

aTm08 said:


> Have 3 foot of snow cover the flyway from the dakotas all the way to the pan handle and have it stay for a few weeks. Take away their food sources north of here and they will make their way back to the coast.


Arrange for 3 feet of snow all the way down to Conroe and you have my vote for DU president.

Only wait until November.


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## buckweet (Aug 8, 2011)

One of our best years for ducks, but have low pressured private spot.

Geese.......... not sure if know what one looks like anymore, We used to spend lots fo time chasing geese. Driving the old prairie in Katy will put a tear in your eye
Urban sprawl. Been happening around here for long time. 

Funny , had a millennial with me the other day. Pointed to the grain silos at long point and Hempstead ; He did not believe me when i tried to explain what those were used for and why their location......


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## Aggieross05 (Nov 1, 2011)

Terrible year on the prairie for us...small private club and we had about a 35%-40% reduction in harvested birds. Saw terrible numbers after the split, which is usually great. Teal season was good.

Don't see any reason for the trend to change but I hope I am wrong.


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## kweber (Sep 20, 2005)

Missysippy River water is cheaper than Colo.River water...
Austin trumps rice..
old John Deere 95 combines left a lot of goose feed...
like AQ said, bigger, newer and WAY more efficient equipment loses almost no grain...goose shooting back then wasn't the work required, now, either...
a few dozen rags draped over rice stubble was enough...
my little crew has gotten older and even w/4-wheelers and utv;s, we wont deal w/mega-spreads...
as for dux, I see them on almost every mudhole west of San Antonio...
they were never here 30 yrs back...
widgeon, teal and Mx/mottleds in SWTx mesquite brush tanks...
mallards, sometimes, too.
sometimes the large wheat/oat fields around Uvalde are covered w/specks...
cranes found the fields here too about 30 yrs ago...
Arky rice is cheaper to produce than Tx rice...
simple economics


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## S-3 ranch (May 26, 2004)

kweber said:


> Missysippy River water is cheaper than Colo.River water...
> Austin trumps rice..
> old John Deere 95 combines left a lot of goose feed...
> like AQ said, bigger, newer and WAY more efficient equipment loses almost no grain...goose shooting back then wasn't the work required, now, either...
> ...


Ducks are very thick around here,


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## Retired (May 12, 2014)

I read an article in Ohioâ€™s wildlife magazine published by their DNR that Canada goose migration patterns have changed in the last 15 years. Basically, it stated that less than half of the â€œlocalâ€ population migrates, and the rest stay put all winter. Prior to that time frame, as much as 90% of the population would migrate every season. Surprisingly, the cause is not global warming, but better habitat and food supply, so they donâ€™t all need to move out when winter comes. I donâ€™t know if this is the same with specs and snows, but fewer Canadas migrate, so there would be fewer in the south. I also doubt this happens with ducks also, but there are still ducks (mostly mallards) still in NW Ohio at this time of year.


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## grittydog (Jan 16, 2008)

I grew up Goose and Duck hunting on family land in Waller TX, as a kid in the 70's it was as good as it gets and by the 90's it wasn't worth the effort. I'm sure the Katy area feels like we did in the 80's


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## Spec-Rig.006 (Nov 2, 2007)

Reynolds4 said:


> That's a crying shame!


YUP ...

Some of these responses crack me up, especially in regard to TX having birds in the early 2000's and seeing them on back roads.

In the late 80's and early 90's you could have filled your truck bed any day of the week driving west on I-10 with road killed geese that were jumping fields across the interstate getting whacked by big rigs.

I haven't looked at the numbers but by 2006, Texas was only wintering 10% of the geese it was wintering 15 years before, now I shudder to think what it might be. Urban encroachment, shifts in agricultural patterns and a lack of wintering habitat don't help at all.


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## Rack Ranch (May 25, 2004)

Why do they continue to allow E-call season? If they knew this mid winter why are we seeing post off 100 goose kills in E caller season this year??


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## Whitecrow (May 26, 2004)

Rack Ranch said:


> Why do they continue to allow E-call season? If they knew this mid winter why are we seeing post off 100 goose kills in E caller season this year??


Gotta save the tundra, ya know?


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## Gulfgoose (Sep 25, 2017)

Rack Ranch said:


> Why do they continue to allow E-call season? If they knew this mid winter why are we seeing post off 100 goose kills in E caller season this year??


E-caller season has to do with the total population numbers not just the Texas numbers. Look at states like Arkansas where the snow numbers have exploded and 100 bird shoots are the norm not the exception. A few us killing 100+ birds doesn't effect the lack of tens of thousands of birds.


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## 12Gauge (Feb 13, 2017)

Agreed on geese. They need a high carb diet when they complete the fall migration, and rice in Texas was the perfect source. When ethanol got popular some rice farmers when to corn and sorghum, which are sources, but some also went to cotton which is nothing. And to me i see more cotton and sorghum than corn. So without carbs like they used to have they aint comin. And geese can spot rice from miles up in the sky.


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## Aggieross05 (Nov 1, 2011)

I see more cows, houses and distribution centers...


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## Swampstomper (Apr 19, 2010)

Light goose numbers from the coastal region have varied pretty drastically and surprisingly over the last 15 yrs. I was just looking at a link with the surveys and here,s some examples.
2003-364,000 and this was at the end of the banner days ?
2011- 632,00 pretty darn good
2013-378,000 more than 2003 ?
2015-428,000
2016-230,000
2017-191,000 I,ve heard many reports of more light this year than in years, seen plenty myself
I agree the numbers are,nt anything like the 80,s and 90,s but I,ve doubted the surveys accuracy for a long time. They fly what they call traditional wintering areas each year. Anyone who knows snow geese knows how they can be thick in an area one year and gone the next.


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## Swampstomper (Apr 19, 2010)

And here,s a good one from the survey-
Coastal region specklebelly count
2015-14,911
2016-14,911
No kidding, exact same number ? Kinda sounds like they said-well looks about the same as year...


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## Jpaulp (Nov 14, 2012)

This has been the worst year for us in SETX for as long as I can remember. Absolutely pitiful numbers of ducks and geese this year. Hopefully next year is different. 

I heard an interesting theory the other day that the flood from Harvey flushed all of the duck food out. Coupled with the fact that it didn't rain more than an inch for the next 2 or 3 months after Harvey and all of the sloughs and marshes that usually flood out into surrounding prairie providing great duck habitat never flooded. By the time they finally did flood a little bit there was no food there to hold the birds. Just my 2 cents..


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## Sugars Pop (Jul 10, 2008)

Friends have a lease at Pecan Island La (50+ years)and hunting over there has cratered the last 5 + years.
I think you can thank Ducks Unlimited for the impact being felt in the south since they have spent millions up north so the ducks/geese have no reason to migrate south .


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## cleetus.snow (Dec 31, 2017)

Conservation season has zilch to do with the decline, but there is no getting around the changing agriculture. Even if you are doing things on your little place, thousands of acres not in production anymore, different production, or lost have a big effect. The large majority will shift over time to utilize different areas that meet their needs.


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## goatchze (Aug 1, 2006)

Been hunting the Navasota bottom near B/CS for about 20 years. It definitely seems there have been fewer ducks the last five years. We never get geese.


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## oOslikOo (Jul 13, 2010)

12Gauge said:


> Agreed on geese. They need a high carb diet when they complete the fall migration, and rice in Texas was the perfect source. When ethanol got popular some rice farmers when to corn and sorghum, which are sources, but some also went to cotton which is nothing. And to me i see more cotton and sorghum than corn. So without carbs like they used to have they aint comin. And geese can spot rice from miles up in the sky.


Breakdown of prairie in acres....

Corn- 350,300 
Rice-195,000
Cotton- 156,800
Milo- 151,900

One farmer planted about 1,000 acres of fall corn after a summer crop in same fields. Harvested it mid January. Only saw geese on it twice and never totaled more than 1,000 birds.

Water and hunting pressure mean more these days. Texas coast has little water and more hunting pressure than just about anywhere in North America. You could see this coming in the 90's.


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## oOslikOo (Jul 13, 2010)

goatchze said:


> Been hunting the Navasota bottom near B/CS for about 20 years. It definitely seems there have been fewer ducks the last five years. We never get geese.


We hunt a place in the river bottom and this year was down right off. No shortage of birds but far fewer than normal years. Flip side in south central Texas I had birds like I had growing up. Haven't seen numbers like that in 15 years or so.


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## AvianQuest (Feb 7, 2006)

oOslikOo said:


> We hunt a place in the river bottom and this year was down right off. No shortage of birds but far fewer than normal years. Flip side in south central Texas I had birds like I had growing up. Haven't seen numbers like that in 15 years or so.


Many of the ducks that have been displaced from traditional waterfowl areas due to development or other forms of habitat loss or habitat degradation have in fact moved to hill country ponds.


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## TeamJefe (Mar 20, 2007)

We are currently holding several thousand birds. Mostly green wing teal and pintails with some shovelers mixed in.


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## oOslikOo (Jul 13, 2010)

AvianQuest said:


> Many of the ducks that have been displaced from traditional waterfowl areas due to development or other forms of habitat loss or habitat degradation have in fact moved to hill country ponds.


Yes sir. We will see what next year brings. This place did have plentiful ducks albeit down in numbers but they were very difficult to kill.

In other news goose hunting remains good. Killed 74 yesterday, and out of 4 groups today I killed 33, another was north of 40, a 20+, and a single digit hunt. Very few ducks today.


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