870 The Flyway

24/10/2025

Mallards are down 17% so let's by all means shoot all the hens we can, because as your uncle Bill told you.,. you can't stockpile ducks

Each winter, hunters ask the same question: Where are the mallards?

Mallards are down continent-wide. The 2025 breeding estimate is about 6.6 million, roughly 17% below the long-term average.

The biggest drivers are on the prairie breeding grounds: extended dry periods, fewer wetlands and the loss of nearby grassland cover needed for nesting and broods.

When dry cycles line up with habitat loss, fewer ducklings are produced. This shows up right away in the fall flight data. Other data show fewer juveniles are banded and harvested, and the adult population has more males than females due to higher hen losses during nesting.

Structured aerial surveys in Mississippi and Arkansas now show a long-term decline in wintering mallards, with a statistically clear drop in Arkansas and a smaller but evident decline in Mississippi.

Read our entire article here: https://ow.ly/6mAT50XbWtX

Follow MSU Extension Gamebird Program for more content like this!

24/10/2025

Wyatt WINS!
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1J8jnr2wgv/

We’re beyond proud of Wyatt for taking center stage at Pitch Night and bringing home both the Grand Prize and the Crowd Favorite Award! 🏆👏

A huge thank-you to Umpqua GrowthTalks and to all the sponsors for hosting such an incredible event and giving innovators like Wyatt the spotlight they deserve! 💡🙌

For those that did not attend, we will upload a video of Wyatt in action. Stay tuned!

16/10/2025

IL. Flight Survey Shows Low Water, 1/3 fewer ducks

15/10/2025

15/10/2025

Anybody else keep these from year to year? What's the oldest one you have??

15/10/2025

71st?? Wild Goose Festival ... BYOG ... Bring Your Own Goose

26/05/2025

RIP Phil Robertson -- Long before the Duck dynasty nonsense, Phil Robertson was a duck hunter and businessman out barnstorming around the country, bringing a gospel message along with sales of his duck calls. Here is Phil with his Bible speaking to the crowd at the now defunct sporting goods store Galyan"s in Kansas City KS., 2003.

26/05/2025

Rest in peace,
Duckman

25/10/2024

"Duck shooting is both science and an art. Seasoned duck shooters smile at the quail hunter, the snipe shooter, and the man who eases around after prairie chickens. They are "parlor" shooters. Duck hunters take their lives in their hands quite a bit.The marshes and lakes take something of a toll of human life, and more than a few good fellows have gone under in "sink-holes," perished from exposure,or drowned in sight of shore while following their favorite hobby.You need to be some resemblance to a man to go after ducks, year in and year out." -- William Chester Hazelton, in his book Duck Shooting and Hunting Sketches, 1870.

24/10/2024

Lots of last-minute patterning going on for new and existing shotguns and add-on choke tubes. Finding something big enough to shoot test shots at can be challenging. I found Banquet Tablecloth Rolls from https://www.webstaurantstore.com restaurant supply outfit for about the same price as a pack of FIVE actual readymade shotgun patterning sheets... $17.99.
A 300 foot by 40 inch roll will last til the cows come home. Draw your own Blue Rock target, duck outline or Flying Tomato in the center and Line 'Em Up!

24/10/2024

Here .... I edited this for length and clarity ...