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Insights
By Don Young, Executive Vice President
Crunching the numbers . . .
 What kind of season will it be?
Most die-hard waterfowlers, myself included, keep a close eye on a variety of reports, analyses, and opinions that might give us some inkling into the quality of the upcoming waterfowl season. We track habitat conditions and rainfall totals on the breeding grounds. We meet with our hunting buddies to discuss the Fish and Wildlife Service's breeding duck survey results and mallard fall flight index. We closely follow the establishment of season dates and bag limits. And we even listen to all sorts of rumors and hearsay in an attempt to answer the question: What kind of season will it be?
In this issue of Ducks Unlimited magazine, senior writer Matt Young does an excellent job of gathering much of the latest information about ducks and their habitats, analyzing it, and presenting it for you in a logical, understandable way.
But how do we, as waterfowl hunters and conservationists, take this information and determine whether we will be seeing more ducks in front of our blinds? Very simply: We can't. There are just too many variables.
This year is a good example. In some of the most important breeding areas, habitat conditions were excellent. In other areas, they were quite poor. For some duck species, including pintails, numbers are up from last year.
Others, like mallards, are down but still well above long-term averages. And still other populations, most notably lesser scaup, are continuing worrisome declines. On one hand, we know that we are still experiencing problems with too many mid-continent lesser snow geese. On the other hand, some Canada goose populations are still low, although it looks like the Atlantic population of Canada geese is making a strong comeback.
Overall, I think most hunters will be pleased with the number of waterfowl they will see this year. But, as always, weather will play a more significant role in determining the number of waterfowl in a particular area at a particular time than will slight increases or decreases in populations.
Are this year's dry conditions in some portions of the prairies a harbinger of another drought cycle? It's possible. But it's also possible that next year the rains will return. Hand-wringing about precipitation levels on the breeding grounds won't help the ducks or us as hunters. What will help is continuing efforts to restore the habitat that we have lost and to protect the habitat that remains. That habitat helps carry the ducks through the dry cycles and boosts waterfowl populations significantly during wet cycles.
As you know, the best way you can help to restore and protect waterfowl habitat is through your support of DU. I thank you again for that support. Keep it up . . . your rewards will soon be winging their way south. 
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November / December 2008 Issue
Feature Stories
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