Migration Alert: Northern Portion of Central Flyway Primed for Migration

The wheels of the fall migration have already begun to turn in the northern portions of the Central Flyway, where hunters are enjoying a strong start to the season thanks to improved habitat conditions and abundant waterfowl. Read on for a boots-on-the-ground look at hunting conditions and find out what the experts believe the season could hold for hunters in the Central Flyway.

It has been a decade or more since Trevor Manteufel last encountered the water conditions currently found just below the tree line in northern Alberta, and with the return of water has come a rebound in the number of waterfowl.

“Local duck and Canada goose numbers seem to be well above what they have been over the past 10 really dry years,” says Manteufel, owner and guide of Top of the Flyway Outfitters, located in Alberta’s famed Peace River country. “Our lakes, sloughs, and beaver ponds are all full. It’s been a great start to the season.”

The abundance of moisture in the region has largely kept farmers out of the fields, says Manteufel, who estimates that 5 to 10 percent of the area’s crops have been cut as of September 15. This has helped concentrate waterfowl on available food resources.

In addition to locally produced birds, Manteufel reports that the region has also received migrating birds from the north.

“The specks showed up in volume across northern Alberta between August 6 and 12 and staged here until September 4, when the first decent groups of birds bumped out of here,” says Manteufel. “The migration seems to be following a pretty traditional flow. Now, we’re just waiting for that next push.”

An initial push of migrating waterfowl has already arrived in central Saskatchewan, reports Ben Webster with Prairie Limits Outfitters.

“The Ross’s geese moved in around September 6, and we had a big push of lesser Canada geese right around September 11,” says Webster, who adds that, similar to northern Alberta, central Saskatchewan has received enough moisture to affect the fall harvest, helping concentrate waterfowl and waterfowl hunting opportunities.

“Our duck numbers are average, but the overall hunting the first half of the month has been very good,” he says.

North Dakota hunters have just over a week to wait for their duck hunting season to kick off on September 26 (nonresidents can begin hunting on October 5), and the outlook is mostly positive, courtesy of some timely moisture that helped improve habitat conditions across portions of the Prairie Pothole Region during the breeding and nesting season.

John Palarski, migratory game bird management supervisor with North Dakota Game and Fish, says that the state’s annual summer duck brood survey indicated an increase of 55 percent compared with last year, with gadwall, redheads, and pintails each experiencing a sizable bump. This increased duck production means an estimated 8 to 9 percent increase in the number of ducks ultimately migrating out of North Dakota this fall.

While Mother Nature holds the cards when it comes to the timing and scope of the fall migration, Palarski is optimistic. “Things are lining up to be improved from last year, certainly,” he says.

The outlook is largely positive in South Dakota, as well, reports Rocco Murano, head biologist with the state’s Department of Game, Fish and Parks. Timely moisture boosted duck production in north-central and northeastern South Dakota, he says, noting specifically a banding project his staff recently completed.

“Of the 120 pintails that were captured in the net, 118 of them were hatch-year birds,” says Murano. “Anecdotally, this suggests that those areas that did receive the moisture enjoyed some pretty good duck production.”

Heading into late summer, there was a hard line between the haves and the have-nots in terms of moisture in eastern South Dakota, with water conditions north of Highway 14 substantially better than those found to the south. Heavy rainfall over the past two weeks has gone a long way toward at least blurring that line, but Murano says that hunters should still expect to find extremely dry conditions in areas that traditionally hold waterfowl.

“There are wetlands and even small lakes that are completely dry that I have never seen without water,” says Murano. “It will be important for hunters to scout and find those areas that have water in order to find our ducks.”