Outdoors Insider, with Dale Sunderlin: U.S. continues to attract majority of nesting ducks

By DALE SUNDERLIN For the Star Beacon

The 56th edition of the Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey, released recently by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Canadian Wildlife Service, revealed wetland conditions and duck populations well above their long-term averages.

The headline numbers: The total-duck population across the traditional survey dropped slightly to 40.9 million from last year’s 42 million, mallard numbers were steady at 8.4 million, scaup numbers rose slightly to 4.2 million and the northern pintail population bumped up 9 percent to 3.5 million.

More good news: Most of the breeding grounds are today even wetter — in some cases much wetter — than when the surveys were flown in May, which will promote re-nesting and increase brood survival.

As was the case in 2009, the real news is buried in the fine print, which showed a continuing shift in breeding-duck numbers from Canada to the U.S. Part of the reason was an all-time record 2.9 million wetlands on the U.S. side of the region, with 2.3 million of those in the eastern Dakotas. Wetlands are what attract nesting ducks and the U.S. has never been wetter.

Prairie Canada was wetter than normal, led by a 21 percent year-over-year increase in the pond count in southern Saskatchewan. Yet despite being 34 percent wetter than its long-term average, 72 percent fewer pintails and 18 percent fewer mallards settled in Saskatchewan than its historical average.

Once again, the U.S. picked up the slack. More total ducks settled on the U.S. side of the breeding grounds, 13.9 million in the Dakotas and eastern Montana as compared to 10.6 million in the prairie portions of Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba. That’s pretty remarkable when you consider that two-thirds of the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) exists on the Canadian side of the border,” says Delta Scientific Director Dr. Frank Rohwer of Louisiana State University.

“Delta has been saying for years that Canada is broken, and the latest survey numbers once again bear that out.” The U.S. side of the region attracted 1.4 million pintails compared to just 592,000 in prairie Canada. Last year was the first time ever that more pintails settled in the U.S. than in prairie Canada.

Other stunners included 4.2 million blue-winged teal in the U.S. to 1.9 million in prairie Canada and 3 million mallards in the U.S. to 2.6 million in the Prairie Provinces.

Under normal conditions, those results would be cause for celebration, but the good news from the U.S. was offset by concerns about ongoing losses of the habitat that attracted those ducks in the first place.

“We heard from a lot of duck hunters who told us the recent season didn’t live up to their expectations after the great wetland conditions last spring,” says Delta Senior Vice President John Devney. “The best explanation is the ducks that settled in the Dakotas and Montana a year ago weren’t as productive as they were in the 1990s because there was a lot less nesting cover than there was in the ‘90s. The Dakotas have lost close to 2 million acres of grass since 1999, that’s more than 3,100 square miles, and another 2 million acres of CRP are scheduled to expire by 2012.”

Research conducted by the Service showed that upland-nesting ducks need large blocks of grass to produce at population-expanding levels, but we’re losing Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and native prairie acres at an alarming rate. Not only are we losing grass, but also the high-quality wetlands embedded in those acres.

The take-home message is that the U.S. side of the region carried Canada during the wet cycle of the 1990s, but if the U.S. keeps losing habitat, who’s going to pick up the slack?

Rohwer, who is currently involved in research projects in northeastern North Dakota, says nest success in low-grass areas this spring has been extremely poor — less than 5 percent, which is well below what’s necessary for the population to expand. “If we keep losing grass, that doesn’t bode well for duck numbers,” he says.

Waterfowl hunters across the continent have expressed concern about what impact the BP oil spill will have on the estimated 5 million ducks that will begin arriving in the Gulf of Mexico less than two months from now. “The oil spill is an environmental disaster that could affect ducks and duck hunters for years to come,” says Rohwer. “We have no experience with this kind of disaster, so it’s impossible to predict what will happen. “ It would appear that diving ducks like scaup, canvasbacks and redheads will be most at risk because they sit in the coastal bays where there has been a lot of oil in recent weeks.”

Rohwer says it’s possible large numbers of dabblers could also be affected by oil, but calls that a worst-case scenario and only should occur if a tropical storm pushes oil into the freshwater portions of the marsh where dabbling ducks are typically found.

There’s no way to know if ducks will move around to avoid the oil,” Rohwer says. “Ducks have no experience with oil, so they may have little predisposition to avoid it.

The bottom line is while we need to find ways to mitigate the damage caused by the Deepwater spill and ensure the long-term viability of coastal wetlands, we can’t ignore the challenges ducks face on the breeding grounds.



Controlled hunts

n Interested waterfowl hunters are invited to participate in a controlled hunt drawing for the Magee Marsh Wildlife Area for the 2010 teal and early goose season. The drawing will be held at 12:30 pm on Saturday, Aug. 21 at the Magee Marsh Wildlife Area. The drawing will be held in conjunction with the Lake Erie Waterfowlers Festival. Registration for interested hunters will take place from 10 a.m. to noon at the Division of Wildlife Display Tent located near the boardwalk / wildlife beach parking area. The drawing will be held on the deck at the west entrance of the boardwalk. This hunt will be conducted during the Teal Season only. Applicants need to present a 2009 or 2010 hunting license or wetland stamp in order to register. Additional controlled hunting opportunities at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area or other state wildlife areas are available by accessing the divisions Web site at www.ohiodnr.com/wildlife or calling 1 (800) WILDLIFE.

n Interested waterfowl hunters are invited to participate in several controlled hunting opportunities at the Pickerel Creek Wildlife Area. The first is a lottery card drawing for the first two hunt days of the Teal/Early Goose season. The opening day morning drawing and both the morning and afternoon drawings of the second day will be for all applicants.

The opening day afternoon drawing will be Youth Only. Interested applicants need to mail in a 4 x 6 inch index card with the applicant’s name, address and phone number. The drawing in which the card is to be entered should be designated at the top (Youth Teal or Adult Teal). Post cards need to be postmarked by August 12, 2010 to be eligible. The permits are not transferable.

There will also be a lottery card drawing for the opening day of the regular waterfowl season. The morning drawing will be for all applicants. The afternoon drawing will be Youth Only. Interested applicants need to mail in a 4 x 6 inch index card with the applicant’s name, address and phone number. The drawing in which the card is to be entered should be designated at the top (Youth Waterfowl or Adult Waterfowl). Post cards need to be postmarked by Sept. 16 to be eligible. The permits are not transferable.

There is a limit of one card per drawing. Youth hunters are age 17 and younger. Successful applicants will receive their permit in the mail along with additional information. Adult hunt results will be posted on the Division of Wildlife website. Youth hunt results will be available by calling the Wildlife District Two Office at 419-424-5000. Results for the Teal hunt drawings will be available after August 22nd. Results for the Waterfowl hunt drawings will be available after September 27th.

Additional controlled waterfowl hunting opportunities will be available through a daily drawing at the Pickerel Creek Check Station. Hunt days will be every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday during the waterfowl seasons as well as both Saturday and Sunday of the statewide youth season. Morning hunt drawings will be held at 5:15 am and afternoon hunt drawings will be held at 11:00 am. All permits not utilized in the drawings will be available through a self serve system. Procedures will be posted at the check station.

Any questions can be directed to the Wildlife Management Section at the District Two Office by calling (419) 424-5000 or the Pickerel Creek Wildlife Area by calling (419) 547-6007.

n Interested waterfowl hunters are invited to participate in a controlled waterfowl hunt drawing for the Pipe Creek Wildlife Area. A separate drawing will take place for the East Sandusky Bay Metro Park immediately following the Pipe Creek drawing. East Sandusky Bay Metro Park is a layout style hunt. The drawing will be held at 6:30 pm on Thursday, August 19, 2010. The drawings will be conducted at the Osborn Metro Park located at 3910 Perkins Ave., Huron, OH 44839. Interested participants should plan to arrive around 6:00 pm to register. The drawings will be for the entire waterfowl season including Teal / Early Goose and the statewide youth seasons. Adult participants are required to present a 2009 or 2010 Ohio Wetland Stamp or Resident Hunting License. Youth Hunters are required to bring their 2009 or 2010 Resident Youth Hunting License to be eligible to participate in the drawings. The permits are transferable.



Special archery hunts

An increasing deer population, resulting in negative impacts to native plant communities, has led the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), Division of Natural Areas and Preserves to coordinate special archery deer hunts at 16 state nature preserves across the state.

High quality habitats at these state nature preserves including Blackhand Gorge, Fowler Woods, Goll Woods and Lawrence Woods, have been negatively impacted by over-browsing deer. For example, large flowered trillium, Ohio’s state wildflower, has nearly disappeared from several sites because of foraging deer.

 “Conducting special management hunts enables the division to protect native plant communities in Ohio’s best natural areas,” said Gary Obermiller, Division of Natural Areas and Preserves’ program administrator. “An added benefit is that Ohio’s hunters are given an opportunity to explore high-quality areas and assist ODNR with critical land management activities.”

There will be four (4) two-week archery hunt sessions and one (1) week-long archery hunt session beginning Sept. 25 through Nov. 27. Each special archery hunt permit will be good for two hunters for two weeks, with the exception of the last one week session. Hunters will be required to harvest an antlerless deer first.

Participating hunters in Zone A will be allowed to harvest two deer under state hunting rules, one on a $15 antlerless tag and one on a $24 either-sex tag. The Zone B limit is two on the antlerless tag and two on the either-sex tag. Similarly, the Zone C limit is six, three on antlerless tag and three on either-sex tag.

To apply for the special archery hunt lotteries, applicants must send in a 3 x 5 card with their name, address, daytime phone number and the hunt name (such as Goll Woods Archery Hunt), along with a $5 processing fee for each entry. You may apply for multiple sites; however, you will only be drawn once per site.

You must mark each entry card with the appropriate hunt location. Do not send multiple payments; one check equaling $5 per card is sufficient. Do not send cash, checks and money orders must be made out to Ohio Division of Natural Areas and Preserves. Processing fees are non-refundable. Mail entries to the Ohio Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, 2045 Morse Road, Bldg. C-2, Columbus 43229. Lottery entries must be received by Aug. 15.

The archery drawing will be held on Aug. 16 at 10 a.m. at the ODNR Fountain Square Complex located at 2045 Morse Road, Building E-1 West, Columbus, 43229. Applicants do not need to be present at the drawing to be awarded a permit.

Successful archery hunt applicants will be notified by phone, and are required to attend one of two orientation meetings set for Sept. 11-2 at various locations. Visit ohiodnr.com/dnap for a full listing of lottery rules and special hunt details.

Sunderlin is a freelance writer from Geneva. Reach him at djss@roadrunner.com.

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