Migration Alert: Arctic Air Brings Ice and Waterfowl to Illinois

Climatologists report that November was one of the warmest on record for Illinois, and most waterfowl hunters will concur given the tardy push of ducks and geese into the Prairie State and early-season migrants filling out bags as late as last week.

Then, like a flip of the switch, frigid temperatures dipped well south of the Great Lakes, prompting hunters to rummage around the gear room for their long johns and insulated jackets. When Saturday rolled around, in a matter of hours ice began to form on all but the largest lakes and moving waters well into southern Illinois.

Looking back roughly two weeks ago, ideal migration conditions finally began to drive birds southward into the mid-Mississippi Flyway. Forbes Biologist Station staff based in Havana conducted their weekly aerial survey of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers last week, and the numbers were impressive to say the least, with just over 750,000 ducks tallied between the two rivers.

Amazingly enough, only a few days later more big changes were in store for ducks and those who hunt them, as a blast of Arctic air settled into the region.

"Lots of ice along the Illinois and Upper Mississippi Rivers, and birds are really stacked up near the confluence, especially mallards and pintails," says Josh Osborn of Forbes, who counted and crunched numbers during the latest aerial inventory conducted earlier this week. "Most of what remains on the two rivers are mallards, gadwalls, and pintails. Pool 19 of the Mississippi is holding lots of canvasbacks and scaup. Goldeneyes and common mergansers are also showing up there too."

The Illinois and Mississippi Rivers are dotted with state, federal, and private tracts of intensely managed waterfowl habitat and serve as one of the main pipelines into the central and southern portions of the flyway. Given the reports, it's safe to say a bunch of ducks are pushing south out of the region at a brisk pace.

Austin Matheny and his crew hunt the Illinois River Valley almost daily and have been taking mixed bags of divers and puddle duck species for weeks, but these full-time duck hunters are currently burdened by lots of hard water.

"We've been frozen out since Saturday but had a good run up until then. We still have some mallards and divers," Matheny says. "Some guys are starting to get into the mallards really well where there is open water or in the fields near roosting areas being kept open by the ducks. When the thaw hits this week, they'll spread out again."

A little further south, Sean Herrick and his crew have been enjoying some great hunts. "As cold as it's been, we're still seeing good numbers of ducks, most of which are mallards," Herrick says. "We had a ton of ringnecks, but they left. With enough open water and the slight warm-up coming, I'd have to believe we'll hold the ducks that are still here."

In the heart of south-central Illinois near Vandalia, Zack Wentz agrees, "We've seen an uptick in the number of mallards the last few days. The problem has been keeping the water open, and if you have that, you are certainly in shape for a good shoot. With this being the big push and the weather warming up in the coming days, the hope is that ducks will stick around for the next couple of weeks."

Goose numbers have also improved in some areas as northeast Illinois has finally picked up migrating geese to bolster the strong population of local birds. Along with the big geese, ducks, and in particular mallards, have begun to play a very important role in each day's hunt. The best time of year to hunt geese in northeast Illinois (and nearby southeast Wisconsin and northwest Indiana) has begun.

"The past couple weeks we have seen new Canadas arrive and a few push south out of here, but we definitely have fresh birds," says Brian Griffin of Griffin Hunt Club. "We've had temperatures in the low teens and single digits, so open water is limited, and birds are very concentrated at this time. We are anxiously waiting for snow. It's game time!"