Migration Alert: Colorado Hunters Wait on Weather, Migration

As in many other parts of the country, mild weather and a delayed migration are impacting waterfowl hunting opportunities in eastern Colorado. Thankfully, local birds are providing enough action to keep some hunters busy as the calendar nears mid-November.

The 2024 waterfowl season in the Central Flyway has, so far, been a lesson on the role that cold temperatures, ice, and snow play in pushing waterfowl south out of their breeding grounds. With unseasonably warm conditions in Canada, eastern Montana, and North Dakota, large flocks of Canada geese, snow geese, mallards, and other waterfowl have had little reason to push south.

The lack of a significant migration has been especially apparent in northeastern Colorado, says Beau Davis, guide and owner of Beaus Outdoors.

“We are seeing a few teal and some other puddle ducks. There have been a few snow geese in the area, but we’re seeing very few honkers,” says Davis, who operates near the South Platte River close to the Colorado/Nebraska border. “All in all, our duck and goose numbers are low. We haven’t seen any major push of birds yet this season.”

Jeff Colwell with Front Range Guide Service reports “pretty good duck numbers” in north-central Colorado.

“The duck hunting has been surprisingly good. We even had a chance at some canvasbacks the other day, which was fun. But earlier this week we actually shot some blue-winged teal, which kind of tells you everything you need to know about the status of the migration here in Colorado in mid-November,” Colwell says. “We have maybe picked up a few new birds, but I suspect that many of the ducks that we are seeing are local birds that moved into our area when open water froze in upper elevations.”

Colwell adds that the absence of any significant migration extends to what he calls a “calendar push of Canada geese.”

“You can usually put it in writing, between November 10 to 15, these geese show up, but it hasn’t happened yet,” Colwell says. “And that really isn’t any surprise, if you take a look at the conditions currently found in Alberta and into Saskatchewan. The migration is stalled north of us, and it’s going to take some weather up there to get things moving down here.”

Until the weather arrives, Matt Reddy, DU regional biologist for Colorado, recommends that hunters target those areas of the state with the best water conditions.

“I think that If folks can find some water, they'll find a few ducks to make a nice mixed bag,” Reddy says. “Areas of northeast Colorado and southeast Colorado both received a lot of moisture with a recent weather system storm, so I'd encourage folks to get out and scout for newly flooded areas before freezing weather sets in later this month.”