Migration Alert: Louisiana Sees Increase in Duck Numbers, Hunting Success Remains Spotty

The December aerial survey brought some good news for Louisiana duck hunters. The 1,516,000 total ducks counted in the southwest, southeast, and Little River Basin is nearly triple the amount counted last month. The prior low numbers correlated with unseasonably high temperatures last month. “Improving from the record low duck estimate (510,000 ducks) that corresponded with record average temperatures for Louisiana in November 2024 (+8 degrees warmer than November average),” Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) Waterfowl Manager Jason Olszak reports.

As has been typical, the southwest region is holding the vast majority of the birds. “The estimate for southwest Louisiana increased 290 percent from November’s record low (284,000) and 142 percent from December 2023 (458,000). This estimate is 10 percent above December’s most recent 5-year average, but 6 percent below the most recent 10-year average,” he said. The southeast also followed suit with a large increase. “The duck estimate in southeast Louisiana increased 292 percent from the November estimate (107,000), and 11 percent from December 2023 (380,000). However, it remains 24 percent and 54 percent below the most recent 5- and 10-year December estimates respectively,” Olszak says.

The news for the Little River Basin, and north Louisiana was not as promising. “The 32,000 ducks counted on LRB is 73 percent lower than the 119,000 observed in November,” Olszak says. The timing of the prior survey may account for the lower numbers. “However, we surveyed it on 19 December, which was 6 days into the East Zone’s second season segment rather than 2 days into the split during 2023,” he adds.

The 16,000 duck estimate in northwest Louisiana was the same as seen in the December 2023 count which was during the drought conditions that reduced available habitat. The Northeast is undergoing survey technique changes, but the areas flown showed a total of 74,000 ducks were estimated with dabblers accounting for 97 percent of that number. Green-winged teal and pintails accounted for 53 percent of the duck total followed by northern shovelers and gadwalls. Mallards only represented 6 percent of the total.

186,000 scaup have returned to lakes Pontchartrain and Borgne. “Scaup were estimated on Lakes Borgne (4,000), Pontchartrain (182,000), and Maurepas (0) on December 11. The Borgne estimate is 134 percent higher, and the Pontchartrain estimate is 1,848 percent higher, than last December’s estimate for both lakes. The most recent 10-year average December survey estimates are 17,000 and 71,000 scaup for Lakes Borgne and Pontchartrain respectively.” Olszak says.

Despite the overall low number of birds before the season opened, Captain Jay Ruiz, owner of Black Reaper Southern Charters in southeast Louisiana had a great first split in the West Zone. “My second boat and I hunted every day of the first split and killed birds every single day. Plenty of teal and a few pintails and grays,” he says. The weather for the first split was mixed with some fronts and cold weather, but enough warm days to slow things a bit.

“We need a big push of cold weather to get some big ducks down. I’m not picky, but we try not to shoot many divers. Our middle split is looking good, and we’ll continue to put in the work to keep our clients on birds. With the numbers low and the birds scattered, we spend a lot of extra time out in the marsh watching the birds and observing the patterns. Watching and seeing where they are going to feed and roost keeps us in the prime locations. The warmer weather hasn’t hurt us too bad because we have been killing plenty of teal,” he says.

Steven Savoye hunts on the east side of the river in Plaquemines Parish. He and his friends closed down the first West Zone split on a high note and are looking forward to this weekend. “After a little warm spell, it looks like a well-timed cold front will arrive just in time for the season to reopen. Our last hunt we took limits of teal, pintails, and summer (mottled) ducks. There haven’t been tons of birds around, but good planning and good shooting has made for some great hunts so far, this season,” he says.

Colby Daniels owner of Top Gun Guides LLC in Mer Rouge reports also having a good season so far. “Even with the recent hot and cloudy conditions, we are managing to bring out some nice straps of ducks and geese each day. The duck bags have been mixed with mallards, teal, pintail, shovelers, gadwall and more. We had a great conservation goose season and looking forward to the coming colder weather for the duck action to get even better,” he says.

Despite hunting in southwest Louisiana where the majority of birds are, Steve Stroderd reports some below average hunts. “I will say that the first split was pretty slow for the most part. Although other hunts produced decent numbers on the straps, it was not a reflection of the numbers of birds we saw in the sky. Fortunately, we shot extremely well and made the best of the opportunities we had. Water levels are down to where I want, so hopefully some birds showed up during the break,” he says. Stroderd acknowledges that he has, however, seen some great reports from nearby areas in the southwest.

Colby Fitch with Cajun Country Waterfowl hunts the rice fields southwest of Gueydan. “We’ve experienced a significant influx of geese, particularly snow geese, which has been fantastic. The duck activity was strong during the first two weeks of the first split, but has since tapered off. We were primarily seeing teal and spoonbills. We look forward to the second split and are optimistic about the goose numbers,” he says.