Duck season looks prime for waterfowl hunters

I am not sure how I feel about this global warming/climate change issue. It seems logical to me over the centuries there would be cyclical changes in temperatures and climates. I am convinced those cycles occur, but I can also appreciate what man’s activities here on earth in our life times can influence temperatures and the environment.

Ron Hellbusch

Migrating mallard ducks rest on the South Platte River.

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    However, I do know this past winter has produced a banner snowfall and a resulting lush snowpack for the Colorado high country – climate charge or not. To see the extended runoff in our river basins his spring and summer can only be encouraging, whether you operate an irrigated farm, dry land wheat spread or are a simple urban farmer with a backyard garden.

    State water law allows the large lakes and reservoirs to fill during the winter months and farms to irrigate during the late spring and throughout the summer months. The runoff has been so generous the river flow volumes have allowed late spring topping off the lakes and reservoirs while at the same time nearly unrestricted diversions for farmland irrigation.

    Snowpack statewide reached 115 percent of the 30-year average and the South Platte River Basin enjoyed a 120 percent of average snowfall. As a result, the river was able to supply storage and irrigation water, a magnet for migrating waterfowl.

    Interestingly, this same weather phenomenon of the past couple of years has been occurring along the U.S./Canadian boarder region, specifically in what is called the Canadian “Prairie Pothole Region” in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. It is within this vast wetlands region that the majority of ducks nest and produce each summer. And this moisture has benefited the Dakota’s, Montana and Wyoming as well as Colorado in a like manner.

    Reports out of Ducks Unlimited, that monitors waterfowl numbers, habitat conditions and forecast, as well as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are very encouraging for the upcoming duck season in Colorado and border states.

    Reports show total duck populations are estimated at 42 million breeding ducks in the surveyed Canadian Pothole Region. This is an increase of 13 percent over last year’s estimate of 37.3 million birds, and an encouraging 25 percent increase above the 1955-2008 long-term average.

    “History has repeatedly shown that when water returns to the breeding ground ducks respond with a strong breeding effort,”  said DU spokesman Don Young.

    One of the most encouraging increases comes among the popular mallard duck numbers, which is the primary specie that migrates through Colorado. The mallard has shown a 13 percent increase in numbers over 2008 and a hefty 25 percent gain over the long-term average.

    Add to the promising duck numbers, the increase in lakes, reservoirs and small ponds water storage as well as the major South Platte and Arkansas River basins flows and duck hunters have much to be very optimistic about looking ahead to the 2009-2010 fall and winter waterfowl season. Good corn, wheat, grain and aquatic plant life production provides the food source, which is an equally inviting asset for migrating Colorado ducks.

    The only uncertainty comes in the puzzling and changing duck migrating routes and patterns witnessed in Colorado over the past 10 years. The DOW has an ongoing study to determine why there are fewer numbers of ducks migrating along the Front Range than in past decades. The study also is addressing why the mallard ducks that do migrate between Denver and Sterling are less visible along the South Platte River than in past years. Waterfowl aerial counts and ground level observations show fewer ducks east of Denver and growing numbers between Sterling and the Colorado-Nebraska state line.This study is yet to be concluded.

    Even with the questions still looming, the 22 state wildlife areas along the South Platte River between Denver and Julesburg are plush with water and wetlands. That is simply good news as we await the fall migration.

    Duck hunters just have to hope those amenities will be the attraction wintering mallard ducks will be seeking this waterfowl season.