Duck hunters in Missouri and Arkansas have just a few days remaining to get afield and fill their straps as the season closes Monday.
Duck numbers continue to be low across Southeast Missouri, with about 13,000 reported this week at the Ten Mile Pond Conservation Area and 5,800 at the Coon Island Conservation Area.
There’s also a lot more water around than earlier in the season, and it has caused what birds we do have to be scattered a bit.
The weather forecast for the remainder of the season looks good, so there shouldn’t be any big rains or ice to stifle hunting success.
While duck numbers are low in Southeast Missouri, they have increased over the last week or two in Arkansas, bumping up from 989,000 during the early-January mid-winter survey to 1.1 million this week.
According to Luke Naylor, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s waterfowl program coordinator, the number of mallards in the state has fallen from almost 700,000 to a little more than half a million this week, and much of overall duck population increase can be attributed to species like pintails, shovelers and green-winged teal.
The influx of those species, Naylor said, is “a typical indication the spring migration is happening.”
Whether any of those ducks make it back up to Southeast Missouri before the season closes is anyone’s guess, but there are birds at the door.
According to AGFC biologist Zack Yancey at the Dave Donaldson Black River Wildlife Management Area in Clay, Greene and Randolph counties, there are large numbers of pintails which have moved back into the area, so there is potential for a strong finish.
Once the duck season closes, waterfowlers still can pursue geese through Feb. 6. There still are large numbers of snow geese and white-fronted geese around, plus there always are a few resident Canada geese which trade back and forth around the region.
If you’re in Arkansas, there also will be a youth- and veteran-only duck hunt held on Feb. 5.
There are a few other seasons besides the one for ducks that also will close Monday, including those for non-game fish snagging and some furbearers.
Snagging of non-game fish from impounded waters and streams closes Monday, but the gigging season remains open through Feb. 15.
Coyote hunting remains open year-round (with a spring turkey season limitation), but the hunting season for badgers, bobcats, gray and red foxes, opossums, raccoons and striped skunks closes Monday.
The trapping of those species, plus coyotes, rabbits and mink also wraps up Monday.
For trappers, that will leave otters, muskrats, beaver and nutria as the only legal species.
Missouri’s catch-and-release winter trout program season also closes Monday, and the next day, anglers will be able to keep four fish daily in those stocked areas.
At the state’s designated trout parks (Montauk State Park, Maramec Spring Park, Bennett Spring State Park and Roaring River State Park), catch-and-release fishing will continue through Feb. 14.
Crappie fishing continues to be inconsistent from day to day, and even from one angler to another. However, when the catching has been good, there have been some really nice fish taken.
One angler told me he caught 15 fish between 11 and 13 inches in a matter of a couple hours, while his buddy had nine in that size range. Then suddenly, everything turned off and all they could catch were a few smaller crappies.
Charlie Brotherton at Sundowner Marine agreed with the larger fish size.
“They are catching some bigger fish,” he said.
Most of the fish, to nobody’s surprise, have been caught upriver, and most reports Brotherton has heard have said the 6- to 7-foot depth range has been about right.
The lake currently is about a foot above winter pool, and in the coming weeks, it will be drawn down below normal levels for the five-year inspection of the dam.
February fishing, Brotherton said, should improve.
“February is a good month to catch those big ones,” he said.
For those who wish to apply for a managed spring turkey hunt in Missouri, the application period will open Tuesday and run through the month of February.
Group applications for managed turkey hunts are slightly different than those for deer hunts. With deer hunts, groups can have up to four members, but with turkey hunt, the number is limited to three.
And of course, you can only apply for one hunt.
Drawing results are expected to be posted March 15.
For those anglers interested, the Grizzly Jig Company at Caruthersville has scheduled its annual tackle show for Feb. 4-6.
Additionally, a “Fishermen’s Night Out” event will take place at 7 p.m. Feb. 3
The show will run from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. Feb. 4-5 and 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Feb. 6.
As in the past, multiple free seminars from crappie and catfish pros will be held.
Paul Davis is the outdoors editor for the Daily American Republic and can be reached at pdavis.dar@gmail.com.