Is duck hunting a dying sport?

I no theres a lot of controversy about waterfowl population. But I have gotten to the point where after 30 solid years of die hard duck hunting It just doesn't seem worth the effort anymore.

I have found that every year I am woking harder to find birds. Driving farther , needing more equipment mud motors to get to better spots.

Waking up earlier to drive ridiculously far to get to a decent area and than having to travel even further by boat to finally get to that out of the way spot where i actually have a chance to get a couple limits of birds. And even than there is some one else there 1/2 the time as well,

where as i used to be able to drive 10 miles to just about any local spot and see just as many birds and get a limit or 2 or even 3 limits at times. 

Now these same exact spots that are close & easy you are lucky if you pull the trigger all morning. 

Its just been the trend for me and many other i know as well.

anyone else thinking about hanging it up? Or at least slowing down ? And not waisting all the time & gas & energy scouting your butt off just for the small chance of actually shooting a limit or 2?

for the newer guys in past 10 years they are probably more used to putting in all the work, but for me after seeing how much harder it is to have success its just taken the wind out of my sails.  

Maybe im just spoiled after being used to seeing such high numbers of birds for all those years & how easy it was to be successful & now how it has become so dismal and such a huge amount of work to have success 

I may sound like a wimp  but its absolutely what Has happened.

Am I alone here? Or are others getting ready to pull the plug or at least slow way down like i am???

I think the big change has come with loss of suburban wetlands, I started duck hunting in 1978 and there were little 1-5 acre wet areas all around most southeast Wisconsin cities.  I would knock on doors and ask permission, if someone was hunting I would go to the next one.  All those places are now subdivisions.  When I am lucky enough to find a spot now, it's hammered hard.  I have a few great fields that if hunters are there I just go home.  Recently, If I am there first, they just set up on the same field, Never saw that until maybe ten years ago. Still love the sport, but believe in fifty years will be gone.

I've been at this sport for over 40 years.,  Hunting the same lake that my grandfather and father hunted.  Never missed an opening day.  I believe hunter ethics have changed our sport and the way the DNR has managed it.  Hunters wanted more days in the field.  Opened the goose seasons earlier.       Youth hunt, early teal.  I just think the ducks don't use this state like they use too.  The lake I hunted on, we had tons of widgeon, redheads, teal.  They are all gone. A mallard was a bonus duck back then.  Let the kids have there weekend.  I like the teal season frankly.  Birds in the bag before the regular season starts.  Times sure have changed.

Best days in wi from a hardcore duckhunter are many days in the south. I will move there when I save enough. No doubt I will be there by 40. Southern boys limit dozens of days a year and hardcore duck hunters down there can limit daily. Ask my buddy Troy from texas! I did a 2 week trip there with him in 2015. I limited 12 of the 14 days. Mallards pintail teal gadwall and widgon. Best duck hunting I have ever had hands down. My buddy Troy limited on ducks 70 percent of the season in texas in 2016! He had mallard pintail and gadwall dinners for his family of 6, 3 times a week! Cooked and prepared all differant ways so his 4 kids wouldn't get sick of it. Then again I don't know how you could get sick of flying steak! You get 2 weeks tops in terms of quality duck hunting in WI (in the best spots), for what texas gets for 70 percent of the season! Bye Bye WI! Be back to visit family! I will be moving to where the ducks are! Feeding my family with my shotgun!

My opinion the best answer to this is. The quality of duck hunting is dying fast. Duck hunters are alive growing fast.

My grandpa and dad were big duck hunters and taught me as well. 40 years ago my dad said first week of Nov they had 1000's of bluebills over decoys and flock after flock of big red legged mallards 30 a flock on average over the decoys as well. It was common he said from Oct 25th to Nov 9th. He took me to the same lake my grandpa and him hunted since my grandpa was a teenager. First time there I was 12. That was back in 1999. It was nothing like it was then too and now? Its a joke. 1 raft of 2000 during the peak time frame all species of ducks and they just stay in the middle of the lake all day long! They never fly by the marshes during shooting light. They stick around for 2 weeks and are gone.

The back of the Federal box says "remember take a kid hunting". I say we have enough hunters. Crappy thing to say but dont take a kid hunting!

More camo in the marsh the worse it will get bottom line.

I love when someone supporting the youth hunt says all the adults want the ducks all to themselves.  Wait...last I checked was the regular season was for everyone...including youth.

Sure, one can work harder to find ducks but you are missing the picture.  Some day them spots will be gone also.  If you have been around for a while you have seen how quick these things change.  The big picture is ducks don't use this state like they once did.  No resting spots, people fishing later into the fall, more skybusters just scaring ducks, etc, etc, etc.

To me its not just about "being in the woods" and taking.  Its also about giving back to the resource.

First off, I'm always a tough guy, not just here on the Internet. So ya know. 

Second, I'll beat someone to it, "do it like down south, have the youth hunt after the normal season". Yeah, ok? Half the "men" here cry about the season not starting early enough in the year and it runs to late. "Because it gets to cold or we get iced out". "We can't find ducks without easy access on to a open lake". Blah, blah. So what do you expect a youth to do? I guess, I do hunt with a couple kids that are harder than some men? And the hunting is better. But for most youths it would be tough. 

And last, stop comparing NOW, to 30, 30+ years ago. Of course it has changed. EVERYTHING has. All my older kin have one or two 19+ pointers hanging on the wall. I the youngest, not yet. Just can't find him. They have bigger black b rugs, larger musks, and a better story of all hunting and fishing being better and easier then, than now.

So unfortunately unless you rather watch some ball sport, cars go around in a circle, sit at a bar all day or join the women and do crafts. You may need to put more effort into your hunting program and plans. I have no problem working harder to find the great hunting spots. And i do have a problem turning into a common folk tho. And with that I'm off to the woods right now.

Mpp...great idea give special treatment to the duck hunters push the youth away...

I warned about this years ago here on lake-link and everyone complained I was the problem.  Now you are see the fruits of your labor.  Only migration days are good.  There are no spots left untouched as mud motors can go anywhere.  Ducks cannot be continually harassed and expected to not continue their migration.  Spinning wing decoys have caused ducks to get blasted upon arriving at a lake so once again they continue their migration.  Skybusting does the same.  Wait for good shots and you will kill more rather than pushing the birds south.  All of this combined with the USFWS continually pushing more liberal limits.  Upping wood duck limits have pushed the majority on within 2 days.  Black Mallard limits at 2 per day when some people don't see 1 in a season. 

As far as dnr grabbing all the land, most guys complain there was no where to hunt.  Now we have taken prime resting spots and allowed the masses in. 

Wake up people and be true conservationists or the sport will be left to only those with a lot of money controlling the remaining good spots.

Yes, good duck hunting is a dying sport and it has been for years. The good old days of duck hunting are long gone, and most of the guys out there today wouldn't know a really good day if it bit him on his rich fat keester.   All Sears and Roebuck hunters out there now too....show-offs...I've heard all the really bad calling and watched all the skybusting I can take. Idiotic motion decoys and all that....please, I'm embarrassed for you.  Learn the art.

 The good private land...potholes and farms.... and bigger lakes that allowed offshore floating blinds are long gone, built up by condos and malls and subdivisions. The duck numbers have been slowly dwindling for decades, the numbers that are being spread around now are B.S.  There is so much money at stake, no one wants to really give you the straight scoop on real duck counts....but use your head, they stink, and it shows every season, especially the divers.

Switched over to primarily goose hunting now, their numbers are doing well and there are plenty of cornfields to hunt where I go. Water hunting is still at a minimum though, and I wouldn't hunt a public spot, even if you threatened to arrest me and force me to fish with John Gillespie. No way won't happen.

Good luck to those of you who consider this the age of good duck hunting. You can have it. If you only knew.....

I started duck hunting in 1962 when there was a 25 day season with a two duck a day limit to conserve the dwindling resource . By the mid-seventies as the population increased , very liberal seasons with 6+ bag limits  came about . I thought maybe the U.S. Wildlife service wanted to cut the population for some reason . Nowadays, I don't even see the black birds much less ducks that I used to see . Record numbers of ducks ? Way above long term averages ? Lies , just to sell Duck stamps . My sons can't believe how bad the duck hunting has got in just the last few years . I also hunted the Dakotas and don't see the ducks I used to. In South Dakota, they want to go back to residents only duck hunting like it used to be !

Like was just posted is what does each person define as a quality hunt?  For me it is going out to a spot enjoying not being surrounded by guys and shooting acouple ducks over decoys I've made and watching my dog make acouple retrieves.  When I hear people say there aren't as many ducks as there once were or there are a lack of hunting opportunities I scratch my head.  But these same people hunt 4-5 times a year and stop when the rut starts up.  Or only hunt weekends when everyone else does.  If you are doing those things and expecting to get limits in Wisconsin it's just not going to happen.  Same thing has happened over the past 10yrs I've been going to nodak.  All the easy to get spots aren't holding any birds yet people setup on them every morning then complain about duck numbers being down.  Define what is a quality hunt to you and be happy with it and enjoy being out.  I haven't been at this as much as a lot of guys only 15yrs but I'm seeing more ducks and getting more opportunities now than I did back then.

Interesting question I'm 52 went my first time last year with my father inlaw he's gone his whole life i absolutely got hooked already looked at new spots on public land near my home cant see them in the summer or fall too overgrown will add this to the grouse hunting he got me hooked on 5 or 6 years ago guess im not to old to get excited about new experiences 

Dying? Likely not. Changing? Most certainly, and mostly for the worse in my opinion. I count a hunt as a good one if I see some birds, hopefully kill one or two for the dog to retrieve and have a relatively competition free hunt without others infringing upon my efforts. Increasingly, that has become more difficult here in WI.

I dislike early openers, mud motors, their noise and instrusiveness , inconsiderate hunters and all the technology that has invaded what for me is a rather pure and simple sport...  Old fashioned? sure, but those are my preferences so I seek situations where I can hunt in the manner I choose. Increasingly this has led to out of state hunts where the quality of the experience ( not just talking about KILLING birds here) is likely to be high.  I'll always hunt WI, just pick my opportunities carefully and with an adjustment of expectations.

Oh yea..., Breal, you're an a$$!  The OP made a reasonable post and inquiry. No need to be an insulting internet tough guy.

Here is a very good article on this topic.  I  hope everyone is a member of Delta or another organization to help maintain and promote hunter growth.  This is a new article in the spring issue magazine.

Edit:

It is Looming Crisis.  For some reason it just sends you to Delta.

https://deltawaterfowl.org

What I see more and more is people not putting in the effort they used to.  Not saying anyone here is in that boat just saying what I see.  People getting out 30min before shooting throwing out a dz mallards and sitting in a aluminum fishing boat.  I wish I was joking when I say this is becoming more and more the norm then the exception.  Then they leave at 830 and complain how they aren't any ducks around?? This isn't isolated this is everywhere I hunt.  I honestly blame that on duck dynasty almost like it's a fashion trend to be a duck hunter.  I work hard in Wisconsin and I don't expect limits everyday but I love the 60day grind and being tired at the end of the season.  So yes there are more duck hunters but in my eyes the overall quality duck hunters have gone way down in the past 10yrs.  Which is fine with me.  So dying..no changing yes a lot