Neosho Waterfowl Report (2024)

FAQs

What state kills the most waterfowl? ›

The Mississippi Flyway's 428,700 waterfowlers shot 4.41 million ducks and 1.06 million geese — both up from 2019-2020 and again by far the largest waterfowl harvest of any flyway. Wisconsin and Minnesota jumped to the top in Mississippi Flyway waterfowl hunter numbers with 67,100 and 60,100, respectively.

Kansas is an important mid-latitude Central Flyway state for migrating and wintering waterfowl. Bi-weekly surveys indicate that the Southeast duck zone supports annual peaks of >100,000 mallards and sum counts of over 1,000,000 ducks during the fall and winter.

The species of waterfowl wintering in the Mississippi Delta, which are of interest to hunters, fall into three main categories: dabbling ducks, diving ducks, and geese.

Florida is a great place to hunt waterfowl with easy public access and a hunter success rate that is well above other states in the Atlantic Flyway. Good management helps ensure that Florida's waterfowl populations are robust and healthy.

In fact, Stuttgart, AR is known as the Duck Capital of the World. The state's positioning in the Mississippi Flyway and abundant waterfowl habitat make it an ideal place for wintering ducks. Hunters from all over flock to The Natural State to enjoy this world-renowned duck hunting season.

Mute swans are one of the world's most aggressive waterfowl species and injure, kill, or displace native birds and other waterfowl, such as sandhill cranes and trumpeter swans.

"Cheyenne Bottoms," five miles northeast of Great Bend, Kansas, in the center of the state, is a natural 22,000-acre wetland that has been "stabilized" to maintain consistent water-levels for duck and goose reproduction and for hunting.

Bag limit: 6 ducks, any combination of six ducks and/or mergansers which may include no more than five mallards (only two of which may be hens), three wood ducks, two redheads, two canvasbacks, one scaup, and one pintail.

The American black duck (Anas rubripes) is a large dabbling duck in the family Anatidae. It was described by William Brewster in 1902.

The team at Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust are delighted to announce that the Madagascar pochard, thought to be the world's rarest duck, has returned to their ancestral home on Lake Alaotra in Madagascar, where the last individual was seen over 30 years ago.

What is North America's largest waterfowl? ›

The trumpeter swan is the largest waterfowl in North America and the largest swan in the world. The trumpeter swan's historic breeding range extended in a wide band from the Bering Sea east through almost all of Canada and south to Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana.

Argentina is justifiably the foremost duck hunting destination in the world. Best of all, the peak duck hunting in Argentina takes place when US hunters are in summer's grip, May through mid-August. With a complete portfolio of programs from which to choose, we invite you to experience the true duck hunt of a lifetime.

The Tennessee Valley—located as it is in the east coast migration flyway zone—is the perfect place for hunting waterfowl.

Wood Ducks and Mallards

Wood ducks reside near streams and lakes in North and East Texas, which is also where you'll find the much larger but similarly hued mallards, the nation's most common duck. For hunters who covet these birds, Gus Engeling Wildlife Management Area, northwest of Palestine, is a good bet.

Duck is particularly predominant in the Chinese cuisine—a popular dish is Peking duck. Duck meat is commonly eaten with scallions, cucumbers and hoisin sauce wrapped in a small spring pancake made of flour and water or a soft, risen bun known as gua bao.

Farther down the flyway, northern California's Sacramento Valley attracts large numbers of mallards. Stretching 100 miles north and south along the Sacramento River, this region is the country's second-largest rice-producing area behind eastern Arkansas. So it is no surprise that mallards flock here every winter.