Scouting put Frank Cox and Ron Kochauwicz in exactly the right spot to take these Canadas when they returned to a field near Smithville Lake. Photo by Billie R. Cooper.

Late-season hunters are the hard-core guys of the waterfowling world. The likelihood of warm, sunshiny days has migrated south with September teal. Those hardy souls left to the cold, north winds welcome the harshest of winter conditions. Ice, sleet, snow and freezing temperatures add to eternal hopes that the flights will soon arrive on frosted horizons.

"Weather is everything to a waterfowl hunter's success, especially late in the season," said Dave Graber, a research scientist with the Missouri Department of Conservation, who is largely responsible for management of waterfowl populations residing in and migrating through the Show Me State. "Cells of cold, nasty weather push both ducks and geese from areas to the north. Watching weather patterns is a key to success for both duck and goose hunters."

Last year brought record flood levels on many of the MDC-managed wetland areas. Damage occurred to water structures at several areas and food crop plantings fell well behind schedule.

"In spite of all the problems our area mangers experienced in 2008, hunters still enjoyed the second largest duck harvest on record," Graber explained. "That came as a surprise because of the poor food production on the areas. Regardless, duck hunters harvested 613,000 ducks."

As if asking forgiveness from both managers and waterfowl hunters, Mother Nature dished out perfect weather at key times to push birds down into Missouri. "A major ice storm up north, in early November, forced birds south," Graber said. "And, luckily for us, another storm occurred in December, bringing even more flights. The real icing on the cake came when the birds hung up and stayed around for a while."

Graber noted that the floods of 2009 have not been as bad as those of 2008. "Schell-Osage and Fountain Grove both had a lot of water, but elsewhere it has not been too bad thus far. However, floods in August can be real killers. Natural moist-soil plants need at least 60 days to mature."

Duck numbers were down slightly in 2008, and they will be down again in 2009, according to Graber. "We saw poor recruitment in last year's duck counts, so there will be fewer young ducks in the population this year."

Goose hunters can expect fewer birds in 2009 as well. "Nesting conditions for the Eastern Prairie Population have been the worst in 30 years," Graber reported. "In late spring, there was still snow in the Hudson Bay Area, which makes for poor nesting conditions."

On the flip side of the coin, the local giant Canada goose population is in good shape. An estimated 80 percent of the annual goose harvest in Missouri is made up of giant Canadas. "Giant Canadas nest over such a large area in Missouri that their numbers remain good," Graber said.

In late June, I spoke with wildlife biologists at several of the major MDC-managed waterfowl areas. All experienced another very wet spring and early summer. However, all were optimistic that food production would be good on each of their respective areas. Naturally, that depends on the mood of Mother Nature.