Duck season starts slow, but hunters are still hopeful

Several Mississippi duck hunters used the word “typical” to report a slow start to the 2020-21 season.

“It was typical of how most seasons start — poorly” said Ron Wilson of Greenville. “I know a lot of people had some decent opening day or opening weekend hunts after Thanksgiving, but those good reports were few and far between. I wasn’t that fortunate this year, at least not on opening day. Me and my guys got four between the three of us.

“After that first day on Friday, we skipped Saturday and waited until Sunday, hoping our little brake would draw birds from other camps that hunted both Friday and Saturday. We did okay on Sunday. We killed eight between us.”

Larry Thompson of Southaven fared a little better.

“We had those early migrators, (teal), gadwalls and a few others, but mallards were tough to come by,” he said. “Pretty typical of how it usually goes. My brother and I hunted 3 hours that first morning and got eight between us. That afternoon, we went back to a different duck hole, and it was actually better. We got the four we needed to fill our limit in an hour and were able to get in a deer stand for 2 hours after that.

“We hunted Saturday, too, at our third hole, on a levee between two converted catfish ponds and we got seven. We didn’t even try on. Sunday.”

Looking ahead

Lance Butler of Grenada had the worst report of all.

“Typical for me,” he said. “I hunted over in the Delta on public land, and it was so crowded that I never got out of the truck. I hung around for about an hour, and from the few shots I heard, it sounded like poor hunting.”

All three remain hopeful for prime duck hunting time in Mississippi: the month of January.

“Oh yeah, we’ll get some decent hunting,” Thompson said. “If they keep getting those hard freezes and snows in the Midwest, the ducks will start moving and get here in January. What’s great this year is that the season runs right up to the last day of the month, Jan. 31, since it’s a Sunday. This is the best scenario under the frameworks. Every year, our best hunting is the last week of the season. This year, it ought to be better than average.”