Crook – Ducks aren’t as dumb as they look.
Of course, no one has to convince Colorado duck hunters on the eve of Friday’s opening of the second segment of the Eastern Plains Zone season.
After all, these are the same guys who managed just six-tenths of a duck per outing last season, which translates roughly to one very thin duck dinner every second trip. So who’s fooling whom?
It’s a matter that raises grave concerns among wildlife managers worried that continued lack of success will make duck hunters an endangered species. More recently, Colorado Wildlife commissioner Brad Coors raised the possibility of alternating hunting pressure as a way to keep birds in place. Question is, will this strategy work?
To find out, the Colorado Division of Wildlife has funded a study of duck habits along the South Platte River Valley, specifically how they are affected by hunter disturbance.
For the past two seasons, DOW biologists have conducted an aerial survey along the river to count overall duck and goose numbers and location, with an eye toward larger migration patterns. This latest study is aimed at more precise hunter impacts.
With a project that involves radio telemetry tracking less than half done, the verdict still is out on the degree to which birds react to agitation. But Josh Dooley, a Colorado State University graduate student in charge, can tell you a lot about savvy ducks.
On a cold, cloudy morning last weekend, Dooley and DOW technician Matt Brekke checked a dozen traps before nabbing a single mallard drake that succumbed to the temptation of a free dinner of whole corn.
“They can be pretty smart about things,” Dooley said of a duck’s reluctance to poke its bill into a baited wire trap.
Dooley, a 22-year-old from Tuttle, Okla., and Brekke, 23, from Cañon City, as of last weekend had managed to nab just 42 mallards from the 30 traps scattered among 16 sites east of Sterling. Ultimately, that number will grow to 120 in a probe that runs through February.
The birds are given a standard leg identification band, weighed and measured to determine general fitness, then fitted with a small radio transmitter they will wear on their backs for the remainder of their lives.
Later, when shallow ponds freeze, the survey will switch to the several state wildlife areas scattered along the river like a loose string of pearls. It’s here, where most Colorado public duck hunters congregate, that the count will be most revealing.
“Our study will try to determine the impact of disturbance as a way to maximize hunting opportunity,” said Dooley, who will report on the work as part of his master’s program.
Lucky scholar. The research is the first to scientifically examine the effects of introduced human distress and is likely to become a national model for waterfowl management plans.
Bouncing from pond to pond in a pickup sporting an antenna like those sprouting from 1960s rooftops, the duo thus far have performed 30 tests. One-third involved actually firing a shotgun to frighten birds, another a walk-in flush and the final third a control area with no bird disturbance at all.
Dooley stresses that his early observations are highly preliminary, but perhaps revealing to some degree.
“It generally took two to three days for birds to return to the same area after shooting. Walk-in flushing didn’t have much effect. Ducks came back the next day,” Dooley said.
Overall, about 60 percent of the gun-disturbed birds returned to the same pond, compared to 80 percent for walk-in flushing. Dooley anticipates birds will grow even more skittish once the analysis shifts to the river where hunting pressure grows more intense.
That’s when we’ll find out just how smart a duck truly can be.
Charlie Meyers can be reached at 303-954-1609 or cmeyers@denverpost.com.
