BATON ROUGE – Christmas came early for southwest Louisiana’s thousands of duck hunters, especially those looking forward to Dec. 21, the first day of the 2024-25 season’s second split in the West Zone.

Mother Nature played the role of Santa Claus by increasing the estimated number of ducks in the region from a record low 284,000 ducks counted Nov. 9-10 during a Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries aerial waterfowl survey to 1,109,000 ducks in southwest Louisiana, a 290 percent increase over November. LDWF Waterfowl Program Manager Jason Olszak and his staff conducted the flights Dec. 16-19 along the Coastal Zone.

Olszak said the region’s marsh conditions, which he labeled “generally very good,” basically are unchanged from the last time he saw the marshland in November. He noted water levels are normal for the most part, submerged aquatic vegetation was widespread and invasive aquatic plants coverage was below average.

As some duck hunters probably discovered since the second split began again last Saturday in the West Zone, the largest concentrations of ducks are in the marsh from Creole to Pecan Island, Sabine and Lacassine National Wildlife Refuges and Rockefeller Refuge. Agricultural areas holding water were fragmented more than usual but, generally, the veteran biologist wrote, larger areas showed many acres flooded or non-flooded.

The biggest concentrations of ducks in southwest Louisiana were hanging out in the agricultural fields near Hayes and Gueydan, according to Olszak.

Goose hunters in the region surely appreciate the numbers of geese that have winged their way to southwest Louisiana. While geese are counted only while flying between transects this month, 22,000 light geese and 3,000 white-fronted geese showed up in concentrations in the agricultural regions of Vermilion Parish.

Migrating waterfowl funnel to the southernmost part of the Mississippi Flyway to ride out the winter from the coastal marshes to the shores of the Mississippi River to the Wildlife Management Areas, as well as along and in the Red River between Lock 5 and Shreveport, Toledo Bend, Little River Basin and agricultural fields near Bunkie, Hebert, Bonita and Mer Rouge.

Considering recent cold fronts, even more ducks could be expected to find their way to southwest Louisiana between now and when this second split ends Jan. 5 and, following the 12-day closure, reopens for a third split starting Jan. 18 and ending Jan. 31 in the West Zone.

Until then southwest Louisiana waterfowlers might get fired up about some or all of the recent numbers outlined in the December report by Olszak. For example, a month ago there were less than 1,000 mallards in the state compared to 17,000 of them in December 2023.

As for other popular species in the eyes of southwest Louisiana duck hunters there were 104,000 green-winged teal this past week compared to 26,000 in November. Also, the region’s gadwall numbers jumped from 68,000 in November to an eye-opening 367,000 in mid-December.

Pintail numbers also rose from last month’s 21,000 to a whopping 170,000 in the latest survey shovelers’ numbers jumped from 10,000 to 202,000 in southwest Louisiana.

Typically, southwest Louisiana’s blue-winged teal population dropped from 146,000 in November to 75,000 last week.

December’s aerial waterfowl survey was notable for the overall number of ducks across the Sportsman’s Paradise. How so? Olszak noted that after a record low estimate of 510,000 ducks was counted in Louisiana during the second week of November, the total mushroomed to 1,561,000 ducks across the state as of the second week of December.

What’s so special about that? That’s an 83 percent increase from the all-time record low of 510,000 ducks in December 2023 while it remains 4.7 and 29 percent below the most recent five-year and 10-year averages, respectively.

Significant improvements from last December include canvasback, pintail, gadwall and northern shoveler, which increased 329 percent, 227 percent, 125 percent and 112 percent, respectively, according to Olszak. Only mottled duck (minus-37 percent), wigeon (minus 25 percent) and scaup (minus 26 percent) declined from the previous December.

And black-bellied whistling duck numbers apparently rose again, notably in the freshwater marsh near Grand Lake and White Lake.

Why is the species left out of the aerial waterfowl survey?

“Extrapolation of numbers for this species appears inappropriate due to their more gregarious behavior and, hence, they are never included in the reported totals. Nevertheless, the black-bellies observed and estimated in a select few (but increasing) locations multiplies to 516,000 in the southwest portion of the coast,” Olszak wrote.

The waterfowl biologist pointed out a 292 percent increase in the number of ducks along the coast in southeast Louisiana. The estimated 420,000 ducks in the region was a 292 percent increase from November with 107,000 ducks and an 11 percent increase over December 2023 with 380,000 ducks.

However, he noted, the recent count remains 24 percent and 54 percent below the most recent 5-year and 10-year December estimates, respectively. The number of diving ducks increased substantially from 1,000 to 147,000 compared to November.

Olszak attributed the increase to ring-necked ducks seen in locations where they typically, reliably, are counted in the freshwater marsh between Morgan City and Houma.

The East Zone’s second split got underway Dec. 14 and remains open until Jan. 26.

Louisiana averages 73,800 duck hunters, plus another 11,900 goose hunters, each season, according to A-Z Animals.