Photo by Ken Archer

You can sum up the secret to taking ducks along the Tennessee River in one word: weather. Good weather means no ducks, and bad weather translates to numbers of the birds. Really bad weather for a long period of time can mean plenty of ducks.

I had one of my worst days of duck hunting ever along the Tennessee River on the Swan Creek WMA under clear skies, temperatures in the 40s, and hardly any wind. We sat in the blind, told jokes, reminisced about hunts we had enjoyed before and took only two gadwalls for the four of us from before daylight until 10 a.m.

On one of the best duck hunts I ever had, the wind blew hard all night, and rain came down mixed with sleet. Some of the moisture still fell as we walked back to a small creek just off Alabama's Tennessee River in the heavy fog, using a hand-held GPS to guide us. We put out a few decoys and waited on shooting time to arrive.

Even before we could see that morning, we heard mallards cackling and the high-pitched whine of wood ducks' wings as they flew through the night. When the magic shooting hour approached, flights of ducks passed and decoyed every 10 to 15 minutes. Within an hour and a half, three of us had limited-out and headed home with enough birds for a delicious supper.

Bottom line is, if you plan to go duck hunting in Alabama on a weekend, start watching the Weather Channel on Wednesday. A storm coming from the north packing hard winds and cold weather tells you it is time to load up your decoys and patch your waders. But if you see a warm front moving in from the south, check your TV Guide for any good football games taking place on Saturday. You can still go hunting, but do not expect the ducks to join you!

That said, to get an overview of Tennessee River duck hunting on wildlife management areas and national wildlife refuges, Alabama Game & Fish talked to the men who get paid to know what Alabama ducks are up to -- the game managers of the Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries.

JACKSON COUNTY WATERFOWL MANAGEMENT AREAS AND REFUGES
Ben Davis of Hollywood is a wildlife biologist in District II for Alabama's DWFF and primarily concerns himself with the waterfowling areas in his district. Davis said that this year will see some changes made to try and improve waterfowl hunting.

"We're totally weather dependent," Davis conceded. "If we have good periods of cold weather, we'll have plenty of ducks. But if we don't get the cold weather, duck hunting can really be tough. If we have very few days below freezing during the season, then the ducks just don't show up.

"The habitat along the Tennessee River is in a really good shape for ducks with the milfoil and agricultural crops that are produced along the river," he continued. "Food and water are abundant for the ducks. The river and the backwater areas provide ideal habitat. But we've got to have bad weather up north to push the ducks down to us here in Alabama."

Even though Davis knows that weather plays a major role in the duck availability along the Tennessee River, he also believes that no-till farming has had a detrimentally impacted duck hunting in the Yellowhammer State.

With regard to the types of birds that show up in the Jackson County WMAs and refuges, Davis explained that gadwalls, coots, ringnecks and scaups make up the majority. At times, however, large numbers of mallards also appear.