Great Plains hunters are opportunistic, taking both ducks and geese as chance provides the quarry. Kansas shotgunner Matt Farmer has a double on mallards and a fat Canada goose -- the two most common waterfowl bagged in our states these days. Photo by Marc Murrell.

Waterfowling in the Great Plains states is quite often at the mercy of Mother Nature. Ideal and cold conditions at the right time send ducks and geese packing on their migration southward, with hunters anxiously awaiting their arrival. But Mother Nature often manages to throw a monkey wrench into even the best laid of the hardcore waterfowler's plans. Hunters able to adapt are the ones who end up with plenty of ducks and geese in the bag.

Following is information that might just help pull more ducks and/or geese into your waterfowling setup this season.

KANSAS
Kansas is towards the tail end of the migration in the Great Plains. Despite that fact, hunters in the Sunflower State routinely chase both ducks and geese.

"We sell around 25,000 waterfowl licenses," said Faye McNew, migratory game bird coordinator for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. "In 2006 we had 12,663 active duck hunters that spent about 85,416 days afield and averaged 12.8 ducks per season. There were 12,038 goose hunters that spent about 60,994 days afield and averaged 7.5 geese per season."

The 2007 waterfowl seasons were boom or bust, depending on where you hunted in Kansas. Neosho Waterfowl Management Area in southeast Kansas and McPherson Valley Wetlands in south-central Kansas set records for duck harvest last year. "But," reported McNew, "Marais des Cygnes and Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife areas had low harvest due to flooding damage."

In 2006 Kansas duck hunters killed 65,780 mallards, 30,594 gadwall, 24,847 blue-winged teal and 15,889 green-winged teal. The same year's goose harvest was 22,658 snow geese, 2,336 white-fronts and 59,566 Canada geese.

Much of the duck harvest in Kansas takes place during the first portion of the season; the number of hunter-days tapers off from there. "Typically, that's when we have most of the hunters out," McNew said. "Peak migration is usually around early to mid-November."

Making up nearly 50 percent of the harvested ducks in the state, the most common duck in the Kansas bag is the mallard. It's followed in numbers by gadwalls and teal.

Canada geese are king among honker hunters, but chances at others are available, too.

"Cheyenne Bottoms in the early duck zone is an ideal place for ducks, geese and cranes," McNew said. "You get a selection of Canada geese, snow geese and white-fronted geese there."

A Kansas resident hunting license is $20.15 and a non-resident license is $72.15 for an adult and $37.15 for a non-resident under age 16. Waterfowl hunters are required to buy a state hunting license and a state waterfowl stamp, plus have the Kansas Harvest Information Program stamp. All waterfowlers who are 16 and older must have a $16.50 federal waterfowl stamp as well; this must be signed across the face.

NEBRASKA
"Those that do it are pretty passionate about it," said Mark Vrtiska, waterfowl program manager with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission concerning his state's waterfowl hunting. "A lot of it depends on where you live and if you're close to areas where you can go duck and goose hunting."

Vrtiska believes that Canada goose hunting is gaining in popularity owing to dramatic increases in the size of resident goose populations. The last decade has seen liberal duck season packages throughout the Central Flyway, and so that interest has also stayed high.

The 2007 season was tough to interpret, according to Vrtiska.