Today's waterfowler has to be so much more than a hunter who stays put and waits on ducks and geese to come to him. Duck hunting has gotten tougher over the last decade or so, and taking limits is as hard as rolling out of bed in the cold dark on consecutive days of slow hunting.

Regardless of predictions and flight forecasts, if you want to be successful, you have to get out in the field and do some major hands-on research. Combining that homework with existing Internet contacts and cellular communications with fellow hunters in Tennessee and surrounding states is key to tracking duck movements.

Let's take a peek at this waterfowl network and recent hunting trends on big waters and worthwhile small waters to see what you can expect this season. Volunteer ducks and geese are where you find them. In these modern times, taking ducks means doing your homework: Scouting and watching the weather pays off.

AT FIRST LOOK
In late June, the May Pond Survey that gives biologists and duck hunters their first solid idea of what to expect in fall flights wasn't due to be available until mid-July. Mike Checkett, Ducks Unlimited's Conservation Communications Specialist, said the USFWS May Pond and Breeding Pair count had not been released and typically comes out around July 9. With that knowledge, he said it's very early yet for speculation on the upcoming season frameworks, regulations, fall flight and hunting opportunities.

Checkett was able to provide the most recent habitat information from DU's Canadian and U.S. Great Plains biologists. Reports said the month of May was generally dry across the northern Great Plains and water levels in most wetlands receded. Excellent habitat conditions remained present in the eastern Dakotas and early nesting efforts by waterfowl in that area have been strong and successful with mallards, pintails and Canada goose broods being commonly observed on wetlands by late May.

The Missouri Plateau in South Dakota and in southern and central North Dakota remained very dry, with poor wetland conditions for breeding waterfowl. Habitat conditions were good for waterfowl in Minnesota, northern Iowa, much of Montana, northern Colorado and eastern Nebraska. Waterfowl production outlook was good in this large area. However, June rains were needed on the northern plains to trigger re-nesting efforts and to maintain attractive brood-rearing habitat.

The late spring habitat conditions in Canada as of mid-May had improved in southern Ontario and in the southeastern interior of British Columbia. Conditions in many parts of Alberta were better than were previously expected. Those reports led biologists to say waterfowl production should be particularly good in southwestern Manitoba, the parklands of Saskatchewan and the southern and eastern regions of Alberta this year.

OF PREDICTIONS AND RUMORS OF PREDICTIONS
Doing what I do, I am fortunate to get to spend plenty of time outdoors and that time includes many a morning in a duck blind all over much of the country. When it comes to duck hunting, even though there are the complainers that wonder why the ducks don't dive bomb their blinds every day of every season, there is one common thread that I've found from town to town and blind to blind. Duck hunters truly like to be out there.

I'm not saying dedicated deer hunters and turkey hunters, of which I claim to be, don't enjoy what they do just as much, but there does seem to be some strange appeal associated with duck hunting that I haven't found just everywhere. It's a combination of factors. It's the rolling out of bed at 3:30 a.m., it's the pre-dawn breakfast at the local hangout, it's the cold boat ride to the blind, it's putting out decoys in the last of the darkness, and it's about spending time in a duck blind with an old dog, a good friend, or your son or even father.