Hunters have also questioned whether refuges should be opened up to hunting. White said the refuge system we have built is responsible for our ability to hold ducks and there are no unhunted areas in the state anymore. ATVs, go-devils, etc., have allowed us to get into all areas that ducks use.

If ducks are sitting somewhere on private property during duck season, somebody is hunting them. The refuges provide some food, but mostly provide a place where ducks can congregate and not be disturbed. Many fly out at different times during the day to feed, loaf and provide opportunities for hunters in the area.

White said if we open refuges to hunting in any way, that disturbance will drive the ducks away and there is nowhere they can go to keep from being shot. He said the answer to improving our hunting across the state might be to add more refuges. Look at the hunting around any refuge and you will see that it's pretty good. Ducks also jump from refuge to refuge and provide hunting opportunities along the way.

State waterfowl refuges serve the same purpose as federal refuges, and White has not heard anyone in the agency who advocates hunting on refuges. He said it would be wrong ethically, and it would kill our duck hunting while only providing one or two good hunts. Our duck hunting is better because of the refuge system.

"I am a hunter, and I get frustrated when my hunting is not good (which has been the case three of the past four years)," White said. "But I know that hunting the refuges would not improve hunting on private lands and (in fact) would have the opposite effect."

As for geese, White said the migratory flocks of Canada geese (called interior Canada geese) are stable, but they don't migrate very far south any more. In Tennessee, we harvested less than 2,500 migratory geese last year. More than 90 percent of our goose harvest is resident geese.

White added the migratory flocks have changed their migratory patterns. Many different factors are at work here. They are much more able to find food up north because of warm winters and no-till farming. Secondly, they encounter resident Canada geese along the way and tend to stop and interact with those flocks. Third, they have interbred some with the resident flocks and may be losing some of their instinct to migrate.

Whatever the cause, White said we don't get any significant numbers of migratory Canada geese in Tennessee and most of our goose hunting is due to resident flocks. The resident geese are really a valuable waterfowl resource. White noted they provide plenty of goose hunting here in Tennessee, maybe more than when the migratory flocks used to come down. The resident geese are more widespread across the state and hunting is very well distributed, in Middle and East Tennessee particularly. Our resident flock has been fairly stable over the last several years, and we have about 50,000 statewide.

YOUR BEST BETS
Reelfoot Lake
"The last two years have been pretty good here at Reelfoot Lake," said longtime waterfowl guide Billy Blakely. Based on that, he said he hopes this season brings some of the same luck. Right now, thanks to this past summer's drought conditions, Blakely expects big things during the 2007 duck season. The lake is low, and the better news for duck hunters is Reelfoot is the only water in town, with other wet spots dried up. Blakely said that situation usually means dynamite hunting at the Quake Lake.

Blakely said from his years of experience, the best two periods to find yourself on a guided hunt at Reelfoot are in mid-December and the second week of January. The veteran guide said he can look back at his hunting journal and see these two periods almost always have a guaranteed cold front associated with them.

At Reelfoot, Blakely said hunters should time their hunting around any kind of front, and it doesn't always have to be a cold one. Hunters used to key their shooting around prevailing northern winds, but Blakely said warm fronts late in the season would often push ducks back up the Mississippi Flyway to Reelfoot. He laughed and said you now look for ducks to move on warm southern winds. You can experience Reelfoot by calling 877-Blu-Bank to book a hunt with Blakely, or visit the Web site at www.bluebankresort.com.