Deer hunting season ended on a bit of a whimper for those of us on the Northern Neck. Some hunters have done OK but the vast majority of the ones I have spoken to report slim pickings this season both for meat and for antlers. This is particularly true after the rut started in mid November. We are waiting on the official numbers of deer killed to comment further. My comments above are based on anecdotal info from speaking with a number of hunters in our area.
Duck season is another sore subject. My personal experience to include going back through photos of trips from 20 years ago show that the duck numbers for the immediate King George area seem to be on a serious decline. This is particularly true of the past few years. I hunt on a tributary off the Potomac River. 20 years ago the ruddy duck, bufflehead and bluebill numbers were sky high and we never bothered to shoot them unless our puddle duck hunt was lackluster. Seeing mergansers was a regular and almost annoying event. The past few years seeing a merganser near my blind has been something to look forward to. I don't see many of the other ducks and rarely see any puddle ducks. Not sure what has happened but it is sad time to take up waterfowl hunting for the first time. It can be discouraging. I hope scientists can find out what is going on and we can reverse this trend.
Goose numbers are also down and if you have not heard, the hatch in spring of 2018 was really poor. That means that goose bag limits for next year will be 1 bird per day per person. Mallard bag limits will be cut in half too.
We did get into some geese yesterday in a field locally but our communication was not what it should have been so instead of some geese staying with us for a ride home, most got to continue on their way.
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