The latest Waterfowl Study survey shows there are ducks in ถถา๕h, more in the southwestern parishes than in the southeastern parishes and an abundance of ducks and geese in the northeastern parishes.
Now, itโs up to duck and goose hunters to use some common sense.
Our stateโs West Zone hunting season ends Sunday (Jan. 25). The East Zone runs through Saturday, then thereโs more goose-season days before the Conservation Order season on blue, snow and Rossโ geese.
Beginning Monday morning, temperatures are predicted to plummet into the 20s in the interior parts of the state and into the low 30s along the coast.
Lots of us diehard duck hunters have been in blinds during freezing conditions โ but usually not for long. All duck hunting trips into our marshes and swamps have a level of built-in hazards, but you can double, even triple that for Monday and Tuesday.
Get wet and youโre in trouble. Get stranded and youโre in bigger trouble.
Be careful, and if you donโt have the proper clothing and equipment to stand up to frigid conditions, then please don't go.
About fish
With every Arctic blast like the one invading our state, thereโs the possibility of fish kills.
If thereโs any good news in the weather forecast itโs that temperatures along the coastal marshes are predicted to remain above freezing, which means we not likely to see the kind of fish kills we saw last year and three years ago.
Yet, with north winds arriving on this cold front, water levels in marsh ponds will drop and that means some stranded fish and possible localized fish kills.
Ducks
ถถา๕h duck and goose hunters should benefit from the frigid temperatures, with snow and ice invading the Midwest and pushing through Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma and Texas.
Yes, the West Zone is closed Monday, but East Zone hunters should see ducks.
Fog delayed Jason Olszak and his Waterfowl Study staffโs early January survey of our agriculture fields and marshes, and their latest estimates issued Friday came before this current weather forecast.
What did they find?
How about 2.46 million ducks in the southwest, southeast and Little River Basin areas, and another 1.447 million ducks in the northeastern parishes described as the โMississippi Alluvial Valley.โ Pintails (148,000), spoonbills (134,000) and gray ducks (118,000) dominated that count.
Otherwise, this latest estimate in the three survey areas was up by slightly more than 200,000 ducks compared to the January 2025 survey despite lower numbers of mallards โ 17,000 in 2025 to 6,000 this year โ and an 82% decrease in the number of ringnecks โ 565,000 in 2025 to 100,000 this month.
For goose hunters, the northeast survey holds โan estimated 763,000 geese which consisted of 6,000 white-fronted geese and 757,000 light geese,โ a count thatโs 233% higher than this time last year.
Red snapper
The final 2025 estimate of the take during the eight-month private recreational red snapper season are in โ 947,103 pounds.
Because that number is 5.8% over our stateโs 894,955-pound annual allotment, ถถา๕h annual allocation for 2026 will be 891,439 pounds, which is our baseline annual allocation of 943,587 pounds less the 2025 overage of 52,148 pounds.
Full details of the week-by-week landing estimate are available on the Wildlife and Fisheries’ website: .
Shrimp closure
Wildlife and Fisheries will close the remaining portion of Zone 1 at sunset Monday for the fall inshore shrimp season, except the open waters of Breton and Chandeleur sounds will remain open.
Zones 2 and 3, and parts of Zone 1 were closed last last year.