When it comes to waterfowl hunting in Kentucky, the phrase "So much depends on the weather" couldn't be truer. The weather not only has everything to do with how many ducks and geese are available up north to make the fall migration, but also determines when -- and if -- the birds are here in good numbers during Kentucky's waterfowl season.

LAST SEASON'S RESULTS
During 2005, extremely dry conditions across most of Kentucky had wetland habitat conditions ranging from fair to poor, according to Rocky Pritchert, the Waterfowl Program coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR).

"The general lack of rain through summer and fall left many natural wetlands dry, providing little habitat for fall-migrating waterfowl," explained Pritchert. "This poor condition of naturally flooded wetlands caused birds to concentrate on those shallow wetlands that were mechanically pumped."

Despite these poor habitat conditions, hunting during the early portion of Kentucky's duck season was classified as good.

"The 2005 duck season began on a high note, despite the mild and relatively dry conditions," said Pritchert. "While waterfowl numbers built slowly, they still were about 54 percent higher than those reported in November 2004 -- and 84 percent higher than the most recent 5-year average."

As the second split of Kentucky's duck season began in December, bird numbers continued to build, peaking out at almost 17 percent above the number observed during the same time period in 2004.

"Duck hunters continued to report relatively good success through the first 30 days of the season," reported Pritchert. "Subfreezing temperatures concentrated birds on reservoirs, rivers and other open water, most of which is open to hunting."

The New Year brought with it mild temperatures and moderate rains, opening up water and dispersing the ducks to other areas. Late January's duck numbers were only about one-half of those of the same period in 2005, and were the lowest observed in the last six years.

How you viewed Kentucky's 2005 goose season probably had a lot to do with which side of the William H. Natcher Parkway you spent most of your hunting time on. Despite favorable breeding conditions up north, the traditional western hotspots saw very few migrant geese making their way into Kentucky.

"Goose hunting was generally poor in Kentucky's two Canada goose reporting areas," said Pritchert, speaking of Ballard and Henderson-Union.

"The relatively low number of birds wintering on the management areas, along with above-normal temperatures, resulted in little bird movement."

In fact, numbers from the reporting zones indicated that hunters harvested only about 14 percent of the 9,300-bird quota assigned for the 2005-06 season.

Hunters east of the parkway found the hunting a little more favorable, thanks to Kentucky's burgeoning population of resident Canada geese. While Pritchert couldn't give an official estimate of their numbers, he felt comfortable in saying that we went over the 30,000-bird mark. Most of those birds are located in the eastern two-thirds of the state and can provide hunters excellent wingshooting opportunities when there are no northern birds to be found.

"Canada goose hunting across the rest of the state ranged from fair to good, depending on where and when you were hunting," explained Pritchert. "Good numbers of resident geese and foreign giants from other states were found in central and northern Kentucky."