I am an avid outdoorsman who loves to hunt and fish anytime I have the opportunity. My passion and experience for the outdoors has allowed me to expand my knowledge on a variety of fish and animal species.

The duck population in particular has captured my attention. I realized after years of duck hunting, along with other hunters and waterfowl experts, that the mallard and wood duck populations have been declining in the past few years in PA.

These two species of ducks are without a doubt the most abundant and harvested in the highest quantity in Western Pennsylvania. In reality, this is quite surprising, especially if you look back just a decade ago. In the past, these ducks have been able to reproduce in numbers that would enable to replenish and exceed their population from the prior year, but now they have been unable to.

If you were to look at the national averages of these two species you would think I am misinformed due to the fact the Mallard numbers are +19% on the long term average and +2% from just last year. The wood duck population is very difficult to get an accurate number since they live in wooded swamps and streams, but estimates say that their population has stayed consistent and is growing slightly. The harvest numbers in PA tell a different story.

The mallard harvest in the 2017-2018 hunting season was 19,400, which was a 54% decrease from the long term average, and the number of breeding mallard pairs in PA in 2018 was 57,780, which is 34% below the long term average. Another shocking statistic was during the 2018-2019 duck season more wood ducks were harvested than mallards. This was first time that has ever happened on record, and was surprising due that the wood duck population in PA is also declining.

Now, even though the national numbers are increasing, the Atlantic populations are decreasing greatly. Luckily, the Fish and Wildlife researchers have noticed this and are taking action. For the past few decades a duck hunter has been able to harvest four total mallards, two of which could be females.

Starting last year, they had reduced the bag limit to two total mallards, and only one of which can be a hen. For example, you could shoot two males, one male one female, or just one female. This current bag limit will be in use until the population of the mallard flock increases back to normal rates. The wood ducks on the other hand have also been declining but not at the rate of the mallards.

It is extremely likely that they will drop the bag limit from 3 total wood ducks to 2 total wood duck, the old bag limit prior to the strong population growth at the beginning of the century, either this upcoming season or the 2021-2022 season. Personally I feel as though these new lessened bag limits are needed. Just in the past few years I’ve seen my little “honey holes” where I would limit out every time turn to nothing.

The hardest one on me personally would be the reduced wood duck limit since I enjoy hunting them the most, and they are very good. Luckily, last year they increased the black duck bag limit form 1 to 2 total black ducks, which shines some light on the situation showing that not all of Western PA’s year round ducks are struggling.