I dont go off of stats and what magazines put out. I go off what I see each year and what the weather does. For some reason, alot of guys dont realize that weather is a huge reason why we either have birds or we dont. The other are crops in each flyway. More food...more ducks. Pretty simple.
Basing your assumption off of what you see in one area is very oblivious, these birds move thousands of miles annually in search of what they need. The overall population is low, and we continue to have liberal seasons and limits. Even raising the limits on some. The last time numbers were around these levels the limit was 3(2mallards)....just saying.
What The Dude wanted to tell you is