Can a productive pond go dead?

I have been hunting the same little farm pond for the last 4 years. Always loaded with birds. So far this year, nothing. Seems like most of the birds are hitting bigger bodies of water and I am seeing very few on smaller farm ponds. Anyone else seeing this in North Texas? Could it be that my honey hole has lost it's appeal?

Hoping things change after the split with the colder weather.

250 lbs of corn will fix this

a lot more water this year than the last four... my guess is your spot is spring fed and has been one of the only good ones left the last few years... I wouldn't worry so quick yet though season has been slow for the most part

I have 3 ponds on 1 place that I hunt. One pond is covered up with ducks and the other 2 are dead. Strange year so far.

I hunted the same pond for 10+ years. The first few years it was a diver hole. All you would see and sometimes tons of them.

Then the drought hit. First year it was still mainly divers but you'd also get a flight of greys hitting that mossy crap they like since it was now exposed.

The last two years it was great hunting. Wood duck was just about the only thing we wouldn't see out there.

This year I'm not hunting it so I dunno.

But yeah they can and do change for a lot of different reasons.

A public place I hunt is pretty confusing this year. There are a couple of ponds not far from each other. One has steep banks and gets deep quick. A little weed around the edges. Another pond looks great, big real shallow grassy areas less than knee deep. Haven't shot a duck on it yet, but the deep pond has been good.

Ducks are nuts.

One of our leases has been REAL slow this year, I blame the wet year.

I wonder if there is less vegetation in it this year? Plant some millet/milo/etc around it and it will produce.

There are ponds here that hold birds some years and the next they won't. Just how it goes. I've seen some ponds hold ducks for 2-3 days and the. Not another duck on it the rest of the season.

What was the food srouce before when it was good, and is the food source still there? On my lease, ducks feed on the bugs in the milfoil, if it rains and water rises and ducks cannot get to the food, no more ducks. A lot less ducks on my last hunt, I'm thinking about letting out water to expose more food.

We use to hunt a place that was 10,000 acres and had 40+ ponds on it. There were only probably 5 ponds that consistently held birds. The rest would hold birds from time to time. Some of the best looking ponds would only have birds maybe a week out of the whole season.

But yes, a productive pond can go dry on ya if birds stop using it or you over hunt it.

^^^^ this

Blame it on Global Warming.

I heard that the birds were held up trying to get health insurance at www.healthcare.gov

Only the ones that met the required levels were allowed to migrate this year. All others are held up at the canadian border

As other folks have said, food, water depth, and even soil type plays a big part in how productive a pond is during a given season.

The ones who couldn't afford it just committed suicide.

All the above is pretty spot on. I've had the same issue on our ranch this year, past few years were great because we had water and most of NE Texas didn't have much. This year there is water all around and it has been slow. Then again it doesn't really fire up until after the split. Or until i let the ducks out of the barn... You think Canada had a good hatch? We high fenced a duck pond and started raising mallards.

Must of clipped their wings !!!!

We have genetically produced birds that can't fly. Kinda like breeding drop tine bucks. Also have a net that covers the top of our high fence... Built it where birds can come in but going out isn't an option.

We have 11 ponds (tanks) on our lease and it seems one or two ponds are hot each year but not always the same ones each year. Think it depends on the acorns and the weeds that grow differently in and around each pond each year.