But while southeastern coastal areas have been slow to recover from Katrina's deadly blow, southwestern coastal areas have rebounded much more readily after Rita brought a 12- to 15-foot storm surge of salt water into the marshes of the region.

"We've seen a substantial recovery in the southwestern portion of the state," Reynolds said. "In the southwest, the soil has more minerals and the marsh is more consolidated. And Rita's surge helped get rid of some exotic invasive plants in the area like water hyacinth and salvinia. Plus, the water did some good when it opened up the (consolidated) marsh and created more open ponds."

The result has been very good moist soil seed production in 2006 and 2007, according to Reynolds, with millet, pigweed, smartweed and sprangletop setting the banquet table for migrating ducks.

As a result, duck hunters have been a happy lot in southwestern Louisiana over the last couple of seasons.

"The last couple of years, in southwestern Louisiana, Cameron and Vermilion parishes have seen plenty of duck hunters smiling, with high populations and excellent hunting success," Reynolds said.

In addition to habitat changes in Louisiana, there has been concern over the threat of avian flu showing up in North American flyways.

Louisiana's Avian Flu Early Detection Surveillance System was designed to screen for the disease in wild waterfowl and shorebirds.

"This early detection system is a proactive approach to an unlikely problem," said Robert Helm, the LDWF's waterfowl study leader, in a news release. "The possibility of the disease arriving in Louisiana or North America via migrating birds is unknown, but the risk to bird hunters is expected to be very low. This monitoring system should give the public the confidence of knowing that the bird hunting opportunities in this state are safe."

Still another thing affecting duck hunting success is hunting pressure -- which can be intense in some areas of the Bayou State.

"Where they winter is mostly driven by food, but to some extent, it's also possibly driven by hunting pressure, since there is a lot of hunting pressure in the south," Batt said. "They'll keep moving around until they find a place to settle down and be secure."

Admittedly, hunter effort has been scrambled since 2005's hurricanes devastated homes and businesses across the state. "Take for example, Cameron Parish, where I have a lease," Reynolds said. "In 2005, the parish was under martial law -- you could be in after 6 a.m. and had to be out by 6 p.m. The debris down there was unbelievable and the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge was closed in 2005-06 and 2006-07 due to all of the debris."

Some of that debris is still hindering hunter effort today, making it much more difficult for waterfowlers to get in and around some traditional shooting areas. "There has definitely been a big reduction of effort there (along the coast)," Reynolds said. "Things are still not great down there, but the roads have been repaired for the most part and there is some oil, gas, and power to be had in and around most camps."

While there was little good news to come from Katrina and Rita in 2005, Reynolds did admit that the hurricanes did some good in the marshes.

"Ducks are unique in that they prefer the marsh a little broken up and the ponds somewhat dispersed," he said. "Ducks like the marsh in a somewhat degraded state."

Hurricane Rita certainly helped to degrade southwestern marshes, opening up the marsh and creating more dispersed ponds that ducks like.