Game and Fish survey shows fewer breeding ducks in North Dakota

BISMARCK, N.D. — The North Dakota Game and Fish Department has released its 2026 spring breeding duck survey and the results show a decline in the population of breeding ducks in the state.

The report showed an index of around 2.4 million birds, down over nine percent over the previous year’s survey.

The department says the index is lower than the 1948-2025 average for the first time since 1993.

One of the reasons for the decline, they believe, is from habitat loss.

Some ducks, like mallards, nest in grasslands and the department says the state has lost over one million acres of CRP, but one of the biggest factors is the loss of smaller wetlands.

“Whether it’s agriculture, energy development, urbanization, all these things (…) are pressures on those wetlands,” said Migratory Game Bird Biologist John Palarski. “And if we don’t have wetlands, it’s going to be difficult to have ducks and produce ducks into the future.”

Palarski says this survey doesn’t necessarily mean the hunting season will be impacted. They will have a better idea of the hunting season’s outlook after their duck brood survey. That survey takes place in July.