Perry Wildlife Area Waterfowl Report -
Waterfowl Updates
Update as of 1/19/24. All wetlands and the Delaware River are frozen over. With the duck season opening back up tomorrow, it is unlikely we will have any open water on the wildlife area for the near future. 

Pumping is complete in Northwest Marsh and Reichart Marsh with limitations on how much water we can pull and both units are approaching full. 

Pumping is complete at the Kyle Marsh with the East Unit 100% full and the West Unit is not high enough for some larger boats to get out of the boat lane still. 

Pumping is complete at the West River Marsh. We were unable to get the unit 100% full with the water rights we have and will rely on runoff to continue to fill it.  

Delaware River Level is low and launching at West River Boat Ramp on 150th Road is very difficult or impossible for most boats.  

ATTENTION WATERFOWL HUNTERS - LEGAL SHOOTING LIGHT IS FROM 3O MINUTES BEFORE SUNRISE TO SUNSET. 

 
 
*DON'T FORGET TO CHECK-IN / CHECK-OUT HERE, https://ksoutdoors.com/checkin using your licensing login credentials. 
Mallard Migration Rank = 5 (0 = no mallards 10 = peak migration)
Lake level 2.3 Feet Below Conservation Pool
Habitat conditions
Mild flooding in the spring, followed by a dry summer has allowed for a good amount of wetland pool work to be completed and habitat conditions are overall good around the area. 
   
Comments
Habitat Condition Rating (HCR): 1-10; 1-Poor habitat, 5-quality habitat, 10-Exceptional habitat

Reminder: Gas powered boats are only allowed on the River, Lake, Sunset Ridge, Kyle East and West and Rucker wetland pools.  Electric powered boats are allowed in all marsh pools.

Kyle: Pumping is ongoing with water filling into both units. Overall dry conditions throughout the summer allowed for a good amount of pool work to be done in East Kyle and moist soil vegetation is plentiful. Portions of the East and upper West units held some shallow water and led to large amounts of unwanted vegetation such as American Lotus and River Bullrush. HCR-5

West River: Pumping is ongoing with some huntable water in upper unit and middle of lower unit. Summer Draw downs were successful in both the upper and lower units which allowed for some disking, mowing, and millet planting. Upper Unit is about half Corn and half good moist soil vegetation. Lower unit had a small amount of Corn planted in the SE Corner that didn't grow too well. Moist soil vegetation and millet did very good. HCR-8

Upper Ferguson: This wetland grew mostly native smartweed and has little water currently. The water control structure is currently removed from the wetland and we do not have a timeline on when we will have the new one installed yet. The refuge is closed Oct 1st thru Jan 15th to ALL Activity HCR-6.

Lassister: No Water. We left boards in the water control structures in an attempt to collect runoff throughout the year. We had some in July, but it has all evaporated now. No pool work could be done this summer because of holding water so some non-desirable vegetation established but overall it still had a good mix of moist soil vegetation.   HCR-5

Northwest: Pumping is ongoing and will continue. Corn was harvested with standing corn left in strips. Some millet and sorghum strips were also planted.   HCR-8

Headquarters: No Water. This wetland was drawn down early and corn was planted in some of it. Once the tenant harvests their 75%, then we will began to try to collect water, no water at this point. HCR-6

Mitigation:  No Water. Disking was completed in this pool to remove some unwanted vegetation and the moist soil vegetation response was very good. We have boards in and are attempting to collect runoff. HCR-7

Hayward: No Water. Most of this unit was disked and planted to Millet that grew very well .  HCR-8

Reichart: Pumping is ongoing and will continue. Upper end of the marsh has corn planted, lower half of marsh was planted with sorghum strips and millet and did very well.   HCR-8. 

Zebra Mussels have been confirmed in the lake. Be sure to dry boats and equipment before moving to other waters.

Please remember to fill out the permit with accurate information. THIS INFORMATION IS VERY IMPORTANT TO THE CURRENT AND FUTURE MANAGEMENT OF THE AREA. FILL OUT ONLY YOUR INDIVIDUAL HARVEST EFFORTS, i.e., NOT A GROUP HARVEST TOTAL.