South Carolina Duck Migration Forecast

Where SC birds come from

South Carolina's birds come down through North Carolina, along the coast and over the Piedmont, and cold across North Carolina and the mountains is what pushes them onto the rice fields and the swamps.

DuckCast watches North Carolina for the freeze and snow that start birds moving, then reads NEXRAD after dark to see whether they actually flew. The upstream picture is why a score can rise here before anything changes in your own sky.

The 9 regions we score in South Carolina

Every region gets its own daily score. Reports are generalized to the region, so nobody burns your spot.

• Upstate Lakes

  Greenville and Spartanburg down to Abbeville and McCormick: Hartwell, Keowee, Russell, Thurmond and Greenwood, and the beaver-pond creeks between them. Ringnecks and wood ducks lead the bag.

• Catawba and Broad Rivers

  York, Lancaster, Chester, Fairfield and Kershaw: Lake Wylie down to Lake Wateree, Parr and Monticello, and the Broad River bottoms.

• Lake Murray and the Congaree

  Richland and Lexington out to Newberry, Saluda, Edgefield and Aiken: Lake Murray and the Congaree and Wateree bottoms around Columbia. Wood ducks in the river swamps.

• Sandhills and Upper Pee Dee

  Chesterfield, Marlboro, Darlington and Lee: Sandhills ponds and millponds, beaver swamps and the upper Great Pee Dee. Small water, and wood ducks first.

• Lower Pee Dee and Waccamaw

  Florence, Marion, Dillon, Horry and Williamsburg: the black-water swamps and oxbows of the Great and Little Pee Dee, the Lynches, the Black and the Waccamaw. The most-hunted zone in SCDNR's survey, and wood duck timber.

• Santee Cooper Lakes

  Clarendon, Orangeburg, Calhoun, Sumter and Berkeley: Lake Marion and Lake Moultrie, with divers on the open water, mallards and wood ducks in the Hickory Top timber, and resident geese.

• Santee Delta and Charleston Coast

  Georgetown and Charleston: the old rice-field impoundments of the Santee and Pee Dee deltas and Winyah Bay, with the state's biggest public duck shoot. Green-winged teal first, then gadwall, shovelers and pintail.

• ACE Basin and Beaufort

  Colleton, Beaufort and Dorchester: the rice-field impoundments on the Ashepoo, Combahee and Edisto, salt marsh and the sounds. Bear Island and Donnelley are here.

• Savannah River Lowcountry

  Jasper, Hampton, Allendale, Barnwell and Bamberg: the Savannah River swamps and bottoms, old rice fields and tidal fresh marsh near the coast, and the Salkehatchie.

Common questions about South Carolina

When does the duck migration peak in South Carolina?

DuckCast's season model puts the wood duck peak in South Carolina around mid December. That is a modelled typical curve, not a prediction for any single year: the actual push depends on cold fronts and freeze-up upstream, which is what the daily score tracks. Always confirm season dates with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.

Where do South Carolina's ducks come from?

South Carolina's birds come down through North Carolina, along the coast and over the Piedmont, and cold across North Carolina and the mountains is what pushes them onto the rice fields and the swamps. DuckCast reads conditions across North Carolina and watches for the freeze that pushes birds south, so a SC hunter sees the push building before it arrives.

Which parts of South Carolina does DuckCast cover?

All 9 regions: Upstate Lakes, Catawba and Broad Rivers, Lake Murray and the Congaree, Sandhills and Upper Pee Dee, Lower Pee Dee and Waccamaw, Santee Cooper Lakes, Santee Delta and Charleston Coast, ACE Basin and Beaufort, Savannah River Lowcountry. Each gets its own daily score. Locations are always region-level; DuckCast never collects or shows exact hunting spots.

Does DuckCast use weather radar in South Carolina?

Yes. DuckCast decodes raw NEXRAD Level II volumes from the 4 National Weather Service radar sites covering South Carolina, and reads how much bird mass lifted off after sunset and which way it tracked. Separately, 7 upstream weather stations across North Carolina feed the freeze line; those are weather reports, not radar. Radar sees every bird in the air, not just ducks, so read it as evidence that a migration happened rather than a duck count.

When is the best time to duck hunt in South Carolina?

For wood duck, the modelled peak in South Carolina falls around mid December, and the strongest hunting is usually the weeks on either side of it. Inside that window the best mornings follow a cold front with a hard freeze across North Carolina and a north wind behind it, which is exactly what the daily SC score measures. Season dates are set by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, and the peak is a modelled typical year rather than a promise about this one.

Where can I find a South Carolina waterfowl report?

SCDNR publishes the official South Carolina regulations and, during the season, survey counts and reports, so start there for anything legal. DuckCast adds a daily migration score for each of the 9 SC regions, built from live weather, the freeze across North Carolina, crop progress and hunter reports, and each morning it reads NEXRAD radar to say whether birds actually moved over the region after dark. Hunter reports filed in the app are generalized to the region, never to a spot.