ACE Basin and Beaufort Duck Migration Forecast

Where ACE Basin and Beaufort is

ACE Basin and Beaufort is drawn from 3 counties in South Carolina: Beaufort, Colleton and Dorchester. Those are the counties its shape on the DuckCast map is built from, so a hunter in any of them reads this region’s score.

Public ground with waterfowl hunting

• Bear Island WMA (Colleton County): SCDNR Category I lottery area with about 5,385 acres of brackish and fresh managed wetlands; its Sampson Island Unit is Category II.
• Donnelley WMA (Colleton County): Part SCDNR Category I lottery hunts and part Category II, on freshwater and brackish managed wetlands.
• Ernest F. Hollings ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge (Beaufort and Colleton counties): Brackish and freshwater marsh with wetland management units; waterfowl hunting is in designated areas reached only by boat.

Seasons, permits, draws and open days change from year to year, so check the state wildlife agency’s rules, linked below, before you go.

When ACE Basin and Beaufort peaks

DuckCast’s season model puts the wood duck peak here around mid December. The timing follows the statewide curve; what differs here is how many birds the model expects, below. 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 state wildlife agency, linked below.

Which birds the model expects in ACE Basin and Beaufort

In DuckCast’s season model, the species that can score highest in ACE Basin and Beaufort are green-winged teal, gadwall and blue-winged teal. Against the state as a whole, it expects more wigeon, pintails, blue-winged teal, gadwall, scoters and green-winged teal in ACE Basin and Beaufort and fewer wood ducks, mallards and Canada geese.

Those weights come from harvest records, survey counts and the kind of water, not from a count taken here each season. They cap how high each species’ score can climb; the weather still has to bring the birds.

What DuckCast watches upstream of ACE Basin and Beaufort

5 upstream stations feed this region's freeze line, nearest first: Lake Norman, NC, about 200 miles north, Jordan Lake, NC, about 225 miles northeast, Kerr Lake, NC, about 285 miles northeast, Roanoke River, NC, about 300 miles northeast and Pungo Lake, NC, about 310 miles northeast. When those stations ice over, the score here starts climbing before anything changes in the local sky.

Radar over ACE Basin and Beaufort

Each morning DuckCast reads the night’s NEXRAD data from KCLX, the National Weather Service radar at Charleston, about 25 miles west of the region’s weather point. That is close enough for the radar to sample the air over the region itself. Radar sees every bird in the air, not only ducks, so it confirms or questions the score rather than moving it.

Locations stay generalized

Hunter reports for ACE Basin and Beaufort are always shown at the region level. DuckCast never collects or displays exact coordinates, so filing a report here never burns a spot.