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‘Duck Dynasty’ ending after Season 11 amid declining viewership

Some of the cast of 'Duck Dynasty.'. A&E

A&E’s Duck Dynasty has been on for 11 seasons, and now the backwoods reality show is calling in the dogs.

Louisiana’s Robertson family, who (obviously) specialize in duck hunting, announced the end of the show in a Facebook video posted Wednesday.

 

“After five years we’ve decided… as a family for this to be the final chapter of the Duck Dynasty series,” said Jase Robertson, one of family patriarch Phil Robertson‘s sons.

READ MORE: Phil Robertson, Duck Dynasty dad, weighs in on transgender bathroom debate

“This is going to be the best season yet, and you might see us on a special or two,” added Korie Robertson.

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The immensely popular show premiered in 2012 and broke multiple records for viewership right out of the gate, averaging more than 11 million viewers in Season 4. In the past three years, people have slowly stopped watching the show, due in part to Phil Robertson’s well-publicized anti-gay comments.

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In 2013, Phil was suspended for a brief period of time from Duck Dynasty filming because of the hostile remarks (he told GQ magazine that the Bible views gays as sinners akin to adulterers, prostitutes and swindlers); he returned to the show after a “hiatus.”

“We are extremely disappointed to have read Phil Robertson’s comments in GQ, which are based on his own personal beliefs and not reflected in the series Duck Dynasty,” the network said in a statement at the time.

READ MORE: Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson defends his controversial comments

Duck Dynasty never quite recovered, though A&E says that it’s still the channel’s most-watched TV series ever.

The seven final episodes of the show will broadcast from March 1 to the middle of April 2017, and A&E plans to run holiday specials featuring the Robertsons going forward.

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