re: January Duck Survey

I've spent the last ten years managing my family farm for duck hunting, and have been able to increase my personal annual harvest numbers from 300 in 2014 to just over 500 birds this year on 44ish hunts/year. Four years ago, we released Rouen ducks on our 12 acre swimming pond, and that year we had teal, mottles, and mallards on the pond for the first time ever instead of straight ringnecks. We don't shoot the birds on the pond, and our production has increased steadily ever since the introduction of farm ducks. This year, I've had two scratches while my lease blinds have had only one. There were many times in the past that we would have dead periods where no ducks would be seen for a week at a time. All this to say that safe holding ponds are more important than most realize.

Finally, I couldn't believe how loud the surface drives were when I hunted the Wax for the opener. Anyone that hunts the marsh should be very concerned that noise pollution is directly related to negative production trends. There is simply nothing remotely as loud in the rice fields that ducks associate with hunters/pressure.

My two cents...