Ducks Unlimited

I see they're on the climate change bandwagon, so that's strike one.

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They are not going to be able to do shite about the marching cane westward.

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I figured the lack of rice production was related to the goons in the sugar mafia. What an awful weed.

Yup, this state is toast in regards to waterfowl habitat.

And yes, I hate cane more than damn pine trees.

Do y’all seriously think less rice and more cane is to blame for less ducks ? The price of rice could go through the roof tomorrow and everyone plant rice. Is that going to make our duck numbers go up? Give me a damn brake

La has been hemorrhaging rice acreage for years. Low prices. Hurricanes. Sugar cane ( ). From my perspective, a low crop (no pun intended) of young farmers in rice

All of this has led to falling behind Arkansas and Cali. Not to mention the simple fact of better successes in their states.

Ducks need food. Rice is food for ducks. My uncle's duck camp and lease at Gum Cove used to sit next to 15K acres of rice. There were ducks and geese by the thousands and we never had any problem killing limits. That all changed when the property owner stopped planting rice and let the fields go fallow. Coincidence? Perhaps, but sugar cane is absolutely worthless for attracting any kind of wildlife and is only good for hiding bodies.

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What's your problem with pine trees? They're native to Louisiana and grow in places that aren't suitable for a lot of other plants.

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Loblolly pine may be native, but not in the giant monocultures that we have now in the form of plantations.

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Sugar cane is pretty much a controlled invasive plant.

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So is every other crop we grow here for the most part.

Anyone that doesn't understand the significance of rice to ducks in Louisiana just doesn't get ducks. It's not so much about the crop itself as it is the management of the fields. If it's in sugarcane, it's never being flooded for waterfowl. Sugarcane provides zero food for ducks as well.

Is the loss of rice acres solely to blame for the lack of ducks? No, but it is a contributing factor.

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Tell me why I should join them.

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I’ll tell you why you shouldn’t join them.

Fricking nets.

In my experience DU does some good things but the amount of money raised compared to the amount they spend in preserving habitat is akin to most charities.

I do take issue with their take on lobbying for more public land being accessible to hunting. Again, in my experience, they do almost nothing on this front and even though many of their projects are open to hunting they are heavily regulated and provide even more suitable habitat for loafing and resting and feeding which allows birds to only be hunted when DU sees fit. MANY of their "projects" are on private land and the only hunting allowed is by the landowner and of course DU executives....the projects that allow public hunting are FAR less attractive than these "private" projects and are usually marginal habitat to begin with.

Outside of that it is fun to go to a banquet with real duck hunters if you can find one. Most banquets are attended by people who think duck hunting consists of paying someone to take them, place them in a comfortable blind, set the decoys, do the calling, even do most of the shooting for them, all so they can take pictures and brag to their buddies back at the lodge. Nothing wrong with any of that but it is only duck hunting in the smallest possible way. If, however, you live in an area where folks do all of this on their own a banquet is very enjoyable.