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Message
re: Beware long read: Young hunter's opinion on down duck season. Blame Mother Nature
Posted on 5/1/20 at 11:59 am to Ron Cheramie
Posted on 5/1/20 at 11:59 am to Ron Cheramie
quote:
Link? Pics? Source?
They have been doing this for years, since at least the early 1970's. It used to be where the "firing line" was on the refuge...still is on some....but they have tended to get away from that.
Every refuge in the nation as grain planted on it to attract wildlife....some is harvested in a legitimate agricultural practice.....and sold I guess, I don't know but I suspect farmers harvest it for it....but the rest is left to be managed throughout the migration when it is mowed, burnt, whatever works best, and supplemented with grain that was harvested elsewhere.
Go to a good refuge anytime late in the season and explain the tornado of ducks and geese with grain fields identical to those on the refuge off the refuge never seeing bird one except when they migrate into the area. It is because the fields off the refuge have to be harvested properly to not be baited fields and huntable….those on the refuge are never meant to be hunted so the harvest is intentionally sloppy, late, and supplemented when necessary with simply dumping grain on the ground. When you remove a birds natural instinct for survival and finding food on its own you better damn well be in a position to provide the poor bastard a meal because you have crippled it in to not being able to...and the NFWS and State FWSs have been doing it for decades....
1
Posted on 5/1/20 at 12:40 pm to lodgedup
quote:Breaking point for what?
Maybe this past season was the breaking point
Posted on 5/1/20 at 12:52 pm to Gtmodawg
quote:
Every refuge in the nation as grain planted on it to attract wildlife....some is harvested in a legitimate agricultural practice.....and sold I guess, I don't know but I suspect farmers harvest it for it....but the rest is left to be managed throughout the migration when it is mowed, burnt, whatever works best, and supplemented with grain that was harvested elsewhere.
Not to be nit picky but that’s even remotely true about every refuge But let’s talk about this
quote:
supplemented with grain that was harvested elsewhere
Show us some pics of this dumping of grain in refuges
Posted on 5/1/20 at 1:30 pm to Ron Cheramie
Frick it, I’ll say it the damn word “NETS”
Is saying refugees put grain out in flooded fields the new trend? How do they go about doing this? Crop duster? Feed trucks on catfish ponds?
Maybe they are giving the ducks antibiotics in the grain to stop a disease from starting???
Climate change is a better argument then refugees feeding ducks, but Refugees feeding is better then nets, though.
Is saying refugees put grain out in flooded fields the new trend? How do they go about doing this? Crop duster? Feed trucks on catfish ponds?
Maybe they are giving the ducks antibiotics in the grain to stop a disease from starting???
Climate change is a better argument then refugees feeding ducks, but Refugees feeding is better then nets, though.
Posted on 5/1/20 at 2:44 pm to Outdoorreb
Climate Change, Habitat improvement North of Louisiana and Hunting pressure in the Midwest primarily Arkansas.
The rest is just tinfoil hat BS. We can do all the improvement to habitat we want but if they don't have to come down here (due to better habitat up north and warm weather) they won't. Plus the ones that do decide to make the trip ain't making it past Arkansas. There are two blinds in every field in that state
The rest is just tinfoil hat BS. We can do all the improvement to habitat we want but if they don't have to come down here (due to better habitat up north and warm weather) they won't. Plus the ones that do decide to make the trip ain't making it past Arkansas. There are two blinds in every field in that state
Posted on 5/1/20 at 3:11 pm to lsu13lsu
Agree. If it doesn’t get cold enough they ain’t coming. Some will, but not like they should. 2018-2019 season we were shooting BWT in the middle of January in the Ms delta. That’s not normal.
Posted on 5/1/20 at 7:02 pm to Gtmodawg
quote:
And all of that corn ain't there due to a "legitimate" agricultural practice....there is no legitimate reason to intentionally flood a field of standing corn except to attract migrating waterfowl.
Folks, what we have here is a drinker of the Josh Goins Kool-aid.
Posted on 5/1/20 at 9:16 pm to michael corleone
Are there other reasons that ducks migrate in addition to “groceries”?
Posted on 5/1/20 at 9:19 pm to Outdoorreb
quote:
If it doesn’t get cold enough, they ain’t coming
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner.
I’ve been trying to tell folks for over a year now that the weather simply doesn’t get cold enough to make ducks leave us here in southern Illinois. Combine that with the flooding/backwater we’ve gotten since 2012 and there’s no reason for ducks to go further south.
Posted on 5/1/20 at 9:49 pm to geauxbrown
quote:
Are there other reasons that ducks migrate in addition to “groceries”?
Any animal that migrates does so for one reason--survival. Migration requires a significant energy expenditure. If a bird doesn't have to go as far to get what it needs to survive, it's not going to do it. If we get really cold, snowy, freezing winters up north, the birds will fly further down the flyway. But when we don't, the birds don't have to go as far.
People get hung up on the flooded corn, but if it wasn't corn, it would be something else. Hell, a fat, lazy mallard will land in a dry corn field.
Posted on 5/1/20 at 10:30 pm to gumbeaux
40 years hardcore here and this gentleman gets it! Read his post carefully. We are killing too many. The politicians pay attention to who donates to them. Sporting goods store owners are in the ear of the local politicians trying to keep the season open too long, and the limits too high. Time to take the pressure off the resource for a while from Canada to Mexico.
Posted on 5/2/20 at 7:25 am to Arbengal
That's one hell of a conspiracy. Especially considering the fact that harvest figures have been relatively constant since the late 60s. With the exception of the early 60s and 1984 to 1994, the floor for annual harvest has been somewhere around 11 million birds.
So if we are killing too many birds, we've been doing it for a long time...and if you've been killing limits every day for 40 years, you're contributing to it.
So if we are killing too many birds, we've been doing it for a long time...and if you've been killing limits every day for 40 years, you're contributing to it.
Posted on 5/2/20 at 5:10 pm to Cowboyfan89
Cowboyfan89....thanks, that was a legitimate question on my behalf.
Posted on 5/2/20 at 5:18 pm to lodgedup
I hunt public land flooded timber in Arkansas and the past two years have been horrendous. I have exhausted every theory in my mind. But like the second poster stated, he used to see ducks. I don’t have to kill a limit every time I go. But I’d like to at least see ducks and have some engagements. I haven’t seen 25% of the ducks I normally see up here during the winter, and it’s all mallards and wood ducks. There’s an private field near the public area I hunt and they use it as a rest area and I bet I did t see more then 100 birds on it this year. Previous years it would be 10 acres of black.
Posted on 5/2/20 at 8:08 pm to Tigah D
quote:
People don't realize that a rice field prepped to crawfish isn't worth a frick for a duck.
Could you further explain this to me? I know several farmers who have been leasing flooded rice fields duck blinds for over 30 years that they crawfish in when the season is over. Would this fall into that category?
Posted on 5/2/20 at 9:03 pm to good_2_geaux
I imagine what he's getting at is the fact that crawfish ponds are often flooded deeper than a dabbling duck is going to use. Then you have traps being run, so there is a constant disruption.
That being said, I've seen some crawfish ponds with ducks all over them.
That being said, I've seen some crawfish ponds with ducks all over them.
Posted on 5/2/20 at 10:56 pm to Cowboyfan89
Going in to the next great recession and oil and gas bottoming out.... should eliminate alot of these theories you fellows have
Too many guides- they going out of business
Too many mudboats- on sale for cheap to pay mortgage
Too many flooded corn fields - that costs a farmer a few hundred bucks an acre. Not going to make that back with no one paying 40K for leases
Too many guides- they going out of business
Too many mudboats- on sale for cheap to pay mortgage
Too many flooded corn fields - that costs a farmer a few hundred bucks an acre. Not going to make that back with no one paying 40K for leases
Posted on 5/3/20 at 10:07 am to jimjackandjose
Love to follow the hunting forums when a newbie from elsewhere ask hows the duck hunting in Maurepaus WMA, and the guys response was spot on"you might as well hunt in the ditch in front of your house, the result would be the same".
120k acres of wasteland for ducks.
120k acres of wasteland for ducks.
Posted on 5/3/20 at 11:19 am to Cowboyfan89
Conspiracy? Well I don’t think it’s a conspiracy at all. It is what every businessman does when federal or state regulations threaten their livelihoods. They try and influence the decision makers. I have hinted within the regulations during my tenure and have nothing to be ashamed about. The harvest figures would not be the same during the 30 day seasons with smaller limits unless many more hunters were in the field. I am very familiar with a few guys that have large stakes in sporting goods stores that have helped to place commissioners on state wildlife boards. I’ll let you figure out how they voted on season length. Individual hunters hunting within the legal framework don’t have anything to do with numbers. Anyone that thinks someone has limited on every hunt for 40 years also is being disingenuous. You sound like a sporting goods store owner. Perhaps I touched a nerve. Sorry
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