Well I'm behind y'all In age. It's not just about the limits for me. A lot of people on here can tell you I don't hunt with the newest nicest guns, camo etc. I enjoy the little things too. What has my feathers ruffled though. All season long besides the last two weeks we see low numbers. Now the season is closed and I see more ducks on my place in one day then I see all first split. Yesterday afternoon I might have only killed one spec. But watching them body up 200 yards from me, still seeing line after line of geese and ducks into the sunset, and watching my dog run down a goose at 400 yards. That made my trip worth it. My point is let's cut the hay while the grass is tall
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This is to save the wetlands where they breed and helping save our coast. DU spends a lot of money down here building terraces and such that a lot of people don't realize.


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Lol ok

When you can prove otherwise then you can laugh. The ducks have to have somewhere to breed and rest up north and without organizations like DU they wouldn't have that.

Cause I know that DU spent a lot of money around here the past couple years paying farmers to flood and keep flooded from August to November and then different fields from November to January. And they also donated a lot of money to our farm to out in pipes and help improve our water control. Pipes and risers and such.


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Bingo lol

That's all water we hunted. And killed the **** out of them over.


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really? I need to get in on this

I research a lot bro. I'm on ur side on a lot of points but this one your on your own. They may do one or two small projects here but that's only to keep your interest. The focus on up north where they can really see their money making a difference. Politics man!!! DU is what they been forever... They are Du


"Go ahead, share your opinion! I won't cry"

Ask em where 100% of louisianas duck stamp money went

I used to hunt a place that Ducks Unlimited came in and did all the work on water control for free. I am pretty sure if you contact them, they will hook you up.

But I agree with everyone else. All the big money is spent up north.

And like someone said earlier, these "rich" hunters are planting rice and corn and not harvesting any of it. Just for duck hunting. Shot a bunch of mallards up in north LA last week. Saw 1000s of birds. It was crazy. Could have shot mallards until I ran out of shells every hunt. Most mallards don't come down any farther than that. Spoke with a few property owners and they tell me they plan on planting corn next year just for ducks. That's a lot of money!

Where they Can make their money work? Top two contributing states are Texas and Louisisana. Research that....I have a list of projects with numbers somewhere. More money is pumped down south than you might think. It's no secret though their MAIN FOCUS is the Breeding Grounds. Politics you say? 80% of the money goes into projects. Not entertaining senators and reps. A certain amount has to go into that however. Certain things simply CAN NOT get done without that.
Do some More reseach Bud.

If u wanna get a hunt on one of them "DU projects" you better save your money.

I remember reading an article a few weeks back about 800,000 mallards sitting on the Missouri river in South Dakota. They would not leave and no one could kill them. They would just raft up in the middle of the river. They would move to the ag fields at night and be back on the river before shooting time so no one could kill them. I would have to think after these hard freezes that they moved south but wouldn't surprise me if they didn't.

While they enhance the breeding grounds up north. The wintering grounds down here continue to fade away.

How did ducks breed before DU? Nice try. It's a business now of shooters instead of hunters. Killing for just sport and not food.

Wetland and potholes were there naturally then. Man came in and started destroying all that. Draining Land For Farming, Filling in Pot holes Etc.... Thats how.

They bred just fine before DU. But you have to realize before DU there was nowhere near the number of hunters or farmers that there is now. The farming technology wasn't there. The hunting technology wasn't there. There was sections of fields that just couldn't be messed with because it was too wet or any other reason. Now with the technology and equipment they have places like this can be turned into at fields and less place for the birds to breed and sit and rest undisturbed. Not only up north but here too and everywhere in between.

Nice try though.


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It all went the breeding grounds that produce most of the ducks that Louisiana harvests. DU was awarded the money and they take our duck stamp monies match it with their own funding and then match it with other monies such as NAWCA. our x amount of dollars just multiplied to 3x or 4x which is the best bang for our buck. They essentially quadrupled our duck stamp money and sent it to the breeding grounds - win win

Its not that much money in the grand scheme of things, if that million or so dollars was spent in say Sherburne WMA then people that don't hunt Sherburne would gripe that it shoulda been spent on their particular WMA they hunt. Then the private landowners have an argument as well. The funds were best spent up in the breeding grounds (again they quadrupled the money) and there isn't a public vs private argument now

Ducks are probably the best out there for predicting weather and they have free gas. Plenty have been tracked from northern Ark to south La marshes and back the next day. You can manage property for them but you can't make them come or stay if they come. Sun light is the migration trigger along with imprinting and lastly weather, IMO. Like it or not, consevation organizations are lobbyists for hunters and fishermen and without them it is doubtful our voices would ever be heard at the local,state and federal level. Easy money and cheap airfares are turning the secret meccas into Louisiana currently. As vast as NODAK is, each year more and more land is being posted. Same in Kansas & Oklahoma as they are starting to capitilize on the duck hunting frenzy. It will be ruined up there in ten years just like it has been in Louisiana.

Go to google earth and zoom in on some areas in the prairie pothole region. Look at the changes from the 90s, 2000s, til today. Its mindblowing what is happening. Wetlands are being drained for ag production (can't blame a farmer as I would do the same). You can make $X with a CRP payment for not tilling up virgin prairie, or you can drain it, tile it, and make $10X for planting corn. Its happening right now

TONS of 'DU Projects' on public hunting land throughout the state and country that are 100% open to the public to hunt. I bet you have hunted on some of them;)

Not true, you just said that all these rich landowners are getting DU projects on their land in Louisiana. That would be an example of a wintering ground project. Aubrey's example is a wintering ground project.

You all have to realize that duck season is 60 days, 75 if you include teal. Those fields provide habitat to ducks WAY more than 75 days. Probably ducks on Aubrey's place right now getting fattened up for the flight back north. Probably even see ducks up through April sitting on those same places and ducks were likely there in September. So that place just provided habitat from September thru April (8 months) for both ducks coming down and ducks returning back north. Seems like that is the definition of ann excellent example of 'wintering grounds' to me?

Couldn't help himself I guess. :rotfl:

I knew I could pull him out the brush lol

"Hey keep giving to DU. They enhance my hunting every year". Actually I don't give any money to DU so I could care less what they do with their money. But when they steal my duck stamp money and send it out of the country when we have our own instate issues, that's when I have a problem.

You could spend 10 gazillion dollars instate and have everything perfect and a gazillion acres of wintering grounds, but if the breeding grounds suck it won't help....well not near as much.


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Just tell DU to quit stealing my money!!

Well put


"Go ahead, share your opinion! I won't cry"

If you support DU my friend you are a Dumb A$$! That's all.

We had a pretty bad season. I hunt just west of PI. I have two ponds, one of which dicdn't grow any wigeon grass. That pond is traditionally our best by far. This year it was terrible. I think its because we had so much water all summer long. The main part of my kill is usually greys. I had them thick maybe 4 times this year and we really smashed them. Of course I'd have them one day and they'd be gone the next, which is unusual for my place. Usually my place does really well during the first split, then as the rains come, we pick up too much water thus sending the ducks elsewhere. Our first split was absolutely horrible. That didn't happen this year, we actually lost water throughout the season. So although we didn't have the birds as thick as often, we effectively ended up with more days to shoot ducks (if only DU would come put me a water control structure.) So, I just think that everything went against us this year. Hell, we didn't shoot but a few mottled ducks which is crazy. We usually have to be very careful not to shoot too many. All of this leads me to believe it was a habitat issue that hurt me most. Mottled ducks are local right?...A delayed hatch, migration, or short stopping shouldn't affect them yet I didn't see many. I have had some bad leases in my time, some that didn't produce no matter what. This one is pretty good, so when I have a down year, it definitely leaves me scratching my head.
As far as season dates and lengths go, I'm down for a longer split and be allowed to hunt until the end of Jan. Early openers are usually great for us, of course this year was the exception.

go to ducks.org and check it out, there are plenty of wintering ground projects done in La, many on public lands maybe some near you. You can hunt em, I do:)

You better start supporting a conservation organization if you want to keep on catching those snapper in your avatar pic:grinpimp:

middle finger to you and top dawg, y'all pulled me out:rotfl:



from pics and reports on here, I would say plenty of ducks made it to Louisiana though, we kill more ducks than any state and almost twice as many as the famed Arkansas, we still got it good

this coming from a guy named tweeter

I support conservation for our coastal restoration. But not DU to hell with them. They do absolutely nothing for south loisiana but take money and use it for other states.

So what are you doing to help the problem other than bi+ching and complaining on the internet? Nobody "stole" anything. The state made a Decision that was where they would get their most bang for their buck.

Keep drinking the koolaid, dude. Y'all just keep sending DU y'all's money so they can make me more ducks to kill.

Oh My! Most uninformed dude Ever! Dude Du Does More Coastal Conservation Work than CCA Probably. Terrace projects, Marsh restoration, Weirs just to name a few! Im gonna find that list of projects and numbers when i get home. They spent over a million around White Lake last year alone. Are you kidding me? Go play in another sand box man. You really dont know what the hell you are talking about....AT ALL.

I don't! Not anymore! I support conservation efforts just not that organization.


"Go ahead, share your opinion! I won't cry"

MarshRat you mad huh !!! You must support DU that figures ! Get them numbers for me Han.

Nobody made here bro. I'm Actually Laughing my *** off at your dumba$$ statements. So tell us Tweaker where do you get your info from? One of philosophical meth head buddies?

IS THIS GOING TO BE ANOTHER ROCK DOG THREAD?:rotfl:

Lawd! No ducks got ya'll nin-jas HOT! Just like someone said earlier, when duck hunting slows down I start deer hunting about the middle of the season. By January, it picks up again and we start shooting em good again.

We had a good/fair season this year in PI. We didn't hunt nearly as much as we used to though.

DU did a lot on the West side of Hwy 27 on Miami Corp land.
It is private property, but it is big duck area. And a lot of $$$ was spent on that side of the road.
I don't support them either. I have had a few not so good issues with some of the DU people in the late 80's.

Raymond. I saw the "Rock Dawg", personally... Dat was so funny ****. Erry body fell down laughing.

I have issues with DU but it is from a "volunteer" position.
Regardless of you stance in respects to "what does DU do for ME (louisiana)" they have saved and or raised more ducks than any individual could ever possibly raise/save.

Just the general awareness of our sport is what they do best.
I support Delta Waterfowl and DU.

I can take the "my blind or no blind" approach, but the greater good is well..............the greater good.

The Louisiana duck hunter has had more natural priviledge than just about any duck hunter in the country..............things are changing in front of our eyes and many seek to blame something or someone, but the it's a combination of many things and many people.

When I visit other places and people around the country, a 30 ducks killed season to many is spectacular..........we want to see that in one hunt.

bottom line is support the ducks, one way or another.

Well said. I concur. And support DU and Delta.

I think that DU has done a horrible job of getting the word out on projects that they are involved in. The DU hate is everywhere in Louisiana. Some of it is well earned, but most of it is just flat misguided. A quick look on their website shows that they plan on spending at least $60 million on the gulf coast in the next five years. There are several projects going on now. Educate yourself and do some research instead of just blaming them. This thread was about why ducks didn't show up here this year. To say it's DU's fault is just ignorant! I think it's becoming cool to hate on DU, and people are doing it without the facts. Every friggin thread about lack of ducks has someone blaming DU. Then people say that they take Louisiana money and spend it up north, well that's just not true. I think they do good work, but they need to do a better job at showing some Louisiana hunters the value they have.

And I can promise you that the Ethanol lobby has done way more to hurt our duck hunting than anything else. Corn prices have been so artificially inflated it's ridiculous. Farmers can make money on corn, so they make cornfields out of wetlands in the prairie. Then, in order to replace habitat, either through CRP or DU or even on their own, they flood said corn. Now this flooding does provide habitat, just not "natural" habitat. Thus it changes natural behavior of animals. So, if we didn't offer artificial incentive to grow corn, then not as much corn would be grown. If not as much corn is grown, then we would not have to create as much artificial habitat in order to make up for the natural habitat used to grow the corn in the first place. Government intervention and unintended consequences....will they ever learn?