Uh... Yes it is very true.
So in other words. DU paying them to flood said corn, is holding birds up north that would normally come down.

Locally our chapter has advertised their work in the papers and we plan on having a projector running the whole time for our banquet. Louisiana is the #2 contributor in the nation. They can't ignore that. Old rumors are gear people are basing their opinions on.



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My my! This has been an interesting read!

Exactly!!!! Winner winner chicken dinner!


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

I'll end my thoughts right here...not blaming DU because I understand what they do and why they do it. Ducks=Cash

But the planting of standing crops for no other purpose other than the feeding, breeding, holding, and killing of ducks is wrong. I agree that DU does help with the breeding aspect. But once the season starts then continuous feeding and holding should not happen in those spots. Hunt them out of those areas. No food plus hunters will move ducks south. The planting of standing crops that remain unharvested should no be hunted. Once that is stopped then the corn crops for ducks only will stop. Thus allowing the natural migration to happen as it has for centuries.


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And you my friend hit the nail on the head!!!! Great post!!!!


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

I tend to agree with that. And yes, du pays to flood corn. But they are simply following their charter of trying to save habitat. Allowing people to hunt on that flooded corn is another issue. I believe manipulating crops in ways that are not part of the natural agricultural process should be considered baiting. Flooded corn is not part of the natural farming process.
My point is though, that we have to look at what is giving farmers incentive to plant all this corn in the first place. And that my friends is due to government manufactured demand of ethanol. We should also look at why farmers down here are moving more and more to sugar cane. I don't know enough about the solution to that to comment intelligently. I can only guess its because there is less money in rice. maybe DU and Delta could help subsidize Louisiana rice farmers more.

Point blank DU does more for ducks DOWN HERE then people ever will notice. And not just ducks... How many of you like to catch shrimp and crabs at rollover? Who you think footed the bill to rebuild the LSU weir? How bout the new weir at rollover? Y'all talk about coastal conservation... well that's it. Just this project restores 16,568 acres in pecan island. We only raised 3 million as a state last year here in Louisiana. Yet since 1985 DU has spent $71 million. In the past 10 years they have spent 4 MILLION in Vermillion parish alone. There's a brand new one about to kick up to restore 8,600 acres near intracoastal city. And many more being planned. To say DU sends all your money up north is just plain stupid. These are just the numbers I have on vermillion parish. Maybe Latt will chime in with the Cameron parish numbers.


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Yall could all argue about habitat changes, ect up north until you run out of breath. Large concentrations of migrating mallards(in the hundreds of thousands) do not come to Louisiana for a number of reasons, most are stated in this thread. Might as well argue about religion. The biggest change to duck hunting since 2000 is the flapper, mojo, robo, spinner,ect. Yes they work, and I use them too.

Outlaw mojos and see how many barrel sticker hunters can call a duck into their decoys or actually know how to put out a spread of decoys to kill ducks.

The don't subsidize per say rice. But they do help rice farmers through a program they have called the rice stewardship program. This is the program that helped Aubrey install the pipelines on his farm.


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So your saying that they spend more money here than up north? Just asking. No scarcasm intended. Nor blasting intended


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

"Natural migration" what is that? Is there a such thing. If biologists are right and we are having record hatches every year what is there to worry about? Animals are good at adapting for the most part, and it seems that waterfowl are doing just fine. The country has changed a lot in the last 30 years as far as farming technology is concerned, and it will continue to change drastically. No matter how hard anyone tries, the ducks are never going to go back to their "natural migration." We hear every year about record hatches, so there are plenty of ducks.

As far as them reaching louisiana, plenty of ducks still winter here. The problem is, 70% of duck hunters couldn't kill them these days even if you stuck them in one of the best blinds around. I killed 1061 ducks out of my blind this year and hunted everyday. I have a pretty good feel on how weather plays into our particular marsh. When the hard cold fronts hit, the mallards would show up for 2 days and leave as soon as it warmed up. Yes the ducks stop up north probably now more than ever, but there are still PLENTY of birds down here. To even talk about 30 and 3 right now is absolutely ridiculous.

Aerial surveys in my opinion are a joke. I fly pretty often in small planes, and it is hard as hell to see ducks from the air. Also, how are you going to see birds in the timber? Surveyors could easily miss one pond or one field that could be holding tens of thousands of birds, therefore making surveys look disappointing.

No don't take what I said out of context. I said to say that DU sends all the money up north is is stupid. I also said earlier it's no secret DU's main focus is and will always be the breeding grounds. My point is they just spend a few dollars here. We're talking millions. Just the project at white lake last year went 2 million. The new project near intracoastal will cost $2.6 million this year. I'm not saying you but a lot of other people who have bad opinion about DU are based on rumors not facts.


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I agree with your point about the "natural migration."

Sounds like you have a good place. I have several friends that places like that; they kill limits day in and day out every single year. But, you've got to remember most people hunt in places that tend to be up and down. What everyone saw this year was more down than up. Heck, my lease is usually pretty friggin awesome yet we struggled this year. Another couple friends I know have bang up spots and they struggled too. Overall this was definitely a down year!

Aerial surveys are not an exact science. I look at them only as stick to measure by. Of course they can't count exact numbers. I look instead at the relative change in numbers. And yes, they can't fly over every area but that doesn't mean those counts don't hold some merit. Seems to me this year the counts were spot on. The low numbers were proven to me on the ground.

It seemed that this year the areas that have been bad the last 3-4 yrs were awesome and vise versa.

I am all for outlawing any type of spinner. I think they help somewhat, mostly on young birds and most of the young birds probably get killed on their way south from their nesting ground. The spinners would have to be outlawed in the entire flyway to do us any good as far as getting more birds down to La.

I don't see how outlawing mojo's would change much at all. I rarely use them and still kill plenty of ducks. Mojo's have nothing at all to do with migration patterns. Food, habitat, and reproduction! Those are what rule a duck's life...kinda like a man!

I didn't say mojos would change migration patterns, I said the young birds go to them better than mature birds and the hunters in states north of us are killing a lot of the young birds before they get to us. By the time they get to us they are well educated. We kill plenty of ducks also and hunt 60 days per year. We use them during the first split and occasionally during the second split but I still wish they were outlawed and if they were I think our hunting would improve.

I wouldn't be mad at all if they outlaw mojos!!! You would definAtely kill more birds than the rest of the yahoos if you know what you doing


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

Just think if we could figure out a way to get rid of skybusters! Public hunting enemy #1!

I will put out 2-6, or how ever many mojos I can get my hands on. Depending on how many the jag offs in the surrounding blinds put out from day to day. If I can see a blind that has 2 out. I'll put out 4. The next time they hunt, they'll have 4, and I'll put out 6, etc. I hunt a big open water (30 acre), salty, nasty, crab infested marsh with no food,over around 400-500 decoys/black jugs. We kill on average 500+ a year, probably 4 times as many as all the other blinds on our lease that we've been on for 7 seasons now. It's not that I'm a fan of them, or can't call like a boss (cuz I can lol), it's just proven if I want to kill a few ducks, I have to compete with the rest of the hunters. At my place, he who catches the most eyes, kills the most. I'd totally be down for them to be outlawed. Will it happen? Seriously doubt it. Don't think it would change the number of birds that winter down here though.

Probably wouldn't change the number of wintering birds but they may be easier to decoy for the hunters that know what they are doing. Good calling, decoy set ups, well brushed blind, etc. etc.
and I agree about the sky busting. Maybe without a mojo the yahoos couldn't even get them close enough to sky bust

VERY good point.......too many birds take a peek and then after a while hunters get frustrated and sky blast

Yeasir


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

Outlaw pattern masters lol


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Don't do that! I'm tired of chasing cripples all over the countryside


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Do that! Yes! I don't have a "pattern master"


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

Attachment 63031


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That's about right. They aren't stupid and find ways to survive till things settle down. Now they start showing up on everyone's lease and they think the birds just came down. Same thing every year.

Damn I wonder where they were all hiding Hiding then?


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In the gulf, white lake, preserves, etc etc

The gulf? Like the Gulf of Mexico?


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They'll raft out there

Yep. Seen rafts of 100 or more birds on the calm days out there for years.

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Yep. You never saw ducks rafting in the Gulf, and Big Lake, and V bay? Ducks do "Hide" until it's safe to come out and play.

Can't say I have, considering I've been into the gulf a total of 1 time in my life


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Lol They Do the same thing on bays and big lakes.

Well I've seen em in Toledo Bend. But that's about it. Hasn't spent all that much time in the saltwater.


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I've seen thousands on big lake and in cocodrie just rafted up. Insane how many birds they had just chillin.


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Yep, and on calm days thousands raft up in the gulf. I think that's one reason most have better hunting on big south wind days.

That's the exact reason we do. I think when the newer birds get shot up the go to the coast. Then south wind pushes them back . We shoot em they leave and coma back next southwind


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

Guys you do realize that between all the refuges in SW Louisiana and White lake that doesn't get hunted there is enough land to hold all the birds. Sabine is 124,000 acres you can only hunt on 24,000, Camron Prairie 25,000 only lottery on 3 days a week, Lacassine 30,000 only hunt on 10,000, Rockafella 130,000 you can't hunt. White Lake has at least 20,000 that doesn't get hunted. So that's a lot of land to hold birds. Just that there is so much pressure they we find safe heaven.

Totally agree but a lot raft up off shore and in big bays and lakes also.

I agree they will find a safe place is all I'm saying!!!!!!!

I have seen mallards rafted up in Main Pass!

Ran the marsh all this weekend. Looks like Argentina right now... But they never reached LA...

We've got thousands of pintail and a couple hundred mallards. Pintail showed up a week before season ended. Mallards showed up Monday:cry:

Yea, we are saying the same thing. Some will still say "they just showed up in Louisiana" but I think they been surviving the hunting season and now are moving off of their safe havens.

Fair Weather Friends
 

I'm not attempting to make anyone mad here, and I realize we all spend alot of money on leases, boats, guns, shells etc. However when it comes to ducks and duck hunting many in this sport are "fair weather firends". When times are tough, many of our "waterfowlers" simply do not participate. At the times when our sport needs us the most, many abandon it. At minimum even if you are not going to hunt, at leaset purchase a liscense and waterfowl stamps. This will show that we still support our sport. These numbers (amount of liscened hunters) and revenues brought in from liscense and stamp sales ARE indeed monitored and counted by the state and feds. This is a portion of determining how sate and federal money is distributed to support habatit in our area, and remember waterfowl habatit supports fish, crabs, shrimp, crawfish oysters, countless birds and creatures of all kinds. Additionally, we should all belong to a waterfowl support group and it does not matter which one, Delta, DU, Wildfowl Inc or any of the other smaller orginizations as long as they are supporting waterfowl and the hunter you should be supporting them. I certainly welcome the newcomer to the sport, just don't jump on the bandwagon when it is good and get off when it isn't. I just wanted to weigh in with my 2 cents worth. Thanks for listening.

Well said sir.


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