Future of Hunting
 

I was reading the post earlier about guys losing there leases at the last minute and a few other replies. Got me thinking.

What are your thoughts on the future of waterfowl hunting in Southwest La?

What has Duck Dynasty done for the sport? What has the prices of leases done for the sport? What can be done for better hunting in public areas? What can be done for better management practices? What has crawfishing done to hunting? What has big money done?


How can we better the sport of waterfowling in Sportsmans Paradise?

Cane for Rice in the fields and all decent marshes are leased to bigger and bigger money by the day, literally. Start saving the $1-15k on a lease/blind and using 1/3 of that to go on some really nice quality hunts abroad. Have the opportunity to see 150 mallards pile in over the treetops, 1 million snow geese sitting on a pond, and millions of geese flying overhead all day and hundreds tornadoing in on you while lay in a layout on top of a massive hill in the middle of a cornfield. Fighting 35 boats at a launch at 4 am, paying $5000 for a garhole, or waiting for 5 years for a single spot on a decent lease is way overrated.

nobody else has any thoughts or ideas besides mister ToeTee?

have not hunted in 10 years because of this problem. cost to much to hunt ducks for just 25-30 days a year. just don't make sense to me. $1200 gun 15 buck a box of shells $3 a gal in truck and boat to shoot 2-3 birds just don't add up

Prices will continue to rise as long as big companies are willing to pay it. Public hunting opportunities would need to expanded and organization greatly improved to be appealing. Since those are run by the government I don't see that happening anytime soon. Most public hunting lands aren't primarily there for hunting so improving hunting conditions and opportunities is never tops on the priority list. Unfortunately I see the future of hunting in our area not being feasible for the average household and only viable for the people who can easily afford to pay to play.

Before long we'll all be paying for a spot or 2 in a blind just to be able to take our kiddos to enjoy the sport.

Sounds like bad news for the fisherman... we look forward to everyone gettin off the water and chasing those birds.

First off, let me say I do not see this happening ever in LA. But some states such as KS, have (I assume state funded) departments specifically set up to lease private land from land owners all over the state (over 1 million acres). They then take these areas and make them "walk in hunting areas" open to the public (Not counting the additional WMA's, refuges, rivers, lakes, or whatever else that's public). Each year they put out an atlas listing all the areas. As far as I know, the land owners aren't forced to lease anything, so if you were already on a lease you wouldn't have to worry about the state coming behind you the next year and buying you out if the owner didn't want this. Now could the state offer the owner more money and he lease to them rather than an individual? Probably. But the state probably doesn't have the same mindset as the guy / company here in LA that has a full retard check book that will look for the best areas and out bid whoever he wants. Now would all of this cut down on the rude / a-hole public land guys? No, but it would sure spread them out. Would it make the price of leases come down? Sure, the gar hole leases that people are giving ridiculous amounts of money to kill 60 birds a year just so they don't have to deal with the boat launch at the refuges would eventually go down, but a good blind is a good blind and hard to come by. So people would still get in line to pay top dollar for a good spot. But maybe eventually this would at least separate (by prices) a good blind from a mud hole with decoys.

Family land is the only way lol

Lucky as hell to have some decent family land. When it's slow I hunt the refuges to scratch the itch. I won't ever lease I don't figure.

Hunting
 

Here is the norm, most leases increase by a percentage per year. The days of a hand shake on a set price are gone. Taking care of the property means nothing. It comes down to the $. A lot of companies pay top dollar for the right place, that leaves most trying to hunt "gar holes" as said previously. But the worst, has to be worrying about whom to take hunting, being out bided by a "friend of a friend" that was taken as a guest on a property. I personally feel that the average guy will not be hunting in the near future without having the right connections/ friends. As for more public property, that means someone has to loose there land/ lease. Can't give to one without taking away from another.

First, I will say that the recent popularity of duck hunting has definitely changed the price and availability of leases and available hunting opportunities whether it be from pressure or price. The market determines the amount of cable TV duck hunting related programs and equipment sales. Heck, everyone in the country wants to be like us!

This also creates the problem for public hunting, the more popular and fun the sport, the more people looking to hunt. The recent invention of means of duck hunting transportation and new hunting equipment and techniques can also affect the public land hunting. More access, more hunters. (More yahoos sky busting)

Big Money will always rule the prime hunting areas in every hunting situation, it always has, always will. If you have a good duck spot for cheap, you better own it or keep quiet because someone is willing to pay more than you, nothing you can do about that... (Don't show off your spot to a rich guy)

Farming practices are the number one most important factor that affects hunting across the nation besides water. It's no different here. I have watched things change in SW Louisiana over the past few decades with the increase of Crawfish as the primary crop, only second to rice on my family farm, and the surrounding areas across my historical duck hunting grounds. It has had a negative affect on the numbers of puddle ducks that winter in our fields and has modified the activities of the wintering goose populations. How farmers manage moist soils during the year and the techniques that are used affects the food source and desirability of the land to hold ducks during the season. Every hunter knows that good farming is not good for duck hunting and trashy farms are great duck spots. Just because thousands of acres of deeply flooded crawfish ponds with traps and boats exist doesn't mean that it will be attractive ducks. It's been the opposite in my opinion. Give me a good plowed field holding just a little water in the flyway, with just a few blinds in the area, and I'll show you a good hunting spot. The problem with that is, they don't exist anymore.

We are also planting more food every year across the country, common sense would think that this would change the migration timing and patterns of birds in their historical range. We have never planted more corn than we do now in our history, think about it. Some species of ducks come early and head straight to the marshes like Gadwalls but others can maintain extreme weather and frozen conditions as long as they have the availability of food and water. Everyone here is constantly waiting for cold weather to bring the ducks down but just watch an episode of Avian X TV when they are breaking ice 2" thick and still shooting mallards in standing corn in December and you will see what I'm talking about. Of course, I'm simplifying...

I don't think that there is a simple fix to this combination of duck factors. We will just have to get smart, make more money, roll with it or start trout fishing in the fall!

Duckaholic....(Soon to be Troutaholic) ;)
Guess I'll have to start training my retriever to drive the boat and net fish!!

It will never change, only get more expensive!! Oil companies, own most of it, and they the highest bidder on what's left!! And i can understand that money is money to them,.. sucks for the small guy/family. But it's not going to get any better

30 and 3 or bust

This seems like the easiest fix to correct the market prices and improve bird numbers. But I doubt they would be willing to sacrafice the $$ coming from the licenses.

The state, or feds, could protect/enforce the laws in place and all the public land would be great again!! Understand they get funding cut every year and doing there best, but opening day is like the wild west . Should not be like that!!

Bounce the hen more

:cool:

#letmeknowwhatyouthinkboys

https://youtu.be/A4JSeKvJFiA

or my personal favorite...
https://youtu.be/LKzxar_K060

The debut of Duck Dynasty on Cable Television definitely did a number on duck hunting in Louisiana, but I think that is hunting in general. How many people were trying to manage for trophy white-tailed deer before Jeff Foxworthy and the like started appearing on TV hunting massive bucks?

The game has definitely changed and it is a money sport again. It's more and more about the rich man. I only hunt private land when invited, and it is typically someone's family land. Most of my hunting is done on public land. A lot of extra work, but I find the hard to reach places, the little used places, or the limited access areas. I love the LAAs on WMAs, and the non-motorized areas on NWRs. I have no problem with putting in the extra work to get to those ducks, and most of the Duck Dynasty guys aren't going to do that.

There is a small (1000 acres) portion of a WMA about 15 minutes from my house. Has some great sloughs that tend to hold decent amounts of wood ducks. I have no problem going over there and shooting 3 wood ducks. Easy trip, not many people hunt there, and it isn't a killer to make a 15 minute drive to kill 3 ducks in, maybe, 30 minutes.

It's made the game harder, but to me, it's that much more rewarding to kill some birds, because there are a lot of people that aren't putting in that effort to do it.

Maybe one day it will go back to the days where the common man can afford it and its not the "Cool thing to do". And I think that's all it is: it's the cool thing to do right now. That will fade away, and it will go back to the way it was before.