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.
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