Ducks in ten years? Your SOLUTIONS?

Build habitat

Hunt where the birds are

Wear sunscreen

Care less

 

I’m a little confused by what you mean here, but any way I interpret it doesn’t make much sense from an ecological or economic sense.
Most of the big time guides I know of own a lot of property as well as lease. And if leasing were to be outlawed then they would just start buying up property instead of leasing it. Results in no change for the average public hunter.
Let’s say they can’t afford to lease or for some reason paid for guided hunts were to also be made illegal on land held in the hands of the guide (which is asinine). Now we have a whole other host of issues.
Some farmers will be less willing to give access to their fields. Most farmers will convert fully to much more efficient farming practices that are more detrimental to waterfowl. Farmers will be more likely to convert marginal farmland that would be better off left as leased WRP or CRP in order to increase acreage efficiency. Guides will be forced to use already highly taxed public lands and we will be forced to play with the big boys (ie the guys who have invested $60k+ and 2k+ hours a year from opening teal to the last of day goose season for the past 20 years and make a living doing it).
This will decrease suitable waterfowl habitat in the region and increase the hunting pressure on public lands, thus increasing concentrations of birds on places they can’t be hunted, like refuges and city parks.
And before you say there was public access to great hunting on private land in the 70’s before everything was leased up, that’s because farming practices were very different. The yield from that 40 acre slough in the corner of a section of beans probably wasn’t worth the cost of draining it and making it suitable farming habitat. And what was farmed was still much better habitat due to less efficient farming practices. The farmer didn’t need to be financially incentivized by hunters to keep good hunting habitat. He does now.

 

Don't worry I only hunted twice this year. I switched over to fishing. The waterfowl population should recover in a year or two.

 

If you guys down south are waiting for mallards to push out of IL, you got another thing coming with the cooling lakes. I've never seen so many mallards up here the last couple of weeks after the season closed. I wish there was a way for the DNR to accurately count exactly what they were holding, but it's a little hard when they are in the steam bath. It's really a sight to see out here when they feeding in all the fields like swarms of mosquito's. If I were a mallard, have plenty of water, and for the most part food available not yet covered by deep snow, why ever migrate further than that? Until they can figure out a way to force birds to migrate, all these talking points are irrelevant. And I love the guys that talk season length, as if that makes a difference. Think about it: go through your list of buddies and tell me how many of them actually hunt 60 days a year, enough to where they are even making a difference? Make a list of those buddies again: other than a week vacation here and there, the majority of them are hunting weekends only I'd bet you. Factor in laborer's who might get laid off in winter (which probably doesn't happen anymore with these mild midwest winters and the ground not freezing) and retired folks, that's about the only guys I know hunting all 60 days, if they are lucky.

When this season length discussion comes up, it always cracks me up: the guys making the arguments actually think all the hunters are out there for all 60 days of it stacking limits daily. Give me a break. The entire crux of this conversation is the fact that there aren't any migrating ducks to shoot at in the first place, so who cares how long the season goes before mating pair season starts!!

 

Hehehe they have to see to believe.
I don't even have to go to the bathtub you speak of. I dont even want to look I know where I usually hunt is so damned stacked with greenheads right now its sickening.

 

I believe he means communism. No private property.

 

Reducing limited isn't going to help what we are talking about. Waterfowl population in Pacific flyways are great is the migration happening so late in season or in some started after. This is a climate issue! Birds push it of alaska and Canada once snow buries the feed and open water disappears. The cold weather and big storms are getting later and later in alaska and Canada so birds are putting on suntan lotion and soaking up the sun

 

What about changing tactics? Start season with no calls or spinners allowed, maybe a limit for maximum number of decoys.
Every few weeks allow more decoys, soft calling only, save the spinners and hail calls until later in the season.
Here many public areas hunt every morning (have to quit a 1). Maybe switch it up and hunt 12-close once or twice a week.

Weather is hard to predict, some years most places (except cooling lakes) freeze up with 2-3 weeks of season left. Other years large numbers of birds show up 2-3 weeks after season ends.

 

A lot to be said here. If you want to be depressed, look at the Mattamuskeet NWR website - and look at annual harvest numbers going back to the 2011 season. The first years they published this the blinds there harvested 1,100 birds. In 2017 it was around 250, and dwindled every year between. It's sad...very sad. No food, development, poor water quality - no ducks. Mattamuskeet is one of many; Seminole, Back Bay, etc. that lost SAV and loss birds. No one simple solution - but forget snakes and bears, humans are the most dangerous animal of them all.

 

Here in washington we had two horrible years 70ish mallys maybe 25 hunts. This year they dec we have 250 mallys but January has shutdown completely. Birds in area for last month are real skittish and not going to California due to weather. Nothing new from Canada this month. Lack of snow covering food source to push them. Ugh