Hovey Lake FWA Meeting 3/29

[duckmann]

Have a hard time understanding why folks that feel a place is so screwed up yet they keep going back to it .

Steve, the problem is what was once a place that provided decent opportunity was allowed to slide into a very poorly managed piece of ground largely while the state allowed one lazy individual to mishandled it while still sucking up DNR funding. Nobody believes it will ever be a goose property again but it has great potential for ducks. I know you're not a public land hunter but many are. If your money, and it is, is being misused you should be concerned about it as the locals apparently are. I would argue that the DNR was negligent for many years by allowing a manager that was lazy as an assistant at JP to run the property to its' current state inspite of e repeated complaints from those using the property.

 

[oldman1949]

No I'm not a public area hunter . Gave up on that long ago . Main reason was state started manageing the way the "average" hunter wanted it managed .I can give you some examples if you want , but they will be from many years ago .
Point being if you go to a place to eat lunch and the food is bad , service is bad , and the prices are too high , how many times will you go to that place to eat ?

 

[smashdn]

Point being if you go to a place to eat lunch and the food is bad , service is bad , and the prices are too high , how many times will you go to that place to eat ?

This restaurant gets your money whether you eat there or not.

 

[oldman1949]

Yes it does . But if you keep eating there you are telling them that you are OK with what you are being given .
Old saying - screw me once ,shame on you - screw me twice shame on me .

 

[smashdn]

I have a feeling that they really would not care if nobody showed up to draw to hunt.

 

[Ganderman]

The best part about all these threads and topics is that it all keeps getting back to the same theme: poorly managed Fish and Wildlife areas. If you don't see the irony in these same conversations, and the trends towards the downfall of many FWA's in this state, you need to open your eyes a little more. Waterfowl hunting as a means to managing these FWA's is NOT a priority anymore. Waterfowl hunters are actually in the minority now. And if you think the state cares about trying to make things better, you are sadly mistaken. Sure, many will say "stop criticizing the state and stop picking on us all the time: we are all out of money/time/workers/solutions/efforts/etc. (did I hit all the usual calls to Indy excuses), yet nothing has changed and NOBODY on the state level ever comes up with solutions. This isn't a matter of "well I don't hunt state properties, I don't care about you or your opinion" issue: yes, you should care. As many people have said you pay money, your money is going to this: you should give a darn that the state doesn't manage your funds better.

So many people don't see these issues for what they are and recognize that the state continues to take hunter opportunity away from hard working folks. That entire JP issue and closing it down at noon was nothing more than another opportunity to take hunting away in order open it up to benefit the bird watching crane crowds. Nobody even hunts JP anymore to put enough pressure on ducks to make difference: let people go out and hunt afternoons! And closing a corn unit on a SUNDAY at the Kank - you mean to tell me that's a management practice to make the property better right? That's what you are selling me? Are you kidding? So let me get this straight: by closing a popular hunting unit on a weekend (where the most folks can maximize use of the property while not at work, kids at games/practices/etc.), you are going to close it by using the justification that it will make the property better? That's a sorry excuse when you know that the EXACT same management principle can be applied and utilized during the week when less people are actually out hunting said FWA in the first place. Anybody here that can make that argument that a sunday closing (instead of another weekday) is making the property better needs to have their head examined.

I'm so sick and tired of reading people on here saying everything the DNR does is to benefit you, when all they are doing is turning away hunter interest. After all, the ultimate objective here is to encourage hunting and not send folks home, right? Management practices shouldn't just be to benefit larger harvest numbers. The sport of waterfowling is losing hunters year after year, and all our state does is come up with ways to continue to turn people away. I can honestly make this statement and stand behind it: I have never seen our FWA's so poorly managed in this state as they are now. Until Reiter retires, nothing will change on these FWA's: NOTHING. Maybe he can take some of the management practices he's seen in action at a prominent Indy-based banks duck club and apply those corn management practices to his property managers on an FWA level??

 

[Big Ches]

I have a feeling that they really would not care if nobody showed up to draw to hunt.

Now why do you say that? Are you talking specifically about Hovey? There's new management there and a lot has changed. I don't hear anyone bitching about Goose Pond either...why....because that place is set up for the duck hunter and is an excellent place to hunt. You guys just like to bitch to bitch. I mean listen to you...you're bitching about where an office is going to be located because it's further to drive to the ramp...so sorry to inconvenience your sorry asses. How about get off your asses and go scout and find private or open public ground to hunt if you are so disappointed in how FWA's are run. Sissys....are probably part of the millennial population

 

[smashdn]

Now why do you say that?

Because managing a draw at 0 dark thirty is a pain in the arse. Seems pretty common sense.

I also said it in reply to the thought "that if you don't like how the place is managed you can affect change by just not showing up to hunt." [paraphrasing]

My point was that not showing up for the draw is likely not going to be the impetus for change it was thought to be.

I'm not beeotching about where the office is or will be, just pointed out some advantages to putting it back where it was originally and disadvantages to where it is located now.

 

[randy merta]

Okay since you guys all responded to this thread six years ago or so what has changed at Hoveys in this time? What improvements have been made?
Waterfowl management?
Thanks

 

[phoenix921]

Does this place have a daily draw like places in southern Illinois such as union county or horseshoe? I work in Evansville and I am considering moving over to Indiana to be closer to work. Having a place to waterfowl hunt over there occasionally would be nice.