Lease from MS Delta Ducks?

[bobdog6135]

Has anyone had any experiences (good or bad) leasing land from MS Delta Ducks? I am interested in finding an extra hunting option for the year and was interested in leasing land from them. Their website http://www.msdeltaducks.com says it is ran by Bobby Fisher and Christopher Wilson. Any information would be appreciated.

[Deltaquack]

I grew up with William Wixon (works with them and does the website). He's as honest as you'll find.

[The Land Man]

They lease a lot of fish ponds.

[Take 'em]

I looked at a number of their leases this year. Didn't pull the trigger on any. Seemed to be highly over priced. And yes alot were out of production fish ponds. Not downing them by any means. Chris was the one that showed us the land and was a nice guy. But if they are sub-leasing land, you know it jacks up the price bc the land owner along with them are gonna try and make their money. Plus they haven't been doing this but a couple years to my understanding and over half their leases were acquired this year so they couldn't provide any previous history

[huntersmky]

I asked about them at some point last year and got several PM's saying they were good guys and great to deal with.

[southernmallard]

Cris who is the main broker is a great guy. Was looking into buying a couple of parcels of land and they went above and beyond to find what we were looking for. Bobby is a nice guy as well.

[QuacknStrut]

Nice enough guys. Lease was not worth it. Too many fish ponds. If ya like spoonie hunts, this is the place for you. Blinds were not blinds but stobs in the mud with little brush. More appropriate for dove hunts. I heard they had good dove hunts. Very unimpressed. I'll go back to single field lease next year. PM me if ya want more info.

[The Land Man]

So how does it work and how many member's are there? Also what does it cost to join?

[QuacknStrut]

$3000 a year. Close to 50 groups hunting 60 holes is what we were told by a guide. We were told something else by the bosses. Go look at it right now while it is still duck season. Everybody has birds in Feb.

[The Land Man]

$3000 a year. Close to 50 groups hunting 60 holes is what we were told by a guide. We were told something else by the bosses. Go look at it right now while it is still duck season. Everybody has birds in Feb.

So is it 3000 a group or 3000 a person? Also are all hunts guided?

[QuacknStrut]

Group price (which is cheap for a season lease I know).

Guided is a lose term. It sounded like that and they call them guides, they are supposed to be really just scouts (or as we call them in Canada-spotters). They don't show up and tell you where and what the birds were, they just assign a field/pond and if you have been there before, have at it. If not they will show you where in the am if they are hunting nearby (yes the "guides" hunt the same holes) or the evening before sometimes.

The concept is cool - everyone pools their lease money together and rotates amongst each other's leases. Just did not work out that well, they were shot too frequently and the assignment of holes did not seem equitable. If one person shot ducks all year, there is a reason they did - simply put, they got the pick of the spots each and every day. We had one semi-decent shoot (18 birds) in 15 hunts. One. Uno.

We spent the same for a small field last year and killed Pin, Mall and Shovelers and teal all season (and a few Specks and Snows for bonuses!). We just had to be careful and not overshoot it. We will do that again next year. I'd rather have quality than quantity any day (both in the enjoyment of the hunt and working birds-I am not an elitist, I will kill ducks and eat them-I just enjoy a decoying shoot with fewer birds).

[The Land Man]

Wow they are making a killing off of doing nothing! So it's basically 200 people hunting how many acres?

[QuacknStrut]

You got it. I would guess the average hole at 40 acres, some more, some like less than 10 acres. I would guess an average of actual flooded land at less than 15-20 acres per, whatever that works out to. When we brought our concerns up, we were told we expected a $10,000 lease. LOL. Ummm, No, we expected a bunch of $3000 leases like we have hunted over the years-just rotating among them. We got a bunch of catfish ponds and a few former catfish ponds with millet or waste. Very disappointed. I am sure I will be again, but not by them.

[The Land Man]

Can any or all of the groups hunt any day they want to?

[QuacknStrut]

Yes, just have to call them and let them know you want to hunt. You will then be assigned holes for the days your group is there.