Migration Report

[coonman]

Sounds like we need to join a enviromental club so they can fix the hole in the ozonelayer. That way the global warming would stop and our winters would be back to normal.

[Chad Manlove]

Seems there continues to be a big misunderstanding when it comes to mid-latitude habitat projects. Do habitat projects in the mid-latitude states "short-stop" ducks? No, because there aren't that many projects to begin with. I'm referring to the following states when I say "mid-latitude states": Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska. DU has not completed many habitat projects in this region. Surely, not enough to hold 5 million mallards. Our habitat projects on the breeding grounds far outnumber anything completed in this region.

Have the ducks "hung-up" in this region? Yes, because of available waste grain (harvested corn fields) and plenty of water (reservoirs, lakes, and rivers, not habitat projects). Just look at any map. Look at the amount of available surface water in those states. Now, imagine those areas with no ice. There's thousands of acres of surface water available to mallards. Couple that with tons of waste grain available in corn fields that have not been plowed under due to no-till practices. These conditions will hold mallards until weather (either snow or ice) forces them out.

DU has not short-stopped the mid-continent population of mallards. DU has not put enough habitat on the ground in the mid-latitude states to effect their migration. The last couple of years, weather and changes in agricultural practices have effected the southward migration of mallards.

DU's primary focus remains on the breeding grounds. We spend the majority of all dollars raised on the breeding grounds of Canada and the northern great plains in the US. Anywhere from 60-70% of fundraising dollars go to protection of grasslands and wetlands on the breeding grounds for the sole purpose of duck production.

[JimWalker]

Ducks not having to move as far to stay fed is bigger than any DU effort or Refuge project. No till has huge impact on availble food, it caused the snow geese explosion, and when there is water in the fields up north and the in the central states it also feeds the ducks.

[Chuckle12]

Don't know if it is true or not, but I heard Fighting Bayou was holding over 100,000 ducks right now. That seems like an awful lot of ducks. That may have been a bit untruthful.

True as it gets. A huntin' bud of mine works for a guy that hunts up there. He went up there yesterday mornin' and 4 guys shot there limit in about an hour and a half . I called BS on it and he went to his truck and came back with a tape of most of the hunt. Man, there were ducks everywhere. He got some footage of them riding around and greenheads were gettin' up by the thousands. They pay to be "guided" up there. That's not really huntin' to me, more like a shoot.