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excellent...

Chad, why weren't you in SoDak this year? Cuz you heard I was gonna be there?

Bwaahaahhahahaahahahahaha

mottlet wrote:excellent...

Chad, why weren't you in SoDak this year? Cuz you heard I was gonna be there?

Why do your hunting buddies call you "3-shot Mott"?

this argument is SOOOOO last millenium.

like, o' my gosh, for real.....gator

and, furthermore, what's this about DU supporting the brits by showcasing a british lab.......................................is there any truth to this?????????

gator

Yep

DAMNATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FLIM-FLAMMED, EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

gator

You know, this forum is a great place to be but it has gotten to where you can't have a serious talk about something without someone getting pissed off, personal, or some jackazz making stupid childish posts!!!!

If you believe in something, then argue your point without calling people ignorant, you may just persuade them. But the moment you start throwing names and pointing fingers at individuals on here, YOU lose what ever credibility you ever had. Chad makes good points and you never read his post as losing his cool. Duramax, you need to take notes.

I know this topic comes up every year, but there seems to be a pattern, that for the last 7 or 8 years that this is coming up, the duck numbers have declined and weather and tilling alone do not convince me!!!

Ya'll are also saying that there is more preassure than ever before, then why are duck hunter numbers declining at a rapid pace??

damnyankee wrote:In all seriousness no till really doesn't have any effect unless crop is left on the ground, combines are so much better today we leave very little behind compared to 10 or even 5 years ago.
No till does not equal no harvest, turned ground exposes crop left behind much better than no till.

Ding Ding Ding, we have a winner!!! If you're looking for someone to blame for no-till, then blame the USDA. They’re the ones who strongly encourage these farming practices and in some instances pay farmers to try it. No-till practices are not implemented for the benefit of wildlife; in some cases this practice is detrimental to waterfowl. Especially for rice, if you’re a duck do you want to land in nice clean field, or on a rice stubble pin cushion created by no-till practices? The purpose of no-till is to reduce soil and nutrient runoff into surface water. It's not, and I repeat, NOT for the benefit of waterfowl.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Joins with Ducks Unlimited to Prevent Baiting of Migratory Gamebirds and Promote Hunter Compliance

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Contacts:
Corky Roberts, Special Agent, (509) 375-6202
Amy Gaskill, APR, USFWS External Affairs, (503) 231-6874
Tom Dwyer, Ducks Unlimited, (360) 885-2011


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the September 1 opening of the Washington State mourning dove and geese (except Brant) hunting season approaches, hunters are being reminded to review the state and federal dove and waterfowl baiting regulations.

Doves, waterfowl and other migratory game birds are a national resource protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). Hunting doves and waterfowl is a popular sport in many parts of the country. Federal and state regulations help to ensure that these birds continue to thrive while providing hunting opportunities.

"The importance of hunter education cannot be stressed enough," said Ren Lohoefener, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service?s Pacific Region. "Hunter education is more than just understanding safety. It is learning how to hunt responsibly to ensure that there are doves, waterfowl and other migratory game birds to hunt in future seasons."

Many hunting opportunities take place in agricultural communities throughout the Pacific Northwest. Therefore it is ever more important for hunters to understand the MBTA baiting prohibitions. The MBTA specifically prohibits placing bait such as grain in fields to attract birds or taking migratory birds on or over a baited area. The primary purpose of these baiting regulations is to aid in waterfowl conservation as well as provide an equal opportunity to all hunters by supporting a fair chase. These regulations apply to doves, ducks, geese, swans, coots and cranes.

Federal baiting regulations define key terms for hunters and land managers and clarify conditions under which migratory game birds may be legally hunted. Migratory game bird hunters and land managers are responsible for knowing and obeying all state and federal laws that govern the sport and for understanding that state regulations can be more restrictive than federal regulations. For example, the term "baited area" is applied differently to dove hunting than it is to waterfowl hunting. Dove hunting is permitted in certain agricultural areas where waterfowl hunting would be considered illegal.

"As migratory bird hunting seasons approach it is important for all hunters to review and understand the regulations," said Tom Dwyer Director of Conservation Programs for Ducks Unlimited. "I know all Ducks Unlimited members try to hunt responsibly and the Fish and Wildlife Service has made review of the regulations easy by providing informational website links."

The following website lists hunter and landowner responsibilities: (http://www.fws.gov/hunting/whatres.html). Please also visit the following sites to learn more about Federal baiting regulations (http://www.fws.gov/le/HuntFish/waterfowl_baiting.htm); State baiting regulations (http://wdfw.wa.gov/huntcorn.htm) and Federal dove baiting regulations http://www.fws.gov/le/HuntFish/dovebaiting.htm. If you do not have access to the Internet, please pick up a copy of the Washington State waterfowl regulations and a copy of the 2007-2008 Migratory Game Bird Pamphlet when you purchase your hunting license.

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 (P.L. 105-312), Migratory Bird Treaty Reform Act of 1998 amended the law to make it unlawful to take migratory game birds by the aid of bait if the person knows or reasonably should know that the area is baited. These amendments also make it unlawful to place or direct the placement of bait on or adjacent to an area for the purpose of taking or attempting to take migratory game birds, and makes these misdemeanor baiting violations punishable under title 18 United States Code, (with fines up to $100,000 for individuals and $200,000 for organizations), imprisonment for not more than 1 year, or both. Under Title 16 United States Code, it is unlawful to hunt on or over baited areas with maximum misdemeanor penalties up to $15,000 and/or imprisonment for up to 6 months. Felony violations punishable under title 18 United States Code (with fines up to $250,000 per individual, $500,000 per organization and up to 2 years imprisonment).

"Baiting of migratory game birds is a violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act," said Paul Chang, Special Agent in Charge of the Service's Pacific Region Office of Law Enforcement. "We do investigate and enforce this federal statute. However, outreach and education are vital to helping land managers and hunters understand the regulations."

Last year, an Eastern Washington landowner and nine hunters paid fines in excess of $14,000 for baiting violations under the MBTA.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 97-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 548 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign and Native American tribal governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies. http://www.fws.gov/

With more than a million supporters, Ducks Unlimited is the world's largest and most effective wetland and waterfowl conservation organization with more than 12 million acres conserved. The United States alone has lost more than half of its original wetlands - nature?s most productive ecosystem - and continues to lose more than 80,000 wetland acres each year. http://www.ducks.org/

Biologists insist DU doesn’t hang ducks up
May 6, 2004 4:17 PM, By David Bennett



Ducks Unlimited biologists are well-aware of the suspicions. The oft-repeated theory one hears from groups of frustrated, camo-clad, lanyard-draped Southern hunters goes something like this: another day without ducks is another day Ducks Unlimited has “hung up” ducks further north.


How is this “hanging up” supposedly accomplished? Everything from new Ducks Unlimited-sponsored refuges in Indiana and Kentucky to massive piles of feed corn being dumped (to insure more ducks survive the lengthened hunting season) to hold ducks is cited.


Recently, in a wide-ranging meeting with Delta Farm Press, Ducks Unlimited biologists answered these charges and explained myriad conservation programs.


First, insists Alan Wentz, the “hanging up” charge “is categorically untrue. We aren’t in the business of feeding ducks. We’re pioneers in managing natural landscapes.”


Wentz, Ducks Unlimited group manager for conservation, says there are those up north who plant corn and hunt ducks over it. However, the amount that happens is “pretty minor. I’ve heard stories about how Ducks Unlimited has huge amounts of acreage in Iowa that we’ve bought and planted corn on. We supposedly knock it down periodically to allow ducks to feed. That’s insane! It would take years and huge amounts of our budget to even buy the kind of land base these folks are talking about.


“Why would we want to hold ducks anywhere? Most of our members are hunters. We’re trying to raise ducks so they’re available for people to use — whether it’s for a hunter or for a bird-watcher.”


Wentz doesn’t have an exact answer for why some years birds don’t get further south in greater numbers. However, he and other biologists say the chief cause is weather-related.


“We’ve seen some strange weather patterns over the last few years. Think about it: three or four years ago we had one of the best seasons ever in the South. Then, ducks didn’t come down in the numbers folks wanted the last couple of years. I understand — people make great investments in duck hunting, and it’s frustrating when the ducks don’t arrive. I’ve had leases like that, too — you just go out and stand around waiting. But none of that has anything to do with what Ducks Unlimited is doing.”


David Blakemore, a Ducks Unlimited board member and Missouri Bootheel cotton farmer and ginner, waves his hand at the half-dozen biologists in the meeting room. “Everyone in this room is a hunter, everyone here shoots ducks and enjoys doing it,” he says. “And we hunt here, in the Delta. There isn’t a soul here that would keep ducks up there to keep from shooting them here. We are hunters and we want to hunt! What’s kind of funny is folks up north know Ducks Unlimited isn’t holding ducks up there while hunters from down South claim we are. You can’t convince some folks otherwise.”


The last “really good” duck season was about four years ago, says Scott Yaich, Ducks Unlimited director of conservation programs. “Last year, even though the duck population bounced back up, we were still about 25 percent below the peak population of 1999-2000.”


Yaich acknowledges some people are “tired of hearing us talk about the weather — but weather isn’t driving ducks down. That’s the problem. Last year, snows didn’t arrive in northern Indiana big-time until late January. We just aren’t having bitter winters — there are plenty of nesting areas with some of the warmest winter temperatures on record.”


When a duck isn’t forced out by snow, say the biologists, they’ll just happily waddle around northern fields eating spilled grain. If cold doesn’t force them out, there’s enough food there to hold the birds for a long time.


“Ducks walking around a dry field sounds strange to Delta folks,” says Blakemore. “They don’t flood fields up there — but they don’t have to. As long as there’s just a little bit of wading water around, the ducks will just walk around feeding in a dry field. They’re perfectly happy doing that.”


Ducks are hardy birds and able to handle very bad weather. Only when conditions get




really


bad do they bother beginning a trip south.


“I worked in South Dakota for eight years,” says Wentz. “In late fall, where there was open water, there’d be hundreds of thousands of mallards and Canada geese. Why? Because there was plenty of waste grain available — they grow a lot of corn there. It has to get really cold and iced over to get the bigger birds out of that country. As long as there’s open water, they’ll hang around.”


Another thing that’s emerging as a chief cause for the dearth of birds is hunting pressure.


“There are a lot of hunters in this part of the world,” says Yaich. “Hunter numbers have shot up incredibly. With so much pressure, ducks have become more nocturnal. It’s the same thing as with deer — the animals get wary of hunters.”

ya'll were being serious?

gator