WRP Land

[pntailhntr]

You know, Wildfowler made a GREAT point about Panther Swamp, that it sucks because there is not enough food anymore because all the land is in WRP or CRP. There really needs to be something done about that. All we have are farmers who are tired of farming and want to get something out of their land so they put it in one of these programs, then do absolutley NOTHING with it. There is a piece of land in WRP at the Northwest border of Muscadine that is managed WONDERFULLY, and CORRECTLY!! and that spot holds more birds than Muscadine does. If we could get the Government or WRP/CRP people, whoever they may be, to crack down on the landowners and make them do the proper work and planting to the land, the ducks would come back to these prime sites, such as Panther Swamp, Lake George WMA, Twin Oaks, etc. Those are 3 WMA's that use to be PRIME, but now is not even worth a good wood duck shoot!!

All of us on here need to write a letter to our congressman complaining about such and see if we can do something about this. All the money the Government is GIVING to the farmers for FREE needs to be spent on planting Millet, or rice, or beans, or barngrasses, or something!

LETS GET OFF OUR ARSSES AND GET SOMETHING DONE ABOUT IT!!!!!

lets hear some opinions and thoughts!!

[eagle700]

If we could get the Government or WRP/CRP people, whoever they may be, to crack down on the landowners and make them do the proper work and planting to the land, the ducks would come back to these prime sites, such as Panther Swamp, Lake George WMA, Twin Oaks, etc. Those are 3 WMA's that use to be PRIME, but now is not even worth a good wood duck shoot!!

I recently heard something very disappointing about the Lake George (LG) WMA. I am asking if a federal or state official on this forum would please comment. I was told by USDA employee that the LG area was purchased by the Corps of Engineers NOT as a wetland/bottomland retribution area, but as a "hardwoods" retribution. That being the case, they have NO desire to see any water ever holding on the area, and because of that do not give any money to the state to provide any water control, etc. and that the Corp could care less whether there is any waterfowl management on the LG property or not. My observations of this property over the past five years bear this out. Could someone please confirm? If this is correct, what a waste of what use to be an incredibly great waterfowl area

[sunnylab]

first: you cannot plant wrp land. you would have to pay a penalty if you even let a disk touch the ground on wrp property. you have to designate the area you are going to plant for food plots BEFORE you enroll a property in wrp.

second: most crp and wrp land has more natural food on the ground than you could plant. that is why you are not seeing ducks in the WMA's. they are on the wrp and crp land eating natural food by the tons.

If anything, i think these two programs have helped out the duck habitat in the state. Maybe you should contact all the cotton farmers in the area and tell them to plant rice/soybeans/corn. Put simply, i don't think the two government programs are the problem with ducks in the state. I'm not sure we really have a problem. I see lots of ducks everywhere. I'm not saying its like 1960 when you could go out and kill 200 in a weekend with two shooters. but nothing is what it used to be, right???

[sunnylab]

There is a piece of land in WRP at the Northwest border of Muscadine that is managed WONDERFULLY, and CORRECTLY!! and that spot holds more birds than Muscadine does.

you are exactly right. if the land doesn't have water on it...it doesn't matter if its farmland or wrp or crp or what....but water usually cost money.

[jtdumallard]

their is roughly 5000 acres on the south side of panther swamp that is private that is planted every year in beans and wheat and not farmed. strictly for wildlife.

[pntailhntr]

You don't necessarily have to drop a disc and plant it by row, it can be done by scattering seed such as japanes millett. I used to plant millett at deer camp in Rodney, MS, all we did was throw it out with a hand spreader and we always had millett!! All I'm saying is I don't believe there are any regulations on making sure food is present, barnyard grasses can be planted VERY easily. I don't agree with just digging, leveling or whatever they do and then flooding it should qualify as wetlands restoration.

I guess I don't think it should be called Wetlands Restorations Project, It should be Wetlands HABITAT Project. Anybody can create wetlands, it takes a little more effort to create a HABITAT!!

[sportsman450]

If anything, i think these two programs have helped out the duck habitat in the state.

You might want to take a look at the Lake George WMA. When that basin was in beans and rice, it held thousands upon thousands of ducks from the beginning of the season to end and fed all the surrounding area with ducks to hunt. Now that it's in weed production, it holds virtually nothing, and what few ducks are in that basin are on the private land that's STILL STILL IN AGRICULTURE.

[pntailhntr]

EXACTLY, That's my point!!! flooding a field and planting a few trees does nothing, there is NO AMPLE food, you HAVE to plant something like Millett or Barnyard grasses or SOMETHING, WEEDS do not attract ducks or they would be in my yard!!!!!!!

[crowder critter]

Most land that is enrolled in CRP has acreage set aside for food plots and wildlife openings. The landowner also receives a $5/acre maintenance fee for practices such as firebreaks that is added to the annual CRP rental payment. Most CRP tracts that I have been on, pine and hardwood, do not have any type of fire lanes. FRDP money is also available for some practices on a first come/first serve basis through the Mississippi Forestry Commission. If firebreaks were constructed and seeded it would provide food for all wildlife, whether it be a pine thicket in the hills or hardwoods in the delta. Not to mention it could save the landowners trees in case of a fire.

[pntailhntr]

To be honest with you, CRP could go away as far as I'm concerned, all that is helping is deer hunting, and it won't do much to help that for a long long time. Also, CRP is only hardwoods, I'm pretty sure CRP has nothing to do with Pine trees. My concern is for the people who have WRP land, to make sure there is food for ducks, and to GET RID of CRP. Almost ALL the land around Lake George WMA is in CRP, NOT WRP!!!!!!

[greenhead67]

Back in the late 60's and early 70's all of the land on the east side of 61 over to the Delta National Forrest was in soybeans. The Greentree reservoirs just off the Sunflower River in the Delta National Forrest were some of the finest pin oak hunting in the South. They even set up road blocks to catch people with over the limit of mallards going back to Jackson. --- The habitat changed and when the beans stopped being planted, the ducks changed their wintering areas. Now the area around Crowder almost annually floods thousands of acres of soybeans. The ducks are using this area heavily now. If birds have a choice of using CRP land and feeding on it or soybeans. The soybeans will win out every time.

[sportsman450]

Back in the late 60's and early 70's all of the land on the east side of 61 over to the Delta National Forrest was in soybeans. The Greentree reservoirs just off the Sunflower River in the Delta National Forrest were some of the finest pin oak hunting in the South. They even set up road blocks to catch people with over the limit of mallards going back to Jackson. --- The habitat changed and when the beans stopped being planted, the ducks changed their wintering areas. Now the area around Crowder almost annually floods thousands of acres of soybeans. The ducks are using this area heavily now. If birds have a choice of using CRP land and feeding on it or soybeans. The soybeans will win out every time.

My first duck hunt was in that greentree in the late 60s, and it was as good as green timber gets. But, as you said, that was before the beans and rice in the area were replaced with weeds.

[mottlet]

Part of the problem with the area around Delta National is that there just aren't that many folks holding water. Most disc as soon as the crops are out and just leave it. Driving up and down hwy. 61 is like being on a bridge over an endless brown ocean of dirt. You get some flooding after heavy rains, but it's usually gone in a few days. But there is no doubt that when all that acreage along Dummy Line road came outta beans and went into WRP, duck hunting on the Forest took a pretty big hit.

mottlet

[crowder critter]

CRP does include pines, I have done plenty of prescribed burns in CRP pine tracts. What gets planted on a site is the species that it is best suited for. Hardwoods in the delta, and pines in the hills.

[crowder critter]

over the years, more and more rice has been planted in arkansas in areas that traditionally did not have rice decades ago and this hold ducks there instead of coming to ms