Question about DU

[esteslanehunting]

I have been hearing from every guy that DU is screwing everyones season up down here in the south. I finally had a good hunt this morning. But I don't see why DU is buying all this land and is keeping the ducks up north. It seems as if the last 2 or 3 years the duck season has gotten bad. Now this is what I think.
I would like to see DU stop purchasing land south of the breeding grounds and for them to start purchasing the lands where the ducks breed. Pump it full of water if there is a lack of it that year and the numbers of ducks should increase. No more complaints.
Does this make sense or am I unaware of things they are doing??

[torch]

I would like to see if DU has had an increase in its membership since 99 or a decline. I am mad at um and will stay that way. My personal opinion is DU is antihunter. Give all my $$$ to Delta.

[esteslanehunting]

i agree w/ you. Can't stand 'em. :evil:

[jkm1272]

Great idea about buying breeding grounds. Seems like they are just buying feeding grounds up north. I am still in DU, but I do not agree with many of the things that they do.

I don't believe they are feeding ducks, by dumping food. But I do think they are making to many refuges for them in the northern states, and that has hurt the hunting in the southern states.

If someone leaves corn standing and floods it to ear level. Even when it freezes ducks will be able to get to the corn. A duck will stand on ice to feed. Again to many places up north, hurts the southern duck hunter.

[Chad Manlove]

Esteslanehunting,

Thanks for the questions....you raised a couple points that need clarification.

First, DU does not buy land in the United States. A lot of folks think we purchase land all over the place. This is absolutely not true. We own about 5-10 tracts of property in the US and they are located in the prairie pothole region (specifically North and South Dakota). We own those tracts for the sole purpose of duck production. Every acre on those tracts is availbale for public hunting. DU owns a lot of land in Canada. Maybe that's how everyone gets confused. Since 1937, DU has been buying grassland and wetland complexes in Canada to benefit the ducks. Again, these properties exist on the breeding grounds and most are availbale for public duck hunting in Canada.

Second, we can't "drought-proof" the breeding grounds. In our Continental Conservation Plan, we acknowledge that fact. Drought conditions are a natural part of that ecosystem. But we can help protect and restore wetland basins on the breeding grounds. When water returns to the prairies, the ducks will benefit from these areas. We actually need those wetlands to dry out so that emergent vegetation will return.

I can assure you that DU is not trying to screw up our duck hunting in the south. I'm an avid duck hunter myself. I go every chance I get. As a matter of fact, I went this morning and only killed 1 duck (gadwall). I've had a pretty good season up to this point and I hunt exclusively on public land. Hunting in the south is dependent on 2 things: weather and habitat conditions. The weather is just now starting to get right up north. We'll see new ducks with a big arctic front. Habitat - we are very dry in the MS delta. Dry conditions won't attract large concentrations of ducks. Some folks will have good numbers, but eventually hunting pressure will push these birds out of the area. I would like to see some natural flooding occur. Once a couple rivers get out of their banks, we'll see plenty of ducks.

I hope this helps with your questions.

Chad

[gadwall2]

Chad, I am gonna give you an A+ on restraint.

[millineum mallard]

I was a member of DU for over 17 years...won my first gun on a greenwing raffle....on a committee for over 8 years...and chairman of a local chapter for 3 of 'em....DU is helping ducks, no doubt, but is hurting the everyday joblo like you and me, by paying for pipes, doing all the work, and flooding thousands of acres of PRIVATE property all the way down the Mississippi river, which directly effects our public and private hunting opportunities. Now, unless you are a landowner that can be blessed to have one of these honey holes constructed at DU members expense on your property at no expense to you, then you're screwed. I have been told that they do the work with DU's materials and the only obligation the landowner has to DU is to plant the area to be flooded with their direction, then keep it flooded from the time they tell you to, until they tell you to let the water out. The water has got to be maintained for that duration and you can hunt it, guide on it, whatever you want, just keep it flooded. It does hurt us and I have seen the results over the last three years, without a doubt.....anytime you can go hunting and hardly see any ducks, much less shoot any in the same area that you have hunted for over 15yrs, something is wrong. It is a crying shame that ducks are being held in these areas and I agree that more effort should be concentrated on breeding grounds and leave the damn migrating birds alone to do what they have always done and that is to provide opportunity to the sportsman to harvest them for himself and his family.

[mille011]

You guys are all correct! It all reflects back on the weather in the northern states to get the ducks moving south. The largest problem is season dates. We might get 1 out of every 10 years that the weather is cold enough up north to push ducks on us in Nov. and early Dec.

Everyone says just keep waiting and as soon as the weather is right we will have ducks. If we have to "keep" waiting the season is going to be over and once again a "what could have been."

Just my opinion!!!

[Chad Manlove]

Torch,

I know the 2002 Farm Bill issue caused a lot of hard feelings. I can't change what happened.

DU is NOT anti-hunter. I can't say it any simpler. DU is for the duck hunter and the waterfowling tradition. We were founded by duck hunters in 1937 and 90% of our membership has duck hunted within the past 3 years. Every project we put on the breeding grounds benefits the ducks and duck hunters.

To show support for hunting, we FOUGHT the antis THIS YEAR. Anti-hunter groups wanted to sue the National Wildlife Refuge System for allowing hunting on these areas. DU stepped in to show support for hunting on refuges. Here's the press release.....Refuge Issue Update:

Ducks Unlimited Becomes Official "Intervenor" in Refuge Litigation
Group Continues Effort to Preserve Hunting on National Wildlife Refuges

Memphis, TN, August 15, 2003 - Ducks Unlimited (DU), a world leader in wetland and waterfowl conservation, continues to work with others to preserve recreational hunting as a compatible use of National Wildlife Refuges. This week, DU was granted official "intervenor" status in Washington, DC, joining several sportsmen-conservation organizations opposing an anti-hunters' suit to ban hunting on refuges.

At issue is a lawsuit filed by The Fund for Animals, an animal rights organization. This group seeks to eliminate hunting opportunities on 39 wildlife refuges nationwide, which may lead to reviews of all hunting on the National Wildlife Refuge System.

DU's intervention is critical to ensure that the interest of sportsmen and women are represented before the court. According to DU's Director of Governmental Affairs, Scott Sutherland, hunters play an important role in conservation efforts because regulated sport hunting serves as a critical management tool for the Refuge System. To maintain this sound approach, it is important that management decisions be left to federal officials who are trained in wildlife biology and qualified to make science-based decisions concerning fish and wildlife resources on federal lands.

"Through the money spent on license fees, tags, stamps, excise taxes on hunting and fishing equipment, and charitable contributions to habitat conservation organizations like Ducks Unlimited, America's hunters lead the nation in funding wildlife conservation efforts," says Sutherland. "Allowing hunting on wildlife refuges is not only legally sound, it's in the best interest of wildlife and the natural resources we enjoy."

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, hunters and fishermen provided $1.8 billion in 2001 through license fees and taxes alone to help fund conservation efforts nationwide. The federal duck stamp program, which hunters themselves initiated, requires that hunters annually purchase a stamp to pursue waterfowl. Since the first Federal Duck Stamp was sold in 1934, waterfowl hunters have contributed about $675 million to purchase more than 5 million acres of wetlands for the wildlife refuge system.

"Ducks Unlimited is a prime example of the tremendous commitment and passion that hunters bring to the conservation world," says Don Young, executive vice president of DU. "It's fair to say that waterfowl migrations on this continent would be vastly diminished if it weren't for the commitment of the few hunters who started DU and the millions of people - including hunters - that continue to support our habitat conservation mission."

Torch, I would not consider working a for an anti-hunter organization.

Chad

[jkm1272]

If I hear it is the weather one more time I may PUKE. During El Nino I had better years than the past two, and this one is shaping up just like the previous two. It is early, I grant you that. I still think somewhere up north we have a problem. Maybe we just don't have the ducks we did even 10 years ago. Hell I killed more ducks when all you could kill was three or four.

[Chad Manlove]

jkm,

I'm quite sure you did kill more ducks. With the advent of 60/6, hunting pressure is rediculous now. We had half the hunters during the late-80s. Only those dedicated duck hunters were willing to harvest 3 birds and they experienced some awesome hunting conditions. In my opinion, hunting pressure has reduced our success during the season.

[jkm1272]

Amen Chad.

40/4 would be fine with me. Told someone the other day, that if this year was bad maybe some of the hunters renting all of the land would stop hunting. I could drive around until I found ducks, get permission, and hunt.

[gadwall2]

jkm, those days(permission) are over--for a while. I made an offer to a farmer last week for a lease. I offered him about one third of his asking price. With the season almost half over, he still thinks he will get the big sucker to bite. The farmers know know how much money is being spent on leases and they all want a piece of the pie. I can't blame them. If I had 300 acres and could lease it out to a bunch of crazy duck hunters who were willing to pay $15000 to hunt it for 60 days, I would.

These crazy hunters are the ones keeping the lease prices up, not the farmers.

If I had been born rich instead of so damn good looking, I'd be able to afford a lease like that.

[Ringbill]

Father, forgive for posting this. We all know the guy can be a complete "turd-cutter", but this recently sufaced Bennyism is worth a read. He has some stuff wrong, but the jist has some truth IMO.

Ringbill

http://myweb.cableone.net/kingorbit/explanation/explain.htm

[jroc]

I gave up on DU and all other national "conservation" groups long ago when I realized that all I saw at banquets and other functions were the people that were pricing me out of hunting. I know several "professionals" (as in lawyers, bankers, doctors, etc.) that go to these things to try an out bid each other for the over priced stuff then brag about how much they paid for a lease in the delta. When I ask them "so how have you done this year" the usual response is "well I haven't made a trip yet but plan on going at the end of Jan., you know that's when the ducks are really here anyway"

I just want to hunt, I want the lawyers out of it along with all these "conservation" groups that have full time employees begging for money. My theory is lawyers love this crap because one group says "hey I'm gonna press for this land development deal or whatever and your group can go defend the "conservationist" and we can keep this stuff going on forever and keep getting paid" DU seems to be happy to go along with this "payola" scam...........

Sorry to offend those that are DU fans but they ain't helping me. I've been kicked off 2 places that took my past DU membership money and made themselves a fine high $ duck lease.