Question about DU

[lower14]

jroc - yeah, DU has a big bill with the USPS, but that all falls under the "fund raising" section of the Annual Report.

I'm a DU committee member in Virginia (Western Henrico chapter)and have a pretty good understanding of where the cash goes. Over 80% of all money raised by DU goes to conservation programs. If you compare DU to other conservation organizations, DU pumps a much higher percentage of income into it's main mission that anyone else.

Yeah, there are some things that may seem excessive to an outsider, but even non-profit organizations have expenses. And have you seen AARP's digs in DC or LA? Sheesh - and you think DU's bad.

[torch]

everyone says habitat is KEY, but how much is enough. Back in the days of the point system I had a DU project on some leases. You couldn't hunt them but so many days a week and had to be out by 11 am. DU dicatated how it could be hunted even though they didn't own the land. When contracts ran out we jerked the DU pipes and put our own in. Again weather plays a role but when you have soooo much habitat for the ducks they have tooo many places to hide. I am for a 4\40 season as long as it would run through the 15th of Feb. I know DU says they start pairing up on FEB 1 but I think they could stretch it and have no problems. I have been duck hunting for over 30 years and our ducks don't really get here till late Jan.

[GumboHead]

I don't like DU contracting the NRCS and WRP in Mississippi, and making a profit on building habitat, money allocated for Miss and should stay in Miss.

I think they should get their money from other places.
We have plenty of non profit orgs here who spend every penny in Miss and are perfectly capable of doing this work. I think they should be awarded those contracts, but you can forget that, and for that reason I wish DU would do a few things differently.

However building habitat up north is not stopping the ducks, that is a hunters fairy tale.

Larry Reynolds and others have stated repeatedly that even hunter pressure and low water levels in the south pale in comparison to the effects that continental weather have on the ducks.

They are there because they can. Only the weather will change that.

Also, when we had the least ducks ever recorded, we had the most showing in the delta. You don't need to have every duck alive today migrate to have a great showing in the delta, in fact you dont need most of them.

What you need is water, and behind that, only pressure will dictate how many ducks are here.

Bashing DU for building northern habitat is shooting yourself in the boot, I just wish they werent doing it with our WRP money.

[torch]

Gumbohead, Do you know were you state stamp money goes? Well almost 100% of it went to DU canada

[GumboHead]

Yes I know this, they have really done a great job of locking up any and all federal and state funds aimed at conservation.

I think some of that needs to be throttled back some, I want our money to stay in Mississippi. When we have converted everything we possibly can, and have an annual budget to maintain it all, then they can have some money. We are a long way from that and I wish we could stop them from doing this.

Sure I want DU to prosper, but not at our expense.

It's kind of strange really. They take conservation money, money thats already earmarked for conservation, and put it somewhere else.

I want every single penny that the state and federal govt earmarks for Mississippi to go into the ground in mississippi. If DU needs more money, then let the fed allocate money just for that, a national fund, but don't rape the purse of a poor state like Mississippi to do that.

It's just very wierd. They don't raise money for conservation, they steal it from those who already have it. I think it will take public participation and the threat of no re election to stop it, if you can stop it then. Dug in like a tick on that dog.

[jdbuckshot]

I just read on these post that most of you guys are Aginst DU. well im my uneducated, opinion. The only reason the duck numbers are up and that we have a 6 duck limit is because of DU (and like conservation groups). But one way or the other somepeople are going to find something they don't like about them, with is in every case, inculding mine. I know DU plants and floods areas in several states, but i don't really think that keeps the ducks up there, if any of you guys have ever been up there you know there is way more ag fields than a duck could ever eat in. That is why i don't think feeding is the problem. its weather. simply weather. so what is CONSERVATION. is it feeding ducks corn just so sportsmen can shoot them? I don't think that is what it is
.
President Theodore Roosevelt, 1905

"IN a civilized and cultivated country wild animals only continue to exist at all when preserved by sportsmen. The excellent people who protest against all hunting, and consider sportsmen as enemies of wild life, are ignorant of the fact that in reality the GENUINE SPORTSMAN is by all odds the most important factor in keeping the larger and more valuable wild creatures from total extermination."


Every duck hunter knows that it has to snow and get cold and all that stuff it has done for 100 of years for the ducks to fly south, so if DU did actually plant 10000000 acres of corn in iowa, if the snow covered it up. they would fly south. Sometimes i blame it on certain conservation groups because the wetlands, crops that i planted and flooded don't have ducks on them by dec. 1. Then i realize its because of them i have ducks. because they concentrate on the prarie region. which is the DUCK FACTORY. numbers are up, and its because of conservationist groups like DU. i think The conservation needs to be put back into todays sportsmen. i have never seen so many people in one place care, and give so much back to the enviornment than some of you guys on this website. And thanks for that!

[GumboHead]

jdbuckshot, if what you said were true, you couldnt beat anyone off of DU or other orgs.

The reality is that DU controls less than 5% of the wetland habitats.

Not Du, or any other org, multiplied by many times over, could control what you bag limit is.

That is done by the weather and nothing else. If Du owned every spec of wetland nesting habitat, the weather would still control the outcome.

We need DU, but we also need a clear understanding of their real impact on our environments and the cost for them.

[ScottS]

They don't raise money for conservation, they steal it from those who already have it.

I will give you a BIG amen on that Brother GumboHead.

[feedcall]

Chad, thank you for posting about DU stepping in on the lawsuit against hunting on federal refuges. That speaks a lot for the doubts that many people have had about where DU is with the duck hunter. Recreational hunting is in danger. We as hunters should support any orgnization that lobbies in favor of hunting and owning firearms. They have a much louder voice than I do, sitting behind my computer today. I think with our funding those voices can be heard can be heard. I am not sitting next to George W. today expressing my concerns on wetlands issues. I am not in a position to speak to congress or the President. We need to fund the people that are echoing our concerns. They have a nice building, and they send a ton of mail, so what. I still am behind my computer, just like I was a minute ago. This is where I will be tomorrow. Delta and DU are taking information from studies and applying our funding with their research to create projects that benefit wetlands. I am I missing something else??? During the season I get in 3 or 4 days a week of hunting, have been since I was in Junior High school and I am 30 now. My hunting is slower also. I am not going to quit sending my money, is that really going to HELP????

[the doctor]

feedcall

I'm with you...we must look at the cost vs. the benefits

hell the magazine subscription is worth the cost of a regular membership to me

not trying to change anyones mind here just agree a lot with feedcalls comments DU is a political force and has tremendous power to lobby for our wants and needs as hunters/conservationists

every organization has its faults, I dont agree sometimes with how my church spends its funds but I dont withold them because I realize that maybe I dont have all the information surrounding a situation

same goes for DU I realize that while I try to stay aware of current issues, many times I do not have sufficient information to base my opinion and so I continue to support an organization that ultimately benefits me and my hobbies I also support Delta Waterfowl and have supported them before many people in the MS Delta even knew what the hell it was

in fact I used to practice in their Voluntary Restraint Program when duck populations were lower, how many of you Delta supporters did that? I still try to shoot just drakes, how many of you Delta supporters adopted a pothole this year?

my point is many things are bigger than we are or than we perceive ourselves...feedcall your comments are well taken

the doc

[jdbuckshot]

Well said feedcall.

what can one man do?

And gmbohead,

im not say that DU sets our bag limits, by and means. I was just saying that they help imporve the breeding grounds, which gives us higher numbers.

here is my question for your GumboHead


If DU or other conservation groups controled MORE than 5% of the wetlands on the breeding grounds, would it benefit us or not?

[Benelli 12GA]

I don't know what the problem has been for the last couple of years, but I know one thing if we don't get any ducks this year, I'm moving North till I find em.

[torch]

How much habitat is enough?

[esteslanehunting]

So your going to support DU even though for the last couple of yeas it has gotten bad?? And are you still going to support them if the upcoming years gets worst?? I know I'm not. I know they can't control the weather.....but I have been duck hunting for 23 years. Maybe not as long as some of you. I was born and raised in Arkansas. I know we killed ducks throughout the season back then. Something has changed the migration of the birds. It isn't the same anymore.

[feedcall]

So what you are saying is that if the duck situation is in really bad shape and populations really decline, we should persuade everyone to quit sending money to improve it. I believe that ten 100 dollar donations = a thousand bucks. Everyone can make a difference.