DuckSouth.com

my local wma (which is to say the closest wma to my hometown) has gone through many changes in the last 20 years. when i first started hunting out there, you could waterfowl hunt the woods until noon and the fields until sunset. some of my fondest memories of hunting this particular wma were those hunts late in the afternoon after college classes let out when we could slip in after all the early-birds and all nighters had left for the day.

there were no regulations that prohibited hunters from getting out in the field at a certain time, and on more than one occasion, i found myself sipping my hot beverage at 1:00 a.m. after we had set the decoys out already.

then, the folks in charge decided to close all waterfowl hunting at noon.

then, the powers that be said you couldn't leave the road until 5:00.

then, they made it a draw hunt with certain number of preseason draws and a certain number of standby draws.

then, the draws went to all pre-hunt draws and the only standby opportunities were is a pre-hunt drawee didn't show up.

what i would like to know, and i'm sure there has not been a study on it, but I'd like to know if the draw system is working.

i suppose in order to answer that question, one would need to know what the overall objective was behind implementing the changes. saftey? more birds per hunter? fewer man hunt hours?

personally, I'd like to see a comparison of man hours and harvest numbers from when you could hunt the fields all day as compared to the years in which there were only draw hunts that end at noon.

personally, my trips per year to the wma have declined substantially and my use is inversely proportional to the amount of regulation. i'm not saying that I think the draw system was a good idea or a bad idea, but i would like to know how the use and game harvest has changed in the last 20 years.

Use= Down
Harvest=Down


Regulation=Up
Revenue=Up

I too used to hunt this WMA, we used to strap decoys to the top of an old Chevy Beretta and knock the high center of the gravel road off wth the skid plate/oil pan...like you some of my best duck hunts and memories......Not anymore though

Working? Depends on who you ask.

The department previously had a perpetual hard-on for the almighty "man-days". Apparently someones job was on the line to show that "man-days" was in a positive number, going up and getting better. Getting more "man-days" on the books was the goal, period. (I'm in sales so this sounds all too familiar)

I don't hear much about "man days" anymore, and the MDWFP forums are long gone, so it's possible that measure of success has been replaced by another. (As I recall a man day was somehow measured by the number of people participating in a legal hunting day. If their were two draw days a week, you wouldn't count the other five closed days in your "man-day" crackelations). That's as best as I can recall. However..............

I don't fool with any draws, tried and it sucked. I also used to hunt at X&Y but now hunt public elsewhere. I have friends that informally try to get a group for a draw, then.......... have a totally different and comprehensive strategy for the standby. If there is no draw in the group they standby somewhere with a plan B,C,D,E, F. They make it work (usually) and don't know it any other way, as they are younger than I am. I refuse to bend my knee and hunt at my government staked hole. They think I'm a little weird. They get enough action to keep going back. They would also say it does not work, yet they are working the system as best they can.

I agree, tried it once, sucked, felt like I lived in California from their stories. Never applied or went back. I hear this often so I know I'm not alone. I've got other places to hunt where I don't have to deal with that. I will never say where for fear they may get regulated so that Johnny come lately has a "chance" to harvest something.

I am personally not a fan of most of this. We live in South AL now and it is not worth the drive up north not knowing if you will be able to hunt or not. Also on the draws you have no idea of what the weather will be like at the time of your draw. It seems to me that it really limits the hunts to just the locals close to the WMA's. But it sounds like you are not really a fan either even living close to the WMA.
hard to justify a five hour drive with these circumstances.

For the most part I hunt private lands but I use to enjoy hunting with friends that were not in the particular private lease I was in. Those opportunities are now essentially gone. I was fortunate enough to enjoy one hunt with great friends outside of my lease last year. This will be the demise of hunting as we know it. Everyone says killing isn't everything and I agree, but the fellowship with friends and family in the outdoors is what it is about. These moments have slowly been taken away from us. If the stars line up and one person out of four gets drawn and we all set our calendars to take off 30-60 days ahead of time we may get the opportunity to enjoy this time together for a couple days per year.

I will say this though (probably said it before too), I don't see any other way to manage a bunch of old catfish ponds. A bunch of square mud holes really doesn't lend itself to the freelance, scouting, get a good spot early, type of public hunting. I'm okay with the MDWFP doing the best they can with this real estate. I don't think anything else needs reduced days or draws.

These catfish pond draws also gives a hardcore double banded feller and his labradoodle a chance to go poo face & get a croker sack full of scoters & bootlips. Whoo-hoo and high five, go for it you hardcore mofo.

msudog4 wrote:I am personally not a fan of most of this. We live in South AL now and it is not worth the drive up north not knowing if you will be able to hunt or not. Also on the draws you have no idea of what the weather will be like at the time of your draw. It seems to me that it really limits the hunts to just the locals close to the WMA's.

Hard to justify a five hour drive with these circumstances.

.....then, I'd say it's working (for me - local), but maybe not for folks like above.

Not singling dog4 or anyone out, here......but since someone asked......

Bummer for those that don't live 'near' one of these places, but it's nice for the local hunters not to have to compete with access to available grounds that they or their families may have hunted on most of their lives.

Maybe one day the Dept will be able to focus more of their limited resources toward acquisition and development of more property for public use instead of having to address the results of 'sportsmen' behaving badly.

Choices - Nobody forces anyone to live more than 30 miles from their Favorite WMA - it's just life. You have to go where it, and professional opportunity takes you.

"Personally".......I'm all for improving the quality of hunting at locations that traditionally provided (for locals) good gunning. It seems to have become popular to be seen 'going duck hunting' or (for intents and purposes) being 'in motion'. Not saying that's what everybody is about, but hunting seems to be more about 'keeping score', self-promotion and 'entitlement' these days. Combine those 3 and that's a recipe for bad behavior that promotes basic lack of consideration for others. That's typically what you have to deal with on public lands, primarily because of overcrowding, access, and resulting entitlement issues.

I've said it before - You can't regulate stupidity - just manage it.

Oh, and you can thank this website for providing a medium to discuss these public lands (among its subscribers desperate to appear 'in- the- know') for 10 years before the affects became apparent - at the expense of hunting quality at WMA's and public access areas.

Yep.