DuckSouth.com

I personally believe that Federal refuges should be open to public hunting on Saturday mornings until noon. Persons inside the refuge before 4:00am on Saturday, after 2:00pm on Saturday, or anytime on any other day, should receive a ticket that would result in the loss of their hunting licenses for 1 year. I understand there are some Federal refuges that allow limited hunting in other states, and I think if hunters are funding the refuges they should be allowed to hunt them on a restricted basis. (I personally do not intend to hunt the refuges or public WMAs)

This would allow the ducks to rest, but force them to move a little every Saturday morning and migrate normally. I'm planning on suggesting this to my congressmen in a letter very soon. I realize that it probably won't come to fruition anytime soon, but it can't hurt to plant the seeds for the future.

Anyone else support this?

h20

phil robertson mentioned the same thing in one of his videos

he claimed that by leaving the same areas year after year restricted to hunting we were educating them or training them to use these areas

he was very much in favor of the refuge system he just felt the restricted areas should be rotated every three or four years
to keep the birds wild

the doc

I think thats a GREAT idea.

I 2ND THE MOTION....... just getting the feds to go along is another thing.... we don't have Trent to slip this one thru for us.....{no more walking it thru}

judge jb

i'VE BEEN SAYING THE SAME THING FOR YEARS. I WOULD BE GLAD TO SIGN A PETITION !!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, I'll go along with that. Just think about how many more "decent hunts" folks would have had in a twenty mile radius of the Coldwater part of the tallahatchie refuge. Someone needed to bust up that big ole party. A little pressure would not hurt them, but a lot might.

A prime example is what we witnessed Mon am. There were not that many hunters (by comparison to previous days) The birds flew decent early. However, by 8am very very few shots fired and no visible birds in the area we staked out. On the way out, there were literally hundreds of ducks resting in the "sanctuary" This same area has been closed to hunting for at least seven years and I am sure it was closed before then. Being this is the last week of season I will tell you it was Matthews. Sorry guys but if you can kill em more power to ya!!! I won't be back. (I can see the ramp filling up already)

I hunt in Crowder,Ms. We have a Federal wildlife refuge just across the road from our blinds. There is no doubt that the ducks use in for shelter and safe haven. There are periods in a day hunt you could see as many as 10,000 ducks working the refuge. It is really fustrating knowing that the ducks know that they have places to go an not ever hunted. Since ducks do imprint then surely they know were to go to stay alive.I have heard in a couple of years that some refuges will be open on drawen hunts... how long it takes to get that past I have no idea. I am totally for hunting refugees on a drawn hunt bases or a specfic day hunts.....

h2o Dog - I agree with the suggestion.

Well, you all want to know what's worse than a FWR that can't be hunted............a privately leased FWR.....now that's bad. But most of it is a santurary for the ducks anyway, the guys leasing it can't even hunt them.

Duckhuntalot, you saw basically no birds at all. The sanctuary at MB holds about 15-30 thousand birds on average. This year it is holding about 3-6 thousand. I was told that by the fed game man this week. And don't think anything about mentioning it...there is no way you could get another boat on the lake most mornings....P.S. I know several people who hunted it before it was bought by the feds. It is way to small to open to the public....

Those birds haven't been there all season. Here today, gone tomorrow. A had front pushes birds in that hole then they start to spread out and pattern. Don't get too excited folks...they know where they are safe and where they are not. I am right across the river from the brake and I haven't heard any shooting to speak of all year.

HEY I AM WITH YOU GUYS. I WOULD HAPPILY SIGN A PETITION FOR THAT. THOSE SANCTUARIES SHOULD BE SWAPPED OUT EVERY 3 TO 5 YEARS. I LOVE THE BIRDS BUT THEY ARE HERE TO KILL NOT LOOK AT. FURTHERMORE ITS NOT LIKE YOU WOULD KILL THEM ALL YOU WOULD JUST HAVE A CHANCE TO KILL SOME OF THEM.

OK, it sounds like everyone is for refuges being hunted.

It sounds like some would prefer that all the refuges be hunted at the same time but on a limited basis, while others think some refuges should be rotated into a huntable status every few years.

I guess I prefer to have limited times when NO sanctuaries exist (like it was 100 years ago), certain times when I know that ducks everywhere in the area are subject to being hunted and shot at, but limit those times to only a few hours per week. Rather than rotating refuges in and out of hunted status, where there is always a refuge that doesn't get hunted, that allows ducks to continue to "raft up" and never move.

I just want y'all to know that, in the event that this miracle happens, I will take on the burden of going into the refuges and "stirring the ducks up" so they will fly off to your place. No, don't thank me, it's just the right thing for me to do! Call me a martyr, but I just can't stant the thought of y'all having to do all that work yourself. Let me do it; I'll consider it my service to all my buds back home!