Video-SCDNR Cat 1 WMA MISMANAGEMENT

[Short_track_champ]

As an outsider who has been on 9 draw hunts behind the dikes I have the perfect solution.
Make it public land. Open it wide up to hunting Saturday Sunday and Wednesdays. No reservations.
No driving down dike roads. Want to hunt Murphy? Anchor boat on bank and walk over pulling a sneak boat. The Cape. Park in parking lot and walk in. Hunt wherever you like 3 days a week. It's your public land. Complete BS y'all have to wait 3-4 years for a 4 hour hunt, that apparently doesn't remotely live up to expectations.

This.

[Catdaddy]

This.

To hunt 3 days a week, you need a lot of new birds migrating in every 7 days. That doesn't happen in SC. This is a recipe to run off all the ducks in the WMA and for the private landowners to collect almost 100% of the ducks.

Next, they will want to hunt all the refuges, because they are holding all the duck.

The best hunting is always near some refuge, whether it's a government refuge or private refuge.


The public hunter just doesn't get it.


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[DUCK BUSTER 68]

To hunt 3 days a week, you need a lot of new birds migrating in every 7 days. That doesn't happen in SC. This is a recipe to run off all the ducks in the WMA and for the private landowners to collect almost 100% of the ducks.

Next, they will want to hunt all the refuges, because they are holding all the duck.

The best hunting is always near some refuge, whether it's a government refuge or private refuge.


The public hunter just doesn't get it.


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THIS

[Catdaddy]

Maybe somebody realized that too much pressure can ruin a spot.......and because it was good and so many applied it takes 3-4 years to get drawn.

Let's don't subscribe to hunt everything crowd. Refuges with limited natural foods hold ducks for a reason.


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[DRDUCK]

You don't want another Sparkelberry Swamp do you?

[JBtflo]

If you opened up to Murphy to anyone with a boat it would look like a Sparkleberry duck run.

[Tranquility]

There’s no need to try and explain, Russell.
Delta East, West, and Samworth have been under major construction for the last 3 seasons. Pretty easy to have no harvest if there is no hunting.
Private plantations don’t have to lobby for money. When there’s a repair needed, they have a capital call, and the work gets done, regardless of price.
Opening SCR to the public everyday will never happen. That property is held in trust by the state, and any deviation or abuse ( that’s what it would be), would likely cause it to revert back to TNC.
The guys that manage those properties work for next to nothing, bust their ass for an ungrateful public and have to defend themselves every year about this time. We are lucky to have them.
That video is a joke.

[raybird]

There’s no need to try and explain, Russell.
Delta East, West, and Samworth have been under major construction for the last 3 seasons. Pretty easy to have no harvest if there is no hunting.
Private plantations don’t have to lobby for money. When there’s a repair needed, they have a capital call, and the work gets done, regardless of price.
Opening SCR to the public everyday will never happen. That property is held in trust by the state, and any deviation or abuse ( that’s what it would be), would likely cause it to revert back to TNC.
The guys that manage those properties work for next to nothing, bust their ass for an ungrateful public and have to defend themselves every year about this time. We are lucky to have them.
That video is a joke.

Hit dogs holler!

which spot do you manage?

[Duck Tape]

Coastal Cat 1 WMAs suffered several years of flooding through breeches of dikes since 2015. Each flood required money and much effort to remedy. Repairs are expensive and laborious. Other inland Cat 1 properties have flooding issues and crop failures.

For years, concerned landowners and public hunters have complained, especially in Georgetown. They have seen duck world in a death spiral resulting in ever declining harvest results on most Cat 1s. I believe the cause of the decline is a combination of valid reasons and unsubstantiated excuses.

It appeard DNR had given up on repairing and managing of Samworth while letting nature run its course. Unfortunately, lack of management resulted unmanaged habitat lost completely taken over by giant cutgrass called white marsh. That meant no food, no ducks and no lottery hunts.

Why are the private impoundments still having success? Fast repairs to a breech is critical to prevent the expansion and to preserve management the fields. Private managers immediately begin to make repairs. This preserves the ability to manage the fields and saves the next hunting season.

DNR takes too long to repair. They rely on a slow funding and procurement process instead of an urgent repair performed by existing staff and equipment. They have no emergency reserve funds and are not self-reliant enough to get it done. They have not made Cat 1s a priority. This has resulted in a snowball effect on several WMAs causing a region nearly wide collapse of DNR managed properties.

Public outcry led to legislative action. I convened a special budgetary hearing to address the problem. DNR Deputy Director Emily Coates testified they needed 29 million to address the dike problems and statewide infrastructure needs.

The legislature, Ducks Unlimited, and national grants have and continue to pour resources to DNR to fix the problems. Much progress was made with dikes but the inability to annually manage the fields led to a complete takeover of cutgrass. DNR is struggling to resume moist soil management because of years of neglect.

Underpaid technical staff are working hard and have some success. I don't believe they are the problem.

Management requires constant observation, timely implementation of plans, and leadership. Success requires a combination burning, spraying, discing, ditching, roto-tilling, and water level management. That is particularly difficult on islands that require barging of equipment and fuel. It takes time to reverse the problems created by negligence. The locals are furious at DNR. I admit, I am impatient. Staff appears to be working when I schedule a visit but I also go when unscheduled by boat and do not see consistent effort. Someone must held be accountable.

The chain of command is the Governor, who appoints the Board, Senate confirms, Board who appoints the Director, the Director, Robert Boyles hires the deputy director Emily Coates, Emily hires the statewide biologist, regional managers, and Cat 1 managers and technicians. The Legislature funds. Someone or several in this bureaucracy are not getting it done.

The legislature has exceeded funding requests. I passed a law creating extra annual funding, creation of a statewide waterfowl manager position, and an advisory committee led by former DNR waterfowl biologist, Bob Perry. He has managed Samworth and Delta West during better times. His experience along with the other volunteers on the committee generate an annual report to the legislature on Cat 1s. He contends they have not yet had enough time to reverse the habitat and acknowledges many repairs with. the dikes.

On several occasions I have urged you to get involved and express your opinions.

What is success? To me, restoring and maintaining 90% of habitat in each manageable impoundment. Ultimately, hunters will judge success by the number of birds in the bag.

Everyone must be judged by results, not just effort.

[Dog Man]

I agree with everything you just said. There are a few points I would like to expound on.
1- Since 2015, all private landowners in the Georgetown County experienced the same flooding. Private properties did not experience damage to the extent as Georgetown county’s Cat 1 WMAs because their dikes are managed properly. Everything is about good MANAGEMENT.
2- Fast repairs to a breach are critical. That is good MANAGEMENT. If DNR had good,qualified managers who would handle these repairs immediately,there would be very little need for large funding. Deputy Director Emily Cope sent me a report in 2022 that showed Samworth WMA had experienced 50 breach’s. Need I say more?
3- White marsh is not difficult to control if you have a qualified,boots on the ground manager ready to work the field when conditions are right. A Ricefield is nothing more than a swamp that man put a dike around 200 years ago. It is still a swamp. Farmers can’t work upland fields when they are wet. You can’t have a management plan that says you are going to work a Ricefield on predetermined date.It may rain the week before. This is where a qualified ,boots on the ground manager is needed. This is something DNR is lacking.
4- The importance of a qualified,boots on the ground manager can not be stressed enough. Last May 31st I took Molly Neece and Sam Chappelear on a tour of my rice fields. At this late date, they told me they had not started working their fields because their 3 Marsh Masters were not operable and they did not own a tiller. Nobody can defend this type of poor management.
5- All land owners own and transport equipment and fuel on barges. It is not difficult. It is made to sound difficult by DNR.
6- The DNR requirement that WMA manager must have a Master Degree must change. Many of these biologist earned their degree in such things as turtles,squirrels,etc. It ain’t working. There also should not be a requirement that these managers are required to have a college degree. No private land owner has a biologist on staff. Some of the best managers I know graduated from TECH’s Forestry and Wildlife program. SCWA has a program that produces great managers.
7- You are correct,somewhere in the chain of command,be it the Deputy Director of Wildlife Emily Cope, the SCDNR Board, Robert Boyles ,the General Assembly or the Governor, there is a weak link. Public Waterfowlers are looking to the General Assembly to correct this problem. Thanks for any and all assistance you can provide. We all appreciate your efforts funding these WMAs. At this time correcting the management issue is more important.
8- It might be time to think outside of the box and hire contractors to work the ricefields. That being said, the techs on these properties are doing a great job. It is the management and leadership that is lacking.

[Tranquility]

Getting ready for another flood. Santee River going to 19.8ft. Dikes will be topped.

[JBtflo]

Getting ready for another flood. Santee River going to 19.8ft. Dikes will be topped.

This flooding thing is getting to be a very common occurrence down that way it seems.

[Silentweapon338]

Who is using all these alias's all of a sudden?

[Dog Man]

Not me. I am Smith Ragsdale. I own Rosebank Plantation in upper Georgetown county. I am fighting for the public waterfowler and the waterfowl resource.

[DRDUCK]

Not me. I am Smith Ragsdale. I own Rosebank Plantation in upper Georgetown county. I am fighting for the public waterfowler and the waterfowl resource.

Damn Right you are. Keep it up!

[Tranquility]

Santee Cooper decided on lake levels, we are on the receiving end of it!

[BOGSTER]

Broad River WMA has had constant water/flooding issues, and the mallards haven’t responded well.

River has topped the dikes multiple times this season.

Major construction (that may not be worth it) would be required to fix this.

[Timber Ghost]

Smith Ragsdale kills ducks… lots of ducks


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[Catdaddy]

It seems like during excessive rainfall they would dump most of it down the Cooper River.

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[Tranquility]

No. They hardly dump any down the Cooper.