Ducks Unlimited vs Flyway Federation

[cajunwannabe]

As a kid in the 70's I've seen snow fall on opening day of duck season in Michigan (first Saturday in October) I've broken ice in early November and been nearly frozen out from duck hunting our blind by November 15th. This doesn't happen anymore. I had buddies catching walleye on Lake Erie a month ago from their boats when they should have been drilling holes in ice.

What the media calls a "polar vortex", millennium speak for apocalyptic cold, was what we called "Winter" growing up and it lasted for months. A 3 to 5 day subzero cold front isn't "winter", we need month(s) long below freezing night time temps, which doesn't seem to happen anymore, to move a mass migration of waterfowl.

Kent Saxon, the owner of Gator Traxx in Louisiana of course, posted this and is fanning the flames of "hot cropping" and short stopping by agreeing with the newly formed "Flyway Federation". I thought it was kind of funny considering his livelihood is making and selling mud boats and surface drive mud motors that pressure waterfowl and drive them off public waters and into these refuges. Bring back paddle in pirogue hunting in Louisiana and they might be surprised at how many ducks they could kill.....even in a "bad" duck season.

Many of us have learned to go to the ducks, since the ducks don't come South, that's why folks are travelling to Canada, ND, SD, etc.

[rrconductor]

I was at Reelfoot last Jan. during the freeze the exact time they are referring to in the 1st video. We broke ice every day and it never got above 16 degrees the whole week. We broke everyday, the last day the ice was 6 to 8" thick and we had to keep opening the boat run up to ensure getting back.
We should have been using the airboat, but we didn't, just used the ice eaters.

The film of the birds at Black Bayou is very accurate, I have seen it and hunted across the road from it in a pit blind. They fly all day and are very thick even in warm weather, they have fresh water and corn the whole season. They are flying on the lake less and less every year. This year there were not as many at the refuge as usual and the geese weren't flying south like normal. We were there Jan. 6th thru the 10th this year. No ice but also no ducks, refuge was holding ducks that wouldn't leave.

[Southernduck]

The purpose of the refuge is to provide unpressured area for the birds to rest but it shouldn't be so full of food they never need to leave IMO.

[Gregory]

I just joined FF. I have always wondered, why is flooding an unharvested corn field a bona fide agricultural practice?

[JABIII]

It is not. Who ever claimed that it was?

[Gregory]

I guess I'm confused about what's baited.

[cajunwannabe]

I just joined FF. I have always wondered, why is flooding an unharvested corn field a bona fide agricultural practice?

You paid $60 to join FF or just "joined" the FB site for the entertainment value?

[Gregory]

$60

[Catdaddy]

$60

Did you ever receive the flashlight and the 1/2 dozen decoys?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[JABIII]

I guess I'm confused about what's baited.

Seems to be contagious...

[cajunwannabe]

The Flyway Federation is going to Make Ducks Migrate Again. Bless their heart.

[Calibogue]

Dumbassery......

[BOGSTER]

Maybe, but it’s equal dumbassery to completely discredit the idea as a whole.

Flooding corn has traditionally been a southern practice. Our Yankee brothers have caught on and are holding a significant amount of would be - southbound birds with the aid of wells, ice eaters, and large cornfields.
Folks thinking it’s not having an effect?
Some clubs (don’t know about refuges) in MO and KA holding 1-300k birds all winter.
That’s potentially upwards of a half a million ducks never pushing into the Deep South.
And that’s just 2 private places I am thinking of, I’m sure there are much more.

Explain to me how that’s not having an effect.

[BOGSTER]

I’m watching Clarendon County corn effect our coast now, right before my eyes.

Shovelers, widgeon, and bluewings have always been coastal birds.
Sure a few are killed every year, but now we are seeing thousands of them holding up here all season.

It once was highly unusual for a Lake Marion impoundment to have 150 blue wings and 300 shovelers throughout the season.......but it’s becoming more frequent.

Hard for an ole duck to leave that tasty bait to head south for panic grass and invertebrates.

[beanhunter]

I'm w bog

[FEETDOWN]

So it's all the sudden not ok to flood corn now that more folks are catching onto the idea. Got it.

[BOGSTER]

Shared natural resources are a finicky thing.

Ducks fall into that category.

But let’s look at water, just for the sake of discussion.

Let’s say your family owns land that has a sizable creek running through it.
For generations your family has enjoyed fishing, swimming, etc.

I come in and buy 1000 acres upstream of you, and dam up the creek for my personal 600 acre lake, slowing your once fishable creek to a trickle.
Now the fish no longer move into your area and you are unable to swim, ride on a boat, or shoot wood ducks.

Is that ok? I mean this America, we should be able to do what we want on our own land, but would that sit well with you and your family?

[FEETDOWN]

Ask permission to fish, or sell your place and go buy the land upstream from him I reckon

[Glenn]

That analogy, for lack of a better term, doesn’t hold water.

[Calibogue]

Sounds to me like they shoulda named the group Millennial Duck Federation....