Stop wasting the money and turn into Cat 2
Fund whatever it takes to repair and manage.
Fund it but roll some heads at DNR
Give up on Samworth and Delta
And Jab you are dead on track, especially your last sentence. Phillip can correct me but last year I think SC took in $9mill in PR act monies. I also think the CAT 1 budget request was 29mill in 2019 which was approved for 2020. A lot of eyes are on that money.
As mentioned I "hear and truly believe" that positive changes as to activity and oversight are on the horizon and currently in action. You can only go so low before continued failure screams loud enough that those in charge have to listen. The upper level tree has been shaken pretty hard. The eyes and ears of many sporting congressmen are alert to the subject at the moment and those CAT 1s.
The key will be to watch hunter numbers and ducks killed per hunter. Unfortunately that data is really easy to massage. A non partisan observer / recorder would help with that- back to that mess.
A lot of hunters have come forward over the last three years( that came out early but stuck around to see the full harvest on their lottery draw) with a firm belief as to paper ducks. I would hope it hasn't fallen that far but in todays day and age not much would surprise me.
Genesis 9;2
To be clear, DNR presented it's budget to the legislature without any requests for Cat 1 improvements. This was shocking considering their needs. I held a special public hearing and asked them for a report of the current state and needs for the Cat 1's.
They reported 29 million in needs. Due to a lot of non-recurring dollars available I was able to secure 3 million to help. In addition we nearly fully funded DNR actual budget requests.
Unfortunately combed ruined all that.
I posted this poll to see if we, SCDUCKS, cared enough about the WMA program to fight for it.
Either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing.
Late to party but agree w Bogs post and SC Diver. Post #14&15. I think giving away Cat 1 property would be a huge mistake you could never undo. Giving away ownership, not maint.
I wondered years ago, after seeing all the hundreds of acres full of phrag, gum trees. and grass if it was on purpose to drive down the hunter interest in the property which would create an avenue to see it dirt cheap with no restrictions and create more McMansions for Johnny Ohio.
"Rivers and the inhabitants of the watery elements are for wise men to contemplate and for fools to pass by without consideration" -Izaak Walton
Duck hunters in SC are used to being screwed. By the weather. By geography. By skybusters. By their brother in law's Boykin. Caring? It isn't caring that still rolls them out at 3:30 in the eternal hope...
If there is something specific you want us to do, vis-à-vis, send emails or make calls, they will do it. Nobody wants to see the Cat 1's failing, except maybe a neighbor or two who benefit from them not having food or pressure...
What JAB3 said above! Solution...unknown but care that the land is accessible to sportsmen for years to come, yes.
55% of you said “fund it, but roll heads at DNR.”
I’d love to know in detail whose heads, and in detail, your expectations of “roll.”
Be proactive about improving public waterfowl habitat in South Carolina. It's not going to happen by itself, and our help is needed. We have the potential to winter thousands of waterfowl on public grounds if we fight for it.
People can get pretty careless with other people's livelihoods for sure...
I’m sitting here imagining what you or I could do with 29 million earmarked for Cat 2 waterfowl areas.
It wouldn’t be mallards, but the gadwalls and ringnecks would deafen you.
Be proactive about improving public waterfowl habitat in South Carolina. It's not going to happen by itself, and our help is needed. We have the potential to winter thousands of waterfowl on public grounds if we fight for it.
A $29,000,000 budget and there wouldn't be enough mallards in the Mississippi and Central Flyways for the rest of you to bother hunting...
Agreed, but the complacency of MOST gov't workers is unfathomable.....could you imagine uprooting a gov't worker and placing them in a like position in the private sector....
In private business people are hired and fired every day, based on performance. Heaven forbid threaten a gov't workers job.....
Last edited by BRR; 11-23-2020 at 11:14 AM.
Ugh. Stupid people piss me off.
sure would be nice if there was a public organization that could help with the funding. Like if that organization took everyones money, advertised in every single duck hunting ad/store, sent stickers to people, held banquets, and then turned around and invested some money into public land duck hunting in places besides the prairie pothole region....but that would be too much to ask. DU is such a joke for the average duck hunter in SC and it shows how dumb people are by how many stickers there are on trucks, coolers, etc. Oh, not to mention Santee Cooper being probably the biggest sell out in state history. Our hunting will always be screwed because our politicians sell us out and the organizations just dont care about SC. And I dont blame em! to hell with us! Just let some more rich dudes open impoundments right next to the waterfowl refuges, make the public areas between said refuges bird sanctuaries so that when they're not hunting, their wives don't have to be woken up by gunshots, and shut down public hunting once and for all like they have on the lower lake. Yall really still think the good ol boys make decisions in your best interest?
Last edited by clembo3; 11-23-2020 at 05:32 PM.
“To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.”
That wasn't in reference to any one person. Just to hunters in general. Someone could always start their own version of DU, I suppose. Oh, or purchase massive amounts of aquatic vegetation and just spread it around the lake without the approval of Santee Cooper. Not like they're paying attention. Every duck hole in the swamp will be closed up in 10 years with that heavy, floating crap.
And yes, I'm aware of who Duck Tape is. And I stand by my statement. It's nothing against him in particular. It's against his type
Last edited by clembo3; 11-23-2020 at 05:59 PM.
“To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.”
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