What are you willing to do to see more ducks?

[2thDoc]

What happens when we go to other states and pressure those birds?

good question.
shockingly, I think we "believe" certain things because we have repeated them enough to think they are true.

[2thDoc]

I wholeheartedly believe that by flooding row crops for waterfowl, we have completely screwed up everything we loved about them to begin with.


Wild animals don’t need us to feed them.
That’s a special kind of arrogance to think so.

We need to feed wild animals because otherwise the majority of us that hunt them would never get close enough to kill em.

rice much?

[Glenn]

What happens when we go to other states and pressure those birds?

NIMBY

That's their problem, right? It's how we treat the declining turkey population here. Gang tackle our two year olds. Tag about half of 'em then travel for 5 weeks crushing 'em with abandon in other states while preaching "restraint".

[2thDoc]

There were tons of mallards on Lake Moultrie back in the day.

Toy says they were feeding on grass.

He claims we’ve had aquatic vegetation on both lakes at least since he was 7 years old.

well he might be wrong. at least I didnt see any grass in the timber where the mallards were dying

[2thDoc]

It has always surprised me that there aren't any mallards along the lower savannah river. The amount of oaks that get flooded from Groton to the Exleys is astounding.

they just dont come here any more.
and maybe they dont like you coastal people.

[joeydpga]

I guess the point of my post is without sacrificing some things we will continue to see the drop off. I don’t agree that bag limits are needing to be reduced as there is enough info out there that hunters are not the main cause of death among wildfowl, I do believe we will need to make some adjustments to the number of days or the time of days we can hunt. Also making adjustments to traffic in areas during the season to include boaters/fishermen/non hunters.

Very few that work for the state have proven they can manage property for waterfowl and other migrating birds. Private managers or crop sharing needs to happen in order for the habitat to be productive for migrators. As Paul has stated this happens in other states and they are successful in attracting birds.

Can we make changes before we are forced to make changes. Are we willing to be stewards of the resource?

[joeydpga]

NIMBY

That's their problem, right? It's how we treat the declining turkey population here. Gang tackle our two year olds. Tag about half of 'em then travel for 5 weeks crushing 'em with abandon in other states while preaching "restraint".

Do we have the self control? Is there a balance in feeding your family and hunting as a sport. Are we worshipping the creation and not the creator?

[Hogg]

New legal shooting time for public and private 12:00 pm to sundown.

[BigBrother]

New legal shooting time for public and private 12:00 pm to sundown.

What time is launch time for the fishermen?

[Hogg]

two four 7

[buckpro]

So no one thinks the 10,389,314.68 flooded corn ponds between here and the Canada border have anything to do with it?

[Hogg]

What about tons of shelled corn on Refuge levees?

[Glenn]

Do we have the self control? Is there a balance in feeding your family and hunting as a sport. Are we worshipping the creation and not the creator?

Human nature dictates self control is for the other guy. "We", and I use that as a collective we, are not going to police ourselves. Everyone who travels to shoot ducks doesn't stop at what they can legally bring home in a possession limit. If that person exist I don't know 'em. Is killing less ducks up there going to equal more ducks down here? Maybe. But not if you don't give them a reason to be here. Otherwise we'll keep going to where the ducks are and killing 5 + limits each, posting the "30 minute limit" pics and then give 'em all away at best or trash 'em at worst.

[Catdaddy]

So no one thinks the 10,389,314.68 flooded corn ponds between here and the Canada border have anything to do with it?

Nope

Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk

[BigBrother]

two four 7

And that's exactly what this thread is worthless. Restricting fishermen, or pleasure boaters for that matter isnt going to happen and unless that happens restricting hunter access is as productive as pissing in the wind.

One of my favorite places to hunt, where I enjoyed lots of success with my son and a select few friends didnt last long. I used to be the only boat at the ramp, at least for the first few years. Then I enjoyed the ramp with dozens of trucks with glitter boat trailers. didnt take long for them to tell their nephews about all them ducks, bo and double that to add the duck hunters.

South Island Ferry...equal number of fishermen as duck hunters anymore, if not more.

[Relentlous]

It’s HABITAT. Look at the areas of places that still manage, and places that don’t.
Pressure on the lake plays a factor, but I don’t believe public hunting pressure on the coast is the same affect. I’m not going to name drop any places but the proof is in the pudding. I’ve been at this public thing my whole life, and been calling my own shots for 18 years. I’ve seen places peak and fall peak and fall. And it’s gone along side with the management of the private places and refuges. It comes in waves. There’s a WMA that 10 years ago was lights out. Now it’s shit. But somehow the private land all around it still loads up.

[Remy]

Human nature dictates self control is for the other guy. "We", and I use that as a collective we, are not going to police ourselves. Everyone who travels to shoot ducks doesn't stop at what they can legally bring home in a possession limit. If that person exist I don't know 'em. Is killing less ducks up there going to equal more ducks down here? Maybe. But not if you don't give them a reason to be here. Otherwise we'll keep going to where the ducks are and killing 5 + limits each, posting the "30 minute limit" pics and then give 'em all away at best or trash 'em at worst.

Preach.

[Rubberhead*]

There were tons of mallards on Lake Moultrie back in the day.

Toy says they were feeding on grass.

He claims we’ve had aquatic vegetation on both lakes at least since he was 7 years old.

That's a fact. I've had to run mallards and Toy out of my decoys on Moultrie before...

[Rubberhead*]

The biggest changes I can think of since "the good old days" when we had ducks and Marion/Moultrie had mallards...

30 day season vs. 60 day seasons,
Noon cutoff above I95 in the upper swamp and in Charleston/Georgetown counties,
Mud Motors,
Grass Carp,
Duh mass, tamie, release programs,
Disposable Income (nobody had a duck boat with any more than about a 25 or, maybe, a 40 hp motor back in the day).
Rediversion
Management practices at the refuges and Cat I's - Yawkey, in particular, is very different

I am not saying that any of these is to blame - I'm just pointing out the differences based solely on my own experience.

And, oh, btw - I'm not vilifying mud motors - I'm vilifying the idiots that take the mufflers off of an air-cooled engine and run them through every nook and cranny...I'll let you know if anything else pops into my mind...

[rp]

What about tons of shelled corn on Refuge levees?

I bought a bit for the national refuge a few years back. It was intended to help with netting ducks among other things. I was told a pile of it rotted away.