Page 6 of 9 FirstFirst ... 45678 ... LastLast
Results 101 to 120 of 163

Thread: Waterfowl Hunting Change 2022-2023

  1. #101
    Join Date
    Jun 2022
    Location
    Upstate
    Posts
    1,688

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by cajunwannabe View Post
    Limiting pressure on national forest land is merely a start.

    I'm curious, do you hunt public land out of state for ducks? If so, are there any restrictions on the number of shotgun shells, horsepower size, hunt days, hunt access times, cutoff times, OOS hunt date restrictions, etc?
    Yes and Yes, but none as extreme as limiting 2 entire national forests to 2 days per week without a single piece of data to show how doing so will improve waterfowl numbers. Again, all this will do is make Saturdays more crowded.

    And as Adam mentioned those states also put a lot of time and effort into producing attractive habitat for waterfowl. Something SCDNR does not do. I said above if there was a significant habitat improvement project in conjunction with this Wed/Sat regulation then I might be in favor of it.

    Most of the pressure occurs on Saturdays anyway, so how much pressure is really being reduced? Or, rather, shifted to Saturdays?

    Let me ask you this - if (when) our duck hunting continues to suck and get worse after this rule has been in place a few years, do you want it to go further? Maybe all NF only open on Saturday? Then maybe only every other Saturday? We can "reduce pressure" all the way up to having only 2 saturdays allowed for the entire state on public land. That still won't solve the issue which is that we don't have enough good habitat and it is DNRs job to fix that. I've been told too much about the good old days of SC duck hunting to believe that we can't bring things back toward that era to some extent.

  2. #102
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Posts
    2,773

    Default

    My biggest issue is the way it will be used. Statistics for dummies…. Let’s see harvest data from this year ski how many wood ducks it saves… I am willing to bet the same number of wood ducks or close to the same number report being harvested with less days afield. They will say this is better quality hunts and the average bird per hunt per day has gone up and therefore SCDNR’s management was successful…..

    When in reality we need to move the wood duck limit down we need to provide better habitat amount a lot of other things. So we will see….
    “Duck hunting gives a man a chance to see the loneliest places …blinds washed by a rolling surf, blue and gold autumn marshes, …a rice field in the rain, flooded pin-oak forests or any remote river delta. In duck hunting the scene is as important as the shooting.” ~ Erwin Bauer, The Duck Hunter’s Bible, 1965

  3. #103
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    SC
    Posts
    24,412

    Default

    When the average daily harvest is 2 or less,.....reducing the limit doesn't do anything significant.

    To reduce the harvest, you reduce the days in the field..


    That's proven science.

    Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk

  4. #104
    Join Date
    Jan 2020
    Posts
    1,171

    Default

    Jimmy, it will never again be like the old days.

    Once you accept that and quit punching air and complaining, you will learn to make do with what we have and find that you enjoy it more.

    There are plenty of people in SC that have very successful hunts for all types of game.

  5. #105
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    Upstate, SC
    Posts
    2,395

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by JimmyD714 View Post
    Literally the only thing this regulation will accomplish is a LOT more pressure on Saturdays.

    Maybe duck hunting pressure on public land wouldn't be so miserable if we had more areas that were attractive waterfowl. Crazy idea, huh? Limiting hunter opportunity, on public land only, is doing nothing to produce more waterfowl.

    Habitat improvement produces more waterfowl. BUT, that requires actual work to be put in. Sweat, effort, hours, all things that are more difficult than just dropping a BS regulation on us and saying "look at us doing waterfowl management!"
    You ain’t wrong.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  6. #106
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Ballard's Landing
    Posts
    15,425

    Default

    No he’s not.
    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.

  7. #107
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Manning
    Posts
    11,377

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by BOGSTER View Post
    The nuts and bolts of this state’s problems in terms of waterfowl can be summed up pretty easily.

    In general, South Carolina doesn’t care about public waterfowl hunting.
    In the mid 90s we morphed into privatizing ducks.

    SCDNR does not prioritize public waterfowl, they see is as a useless endeavor.

    When you bring that up, they’ll ring your ears about public opportunity on Category 1 WMAs, strait faced as if that growing a decent crop of widgeon grass and allowing you to hunt it once every 5 years is enough public opportunity.

    Until DNR, or the legislature that controls it prioritizes waterfowl in South Carolina…… this is where we are.
    This right here is the number 1 problem for ALL game species in SC.
    Man and other animals were first vegetarians; then Noah and his sons were given permission to eat meat: “every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you” Genesis 9:3

    "A man may not care for golf and still be human, but the man who does not like to see, hunt, photograph or otherwise outwit birds or animals is hardly normal. He is supercivilized, and I for one do not know how to deal with him." Aldo Leopold

  8. #108
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    In my own little world
    Posts
    20,980

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by scduckcmdr View Post
    I need more quota in Prosperity! My truck cuts off north of Clinton, east of Blair, west of Ninety Six, or south of Batesburg. I make a few exceptions in the winter. Hope you’re doing well Geno. Wouldn’t mind catching up sometime and having a high life or 12. I was thinking about the crackhead in the halo clapping an hollering at us. Glad you were in front with the .410 snake charmer bahaha.
    Shit I live near Prosperity and they be cutting wood damn near everywhere!
    RIP Kelsey "Bigdawg" Cromer
    12-26-98 12-1-13

    If love could have saved you, you would have lived forever.

    Missing you my great friend.


  9. #109
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Oklahoma
    Posts
    6,322

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by darealdeal View Post
    Yes but they also limit all access to these areas not just duck hunting. Kind of stupid to limit just those duck hunting when someone in a bass boat can push birds or someone scouting can push birds. Wood duck limit is still 3 pressure will still happen. Changes nothing but make people think they are trying without spending money and managing habitat.
    Sounds about right.
    Similar to all wanting to limit afternoon hunting and things, but forget duck hunters aren't the only reason to be on the water. Crabbers, fisherman etc.
    what a concept. Only been hearing it since 2006.
    Quote Originally Posted by trentsmith View Post
    Honestly I don't remember why I don't like you but I do remember that I don't like you.

  10. #110
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    SC
    Posts
    24,412

    Default

    One thing that needs to be mentioned when it comes to disturbance,....there's a big difference between a boat, hiker,scouter,kayak, or atv disturbing ducks and a 3 inch magnum(or 2) being emptied a close range.

    Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk
    Last edited by Catdaddy; 08-02-2022 at 10:13 PM.

  11. #111
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    South Florida
    Posts
    2,424

    Default

    Aside from impoundments (that dnr already wastes) in what ways would you support wood duck and hooded merganser habitat improvement on the national forest? It's already old growth hardwoods in the bottoms. What is yalls recommendations for "habitat improvement" for a duck hole that doesn't even have ducks barely fly over it to begin with?
    "Hunt today to kill tomorrow." - Ron Jolly

  12. #112
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Ballard's Landing
    Posts
    15,425

    Default

    This is an important point tman.

    In my honest opinion, habitat improvements in these areas would offer minimal returns, given the little I know about the areas.

    Valley beaver sloughs and woodland potholes in SNF and lowland cypress brakes, bays, old rice canals in FMNF.

    That there is primarily wood duck habitat and that is all it will ever be without extremely altering these areas.
    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.

  13. #113
    Join Date
    Jun 2022
    Location
    Upstate
    Posts
    1,688

    Default

    Is there no planting that can be done in the woodland potholes in SNF along the rivers? Yea they're primarily wood duck and merg habitat now, and not many unfortunately. But the water levels fluctuate quite a bit as the Enoree and Tyger rivers flood. So surely that can be controlled and planted.

    There is a Cat 2 along the Tyger that is planted and the DNR actually does a good job with it. Every time I've gone to look at it, the habitat looks great and holds a decent number of ducks. Nothing outstanding but better than the 6 or so you'd find in the right non-planted woodland pothole. I wouldn't recommend hunting it though. Like I said, I went one time and never returned. Way too many people crammed in there. Which brings me to my point..

    Why can't they do that with a lot more available potholes along the rivers running through the SNF? Same as they flood that Cat 2 from the Tyger - control water levels on several more of the potholes and plant them. That way, when Saturday rolls around, the hunters who are now only allowed to hunt Saturdays will have more options to spread out some pressure. And overall the SNF will attract more waterfowl because of having more planted areas. So as those places get shot up, they just may land in one of the less pressured potholes for refuge.

    I'm not against taking away some opportunity to reduce pressure. I'm against taking away the opportunity and getting nothing in return. Way I see it, this just increases the pressure on Saturdays, produces the same (low) number of ducks, and nobody wins.

  14. #114
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Ballard's Landing
    Posts
    15,425

    Default

    I agree with your last statement regarding “taking away opportunities and getting nothing in return.”

    As far as DNR or USFWS going in and hand sewing woodland pot holes, that aint gonna happen.

    If I lived and hunted up there, I certainly would consider buying a few bags of jap millet every year and doing it myself, not telling a soul.

    Ps- it’s prime jap planting time right now…
    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.

  15. #115
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Posts
    2,773

    Default

    So my thing with this is not the management aspect or lack there of... It is the restrictions and the manipulation of data that will occur to impose new restrictions other places.

    Think... So how many hunters actually walk in to hunt these places during the week... I would bet not enough to influence the overall wood duck harvest. I would bet money it is not enough walking in to hunt during the week to influence the overall harvest of wood ducks. With the number of birds taken most likely staying the same the number of days those walking in taken down now to just 2 days... The number of days in the field will drop and the number of "quality" hunts or the average of birds per day will go up. Without actually doing anything other than restricting access. Think what they can do with that data that they influenced? If you don;t think they are going to do that why would they have not taken survey data before hand and data after to compare and contrast? Why not take a season or 2 to take data to get a good idea of the number of people using the areas during the week and get a good idea of the amount of pressure on the wood ducks in those areas.....

    Statistical manipulation to restrict hunter access later. I would bet money in 3 years times we will be adding new rules..... Restricting access because of how successful this one was.....
    “Duck hunting gives a man a chance to see the loneliest places …blinds washed by a rolling surf, blue and gold autumn marshes, …a rice field in the rain, flooded pin-oak forests or any remote river delta. In duck hunting the scene is as important as the shooting.” ~ Erwin Bauer, The Duck Hunter’s Bible, 1965

  16. #116
    Join Date
    Jun 2022
    Location
    Upstate
    Posts
    1,688

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by darealdeal View Post

    Statistical manipulation to restrict hunter access later. I would bet money in 3 years times we will be adding new rules..... Restricting access because of how successful this one was.....
    "successful" (using Dr. Evil air quotes)

    One thing about hunting restrictions, they never trend in favor of the hunter. They always get worse. There will never be another hunting season in the history of human existence that we are allowed to hunt SNF and FMNF 6 days a week again.

    If we're not careful with our pre-emptive celebrations of this rule, we'll get this extended to other public opportunities.

  17. #117
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Location
    Wateree, South Carolina
    Posts
    48,812

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by BOGSTER View Post

    Ps- it’s prime jap planting time right now…
    Yep.

  18. #118
    Join Date
    Jan 2020
    Posts
    1,171

    Default

    Question: Do you think quality of the hunt on NF’s will improve? Will the NF’s hold more ducks? At what point does this not seem like an improvement for the duck population in SC?

    Look at trends of wildlife since hunting began. Nothing ever increases. We will never have ducks like we did in the 70s. Plain and simple. We will never increase in trends. Changes in legislation like this are damage control; and they work.

    Enjoy what we have before it’s gone. If you don’t understand that the progress of mankind is the single leading factor of wildlife decline then you are blind. And the progress of mankind will never be reversed. Contribute what you can to groups that use it well, do what you can for what you have, and pray that your kids can enjoy a sliver of what we are enjoying right now.

    Hunting is a privilege, not a right.

  19. #119
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    GreenHood
    Posts
    13,836

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by FULLCHOKE View Post
    Question: Do you think quality of the hunt on NF’s will improve? Will the NF’s hold more ducks? At what point does this not seem like an improvement for the duck population in SC?

    Look at trends of wildlife since hunting began. Nothing ever increases. We will never have ducks like we did in the 70s. Plain and simple. We will never increase in trends. Changes in legislation like this are damage control; and they work.

    Enjoy what we have before it’s gone. If you don’t understand that the progress of mankind is the single leading factor of wildlife decline then you are blind. And the progress of mankind will never be reversed. Contribute what you can to groups that use it well, do what you can for what you have, and pray that your kids can enjoy a sliver of what we are enjoying right now.

    Hunting is a privilege, not a right.
    If you believe that last line then no wonder we as hunters are losing ground
    Last edited by Duck cutter; 08-04-2022 at 05:41 AM.
    Houndsmen are born, not made

    Quote Originally Posted by 2thDoc View Post
    I STAND WITH DUCK CUTTER!
    Quote Originally Posted by JABIII View Post
    I knew it wasn't real because no dogbox...

  20. #120
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    In a house
    Posts
    8,437

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by cajunwannabe View Post
    I'm all for the limiting disturbance, now ban surface drive mud boats and open the federal refuges to duck hunting 2 days per week, PADDLE IN ONLY.
    Why not ban the person driving the surface drive? Yall be killing me blaming surface drives for the reason we have no ducks. It's lack of food, weather and irresponsible hunters. It's the same as blaming the gun for killing someone.
    Last edited by coot nasty; 08-21-2022 at 10:36 PM.
    "I'm just a victim of a circumstance"

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •