Kennedy letter to the US FWS

**cajunwannabe** · 01-07-2026, 08:24 PM

We got whistling tree duck season in October in S Louisiana and Senator Kennedy is pushing to ban corn ponds......it's a great day for the public duck hunter!

For those who need corn ponds to kill a duck, does moist soil management not work for you? If not, why not?

Is there any possibility that the decline in duck numbers could be due to GMO, roundup resistant crops, herbicides, pesticides adversely affecting egg development? Look at the "health" of the American population and our diet. We are what we eat right?

What has ingesting zebra mussels done to Greater and Lesser Scaup? I believe their population has been cut in half from numbers I saw as a kid. Hard to remove billions of filter feeders from the Great Lakes but corn ponds on the other hand are man made and controllable.

**Calibogue** · 01-07-2026, 08:29 PM

I have no problem with managing natural veg, but MRP needs to be addressed first.

**12341234** · 01-07-2026, 09:21 PM

Originally Posted by Calibogue

I plant and flood corn, rice and other crops as well as natural veg.
I will get behind stopping the practice only after MRP in all forms has been made illegal.

Easy now, your going to take their corn and their live decoys, how will they ever kill a ring neck again.

**Catdaddy** · 01-07-2026, 09:29 PM

There are less ducks migrating to Louisiana. That is a fact. There is evidence to suggest the folks in Louisiana are barking up the wrong tree.

Warmer temperatures keep mallards closer to the breeding grounds. The calender ducks are still coming.

Weaker dna has mallards not wanting to migrate as far. They have documented DNA evidence that the mallards that stay or only migrate a short distance have more farm mallard DNA than the mallards migrating further south(ex=Arkansas).

Also there is a study going on Arkansas with gps collared mallards. They were captured late season in Arkansas. They all showed back up in Arkansas by mid December. Not one got short stopped by midwestern corn ponds. How do you explain that?

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**cajunwannabe** · 01-07-2026, 10:00 PM

Originally Posted by Catdaddy

There are less ducks migrating to Louisiana. That is a fact. There is evidence to suggest the folks in Louisiana are barking up the wrong tree.

Warmer temperatures keep mallards closer to the breeding grounds. The calender ducks are still coming.

Weaker dna has mallards not wanting to migrate as far. They have documented DNA evidence that the mallards that stay or only migrate a short distance have more farm mallard DNA than the mallards migrating further south(ex=Arkansas).

Also there is a study going on Arkansas with gps collared mallards. They were captured late season in Arkansas. They all showed back up in Arkansas by mid December. Not one got short stopped by midwestern corn ponds. How do you explain that?

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What calendar ducks? We used to see Pintail during early teal season in S La. We used to see tons of ducks by November 1st. The "calendar ducks" have been declining steadily for the last 9 years. This past Nov saw a jump from the aerial count but it was the worst duck opener ever for most of my crew.

I don't think many corn ponds are flooded in late October or early November so......where are the calendar ducks or do they just not exist? Why the steady decline? We have to "trust the science" right? Seems the bar gets lowered and we continue to pound the ducks with liberal seasons and limits. I'm at a loss.

**pee dee** · 01-07-2026, 10:20 PM

The percent farm mallard in the gene pool goes down the further west you go across the US. I believe that is mainly a red herring to keep the season 60 days and 6 ducks. I believe the Mississippi flyways game Farm Mallard percentage is about a third of ours. I would say that they have the data that shows their numbers are down way more than a third of their numbers in harvest and duck counts. These ducks are getting hammered from Canada to the Gulf. Outfitters are running 20 guns in a dry field I think it is really hard for people to do the right thing when money is involved. Definitely putting their money and interest ahead of the resource.

**pee dee** · 01-07-2026, 10:23 PM

Do our woodducks have game farm genetics too? Is that the reason we don’t have the numbers? The ducks we do have here get unimprinted off of whole swamp…region…states bc they are getting the snot beat out of them.

**ceddy** · 01-07-2026, 11:02 PM

I’ll post the same response to it here that I did on Arkansas Duck hunters. The issue is far greater than just corn ponds, going after corn ponds makes him look like a toddler who doesn’t like someone else playing with a toy.

So we pick and choose what we want to believe.
Let's not discuss long-term climate changes, changes in agriculture practices and advancements in combines, filling in of wetlands in urban areas, release of mallards and the inferiority of their watered down genetics.
Or discuss record drought in the prairies, loss of habitat up and down all flyways, and duck numbers close to those of the 3 and 30 days. Or how about one that everyone can change, the reduction of pressure on what ducks we do have. Let's take a poll of how many of those that oppose flooded crops will do one more thing for the ducks other than run their mouths. Using deep water wells to keep water open should absolutely be outlawed. I still have yet to see the heated ponds so many of you talk about. Without people spending the money to plant, flood, and control pressure on birds, there would be no birds for anyone to hunt. Just look at the loss of songbirds. That isn't due to heated flooded fields. We have a habitat loss issue. If people can no longer manage habitat for waterfowl, we will have a much larger problem than we have now.

Rubberhead* · 01-08-2026, 06:04 AM

I'm with Kennedy on this. I hope this is just a start, a peeling back of the layers, if you will. To jump straight to 3/30, would rile the corn pond owners and the public hunters. One brick at a time is the only way to tear down the 'pay wall' protecting unnecessarily high limits, unsupportedly long seasons, and unprecedented methods for killing ducks.

We've devalued ducks to the point where one well-hunted dead duck is meaningless to most hunters. It takes a daily pile of dead ducks to satisfy modern hunters and the purveyors of their dead ducks. It was duck management policy that de-valued dead ducks to the point where we are now. The good news is that policy adjustments can fix this known problem.

**Catdaddy** · 01-08-2026, 08:08 AM

I'm ready for 3 and 30. With 3 and 30, I would still plant my little impoundment and just not hunt it. I enjoy watching them and leave it flooded until March 15th.

Also Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Alberta need to adopt Manitoba's regulations
............you can only hunt for 7 days, no exceptions.
The outfitters are a big part of the problem in Canada with an easy 8 duck limit.

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**tprice** · 01-08-2026, 08:10 AM

Since ducks are coming out of Canada and northern parts they quite migrating to Louisiana since it is so close to the border , worried ICE agents might start shooting them

Seriously the 30/3 would help more than anything but probably never happen

**Relentlous** · 01-08-2026, 08:59 AM

30/3 would definitely give the birds a chance to rest and reestablish themselves in places they historically should be. The pressure is unreal honestly. Go take a walk in the SNWR. That’s what no pressure looks like on the lake. Those birds aren’t sitting in corn either.

**fro** · 01-08-2026, 09:07 AM

Originally Posted by Calibogue

The disparity between what is acceptable for doves versus Ducks is lunacy!

What's lunacy is an actual discussion on ducks here...

**drwilly** · 01-08-2026, 09:23 AM

so why 30/3 and not 30/6 or 30/4? is the limit or number of days the problem. imo 60/3 isnt near as impactful as 30/6 for example. it's not so much the numbers killed by hunters as it is the number of people and days pressuring them. 30/3 obviously is "better" but the limit isn't the big issue imo. I guess my question is why is limit and number of days a package deal as if it has to be 60/6 or 30/3? thoughts?

**Catdaddy** · 01-08-2026, 09:27 AM

Originally Posted by drwilly

so why 30/3 and not 30/6 or 30/4? is the limit or number of days the problem. imo 60/3 isnt near as impactful as 30/6 for example. it's not so much the numbers killed by hunters as it is the number of people and days pressuring them. 30/3 obviously is "better" but the limit isn't the big issue imo. I guess my question is why is limit and number of days a package deal as if it has to be 60/6 or 30/3? thoughts?

The number of days actually controls the harvest. The limit is not as important since the average daily harvest is less than 2 per day.

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**Highstrung** · 01-08-2026, 09:29 AM

I'd vote for 30/3.. or 30/4. If they'd drop the woodduck limit back to 2. Less pressured days. I believe keeping it at 6 would cause more water time by goobers, just my own simple opinion. I guess we acknowledge the dwindling population, and you could end every release pond the first day of enacting it as well if it was up to me.

Then doves, cut the limit back to 12, and allow broadcasting.. what we've done with that is boogery in my opinion as well.