Post-Season 2019-2020

Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby Duck Engr » Thu Jun 04, 2020 6:26 pm

If they’re in the cottonmouth killin business y’all need to shooo a few over my way.
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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby BGkirk » Fri Jun 05, 2020 6:35 am

Some field hunters were asking me how bad the cotton mouths were in the marsh the other night while catching frogs and so I could only think of 3 times I’ve seen one. I figured the gators keep the population down. They mentioned frogging in crawfish fields and every other step was a snake..... I’ll stick to the marsh !


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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby Rick » Fri Jun 05, 2020 7:34 am

Weenie.
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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby Darren » Mon Jun 08, 2020 12:37 pm

Tropical Storm Cristobal crawled ashore in SE La yesterday at a slow 5-7 mph packing winds of 50 mph, unfortunately mostly from the east. Surge at the Shell Beach camp peaked yesterday around 5 feet above normal. Station below accounts for most of that:

Capture.JPG



Has fallen nicely already, thankfully we were able to get down there Friday to pick up bay boat and other items that may have been inundated, no damage to camp. Spent friday night and headed out late Saturday morning. Likely had water in (and over) our blinds in the marsh but don't anticipate losing them.......we'll see later in summer when I take a ride to lease.

Heading down this Friday to fish and do some cleanup on the dock/slab.
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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby Darren » Mon Jun 29, 2020 8:02 am

No chatter on this for the 2021 season and the 4 more seasons to follow thereafter?

https://www.louisianasportsman.com/hunt ... es-splits/

Options on table at the moment:

Capture1.JPG


OR

Capture2.JPG


To be presented at July commission meeting


Wouldn't want to see the E/W zone as shown and have Venice managed the same way as Mer Rouge, just makes zero sense and you'll never get agreement with a Mer Rouge hunter and a Venice (or Delacroix, etc.) hunter on when to open and close the seasons.

The North/South would be more palatable and likely would be fine, though still does not address what has been noted as an issue to some (though ideal for others, depends who you ask) regarding the Lake Pontchartrain marshes being in a different zone than those below Highway 90, thus serves as an early season refuge when south of 90 is open but north of it is closed with identical habitat type.

Some, including myself for many years, see it as a way to extend their season, but other swear their birds just hop over the road and sit tight and safe for the times when the seasons dont overlap. This is basically the same premise for those that don't like having Highway 14 being the dividing line of rice country, with same rice habitat on either side.
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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby DComeaux » Mon Jun 29, 2020 1:29 pm

I like the North/South zone. We could close the first week of January to get the pressure off of the marsh and let imprinting begin. I could dump a few tons of corn over time and until they head north. Further south migrators would love the buffet stop.
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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby Darren » Mon Jun 29, 2020 2:10 pm

DComeaux wrote:I like the North/South zone. We could close the first week of January to get the pressure off of the marsh and let imprinting begin.


I'd get behind this for Coastal Zone and have EZ close the following week, BUT, you'd have riots in the streets if such dates were ever set.

GOT TO HUNT INTO FEBRUARY, NO BIRDS IN LA TIL THEN!! :lol:
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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby Ducaholic » Mon Jun 29, 2020 2:25 pm

East Zone should mimic Arkansas's season day for day but it won't happen. LDWF/Larry/Commission have been hung up on hunting as many weekends as possible and with opening days on Saturday for years. I think we see the East/North Zone open on the 2nd Saturday of November going forward rather than the 3rd as is the case now to allow for the second split and closing on the 31st of January regardless of what day it falls on should we end up with a two zone scenario. That will satisfy those that want to hunt early and those that want to hunt late.
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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby Ducaholic » Mon Jun 29, 2020 2:57 pm

As Rick likes to say if you think I'm wrong you may be right. LDWF just may prove me wrong or so I'm told where the East/North Zone season dates are concerned.
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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby DComeaux » Mon Jun 29, 2020 4:07 pm

Darren wrote:GOT TO HUNT INTO FEBRUARY, NO BIRDS IN LA TIL THEN!! :lol:



It has always bothered me knowing we're shooting into mated pairs in December and January and possibly a bit earlier, and it seems to bother me more now that I'm older. I love to duck hunt and have for a long time, but I feel we're taking advantage (read being greedy) of a wild living things used just for our enjoyment. There are many that don't even eat wild duck but duck hunt. I know of a couple personally and I'm sure some of you do as well. There is no "NEED" to run these birds into the ground every year just because we can. It's not like we need them to survive. If one likes to shoot there is always trap and skeet.

Seeing the sky filled with ducks is as much a reward for me as a "limit". Just knowing they're around is enjoyable. I would just like to see waterfowl hunting manged differently.
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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby SpinnerMan » Mon Jun 29, 2020 10:37 pm

Geese mate for life, so you are shooting mated pairs no matter when you hunt. Hen mallards are sluts and drakes rapists. I read somewhere but I can't find it but most clutches don't have one daddy. Does anyone know the statistics on that? Is duck pairing more like the guy following the chick around at the bar or a real pair that lasts. Normal behavior around here during nesting is for drakes to be sitting on the pond and a hen will swoop over and give a "hey boys" call and they all jump immediately and then you can watch them chase her around for quite awhile. Maybe I am wrong but I don't think that pair is bonded. Geese in the other hand, shoot one and get on the call because there is a good chance you can call the mate back, at least with Canadas. I do it all the time. I had one land with the dead mate and stand guard.
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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby Rick » Tue Jun 30, 2020 4:50 am

SpinnerMan wrote:Hen mallards are sluts and drakes rapists. I read somewhere but I can't find it but most clutches don't have one daddy. Does anyone know the statistics on that?


Has been my understanding that the production ideal is for pairs to bond and get away from the crowd early on so that the hen is free to take it easy and be in the best possible condition for motherhood. And that not being paired puts her back in the bars and physically worn down from dodging pickup artists and rapist when she eventually finds Mr. Right or gets knocked up in a gang bang.
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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby Ducaholic » Tue Jun 30, 2020 6:01 am

DComeaux wrote:
It has always bothered me knowing we're shooting into mated pairs in December and January and possibly a bit earlier, and it seems to bother me more now that I'm older. I love to duck hunt and have for a long time, but I feel we're taking advantage (read being greedy) of a wild living things used just for our enjoyment. [/quote]




Then you won't like what could be coming down the pike in terms of coastal zone season dates.

And I would caution you to never forget it's scientifically proven that 90% of what makes a duck a duck happens on the breeding grounds. Somewhere in that 10% is hunter mortality and it's also scientifically proven that hunting is not additive meaning it does not impact the species survival rate.
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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby Darren » Tue Jun 30, 2020 7:30 am

Ducaholic wrote:East Zone should mimic Arkansas's season day for day but it won't happen. LDWF/Larry/Commission have been hung up on hunting as many weekends as possible and with opening days on Saturday for years. I think we see the East/North Zone open on the 2nd Saturday of November going forward rather than the 3rd as is the case now to allow for the second split and closing on the 31st of January regardless of what day it falls on should we end up with a two zone scenario. That will satisfy those that want to hunt early and those that want to hunt late.


My interactions have indicated that this is driven not by the regulators but the public outcry for losing a weekend. The average Joe hunter cannot make an opener on Friday, (muchless another weekday), as we saw from the Friday teal opener a few years back. I was a big fan of it, will make it regardless, but they caught a lot of hell for doing that........yes even though other states do the same thing.

No one I can think of is looking for an East Zone opener on the 2nd weekend, if anything they're wanting a later opener and running straight days if that were possible. (Recall my fights of years back to keep an EZ youth day on front end of season, to which some northeast La hunters argued they didn't have any ducks and/or had no water in first couple of weeks of Nov.)
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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby DComeaux » Tue Jun 30, 2020 7:39 am

DComeaux wrote:It has always bothered me knowing we're shooting into mated pairs in December and January and possibly a bit earlier, and it seems to bother me more now that I'm older. I love to duck hunt and have for a long time, but I feel we're taking advantage (read being greedy) of a wild living things used just for our enjoyment.





Ducaholic wrote: Then you won't like what could be coming down the pike in terms of coastal zone season dates.

And I would caution you to never forget it's scientifically proven that 90% of what makes a duck a duck happens on the breeding grounds. Somewhere in that 10% is hunter mortality and it's also scientifically proven that hunting is not additive meaning it does not impact the species survival rate.



I'm aware of the science on hunter mortality I just don't think we should harass the birds to no end just because. IMO The conservationist (managers) have lost site of the goal, probably due to influence and money.

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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby Darren » Tue Jun 30, 2020 8:15 am

"hunter's rifle" :lol:
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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby DComeaux » Tue Jun 30, 2020 8:35 am

SpinnerMan wrote:Geese mate for life, so you are shooting mated pairs no matter when you hunt.


I'm well aware of that and have a recurring well etched memory of a time we took only one of a pair of speckle bellies. I would rather we had taken both and do push for that, but he or she was missed. I'm not going to go into detail of what I experienced but those high lone specs we see flying over mid morning yodeling non stop are probably involved in that same situation.

I've always been aware of pair bonding, mating rituals and timing but it seems those thoughts have migrated more to the front of my brain as I've aged, so to speak. I've always said that I have more respect and compassion for wildlife and domesticated animals than I do most humans. We were given the ability of thought and reason and we screw that up. Their struggle is to survive and reproduce.
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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby DComeaux » Tue Jun 30, 2020 8:39 am

Darren wrote:"hunter's rifle" :lol:



Heard tell of some drive by sniping taking place for bands, so you never know.
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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby Darren » Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:01 am

DComeaux wrote:
Darren wrote:"hunter's rifle" :lol:



Heard tell of some drive by sniping taking place for bands, so you never know.


no doubt! Stacks of bands mean you are the ultimate duck/goose slayer, for sure.


Stumbled on an old newscast from my hometown region for Thanksgiving 1994, which of course included a weather forecast for the days to follow T-giving....

weather 1994.jpg


So next time someone tries to claim that it doesn't get cold any more like it "always" used to, I'm glad to point them to a chunk of the season in 1994 when it was not cold at all then either.
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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby Johnc » Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:34 am

DComeaux wrote:
SpinnerMan wrote:Geese mate for life, so you are shooting mated pairs no matter when you hunt.


I'm well aware of that and have a recurring well etched memory of a time we took only one of a pair of speckle bellies. I would rather we had taken both and do push for that, but he or she was missed. I'm not going to go into detail of what I experienced but those high lone specs we see flying over mid morning yodeling non stop are probably involved in that same situation.

I've always been aware of pair bonding, mating rituals and timing but it seems those thoughts have migrated more to the front of my brain as I've aged, so to speak. I've always said that I have more respect and compassion for wildlife and domesticated animals than I do most humans. We were given the ability of thought and reason and we screw that up. Their struggle is to survive and reproduce.



See this multiple times a year with specks. They even will leave the farm and come back looking for partner hours later.
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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby DComeaux » Tue Jun 30, 2020 10:31 am

Darren wrote:
DComeaux wrote:
Darren wrote:"hunter's rifle" :lol:



Heard tell of some drive by sniping taking place for bands, so you never know.


no doubt! Stacks of bands mean you are the ultimate duck/goose slayer, for sure.


Stumbled on an old newscast from my hometown region for Thanksgiving 1994, which of course included a weather forecast for the days to follow T-giving....

weather 1994.jpg


So next time someone tries to claim that it doesn't get cold any more like it "always" used to, I'm glad to point them to a chunk of the season in 1994 when it was not cold at all then either.


I've said it numerous times, our winters are not and have never been cold down here. Sure we get a frigid front every now and again with short lived cold temps, but for the most part we have mild weather. The birds would trade between here and Arkansas on these "warm ups". I've witnessed many times these fowl headed north, as Rick puts it, "going to meet the front". We just don't get the birds in any numbers to see this anymore. Knowing what I know now, the saying by the old timers that it's not cold enough translates to we need a front.
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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby Ducaholic » Tue Jun 30, 2020 12:25 pm

DComeaux wrote:
SpinnerMan wrote:Geese mate for life, so you are shooting mated pairs no matter when you hunt.


I'm well aware of that and have a recurring well etched memory of a time we took only one of a pair of speckle bellies. I would rather we had taken both and do push for that, but he or she was missed. I'm not going to go into detail of what I experienced but those high lone specs we see flying over mid morning yodeling non stop are probably involved in that same situation.

I've always been aware of pair bonding, mating rituals and timing but it seems those thoughts have migrated more to the front of my brain as I've aged, so to speak. I've always said that I have more respect and compassion for wildlife and domesticated animals than I do most humans. We were given the ability of thought and reason and we screw that up. Their struggle is to survive and reproduce.



I could be totally wrong but I think our lack of success of late is impacting your thinking. You believe somehow if we reduced pressure, hunted fewer days, and lowered the limit ducks and geese would suddenly return in numbers of years gone by. I arrived at that conclusion based on our conversations and your recent comments. I’m sad to admit nothing will change so long as preferred habitat continues to grow to our north. Just have to make the best of it!
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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby Ducaholic » Tue Jun 30, 2020 12:34 pm

Darren wrote:
Ducaholic wrote:East Zone should mimic Arkansas's season day for day but it won't happen. LDWF/Larry/Commission have been hung up on hunting as many weekends as possible and with opening days on Saturday for years. I think we see the East/North Zone open on the 2nd Saturday of November going forward rather than the 3rd as is the case now to allow for the second split and closing on the 31st of January regardless of what day it falls on should we end up with a two zone scenario. That will satisfy those that want to hunt early and those that want to hunt late.


My interactions have indicated that this is driven not by the regulators but the public outcry for losing a weekend. The average Joe hunter cannot make an opener on Friday, (muchless another weekday), as we saw from the Friday teal opener a few years back. I was a big fan of it, will make it regardless, but they caught a lot of hell for doing that........yes even though other states do the same thing.

No one I can think of is looking for an East Zone opener on the 2nd weekend, if anything they're wanting a later opener and running straight days if that were possible. (Recall my fights of years back to keep an EZ youth day on front end of season, to which some northeast La hunters argued they didn't have any ducks and/or had no water in first couple of weeks of Nov.)



As you are aware I’ve been involved for a while now. Been on both sides of the fence. It’s a combination of things but I’m happy to report going forward beyond 2020 if a certain person suggestions are followed we may have fewer days in November, more days in December and a season that runs to Jan 31 for better or worse.
Folks are going to have to get used to opening a split on a day that is not Saturday and closing a season out on a day that is not Sunday every year.

It’s past time that we hunt when the hunting is best. And you are right we won’t be opening any earlier.
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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby SpinnerMan » Tue Jun 30, 2020 1:54 pm

Rick wrote:
SpinnerMan wrote:Hen mallards are sluts and drakes rapists. I read somewhere but I can't find it but most clutches don't have one daddy. Does anyone know the statistics on that?


Has been my understanding that the production ideal is for pairs to bond and get away from the crowd early on so that the hen is free to take it easy and be in the best possible condition for motherhood. And that not being paired puts her back in the bars and physically worn down from dodging pickup artists and rapist when she eventually finds Mr. Right or gets knocked up in a gang bang.

Park duck mating is not for the faint of heart. They don't seem to have any problem making lots of baby ducks. However, that doesn't mean they are producing more or less duckling per hen than if it was more gentile. Of course, it seems like the overwhelming most important factor is weather. The rest seems like a far distant second that's probably hard to sort out scientifically because weather and habitat conditions are so much more important.

If they lose a mate, do they just pair up right away. My guess is the biggest factor is duck density. Even if paired up, as soon as the hen goes off to nest, drake is going to chase the next tail he sees while momma is off nesting and dropping eggs. Low densities and they can get away. High densities and they cannot get away. There are more guys than gals and the guys just ain't going to leave the gals alone even if they are paired up.

I'd be interested in the science. Obviously, I'm not necessarily observing normal mallard behavior when watching park ducks.

Darren wrote:My interactions have indicated that this is driven not by the regulators but the public outcry for losing a weekend.

I'm a firm believer in no hunting on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. In PA, with no Sunday hunting. They still get 60 days of hunting season but with a 6 day week instead of a 7. A 6 day week is 10 weeks and a 7 day week is 8.6 weeks. Now, no Sunday hunting is insane but, adding a week and a half to the season is great, so make midweek, your no hunting days. A split season and no hunting midweek, that'd be my ideal. More weekends and a longer season so early or late, more options for people that get what they like and for year over year variations of weather.

Darren wrote:no doubt! Stacks of bands mean you are the ultimate duck/goose slayer, for sure.

Of course it does. That's the reason I have 13 band and not because they band the geese at the park that borders my club. :lol:

8 of 13 banded in Plainfield and shot in Plainfield. Obviously, that means I'm awesome :mrgreen:
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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby DComeaux » Tue Jun 30, 2020 2:12 pm

Ducaholic wrote:
DComeaux wrote:
SpinnerMan wrote:Geese mate for life, so you are shooting mated pairs no matter when you hunt.


I'm well aware of that and have a recurring well etched memory of a time we took only one of a pair of speckle bellies. I would rather we had taken both and do push for that, but he or she was missed. I'm not going to go into detail of what I experienced but those high lone specs we see flying over mid morning yodeling non stop are probably involved in that same situation.

I've always been aware of pair bonding, mating rituals and timing but it seems those thoughts have migrated more to the front of my brain as I've aged, so to speak. I've always said that I have more respect and compassion for wildlife and domesticated animals than I do most humans. We were given the ability of thought and reason and we screw that up. Their struggle is to survive and reproduce.



I could be totally wrong but I think our lack of success of late is impacting your thinking. You believe somehow if we reduced pressure, hunted fewer days, and lowered the limit ducks and geese would suddenly return in numbers of years gone by. I arrived at that conclusion based on our conversations and your recent comments. I’m sad to admit nothing will change so long as preferred habitat continues to grow to our north. Just have to make the best of it!


Nah, that's not my thinking at all, and I'm not really sure whats up with the migration as is anyone else, but I do have strong beliefs. I do agree that this preferred habitat (AKA buffets) do and will play a significant role in the demise of waterfowl hunting in this state.
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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby DComeaux » Tue Jun 30, 2020 2:23 pm

SpinnerMan wrote:Of course it does. That's the reason I have 13 band and not because they band the geese at the park that borders my club. :lol:

9 of 13 banded in Plainfield and shot in Plainfield. Obviously, that means I'm awesome :mrgreen:


It has puzzled me over the years as to why they even bother banding those Canada's. What is it that they are researching? Is it to get a taxpayer funded, research program, heaviest call lanyard winner? I've seen posts in the past of a group wiping out a whole flock in a single volley that were banded the day before in an adjacent field. I'm just not understanding the logic, and more importantly the waste in this.
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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby DComeaux » Tue Jun 30, 2020 2:35 pm

Ducaholic wrote:

As you are aware I’ve been involved for a while now. Been on both sides of the fence. It’s a combination of things but I’m happy to report going forward beyond 2020 if a certain person suggestions are followed we may have fewer days in November, more days in December and a season that runs to Jan 31 for better or worse.
Folks are going to have to get used to opening a split on a day that is not Saturday and closing a season out on a day that is not Sunday every year.

It’s past time that we hunt when the hunting is best. And you are right we won’t be opening any earlier.


Will be interesting to see how this plays out.
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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby SpinnerMan » Tue Jun 30, 2020 3:27 pm

DComeaux wrote:
Ducaholic wrote:
DComeaux wrote:
SpinnerMan wrote:Geese mate for life, so you are shooting mated pairs no matter when you hunt.


I'm well aware of that and have a recurring well etched memory of a time we took only one of a pair of speckle bellies. I would rather we had taken both and do push for that, but he or she was missed. I'm not going to go into detail of what I experienced but those high lone specs we see flying over mid morning yodeling non stop are probably involved in that same situation.

I've always been aware of pair bonding, mating rituals and timing but it seems those thoughts have migrated more to the front of my brain as I've aged, so to speak. I've always said that I have more respect and compassion for wildlife and domesticated animals than I do most humans. We were given the ability of thought and reason and we screw that up. Their struggle is to survive and reproduce.



I could be totally wrong but I think our lack of success of late is impacting your thinking. You believe somehow if we reduced pressure, hunted fewer days, and lowered the limit ducks and geese would suddenly return in numbers of years gone by. I arrived at that conclusion based on our conversations and your recent comments. I’m sad to admit nothing will change so long as preferred habitat continues to grow to our north. Just have to make the best of it!


Nah, that's not my thinking at all, and I'm not really sure whats up with the migration as is anyone else, but I do have strong beliefs. I do agree that this preferred habitat (AKA buffets) do and will play a significant role in the demise of waterfowl hunting in this state.

I think it is several things. Decades ago we were wiping out wetlands. We have generally stopped doing that and have also invested a lot in refurbishing degraded wetlands. While the acreage is not going up that much, the quality, especially on large vital wetlands is going up a lot. I've seen a lot of places that had no wetlands or poor ones when I moved her that now hold a lot (for here) of waterfowl. While I think we are wiping out pheasant, rabbit, and such critters habitat with ethanol demands. We are building or rejuvenating quality wetlands.

https://www.louisianasportsman.com/hunting/waterfowl-duck-hunting/ducks/ending-louisianas-duck-detour/
a study from the University of Maryland found today’s climate conditions in Baton Rouge are similar to the climate conditions in Ciudad Gustavo Ordaz, Mexico more than 60 years ago, when the north-south distance between the cities is more than 300 miles.

Birds of all types and species are wintering farther north, a change taking place across the entire northern hemisphere.


“We know its true all around the globe,” Reynolds said. “The same type of white-fronted geese we have here in North America are wintering hundreds of miles farther north in Sweden.”


Another shocker: our wetlands are in a state of disarray. The Gulf of Mexico is continuously dissolving our coastal marsh, with about a third of our wetlands already lost since the 1930s. The remaining marsh is also being consumed by invasive pests like apple snails and nutria. Our native species are in another losing competition against non-natives like giant salvina, hyacinth and a host of others. Louisiana’s wetlands loss remains on a long-term trend of decline; it’s getting worse not better.

Remember the first “Duckmen” video? Phil Robinson and Warren Coco smashing greenheads, widgeon and grey ducks in flooded cypress swamp? That video was filmed in 1988 in the Maurepas Swamp.

“If you went to that same place today, it is a solid mat of giant salvina,” Reynolds said. “There hasn’t been a duck in there for 20 years.”


While the climate is warming, which naturally causes many species to winter further north. We are doing a lot up north to improve the quality of wetlands we have.

At the same time Louisiana’s natural habit declines, our rice production is also dropping, off 30% to 40% from historical highs. While our production declines, agriculture efficiency has improved. Thirty years ago the rice harvest left approximately 400 pounds per acre; today, it’s about 70 pounds per acre. That means there is 20% less waste grain available for foraging waterfowl.


The corn-producing acreage in the United States has increased by millions of acres over the past 20 years, a scale so large that waste grain can be found on the ground as late as spring.

“Species like snow geese are actually feeding on corn during their spring migration,” Reynolds said.

That's not just me saying there is plenty of corn to feed a massive amount of waterfowl in waste grain. Even Larry Reynolds is posting that there is still waste corn available in the spring.

Better wetlands, more feed (both waste grain and better wetlands), and warmer winters. And add on what sounds like rapidly deteriorating conditions in your part of the world, what do you think will happen?

“In Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois, they had their best year in the last 10 year. They averaged 1.9 ducks per hunter,” Reynolds said.

It’s a stark lesson in perception. Midwestern states’ best average harvest is equal to one of Louisiana’s worst.

That's what happens as you would expect.

And as we restore more wetlands up north, it will only hold more waterfowl because there is no shortage of food when the weather is milder to permit them to be there and where there are warm water discharges, they will be full to capacity when it does gets very cold so unless the snow gets very deep, that fraction of the birds are never leaving.
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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby Darren » Tue Jun 30, 2020 4:33 pm

DComeaux wrote:
SpinnerMan wrote:Of course it does. That's the reason I have 13 band and not because they band the geese at the park that borders my club. :lol:

9 of 13 banded in Plainfield and shot in Plainfield. Obviously, that means I'm awesome :mrgreen:


It has puzzled me over the years as to why they even bother banding those Canada's. What is it that they are researching? Is it to get a taxpayer funded, research program, heaviest call lanyard winner? I've seen posts in the past of a group wiping out a whole flock in a single volley that were banded the day before in an adjacent field. I'm just not understanding the logic, and more importantly the waste in this.


Yea I'd agree, DC, what are we accomplishing here? Guys literally target them for bands and collars, made easier by them being so large and slow to get out the spread.
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Darren
 
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Re: Post-Season 2019-2020

Postby SpinnerMan » Tue Jun 30, 2020 6:36 pm

DComeaux wrote:
SpinnerMan wrote:Of course it does. That's the reason I have 13 band and not because they band the geese at the park that borders my club. :lol:

9 of 13 banded in Plainfield and shot in Plainfield. Obviously, that means I'm awesome :mrgreen:


It has puzzled me over the years as to why they even bother banding those Canada's. What is it that they are researching? Is it to get a taxpayer funded, research program, heaviest call lanyard winner? I've seen posts in the past of a group wiping out a whole flock in a single volley that were banded the day before in an adjacent field. I'm just not understanding the logic, and more importantly the waste in this.

We are hunting two populations of Canadas. The MVP (Mississippi Valley Population) geese we don't want to harvest too many. The GCG (Golf Course Geese) we aren't harvesting enough of these sidewalkshitters. Actually it's Giant Canada Geese. So they want to keep close tabs on what we are harvesting. When I first started hunting in Illinois, we actually had a goose log sheet. When we shot a goose, we had to mark the sheet and then call it in by the end of the day. When we hit a certain harvest, they closed the season. Then they went to a fixed regular season, 2 goose limit. Last season they bumped it to three. We also get a lot, not nearly as many, banded MVP geese. It's a very complex problem managing two separate populations of Canadas. Even the GCG are not all locals and the population is growing and shifting. We get quite a few GCG from up north into lower Canada. That's why they do so much banding. It's a complex dynamic problem. And I think banding Golf Course Geese is very easy so the band a lot because it's cheap data.
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