Did you kill many birds this year? Do you know why?

[mottlet]

Yeah, everybody knows you can't kill ducks in a cotton field right?

The south delta has a problem with fields getting disked. Not sure about north of 82, but I'm pretty sure that the situation isn't quite as bad there. But driving around the south delta, one thing stands out. Lots of empty fields that have been disked. Not saying that you can't kill ducks in the south delta, but we'd kill a lot more if the empty oceans of dirt weren't quite as vast. Get more farmers to leave some stuff in the fields, you'll ease up the pressure a bit too.

Oh yeah, gotta have the weather.

mottlet

[Model12]

While I don't dissagree with the jest of this discussion...What I don't understand is why MANY and I do mean many groups, including ours, has consistantly killed a very good number of ducks in the same places every year for the last seven or eight. Sure Jan 2000 was a banner year, but this year was a very good year also. I believe that pressure on an area that just can't take it is a major problem. On the other hand if you're in an area that draws birds, it's hard to over pressure them. I don't know, maybe we have just been on an extended "lucky" streak....

[Wildfowler]

Not saying that you can't kill ducks in the south delta, but we'd kill a lot more if the empty oceans of dirt weren't quite as vast. Get more farmers to leave some stuff in the fields, you'll ease up the pressure a bit too.

Oh yeah, gotta have the weather.

mottlet

I've thought about that too. Wouldn't it be great if we could establish some sort of cooperative effort with delta landowners to actively manage their property for waterfowl in the off season. How much money would it really cost per acre for a non-hunting landowner not disk his field until February, and to hold water on his property ( assuming pipes were already in place ) in an effort to attract more waterfowl to the area.