Fowl Play - Duck, Goose, Waterfowl hunting forums, hunt information and Tips.

Little Dog......Big Goose.. 3 Years on!!!

Seems like only yesterday I penned that story.

So where are we now??
Sage (my Yellow Labrador) has gone to where all the good dogs go.....
She made it to 15 years and 3 days before she decided life was too much for her.
Dill is now 5, and we have 2 of her pups sleeping in front of the fire as I write this.
They (Buz, liver/white dog and Pix a black female, much like her mother) are now about to start their training.
Dill has retrieved a few more Geese, and hunted 100''s of Duck, Pheasant and Partridge.
She has turned out to be everything I could have asked for, and probably more than I deserved.
The Goose Field has been sold, but I still have the shooting on it for another 3 seasons.
I invited a pal from your side of the water to shoot with me in Scotland early October, and managed to get him his 1st Greylag Geese (A very pleasing right and left, with a borrowed English Sidelock).
And to top it all I''m now a Grandpa!.
My only hope now it that Lewis James, my grandson, will still be able to enjoy this sport when his time comes. But I fear the current political climate in England, will do its best to ensure my hopes and dreams are dashed.

Straight powder.......Sedgewort

When Pets become a Pest

Members ,
Be glad you don''t have this type of problem, or maybe you do. Unfortunately the problem is all to real here in Florida.
I have enclosed an article for you to browse at your leisure and would love to have your input on it.
Remember I have no problem with people having pets or farm animals. But this is a mess down here that has been and I have no real answer to the problem because the people who buy these domestic mallards become disenchanted with them in a relatively short(1 year) time. Then the real tragedy is they stop feeding them for whatever reason and eventually they end up in with the wild birds to a much smaller degree due to starvation and other attrition. Check this out:

http://www.wildflorida.org/mallard/

Draft Proposal on CWA Wetland Protection Would be Disastrous for Duck Production

BISMARCK, ND--"If ever sportsmen wanted their voices to be heard, now''s the time to speak out," says Rob Olson, director of US operations for Delta Waterfowl. Olson is referring to the Bush administration''s draft proposal to exclude seasonal and temporary wetlands from protection under the Clean Water Act, which was leaked last week to the Los Angeles Times. "This is the most serious threat to ducks and duck hunters in a long time," says Olson. "The administration''s draft proposal would strip seasonal and temporary wetlands of protection under the Clean Water Act, and that would be devastating for duck production. Every year would be like a drought on the prairies, and no one has to tell duck hunters what happens when we have a drought." Olson''s comments mirror the reaction from conservation leaders across the country. Julie Sibbing of the National Wildlife Federation said the decision, "...has the potential to just devastate waterfowl populations by taking away habitat both on the breeding grounds as well as in wintering areas."

More to read........

Gun Safety Reminder

You can''t undo a shot once it''s gone
Successful hunting starts with safety, Rich Landers says.
Rich Landers
The Spokesman-Review
September 25, 2003

Go ahead, hunters: Take your best shot.
And remember that when you chamber a round in your gun, the business at hand is serious.

Society seems to excuse people who drive tons of steel at lethal speeds on crowded public highways while dividing their attention with cell phone conversations.

But hunters know better.
More to read

Delta Waterfowl Announces Predator Management Results

BISMARCK, ND-Delta Waterfowl just completed its 10th and most successful
year of managing predators on the prairie breeding grounds.
"Nest success on our predator blocks was off the charts this year," says
Delta''s Vice President of Operations Rob Olson. "At our Cando site in
northeastern North Dakota we had a record 80.22 percent nest. We managed
predators on 36 square miles, and 80 percent of all the nests were
successful. That''s outstanding. The results from all six of our sites were
consistent with our long-term findings that predator management increases
the nest-success rates by 200 to 300 percent."
Scientists say nest success across the prairie breeding grounds slipped to
10 percent in the 1990s, well below the 15 to 20 percent rate necessary for
the duck population to expand. Research has shown that mammalian predators
are the major cause of nest failures, which is why Delta has undertaken
large-scale predator management.
Delta began studying the impact of predator management on duck production
in 1994 when it hired a trapper to remove predators from a 16-square-mile
block of land in the drift prairie of eastern North Dakota. The results were

Arkansas Sets Season Dates

Released August 28, 2003

Commission sets 2003-2004 migratory bird seasons

LITTLE ROCK - Waterfowl hunters will get 60 days of duck hunting in Arkansas. Commissioners from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission today approved the liberal season along with a six duck bag limit for the 2003-2004 waterfowl season.

Duck hunters will be allowed no more than four mallards of which only one mallard may be a hen. The daily bag limit may also contain one pintail, three mottled ducks, three scaup, two wood ducks, two redheads, one black duck and one canvasback, but no more than a total of six ducks.

The Great American Plowout Threatens Duck Production

August 18, 2003 The Great American Plowout Threatens Duck Production

BISMARCK, ND-It''s being called the "great American plowout", and it threatens some of North America''s finest duck breeding habitat. The habitat in question is located along the Missouri Coteau in South Dakota, a 10-county area where large blocks of native prairie and small wetlands exist in greater abundance than any other spot on the continent. In recent years huge tracts of this centuries-old grass have been plowed and put into crop production, and waterfowl management seems hamstrung to do anything about it. "Duck hunters are justifiably proud of the investment they''ve made in waterfowl habitat conservation," says Rob Olson, who heads up Delta Waterfowl''s US office here. "Right now the most pressing need for those dollars is to stop the carnage of these precious grasslands.

Texas State Championship Duck Calling Contest-Aug 16,2003

Texas State Championship Duck Calling Contest PO Box 5254, Katy,Tx 77450.3304 July 30, 2003 Contact: Newell Cheatheam 281.392.3034 newell@newellsdesigns.com For Immediate Release and also please add to calendar Texas State Championship Duck Calling Contest Texas Ducks Unlimited and Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World - Katy, Texas www.outdoor-world.com have joined together to sponsor the 2003 Texas State Championship Duck Calling contest. The contest is scheduled for Saturday, August 16, at Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World in Katy, Texas, 12:00 pm Check-in at Katy Mills Mall.

Delta Waterfowl counters attempts by animal rights group to close hunting on ref

Delta Waterfowl counters attempts by animal rights group to close hunting on refuges

Bismarck, ND-A direct assault by waterfowl hunting is being met head on by Delta Waterfowl, the leading voice of waterfowl hunters in America. In a recently filed lawsuit, The Fund for Animals challenges attempts by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to permit hunting and expand hunting opportunities on 39 refuges, many in key waterfowl areas of the Mississippi Flyway. �This year marks the centennial of the refuge system and The Fund for Animals is hoping to capitalize on the stature of this special event by attempting to tarnish hunting and other consumptive uses,� states Delta Waterfowl�s Peter Trexler. �Waterfowl hunters face significant challenges with access to waterfowl hunting areas, and many count on refuges as a place to enjoy their pursuits. Waterfowl hunters and waterfowl hunting don�t need another barrier.� Delta�s Rob Olson stresses, �The attack by this animal rights group is just the latest in their campaign to end hunting everywhere. This challenge is outrageous when you consider the money used to develop the refuge system and other lands managed for wildlife has been given by hunters through the sale of duck stamp sales, Pittman Robertson taxes and other sources of sportsman� s monies.

Delta Waterfowl Urges America�s Duck Hunters

Delta Waterfowl Urges America�s Duck Hunters To Support Clean Water Authority Restoration Act of 2003

BISMARCK, ND�Duck hunters concerned about the future of their sport are urged to aggressively support the Clean Water Authority Restoration Act of 2003, says Rob Olson of Delta Waterfowl. �As far as duck hunters are concerned, this is one of the most important bills Congress will address in our lifetime,� says Olson, who heads Delta�s United States office. The Clean Water Authority Restoration Act of 2003 was introduced last week in the House and the Senate by Congressmen John Dingell (D-MI), James Oberstar (D-MN), Jim Leach (R-IA) and Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), and Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI), James Jeffords (I-VT) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA). If passed, the bipartisan bill would reaffirm Congress� intent to protect �isolated� wetlands when it passed the Clean Water Act (CWA) in 1972. Wetland protections provided by CWA were erased in January of 2001 when the Supreme Court ruled the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Army Corps of Engineers have no jurisdiction over non-navigable waters. That controversial decision opened the door for developers and farmers to drain, bulldoze, fill and destroy so-called �isolated� wetlands. �The Supreme Court got it wrong,� said Dingell in introducing the bill. �The legislative history of the Clean Water Act clearly�states that the statute applies to all the waters of the United States. I know this because I personally included it in the Congressional Record in 1972.� The Supreme Court decision stunned waterfowl biologists across the prairie breeding grounds. �Seasonal and temporary wetlands are easily the most important wetlands for duck production,� explains Olson. �Ducks returning to the breeding grounds key on these little one- to three-acre wetlands because they provide the protein-rich invertebrates hens require for egg-development. Seasonal and temporary wetlands are the engine that drives the duck factory.