I gave $25 of my hard earned money to those guys this year & saw less ducks. I don't think I'm giving them anymore money next year. Any of you guys feel the same way or am I wrong? I saw pictures of their building in Memphis & that's got to be where our money is going.

i will agree go with delta waterfowl........... F U DU......

Du's the best thing to happen to the sport of waterfowl hunting since the invention of the A-5 or smokeless powder.I know if I made more money I would give it all to them.Keep up the great work DU!

I have been giving DU money for years, and they still suported the Fed's when they closed 1,700 acers of my favorite duck hunting ground last year.

DU is not for duck hunters! They will phuck every duck hunter over, just to save a duck. I truely believe they are the same folks that run PETA.

Screw'em, delta cam have my $$

I support them with $25 and thats bout it unless buy a product that is licensed by them

They used to be the best thing in years past but now in addition to the weather all the stuff they do up north keeps the birds there and no need for them to come all the way here except the ones who have always done it and will continue to migrate

Had a good year too but still not whatt it could and should be

[quote="The Shafer]I read an article about the actual impact that all of their work has on duck hunting, especially in the south. The migration percentage goes down the farther south you go. Their work has made it comfortable for ducks to stay where they are. There is no need to go south. They have plenty of food, cover, protection and du installed water turbines to keep the water from freezing in a few of their so called duck sanctuarys. I understand the importance of being conservationist, but remember...ducks are for hunting and eating...screw du...Im with delta![/quote]

Heard lots of people who seem to KNOW about these warm water systems, but have never met anyone who has seen one. If so many folks know about these, someone has to have a pic.

Thats why I hunt in my hottub when it freezes.

DU is just a bunch of Doctors and lawyers showin off thier money and they dont want to help nobody but themselves. Just my $.2

Well, I'm "up north" and this was my worst season in 10 years, no magical hot tubs 'round here.

To Bash DU because you didn't see as many ducks as last year after sending a whole $25.00 is, well ignorant. Would you be here praising DU if you had seen more ducks?

Read the DU mission statement, nowhere does it say that there mission is too make sure duck hunters are killing lots of ducks.

In general it seems to me that those from the southern states complain that too much money is spent "up north". Others complain that too much money is spent on the wintering grounds and not enough on the breeding grounds.

If you actually talk to someone who knows, not someone who thinks they know, I think you'd be surprised at how complicated the inner workings of orgs. like DU & Delta are. They can't just spend money anywhere they want when they want.

I would venture a guess that the dollar amounts spent in the south as opposed to the north have been either fairly equal or slanted south in recent years.

The weather patterns and spring / summer conditions on the breeding grounds have far more to do with the number of ducks heading south in the fall than DU or Delta could ever hope to.

Send your $$ to Delta instead of DU if that makes you happy, personally I support both, but blaming either one for the number of ducks you see is plain wrong.

As for DU headquarters, I would bet that entire building was paid for by a very few supporters who made huge donations knowing full well where the money was going. We ought to be thanking supporters of DU & Delta who donate hundreds of thousands & millions of dollars per year because without them the $25.00 memberships wouldn't be buying much prairie.

VERY WELL STATED!!!

OK, it sounds like this thread has taken a more serious turn. So here are some serious questions for our more informed participants from up north.

Does leadership in ducks harvested really mean anyhing?
Isn't the number of ducks that biologists count in the southern states throughout the year the more relevant number?
Can anyone deny that the duck population along the gulf coast is falling? Do we all agree that neglecting wintering habitat is just as bad as neglecting breeding grounds?
Do we really think that the soybean/corn crop mix is what holds ducks up north? Could it not be less food in southern wintering habitats?
What about hurricane damage to "SAV" or Submerged Aquatic Vegetation in the Gulf Coast marshes? Or coastal erosion in light storm years?

Perhaps what the Wild Eyed Southern Boys are trying to say, in their wonderful down-home diction, is that Ducks Unlimited has yet to make Southern wintering habitat as big a priority as they have made of the breeding grounds up north? Maybe what they mean to say is that although the Louisiana Coastal Conservation Initiative is a nice start, it just seems like "too little, too late" when compared to the time and money that has been spent on Prairie Pothole projects and grassland conservation. That seems like a valid criticism to me. Maybe what they're getting at is all the time and money spent up north will not sustain high duck populations if ducks have no place to winter down south.

Maybe the big question is whether a national organization, or government even, can truly serve all the disparate needs and interests of the various sections of the country that make it up? People down south have been asking this question for 200 years. And we've always gotten the same ridicule and animosity from our Northern brethren that has leaked out in this topic.

I think that what we need is better habitat down south--and for more reasons than just better hunting. And though I agree that the southern boys may need to find out more about DU, perhaps the Yankees need to find out more about coastal erosion. Because ducks having no wintering grounds is one thing in mild winters--but quite another in an early, harsh winter.

So if you want to have reasoned debate about DU, then fine. I'll spend the time to find information to support the points I propose in this topic. But only if you can have a little patience with us slower Southern folk. Try to remember that since the Civil War, we're still the poorest states in the nation and can't afford all that fancy schoolin' ya'll get up north. What schoolin' we do get down here is too precious to be all used up on some Discussion Board on the Internet. In our neck of the woods, we generally just write what we think real quick on the Internet and save our reasoned debate for legal documents and magazine articles.

Hope yall arent ranting at my post because all I was getting at was like ragin cajun is saying just not in such broad detail .... glad you are here to interprit what some of us southern folks are truly saying ragincajun

Because thats exactly what I'm getting at not that they are puttin those aireated ponds in or whatever just that they spend more money up north then down here

I know the "research" you're talking about because I've studied ducks and duck breeding and duck migration patterns more then I have stuff for school members of my family are biologists and ecologists who used to work for DU until they themselves started seeing more and more money go to breeding grounds and less and less to wintering grounds AND NOT JUST HERE IN TX or LA or AR or any of the others mentioned

Weather (mostly related to temperature and rain fall) is the biggest factor on Breeding Results and Migration results AND to go with that the better farming practices you speak of because it doesnt get nearly as cold nearly as early as it used to since the past ten years so crops can survive longer without dieing out and possibly have more crops produce numerous times so that leads to more birds also not having to go this far south until snow covers everything and everything stays frozen

For the most part the early migrators (Teal, Gads, Pintail, Shovelor, Wigeon) will migrate as usual but not near the numbers as in years past and even they have stopped short of their "NORMAL" and "HISTORIC" breeding grounds not just because of the weather but because even when weather does get bad they dont HAVE to leave their breeding grounds until it freezes because of the extra money and work put into the breeding grounds.

From what I understand (and truly only my opinion)
I understand the winters have been milder in the northern south (arkansas and such) over the past few winters, and I understand that without the weather we wont see the ducks we did 10 years ago (I have done NO research on winters in states other than La so dont bash me. I just know I havent been as cold as in years past) I know that even in north La I see more ducks than I did in south La not many years ago.

I agree that if you dont have breeding grounds, you dont have offspring, but to me (Im no duck remember) it seems that if more land is getting in programs such as WRP and the sorts, the ducks dont have reasons to migrate as long as the water doesnt turn to ice. IMO if DU would spend more money down south, we would see more ducks. I did read in the Lasportsman that DU is doing a big project on Catahoula lake. Nice choice. A public lake that allows private blinds and charter hunts on it. How about some public land that is accessable for the average guy whose daddys daddy wasnt the third guy to build a blind on whatever body of water and who now has a nice permanent blind thats been there for generations.

I dont have a problem sending $25 to each DU and DW, I agree that to get ducks to south La, you gotta have ducks, but Id be willing to send way more whenever I start seeing more ducks in south La.

$0.02

That sounds right to me. If it doesn't freeze, ducks don't move south. And if they fly south and see no food, they turn right around and go back north for food. Until it's frozen up north, no ducks down south.

But what if we got a cold winter. What if all of Arkansas was frozen by November 10th, which is typical according to the National Weather Service (http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lzk/html/freeze.htm)

Then there'd be alot of ducks flying around looking for a place to set down and eat. What if there was no winter habitat on the Gulf Coast to support them? Would they starve before they got to wherever else they go in Mexico? There needs to be habitat for ducks all along the flyway to support a large, healthy population. And a normal winter, or early winter, would mean that the gulf coast has to have enough food and habitat to feed all those ducks all at one time.

The colder the winter, the more critical coastal habitat is because more ducks are in the unfrozen part of the country eating. All the corn in Iowa won't hold ducks if the water's all frozen solid, right? They won't stay if it's frozen, right?

One thing that doesnt take a biologist to figure out is...

Ducks like us need two major things to survive...Food and Water you cant have one and not the other because the birds will go elswhere to look for food

Like ragin is sayin you gotta have both ALL along the flyway and in all of the flyways

look back at studies of just the last 2-3 years when water was VERY VERY scarce in central and MS flyways...birds kinda flip flopped in the two flyways looking for water until the end of the season 2 years ago when we (meaning TX) got TONS of water the last 2-3 weeks of the season and it was ALOT better hunting because what was dry grew new grass and other vegetation in the lakes and then got covered with water

I remember bout 8 years ago BEFORE katrina and any other hurrican came in and hit the south la marsh that you could go out and damn near shoot limits of birds every day out as long as you did your scouting and such

Since then the marshes i was able to hunt at that time around hackberry have either been flooded with salt water because idiots left the gates open (private) or hurricanes have come in and screwed everything up on public spots

once again WEATHER you cant control that

however you can control what you do to the land that was messed up wether it be by the weather or by some idiot MAN and specificly organizations who do that kind of stuff can go in and fix some of the things weather has screwed up

Anybody can hunt WRP lands that someone owns or go setup on a PRIVATE rice field or whatever kind of field and USUALLY shoot birds all the time but since the time where i had access with my step dad to hunt the marshes in south la I've had to go back to hunting public and thats a whole nother argument because of the barnies but birds who migrate FIRST stop at big water such as lakes or refuges then as they get pressured they seek out other small areas to eat and do their thing however when you dont have birds migrating you dont see them on publica areas like you should

All I know is they slippin last two banquets I went to they anit had no Miller or Bud girls.

ME KILL DUCKS NEED MORE DUCKS

Touche
TBS touche indeed

Wasn't throwing the dumbass thing in there about food and water for nothing was addung to what ragin Cajun was talkin about

We can agree on one thing and haven't said this but I do applaud anyone's effort to do the stuff they do in talking with politicians and doing the stuff they do in D.C. Because without those folks we would have a lot less birds in the U.S.

But after being called a dumb ass I rest my case because like sundance I don't like mean people Lol

TBS. I do agree with almost everything you started. I agree weather, etc changes every year. As far as farming practices however. They to an extent change, but IMO when the WRP, and CRP started getting popular it changed a good bit of that. I can buy farm land, then instead of farming it, put it in CRP or WRP and collect revenue off it. I know its more complicated than that, but the just of it is I buy a soybean field put it in CRP, or WRP, and can no longer grow/harvest soybeans on it. Im not sure about your hunting area, but some of the areas I hunt, that attracts a lot of big money buying up farming acres

Anthony you should know better than to confuse a good shit storm with facts.


What the hell were you thinking,,,,,,,,it's the rich mans fault, you know that.


Sheesh

off DU subject but on the CRP and WRP subject...in the places that i've looked at that are already enrolled in those programs WRP does not collect revenue. There are alot of lands in E.TX that are enrolled in CRP for Pine Trees and they dont make enough money to pay off the entire land but usually they do collect enugh money to pay the taxes off each year.

My complaint with DU is a micro problem whereas these clowns are discussing the macro view.
We instituted a state waterfowler stamp a few years back. The state game commission would release the funds to a group that had matching funds for projects to improve duck hunting in VA. Our game department has had serious financial issues over the last decade. They own a ton of land but can't maintain it properly. So, the stamp was touted as a way to fix boat ramps, leaking impoundments and plant food crops for ducks.
Instead, DU put several duck ponds on private property. Not really what the state duck hunters were supposed to get. Every project in the last 5 years in VA smacks of nepotism and cronyism. I'll support DU on a national level, but Delta gets all my time and money locally.

Perhaps im wrong, but it seems like DU has done a whole bunch of coastal restoration in LA and TX in the wake of all those storms...

But, when you got so many Dems in office, and all those other wackos who think hunting is a sin, it just makes me feel better when folks like DU, DW, NRA and such get a few bucks from me. Im sure that my contibutions don't make much of a difference, but Id rather those guys have it, than not having anyone look out for the greater intrest of me, and the things I like to do.

lots of ducks or not, its still better than to go than to sit at the house and talk about when we used to have guns, and when we used to hunt.

just my 2cents on my soap box...

I'm gonna send DU & Delta both money this year. That TBS guy is nice & makes alot of sense so I'm gonna work a little harder & send them each a check. I was gonna buy some MB oil but I can't since I gotta save my money now. My Autozone buddy is gonna donate too.