I have been privileged to hunt ducks all my life in Louisiana. I had a uncle that took me when i was 9 to his lease in cameron and from then on it has been a addiction. I now have 30 years of experience duck hunting. I have chased them all over the state, been on good and bad hunts. I have noticed over the past 15 years the lack of migration to our sportsmans paradise getting less every year. I now am able to have a lease of my own that borders the sabine refuge on the no hunt side. Have i killed ducks on it ? Yes i have, it is a magnet for the ducks that migrate, no pressure, no traffic, and i take care of my property. People say we need a food source well with all the flooding this year my marsh is plentiful with a food source.Still no ducks, so i go to hunt with different friends in different areas of the state. Still no ducks. how is it that there is always an excuse that there is no ducks. oh its cause you need a food source and surface drives are hurting you, ok well i went and hunted in rice fields that you walk in, on one of the oldest standing rice farms in louisiana that normally holds hundreds of thousands of ducks and geese. did we kill? yes a couple but no ducks. Then we are told we need it to get cold, Well we have had 3 of the biggest cold weather storms and still no migration, But our duck population is higher than it ever has been before. I support both Delta and DU, I do this in hopes that the money will go to what it should. The simple facts are the migration has been altered and louisiana has been basically moved north. Private land owners getting funding to build habitats with food sources that cannot be accessed or with limited hunting rights. Farmers up north see they can make more money off of there farms if they levee and flood there crops. heating the water where there is a food source, near a waterway that does not freeze. all of this plays a factor. Simple fact is when you create a habitat that has a food source, water, and no pressure why would you migrate. in the history of mankind different areas were known for different things. You didnt go to montana to go blue marlin fishing. you didnt go to canada to kill alligators. You hunted or fished what the good lord blessed you with. When you have organizations dumping millions of dollars into privately owned refuges and creating habitats like the lord blessed louisiana with but further up in the migration route what do you honestly think is going to happen. I have held back and didnt speak my mind but after all of the post i read on here and some of the crazies reasons for the lack of ducks. I have seen these refuges first hand and talked with property managers on how DU does there conservation grants. If you think for one second that little brain inside a ducks head doesnt work, then something might be wrong with yours. Go to any wma, refuge, lake, or privately owned land that has water, food that has a area not able to be hunted and i promise you will see that imaginary line where they start and you have to stop. then think about all of the habitats that have been created up and down the flyway, and it answers everyones questions on WHERE ARE THE DUCKS! My opinion is the money should have been spent on breeding grounds, protecting them before the start of the migration and any money spent in the migration flyway its self, should have been spent on State or Govt owned properties that would could be hunted and had a little pressure put on them. we couldnt help it that god blessed us with the known duck habitat that we have had, but just maybe we can make a stand and stop them from continuing to create habitats in the migration path that slows them down. The season in those states isnt very much ahead of ours, and we cant hunt past certain dates due to them pairing up. that was the whole point with set migration movement and the dates that were set to be able to hunt. So for all you people that are new to duck hunting there it is all wrapped up, and until the sky turns black with ducks dont post you are seeing peak numbers. Believe me you will know when the migration hits peak numbers in louisiana and why we have duck hunted this long and why we keep our hopes up to see it again so we can pass it on to the next generation.
