# Increasing Duck Production



## Matt Jones (Mar 6, 2002)

It's becoming increasingly clear that there is no way to stop the habitat losses we're facing these days. I hate to sound pessimistic, but really it's inevitable. There's just no way around it. By the time I'm 50 we're going to be lucky to have a 10 day/1 duck limit season. If you look at how much has changed in the past few decades and assume similar changes will take place in the next few, ducks are going to become scarce.

With there being a lot of limits to the amount of habitat we're going to be able to preserve (money, farming, etc.) I definitely like Delta's approach of looking at other ways to produce more ducks, mainly predator control. The only problem is this in itself costs a good deal of money as well...unless you can find a permanent way to do it.

With all of the advances in sciences today regarding genetics why can't we just create a disease to administer to the population of skunks, raccoons, and foxes that will wipe most of them out? Think about it? We have lots of scientists working in labs engineering diseases for biological warfare. Why couldn't we wage a biological war on duck predators? I know it sounds a little off the wall but I don't see why we couldn't or why it wouldn't work. Sure, it would probably cost millions in research to do this but that's not even pennies on the dollar when you look at the big picture. Just inject a few skunks and raccoons with the disease and let them loose...in a year most will be dead and duck production will be through the roof!

Plus think of all the other things that we're now capable of doing. We could genetically create a carp that is superior to other carp that would breed itself out existance. Or possibly splicing wild celery and other duck vegetation with the brazilian plant that produces rotenone thus killing all fish in a body of water. The fish would never come back and you wouldn't have to constantly administer expensive treatments.

We have all this technology available today, maybe it's time to start applying it to wildlife management.


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## duxnbux (Feb 25, 2002)

Joneser....thinking outside of the box...I like the ideas man! Although they are a bit off the wall if they help ducks they'll be a good thing...keep the pipe dreams rollin' :beer:


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## mallard (Mar 27, 2002)

I like your ideas Jones.For predator management,why not pressure the government to open trade more with Russia,China, etc. where the use of furs is still very high.If the prices go up,people will trap again.Anyone remember when a good fox pelt brought 75-100$?You didnt have nearly as many fox around back then.The same goes for the other furbearers.I am not impressed with the USFWS management of waterfowl anymore.It has more to do with politics and $$$ than what is best for waterfowl.We need more field biologists like the late Leo Kirsch who really cared,and higher ups that will listen to what the field staff is telling them.


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## DeltaBoy (Mar 4, 2004)

I am a huge fan of Delat Waterfowl. I see the vision, just wish many other's would too. You can have all the habitat you want, but you have to have a ducks nesting without a skunk, fox, or other eating the damn eggs.
Another thing that is great with Delta waterfowl is that they have on going research that is supported by students furthering eduction across the United States. I would encourage you to become a member of Delta Waterfowl. If you live in Bismarck, Delta is having there annual banquet in Aug. If you want more info, PM me.

Gotta have ducks hatch eggs in order to shoot in the fall. 
Nice post Jones!


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## PJ (Oct 1, 2002)

Good ideas, but it sounds more palsable then probable. 
Spell check?


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## bigblackfoot (Mar 12, 2003)

Ive beening doing my part in the predator control this spring. I took out 3 racoons and a skunk. :lol:


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## Guest (Apr 26, 2004)

Well, here's my :2cents: Yourstate has more ducks in it than I've ever seen, period. I'm not sure where the timing is in your migration, but if you think you're running low on ducks, go to WI or MN and start counting boys. You'd probably start to :crybaby: when you'd see how much the Metro in MN is draining wetlands and destroying habitat. :eyeroll: It'll never be that bad in ND, there's nothing there but fields and scrubby trees. :lol:


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## dblkluk (Oct 3, 2002)

> It'll never be that bad in ND, there's nothing there but fields and scrubby trees.


I hope your right #1, but never say never!


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## Guest (Apr 26, 2004)

Sorry about that, let me re-phrase, it'll HOPEFULLY not be that bad. I guess it's possible, that red river valley sure is nice!!!


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## Matt Jones (Mar 6, 2002)

#1Waterfowler said:


> Sorry about that, let me re-phrase, it'll HOPEFULLY not be that bad. I guess it's possible, that red river valley sure is nice!!!


You have me confused...there is hardly any water in the red river valley compared to the rest of the state? So what is there to drain?:roll:

The Metro isn't all that bad, obviously with expanding development there's going to be some losses. The thing is with MN's draining laws, if a county wants to drain say a 20 acre wetland to put up a bunch of townhomes they have to restore 20 acres somewhere else in the county. What's really sad is driving through western and southern MN and northwestern IA and seeing hardly any wetlands at all, but miles and miles of drainage ditches. Western MN used to be like the Dakotas.


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## DeltaBoy (Mar 4, 2004)

Jones, have you ever hunted Marsh Lake? It's a lake in western MN and it's a fantastic duck/goose hunting lake. Yes, I can remember the days when there were lots of ducks in western/central MN. This is why I was happy to move to ND for a job. I plan on staying here for good. Honestly, the hunting and fishing has been so much better than MN. I am not saying that it sucks, but ND has some great hunting/fishing.


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## gandergrinder (Mar 10, 2002)

I talked to my buddy the other day who works for a major contractor in Minneapolis and he said that what they do to replace a wetland is an absolute joke. They take out a nice cattail slough and replace it with a bunch of grass in a low spot. Nothing like what they took out.


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## Matt Jones (Mar 6, 2002)

Marsh is a great lake, and MN does have some excellent waterfowl lakes. Sadly that's basically all that is left, all the potholes and small wetlands have been drained. And because of that a lot of the larger sloughs and lakes are levels a lot higher than they should be...because they raise a foot if you get a half inch of rain. :roll: Plus everything's connected with drainage ditches so most of them have now turned into mudholes because they're infested with carp.

I agree that in most cases the replacements aren't usually as good as what was lost. The point I was trying to make was that compared to southern MN, the metro actually has some pretty nice wetlands. Which only goes to show you how bad the southern half of the state is. West centrel and NW actually has some areas where there's decent habitats but when you look at southern MN and northern IA it's pretty bleak.


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## grnhd (Jun 21, 2003)

Matt thats a great idea but can you imagine the response from peaple other than hunters, "they want to kill all the predators so they can kill more ducks".Hey I'm all for it,I want to kill more ducks,but in todays society it won't fly,especially introducing disease.I'm surprised that the predator work that Delta has done hasn't been stopped,but I'm all for it and support them with $$$.With that said something has to be done.I was up there for the first time last fall and I was blown away at the number of skunks.I've never seen anything like it.I'm amazed that a duck can hatch a nest at all.Unless you've been there and seen it you can't understand.I don't think most duck hunters realize how hard it is for a duck to nest up there.Who ever had the idea of making fur worth something again probably has the best idea.That would start up large scale trapping again.If every duck hunter would give just $50 how much land could we trap now I wonder?


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

I know of many locals who do their part on the misc. predator population in the Dakotas. Keeping a .22 handy while out and about around the prairie can help. :wink:


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## torf (Mar 11, 2002)

I don't know exactly how big of a problem they are but with the number of hawks, i think some of them need to go. Are they a big problem for ducks? Its amazing how many there are. I could be mistaken but, back in the day wasn't it legal to shoot hawks? Anybody know?


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## grnhd (Jun 21, 2003)

You're right there was a lot of hawks to and I'm sure they do some damage on ducks,but that is a federally protected bird.So to answer your question yeah you can shoot them just don't get caught :lol:


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## DeltaBoy (Mar 4, 2004)

I think hawks do more damage to the pheasent population vs. duck population here in ND. I am not sure, just a thought. When I am rooster hunting I see so many of them flying over cover where pheasents are, in fact, last year I was hunting and watch a hawk fly over and swoop down at a rooster. It made it easy for me, I watched the bird land and then I went and harvested the bird.


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## Bull_Can (Apr 30, 2004)

You guys are forgetting to mention the one predator that has killed our duck sloughs...the fathead minnows. In MN, people didn't realize how the food chain worked and decided that cheaper minnows for our fishing industry was worth it to rear minnows in our shallow lakes. Now, with no invertebrate populations, there is no food for young, OR migrating ducks. Hens need the protein rich invertebrates in the spring for strong egg production, young need it for growth (more days of flightlessness = sitting ducks for predators!) And water quality is down when you remove natural phosphorus eaters like daphnia by letting them get destroyed by fatheads....oh, don't get me started. Just keep things as natural as possible, and if you ever go out to a lake and don't use all your minnows...chuck them up on shore, not in the lake. Do as we say...not as we did (and continue to do!!!)


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## DeltaBoy (Mar 4, 2004)

Check this article out that was written by the Grand Forks Herald.

http://www.deltawaterfowl.org/home/arch ... erald.html

:beer:


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