Home Forums Birds & Dogs Waterfowl must stop shooting female ducks

A few years back we had a point system, each duck was given a numerical value. Hen malard 100 pts. drake 20 pts, teal 10 points etc. When you hit 100 points you were done, one hen mallard you go home, or nine teal and then a hen you were done. If you were a honest hunter it was a very good way to control the preasure on the various species. It allowed for a mistake.

erich

Yep, I sure remember those days. I have to think that over again.

i've hunted waterfowl since dust started.
i don't believe hunting is WF's biggest problem. it's lack of habitat - ie slews(sp?), swamps, shallow lakes.
non lead shot is BS as far as i can see. i would bet that all the testing was done on slews close to roads and 90% of the "lead" pollution came from the roads - ie gas & exhaust -
however i use bizmuth which doesn't really cause "much" of a problem with me cuz i work close. i would prefer lead.
drake/hen identification?? something someone thought up after OD'g on granola.
ID'g ducks at 30 MPH in a flock ?? good luck!
to throw up your hands and say "it can be done" is just putting another nail in the hunting coffin.
how do you say to a beurocrat (sp?) - "show me?"
indiscriminate laws make everyone a lawbreaker.

I agree that habitat issues probably affect bird numbers more than anything.

As for lead shot use, I have kind of figured that it could be a problem in some places ever since they first suggested it to be a problem many years ago. Up in this part of the world folks were slow to switch, though, and I didn't really think it was a problem. We are close to the muddy delta of the Yukon River. There are no highways for hundreds of miles. Surely any lead shot being used here would sink quickly into the millions of acres of mud we have. Besides, hardly anyone lives out here so how much lead could be thrown into the landscape? Then one fall, ten or more years ago, I decided to keep track of what the birds we were harvesting had in their gizzards. A very significant number had shot. That surprised me that they were picking up shot at all but I figured it would be steel. Surprise, surprise, the vast majority ignored the magnet - and there are only tw types of birdshot available locally; lead and steel. Lead matters. I went from a skeptic to a believer overnight.

I dunno on lead shot. Its what I find mostly when panning for gold and you know how deep you have to snoop for gold. I still find it hard to believe that any number of birds could ingest any significant amount of lead shot.

Talking to old time guides on the goose prairies south of us, there are no more or less dead/dying birds found than there where in the 60s-70s. At least according to those I've talked to.

But its an interesting topic of debate to be sure.

There is simply no doubt in my mind that there are 2 things affecting populations. Normal natures swings in predator/prey and available nesting areas. Those can be affected by the rain or lack thereof, not to mention paving the world over for the rest of the worlds folks.

Jeff