Locksley
Well-Known Member
Duck hunters may have rough road
By Bob Hodge (Contact)
Sunday, July 13, 2008
First the dotcom bubble burst.
Then the housing bubble burst.
Now it looks like the duck bubble is about to burst.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released the numbers from its May pond and duck surveys, and the news wasn't good. The number of May ponds was down from a little more than seven million in 2007 to 4.4 million this year. Total duck numbers were down from more than 41 million to 37.2 million.
The good news wrapped in the bad news is the number of ducks is still 11 percent higher than the long-term average. The bad news inside that good news is things are expected to get worse.
The reason for the lower number of ducks this year is directly tied to the lower number of May ponds because much of the prairie is experiencing a drought.
Droughts come and go and can even be beneficial, biologists say, because vegetation grows during the dry years and when the rain returns the habitat can be improved.
What has biologists and duck hunters worried is when the rain returns it may be on crops and not duck habitat.
With corn prices around $8 a bushel, nearly double what they were this time last year, some farmers may opt out of the Conservation Reserve Program and turn that habitat into corn fields. According to Ducks Unlimited about 800,000 acres in the prairie pothole region were taken out of CRP last year and the trend is expected to continue.
"I think the news could be really bad next year," said David Corum, founder of the Web site Duckhunter.net. "People are saying another 3 million acres or more could be lost in the next five years and that's where the ducks we hunt in Tennessee come from."
Droughts come and go and can even be beneficial, biologists say, because vegetation grows during the dry years and when the rain returns the habitat can be improved.
What has biologists and duck hunters worried is when the rain returns it may be on crops and not duck habitat.
With corn prices around $8 a bushel, nearly double what they were this time last year, some farmers may opt out of the Conservation Reserve Program and turn that habitat into corn fields. According to Ducks Unlimited about 800,000 acres in the prairie pothole region were taken out of CRP last year and the trend is expected to continue.
"I think the news could be really bad next year," said David Corum, founder of the Web site Duckhunter.net. "People are saying another 3 million acres or more could be lost in the next five years and that's where the ducks we hunt in Tennessee come from."
Still, hunters probably will have a "liberal" 60-day season with a six-duck-per-day bag limit when Mississippi Flyway Council makes its recommendations later this month.
While the number of mallards declined seven percent from 8.3 million to 7.7, that's still above the long-term average. Using the Fish and Wildlife Services Adaptive Harvest Management Matrix, 7.7 million mallards should mean a liberal season despite the drop in May ponds.
Populations were down for seven of the 10 species counted on the prairies. The most alarming drop was canvasbacks, which fell from 865,000 in 2007 to 489,000 this year. Some are predicting a limited canvasback season this year, others believe it will stay at one per day for 60 days.
The bad news has heated up talk among the state's duck hunters about recent budget cuts made by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission. TWRC cut more than $200,000 going to DU and Delta Waterfowl, most of which would be spent on habitat in the pothole region.
Most non-duck hunters were fine with the cuts since the money was earmarked by the respective organizations to go out of state. Duck hunters, already incensed before this week's bad news, are pointing out that TWRA money spent in Canada or South Dakota eventually comes back to Tennessee as more ducks.
More budget cuts are coming. We'll have to wait and see about the ducks.
Bob Hodge covers outdoors. He may be reached at [email protected].
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/jul/1 ... ough-road/
By Bob Hodge (Contact)
Sunday, July 13, 2008
First the dotcom bubble burst.
Then the housing bubble burst.
Now it looks like the duck bubble is about to burst.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released the numbers from its May pond and duck surveys, and the news wasn't good. The number of May ponds was down from a little more than seven million in 2007 to 4.4 million this year. Total duck numbers were down from more than 41 million to 37.2 million.
The good news wrapped in the bad news is the number of ducks is still 11 percent higher than the long-term average. The bad news inside that good news is things are expected to get worse.
The reason for the lower number of ducks this year is directly tied to the lower number of May ponds because much of the prairie is experiencing a drought.
Droughts come and go and can even be beneficial, biologists say, because vegetation grows during the dry years and when the rain returns the habitat can be improved.
What has biologists and duck hunters worried is when the rain returns it may be on crops and not duck habitat.
With corn prices around $8 a bushel, nearly double what they were this time last year, some farmers may opt out of the Conservation Reserve Program and turn that habitat into corn fields. According to Ducks Unlimited about 800,000 acres in the prairie pothole region were taken out of CRP last year and the trend is expected to continue.
"I think the news could be really bad next year," said David Corum, founder of the Web site Duckhunter.net. "People are saying another 3 million acres or more could be lost in the next five years and that's where the ducks we hunt in Tennessee come from."
Droughts come and go and can even be beneficial, biologists say, because vegetation grows during the dry years and when the rain returns the habitat can be improved.
What has biologists and duck hunters worried is when the rain returns it may be on crops and not duck habitat.
With corn prices around $8 a bushel, nearly double what they were this time last year, some farmers may opt out of the Conservation Reserve Program and turn that habitat into corn fields. According to Ducks Unlimited about 800,000 acres in the prairie pothole region were taken out of CRP last year and the trend is expected to continue.
"I think the news could be really bad next year," said David Corum, founder of the Web site Duckhunter.net. "People are saying another 3 million acres or more could be lost in the next five years and that's where the ducks we hunt in Tennessee come from."
Still, hunters probably will have a "liberal" 60-day season with a six-duck-per-day bag limit when Mississippi Flyway Council makes its recommendations later this month.
While the number of mallards declined seven percent from 8.3 million to 7.7, that's still above the long-term average. Using the Fish and Wildlife Services Adaptive Harvest Management Matrix, 7.7 million mallards should mean a liberal season despite the drop in May ponds.
Populations were down for seven of the 10 species counted on the prairies. The most alarming drop was canvasbacks, which fell from 865,000 in 2007 to 489,000 this year. Some are predicting a limited canvasback season this year, others believe it will stay at one per day for 60 days.
The bad news has heated up talk among the state's duck hunters about recent budget cuts made by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission. TWRC cut more than $200,000 going to DU and Delta Waterfowl, most of which would be spent on habitat in the pothole region.
Most non-duck hunters were fine with the cuts since the money was earmarked by the respective organizations to go out of state. Duck hunters, already incensed before this week's bad news, are pointing out that TWRA money spent in Canada or South Dakota eventually comes back to Tennessee as more ducks.
More budget cuts are coming. We'll have to wait and see about the ducks.
Bob Hodge covers outdoors. He may be reached at [email protected].
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/jul/1 ... ough-road/
