Shallow Lakes Program

[duck_dude]

Good old Winthrop, Minnesota.

[Quack]

But it would be nice is some of these areas that were restored to higher quality habitat were established as designated no hunting resting areas with the hope that eventually they would develop into roosts during the season fostering field hunting opportunities in the area.

You can petition your local wildlife manager for refuges or designation as Feeding and Resting Area which prohibits gas motors and either allows electric motors or no motors at all.

Motor restrictions and closing shooting hours in the afternoon rather than sunset keep birds around but many people complain about the "sacrifice" of opportunity

[Bailey]

But it would be nice is some of these areas that were restored to higher quality habitat were established as designated no hunting resting areas with the hope that eventually they would develop into roosts during the season fostering field hunting opportunities in the area.

You can petition your local wildlife manager for refuges or designation as Feeding and Resting Area which prohibits gas motors and either allows electric motors or no motors at all.

Motor restrictions and closing shooting hours in the afternoon rather than sunset keep birds around but many people complain about the "sacrifice" of opportunity

And one of the reasons Minnesota will never be a great waterfowl state again. Hunters refuse to make the changes needed to make some areas great hutning again. They would rather run around all day long with mud motors then let an area rest or have motor restrictions.

[lanyard]

Closing at noon didn't fit Minnesota regulation mindset.

We'd need something more like this:

Close the day at noon on any day where open to noon is more than 5 hours. Except Under 16 and Over 65, where they can hunt early teal and the new Junior/Senior Mentors Day. Then, for the rest of the season, Juniors seniors can shoot to sunset if they have a I Am A Mentos badge from the Mentors hunt. If no badge they can hunt any 5 hour window through the Mentors App for iPhone and Android by selecting "Start Session". All hunters must have original paper license issued by the ELS on hand and busy be signed, except ESL residents that have not had the regulations translate by the state into their native language.

[gimpfinger]

You want ducks here for more than a day, give them a reason to stay. Noon closing won't do crap if there isn't any food or cover for them.

During season I watch it all the time where birds come down, land in the middle, get a drink and fly off after twenty minutes without a shot fired.

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[duck_dude]

The issue with Minnesota is the perceived "Culture". For some reason the MnDNR thinks the people hunting ducks in this state are a bunch of Neanderthals who just want to pull a trigger. I get it, they want to sell licenses, but there has to be a better way. If that is indeed the "Culture", then there is a great divide between people that go duck hunting and actual duck hunters.

[gimpfinger]

The issue with Minnesota is the perceived "Culture". For some reason the MnDNR thinks the people hunting ducks in this state are a bunch of Neanderthals who just want to pull a trigger. I get it, they want to sell licenses, but there has to be a better way. If that is indeed the "Culture", then there is a great divide between people that go duck hunting and actual duck hunters.

I just want to kill shit, kinda the point of it. If it was about sunrises I'd just sit outside before work.

The dnr need to stop dicking with the season dates to make a minority happy. I want to be able to hunt when they are here. Can't do that when you got no open water left.

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[h2ofwlr]

The issue with Minnesota is the perceived "Culture". For some reason the MnDNR thinks the people hunting ducks in this state are a bunch of Neanderthals who just want to pull a trigger. I get it, they want to sell licenses, but there has to be a better way. If that is indeed the "Culture", then there is a great divide between people that go duck hunting and actual duck hunters.

That's because they are elitists. The average household income is over $100k per the waterfowl hunter survey. So it you're make $150K, anyone under $40K and under a BS degree are indeed neanderthals.

[get-n-birdy]

What they should do is create moist soil areas with food, then make them refuges and do nothing with huntable water.

Oh wait they already do that, carry on.

[Fish Felon]

I'm not sure what pictures you are referring to but I can almost guarantee they are DU owned stock pictures of ducks in the spring...just like most of them are. Not many wildlife photographers are going to spend the coin to come to MN in September or October to take pictures of ducks, because no one will buy them.

Yes, the shallow lakes initiative is working. I'm typically a cynic but after I started looking into the habitat work being done for the sole purpose of pointing out how ineffective and fiscally inefficient it was, even when researching the info with a negative bias looking to support my perceived negativity...the outcome of my effort was me becoming an optimist and seeing the near future (five to ten years and after) in a very positive light.

The living lakes initiative in conjunction with the multitude of other projects and restoration being done as a result of legacy funding is pretty amazing. I think we're at the precipice of where we're starting to see an impact and I think that impact will grow exponentially over the next decade. I truly believe that the only thing that will stop us from looking back in the not so distant future and remembering this time as a turning point is man's inherent negativity; it is human nature.

With that being said it's not like it'll be any different than it has always been. Even in areas that hold the best habitat on the continent, if you get abnormally warm temperatures and no fronts during October into November like this past year, you're not going to have a banner season...and even in the best places to hunt and at the perfect timing, there are still always plenty of idiots that can't figure it out or are willing to put in the smallest of efforts to have a decent hunt.

There's no magic bullet or light switch that's flipped that's going to signify some hypothetical "new era" for MN duck hunting.

When you look at the vast amount of projects, both big and small, the effect can already be seen. Christina is pulling and holding ducks and can you imagine what it will be after a decade, the first decade in almost a century where it has been in a non-deteriorated state the entire time? Hell, the rotenone band-aid treatments that provided a four year window at best had the lake holding a shitpile of ducks before it quickly went back to a carp infested mud hole.

Add to it $12 million to fix Marsh, and all the countless other small---couple hundred acres or less---lakes that have been equipped with new water control structures, WPA's, WMA's, WRP restorations and permanent easements and things are looking up. I'm not going to lump Swan into the mix because the amount of pressure it gets will stop it from ever being great again. I actually think Pelican has the potential to be very good...they drew it down like a foot in the first year of a multi year drawdown and people already have deemed it a failure.

The concept of 'flyways shifting' is retarded. It's not like there was this distinct linear passage ducks used called the MS flyway that was rerouted so that all those ducks now use the distinct linear migration path called the Central Flyway. Ducks go to the best available habitat. Best available habitat = location with highest available ability to expend the least amount of energy. So even the greatest habitat that gets piss pounded won't hold a ton of fowl and a next to lifeless pond that isn't disturbed might hold a lot. What location allows them to pack on the most calories? A great spot with a ton of food might be worth hitting despite pressure.

The habitat to our West, and even Canada now, gets so much more pressure than it did 20 years ago and the habitat conditions can only go down to where you'd be a fool to think that a MN with a lot less hunting pressure than at any time in anglo history with significantly improved and managed habitat can't pull and hold a lot more ducks than it has in recent times.

except old people contemplating their life in sum, then whatever happened back when they were in their prime was the best ever no matter how bad it sucked.

The old adage, "Distance makes the heart grow fonder," is very true. In the case of most:

Distance = Time

Some old timers can shoot more birds, quicker, easier, and often...and still reminisce about how it was nothing compared to what it once was. I know, I've been guilty of it at times myself.