A couple things I found interesting about that article
1) Josh Goins is bad for the movement of stopping flooding grain fields. He is the baby whining he doesn't have enough ducks. His statement is let's shut down corn but keep flooding rice because rice is habitat. I tried reaching out multiple times and tried to get clarification on his points but he won't reach back out if your opinion differs than his. In the research I have found rice doesn't need to be flooded during waterfowl season other than to hunt over. If someone has different information on this I would love to hear it because I have never grown rice so I could be missing something.
2) Dr. Brian Davis should have his doctorate stripped. He states “Snow coverage and temperatures influence mallard distribution more than anything. If they don’t have access to food and open water, they’ll fly south”. He also said that flooding corn doesn't have an impact. How does keeping water and food open from October 1st through Jan 31st not impact mallards when you state they moved based on if they have open water and food?
3) A study was done that just the waste from natural ag practices would feed 100 million mallards. If that is true then we don't need to even have the discussion about flooding grain crop is habitat needed to support ducks. Just with corn alone we would have enough and that doesn't take in account all the other grain and natural food sources.
Completely agree with all those observations.
This quote intrigued me, too:
"Raedeke says even if flooded crops are not the best habitat, they can be an important ingredient in the overall habitat equation, especially if landowners include moist-soil impoundments in their management efforts. Many do. The 10 clubs surveyed for the Ontario study planted 560 acres of corn and managed 1,775 acres of moist-soil habitat.
However, all of them said they would not only no longer plant corn, they would likely close down and stop managing non-crop wetlands if hunting that corn was banned."
I wonder if private clubs in the Columbia Basin or Western Wa river valleys would voice a similar threat?
I suspect they would, given the amount of money and resources they've invested in corn ponds. But I also doubt they'd go through with shutting down their operations altogether. Too much good duck hunting to be had on those properties even without flooded crops, and I bet hunters would still be willing to pay for it.
