collapse

Advertisement


Author Topic: Have corn pond complexes affected your 2018 duck season?  (Read 74992 times)

Offline hunterednate

  • Trade Count: (+1)
  • Longhunter
  • *****
  • Join Date: May 2017
  • Posts: 533
  • Location: Tacoma
Re: Have corn pond complexes affected your 2018 duck season?
« Reply #75 on: January 03, 2019, 02:19:57 PM »
JBG made a good point do we start banning hunting from boats because it effects shore hunters.
  Like he mentioned hunt around point X. I'm not a waterfowler so this doesn't effect me as much as some of you but what does effect all of us is the let's ban it because I can't or don't agree with the way someone is doing it way of thinking

JBG comparing corn complexes to owning a boat is the dumbest argument I have ever heard. Most people who boat hunt still hunt from shore haha. Boat hunting only allows you to get to a spot faster and maybe with less work. It doesn't physically draw ducks to you or keep ducks in an area because you are using a boat. I'm not saying I'm against corn complexes but his points are all pretty bad. Ducks do move their migration patterns because of these complexes. Last year there was a huge duck die off because ducks changed their natural migration patterns and stayed in one area because they had food and water. It made it a perfect breeding ground for Avian Cholera.

Personally I'm not really for limiting what other hunters can do just because I can't afford it but I do believe they have an unfair advantage. It would be nice to see the playing field a little more equal. Also JBG dry field duck hunting is way different than a flooded field.
You're actually missing the point

Maybe not being a waterfowl hunter you don't really understand what's going on. Let's say you hunt elk. All year elk feed and breed on hunt able land but then come hunting season LARGE land owners put out some feed or whatever that draws most of the elk to that one land. The herd you used to hunt year after year is now 1/5, 1/10 or maybe even less than it used to be. This feed isn't "illegal" but it marches a very tight line of being legal or not. How would you feel? Would you want people talking about it? Would you do anything?

And my original point of comparing boat hunting to corn complexes is dumb. I get JBG was trying to say it's the have not's trying to take from the the haves but I don't believe this is the case here at all.
Not being a waterfowler I still understand what's going on and your elk example is spot on and that would suck but there would still be elk in the area and actually might bring more in therefore I would just hunt the area different.
  That looks like what is going on with this corn complex and so I understand people's feelings about it but once again back to the bigger picture we cannot keep trying to take away legal hunting practices regardless of how we feel.
  Look at hound hunting/baiting bears how about the baiting deer and elk changes that just took place

I never said there would be more elk. There would be more less elk for the same amount of people who hunted it. Would you as an individual still harvest an elk? Probably but would the size of the success rate go down for you? Very likely. The success rate the whole would also go down. That's what I believe corn complexes are doing.

I think limiting the size of your bait for deer and elk isn't a bad thing. I have never hunted over bait so maybe I'm missing something.
I believe that in your elk scenario that more elk may travel thru public land to get to the private ranch which in many areas they already do and the feed helps.
   I actually agree with you about the corn complex you guys are talking about it doesn't seem fair but this is a big but  it's legal and once again we cannot take away legal hunting practices from others just because we don't like it.
  Private lands benefit all wildlife.
  Here's a really stupid example but it might make sense.
  Say the whole basin you guys hunt dried up and the only place that has water were these corn complexes do we take away their ability to attract waterfowl to the area which would keep them coming into the area or just make it so no birds come in at all.
  I know that is a really stupid and impossible scenario but I think it makes point. So don't laugh too hard at me for that😆😆

In general, I agree with that statement 100%. An exception, though, would be banning previously legal hunting practices that are the result of new advances in technology or innovation.

For example, drone scouting for big game. Previously legal...because drones weren't invented! These corn ponds are not a natural resource hunters are taking advantage of. They are MASSIVE infrastructure undertakings - made with heavy equipment, the size of major ag crop circles, flooded with fresh water through regulated irrigation, and kept ice-free all season long through the use of hard wired aerators.

Game laws need to keep pace with advances in technology - especially those advances that concentrate a public resource on private land and reduce opportunity for public hunters.

Offline greenhead_killer

  • Trade Count: (+4)
  • Sourdough
  • *****
  • Join Date: Nov 2010
  • Posts: 2169
  • Location: the burg
  • Groups: wsf life member, wsta, mdf, sci, sscf
Re: Have corn pond complexes affected your 2018 duck season?
« Reply #76 on: January 03, 2019, 02:25:53 PM »
The difference too, if this was Johnny bravo and he had his private field that he was doing whatever in, that’s his deal. This situation is very different. They are making very good money off a public resource. Changing and/or stopping natural migration patterns. Creating a monopoly of a public resource by finding a legal loophole. Bait is bait, doesn’t matter if you add water before or after. It’s still baiting.

Offline Tbar

  • Non-Hunting Topics
  • Trade Count: (+26)
  • Frontiersman
  • *****
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 3040
  • Location: Whatcom county
Re: Have corn pond complexes affected your 2018 duck season?
« Reply #77 on: January 03, 2019, 02:29:52 PM »
I don't think many people have a good understanding of waterfowl laws and regulations. @Bigtex, the MBTRA, CFR along with flyway frameworks.

Offline huntnfmly

  • Trade Count: (+36)
  • Frontiersman
  • *****
  • Join Date: Apr 2007
  • Posts: 4722
Re: Have corn pond complexes affected your 2018 duck season?
« Reply #78 on: January 03, 2019, 02:30:22 PM »
JBG made a good point do we start banning hunting from boats because it effects shore hunters.
  Like he mentioned hunt around point X. I'm not a waterfowler so this doesn't effect me as much as some of you but what does effect all of us is the let's ban it because I can't or don't agree with the way someone is doing it way of thinking

JBG comparing corn complexes to owning a boat is the dumbest argument I have ever heard. Most people who boat hunt still hunt from shore haha. Boat hunting only allows you to get to a spot faster and maybe with less work. It doesn't physically draw ducks to you or keep ducks in an area because you are using a boat. I'm not saying I'm against corn complexes but his points are all pretty bad. Ducks do move their migration patterns because of these complexes. Last year there was a huge duck die off because ducks changed their natural migration patterns and stayed in one area because they had food and water. It made it a perfect breeding ground for Avian Cholera.

Personally I'm not really for limiting what other hunters can do just because I can't afford it but I do believe they have an unfair advantage. It would be nice to see the playing field a little more equal. Also JBG dry field duck hunting is way different than a flooded field.
You're actually missing the point

Maybe not being a waterfowl hunter you don't really understand what's going on. Let's say you hunt elk. All year elk feed and breed on hunt able land but then come hunting season LARGE land owners put out some feed or whatever that draws most of the elk to that one land. The herd you used to hunt year after year is now 1/5, 1/10 or maybe even less than it used to be. This feed isn't "illegal" but it marches a very tight line of being legal or not. How would you feel? Would you want people talking about it? Would you do anything?

And my original point of comparing boat hunting to corn complexes is dumb. I get JBG was trying to say it's the have not's trying to take from the the haves but I don't believe this is the case here at all.
Not being a waterfowler I still understand what's going on and your elk example is spot on and that would suck but there would still be elk in the area and actually might bring more in therefore I would just hunt the area different.
  That looks like what is going on with this corn complex and so I understand people's feelings about it but once again back to the bigger picture we cannot keep trying to take away legal hunting practices regardless of how we feel.
  Look at hound hunting/baiting bears how about the baiting deer and elk changes that just took place

I never said there would be more elk. There would be more less elk for the same amount of people who hunted it. Would you as an individual still harvest an elk? Probably but would the size of the success rate go down for you? Very likely. The success rate the whole would also go down. That's what I believe corn complexes are doing.

I think limiting the size of your bait for deer and elk isn't a bad thing. I have never hunted over bait so maybe I'm missing something.
I believe that in your elk scenario that more elk may travel thru public land to get to the private ranch which in many areas they already do and the feed helps.
   I actually agree with you about the corn complex you guys are talking about it doesn't seem fair but this is a big but  it's legal and once again we cannot take away legal hunting practices from others just because we don't like it.
  Private lands benefit all wildlife.
  Here's a really stupid example but it might make sense.
  Say the whole basin you guys hunt dried up and the only place that has water were these corn complexes do we take away their ability to attract waterfowl to the area which would keep them coming into the area or just make it so no birds come in at all.
  I know that is a really stupid and impossible scenario but I think it makes point. So don't laugh too hard at me for that😆😆

In general, I agree with that statement 100%. An exception, though, would be banning previously legal hunting practices that are the result of new advances in technology or innovation.

For example, drone scouting for big game. Previously legal...because drones weren't invented! These corn ponds are not a natural resource hunters are taking advantage of. They are MASSIVE infrastructure undertakings - made with heavy equipment, the size of major ag crop circles, flooded with fresh water through regulated irrigation, and kept ice-free all season long through the use of hard wired aerators.

Game laws need to keep pace with advances in technology - especially those advances that concentrate a public resource on private land and reduce opportunity for public hunters.
Understood
With the technology of keeping the corn ponds ice  free doesn't that benefit the waterfowl?
Where would they go if all waterways were froze up?
I'm your dam tour guide Arnie please don’t wonder off the dam tour.
Take as many dam pictures as you want ....
Are there any dam questions ..

Offline vandeman17

  • Non-Hunting Topics
  • Trade Count: (+11)
  • Explorer
  • ******
  • Join Date: Jul 2007
  • Posts: 14461
  • Location: Wenatchee
Re: Have corn pond complexes affected your 2018 duck season?
« Reply #79 on: January 03, 2019, 02:33:04 PM »
JBG made a good point do we start banning hunting from boats because it effects shore hunters.
  Like he mentioned hunt around point X. I'm not a waterfowler so this doesn't effect me as much as some of you but what does effect all of us is the let's ban it because I can't or don't agree with the way someone is doing it way of thinking

JBG comparing corn complexes to owning a boat is the dumbest argument I have ever heard. Most people who boat hunt still hunt from shore haha. Boat hunting only allows you to get to a spot faster and maybe with less work. It doesn't physically draw ducks to you or keep ducks in an area because you are using a boat. I'm not saying I'm against corn complexes but his points are all pretty bad. Ducks do move their migration patterns because of these complexes. Last year there was a huge duck die off because ducks changed their natural migration patterns and stayed in one area because they had food and water. It made it a perfect breeding ground for Avian Cholera.

Personally I'm not really for limiting what other hunters can do just because I can't afford it but I do believe they have an unfair advantage. It would be nice to see the playing field a little more equal. Also JBG dry field duck hunting is way different than a flooded field.
You're actually missing the point

Maybe not being a waterfowl hunter you don't really understand what's going on. Let's say you hunt elk. All year elk feed and breed on hunt able land but then come hunting season LARGE land owners put out some feed or whatever that draws most of the elk to that one land. The herd you used to hunt year after year is now 1/5, 1/10 or maybe even less than it used to be. This feed isn't "illegal" but it marches a very tight line of being legal or not. How would you feel? Would you want people talking about it? Would you do anything?

And my original point of comparing boat hunting to corn complexes is dumb. I get JBG was trying to say it's the have not's trying to take from the the haves but I don't believe this is the case here at all.
Not being a waterfowler I still understand what's going on and your elk example is spot on and that would suck but there would still be elk in the area and actually might bring more in therefore I would just hunt the area different.
  That looks like what is going on with this corn complex and so I understand people's feelings about it but once again back to the bigger picture we cannot keep trying to take away legal hunting practices regardless of how we feel.
  Look at hound hunting/baiting bears how about the baiting deer and elk changes that just took place

I never said there would be more elk. There would be more less elk for the same amount of people who hunted it. Would you as an individual still harvest an elk? Probably but would the size of the success rate go down for you? Very likely. The success rate the whole would also go down. That's what I believe corn complexes are doing.

I think limiting the size of your bait for deer and elk isn't a bad thing. I have never hunted over bait so maybe I'm missing something.
I believe that in your elk scenario that more elk may travel thru public land to get to the private ranch which in many areas they already do and the feed helps.
   I actually agree with you about the corn complex you guys are talking about it doesn't seem fair but this is a big but  it's legal and once again we cannot take away legal hunting practices from others just because we don't like it.
  Private lands benefit all wildlife.
  Here's a really stupid example but it might make sense.
  Say the whole basin you guys hunt dried up and the only place that has water were these corn complexes do we take away their ability to attract waterfowl to the area which would keep them coming into the area or just make it so no birds come in at all.
  I know that is a really stupid and impossible scenario but I think it makes point. So don't laugh too hard at me for that😆😆

In general, I agree with that statement 100%. An exception, though, would be banning previously legal hunting practices that are the result of new advances in technology or innovation.

For example, drone scouting for big game. Previously legal...because drones weren't invented! These corn ponds are not a natural resource hunters are taking advantage of. They are MASSIVE infrastructure undertakings - made with heavy equipment, the size of major ag crop circles, flooded with fresh water through regulated irrigation, and kept ice-free all season long through the use of hard wired aerators.

Game laws need to keep pace with advances in technology - especially those advances that concentrate a public resource on private land and reduce opportunity for public hunters.
Understood
With the technology of keeping the corn ponds ice  free doesn't that benefit the waterfowl?
Where would they go if all waterways were froze up?

They would continue south until they found open water like they had been doing previously.
" I have hunted almost every day of my life, the rest have been wasted"

Offline JBG

  • Political & Covid-19 Topics
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Scout
  • ****
  • Join Date: May 2010
  • Posts: 305
Re: Have corn pond complexes affected your 2018 duck season?
« Reply #80 on: January 03, 2019, 02:35:57 PM »
Can anyone point to some public land harvest statistics that show the negative impact of the corn complexes?  It seems all the stats are both public/private self reporting.  I'd bet more and more ducks are killed on public land each year or they at least mirror overall duck numbers in the area.  It would be great to see some historical data that would show a significant drop off in public land hunter success at the same time corn complexes started. 
I feel that if the complexes werent there neither would the ducks.  Each area only has so much carrying capacity its not like the birds concentrated on Eagle Lakes would magically show up at the Winchester QHA or Desert Unit.  They would probably just not be as many ducks. 

Offline huntnfmly

  • Trade Count: (+36)
  • Frontiersman
  • *****
  • Join Date: Apr 2007
  • Posts: 4722
Re: Have corn pond complexes affected your 2018 duck season?
« Reply #81 on: January 03, 2019, 02:37:12 PM »
JBG made a good point do we start banning hunting from boats because it effects shore hunters.
  Like he mentioned hunt around point X. I'm not a waterfowler so this doesn't effect me as much as some of you but what does effect all of us is the let's ban it because I can't or don't agree with the way someone is doing it way of thinking

JBG comparing corn complexes to owning a boat is the dumbest argument I have ever heard. Most people who boat hunt still hunt from shore haha. Boat hunting only allows you to get to a spot faster and maybe with less work. It doesn't physically draw ducks to you or keep ducks in an area because you are using a boat. I'm not saying I'm against corn complexes but his points are all pretty bad. Ducks do move their migration patterns because of these complexes. Last year there was a huge duck die off because ducks changed their natural migration patterns and stayed in one area because they had food and water. It made it a perfect breeding ground for Avian Cholera.

Personally I'm not really for limiting what other hunters can do just because I can't afford it but I do believe they have an unfair advantage. It would be nice to see the playing field a little more equal. Also JBG dry field duck hunting is way different than a flooded field.
You're actually missing the point

Maybe not being a waterfowl hunter you don't really understand what's going on. Let's say you hunt elk. All year elk feed and breed on hunt able land but then come hunting season LARGE land owners put out some feed or whatever that draws most of the elk to that one land. The herd you used to hunt year after year is now 1/5, 1/10 or maybe even less than it used to be. This feed isn't "illegal" but it marches a very tight line of being legal or not. How would you feel? Would you want people talking about it? Would you do anything?

And my original point of comparing boat hunting to corn complexes is dumb. I get JBG was trying to say it's the have not's trying to take from the the haves but I don't believe this is the case here at all.
Not being a waterfowler I still understand what's going on and your elk example is spot on and that would suck but there would still be elk in the area and actually might bring more in therefore I would just hunt the area different.
  That looks like what is going on with this corn complex and so I understand people's feelings about it but once again back to the bigger picture we cannot keep trying to take away legal hunting practices regardless of how we feel.
  Look at hound hunting/baiting bears how about the baiting deer and elk changes that just took place

I never said there would be more elk. There would be more less elk for the same amount of people who hunted it. Would you as an individual still harvest an elk? Probably but would the size of the success rate go down for you? Very likely. The success rate the whole would also go down. That's what I believe corn complexes are doing.

I think limiting the size of your bait for deer and elk isn't a bad thing. I have never hunted over bait so maybe I'm missing something.
I believe that in your elk scenario that more elk may travel thru public land to get to the private ranch which in many areas they already do and the feed helps.
   I actually agree with you about the corn complex you guys are talking about it doesn't seem fair but this is a big but  it's legal and once again we cannot take away legal hunting practices from others just because we don't like it.
  Private lands benefit all wildlife.
  Here's a really stupid example but it might make sense.
  Say the whole basin you guys hunt dried up and the only place that has water were these corn complexes do we take away their ability to attract waterfowl to the area which would keep them coming into the area or just make it so no birds come in at all.
  I know that is a really stupid and impossible scenario but I think it makes point. So don't laugh too hard at me for that😆😆

In general, I agree with that statement 100%. An exception, though, would be banning previously legal hunting practices that are the result of new advances in technology or innovation.

For example, drone scouting for big game. Previously legal...because drones weren't invented! These corn ponds are not a natural resource hunters are taking advantage of. They are MASSIVE infrastructure undertakings - made with heavy equipment, the size of major ag crop circles, flooded with fresh water through regulated irrigation, and kept ice-free all season long through the use of hard wired aerators.

Game laws need to keep pace with advances in technology - especially those advances that concentrate a public resource on private land and reduce opportunity for public hunters.
Understood
With the technology of keeping the corn ponds ice  free doesn't that benefit the waterfowl?
Where would they go if all waterways were froze up?

They would continue south until they found open water like they had been doing previously.
Understood.
 But you missed my point
I'm your dam tour guide Arnie please don’t wonder off the dam tour.
Take as many dam pictures as you want ....
Are there any dam questions ..

Offline vandeman17

  • Non-Hunting Topics
  • Trade Count: (+11)
  • Explorer
  • ******
  • Join Date: Jul 2007
  • Posts: 14461
  • Location: Wenatchee
Re: Have corn pond complexes affected your 2018 duck season?
« Reply #82 on: January 03, 2019, 02:42:40 PM »
JBG made a good point do we start banning hunting from boats because it effects shore hunters.
  Like he mentioned hunt around point X. I'm not a waterfowler so this doesn't effect me as much as some of you but what does effect all of us is the let's ban it because I can't or don't agree with the way someone is doing it way of thinking

JBG comparing corn complexes to owning a boat is the dumbest argument I have ever heard. Most people who boat hunt still hunt from shore haha. Boat hunting only allows you to get to a spot faster and maybe with less work. It doesn't physically draw ducks to you or keep ducks in an area because you are using a boat. I'm not saying I'm against corn complexes but his points are all pretty bad. Ducks do move their migration patterns because of these complexes. Last year there was a huge duck die off because ducks changed their natural migration patterns and stayed in one area because they had food and water. It made it a perfect breeding ground for Avian Cholera.

Personally I'm not really for limiting what other hunters can do just because I can't afford it but I do believe they have an unfair advantage. It would be nice to see the playing field a little more equal. Also JBG dry field duck hunting is way different than a flooded field.
You're actually missing the point

Maybe not being a waterfowl hunter you don't really understand what's going on. Let's say you hunt elk. All year elk feed and breed on hunt able land but then come hunting season LARGE land owners put out some feed or whatever that draws most of the elk to that one land. The herd you used to hunt year after year is now 1/5, 1/10 or maybe even less than it used to be. This feed isn't "illegal" but it marches a very tight line of being legal or not. How would you feel? Would you want people talking about it? Would you do anything?

And my original point of comparing boat hunting to corn complexes is dumb. I get JBG was trying to say it's the have not's trying to take from the the haves but I don't believe this is the case here at all.
Not being a waterfowler I still understand what's going on and your elk example is spot on and that would suck but there would still be elk in the area and actually might bring more in therefore I would just hunt the area different.
  That looks like what is going on with this corn complex and so I understand people's feelings about it but once again back to the bigger picture we cannot keep trying to take away legal hunting practices regardless of how we feel.
  Look at hound hunting/baiting bears how about the baiting deer and elk changes that just took place

I never said there would be more elk. There would be more less elk for the same amount of people who hunted it. Would you as an individual still harvest an elk? Probably but would the size of the success rate go down for you? Very likely. The success rate the whole would also go down. That's what I believe corn complexes are doing.

I think limiting the size of your bait for deer and elk isn't a bad thing. I have never hunted over bait so maybe I'm missing something.
I believe that in your elk scenario that more elk may travel thru public land to get to the private ranch which in many areas they already do and the feed helps.
   I actually agree with you about the corn complex you guys are talking about it doesn't seem fair but this is a big but  it's legal and once again we cannot take away legal hunting practices from others just because we don't like it.
  Private lands benefit all wildlife.
  Here's a really stupid example but it might make sense.
  Say the whole basin you guys hunt dried up and the only place that has water were these corn complexes do we take away their ability to attract waterfowl to the area which would keep them coming into the area or just make it so no birds come in at all.
  I know that is a really stupid and impossible scenario but I think it makes point. So don't laugh too hard at me for that😆😆

In general, I agree with that statement 100%. An exception, though, would be banning previously legal hunting practices that are the result of new advances in technology or innovation.

For example, drone scouting for big game. Previously legal...because drones weren't invented! These corn ponds are not a natural resource hunters are taking advantage of. They are MASSIVE infrastructure undertakings - made with heavy equipment, the size of major ag crop circles, flooded with fresh water through regulated irrigation, and kept ice-free all season long through the use of hard wired aerators.

Game laws need to keep pace with advances in technology - especially those advances that concentrate a public resource on private land and reduce opportunity for public hunters.
Understood
With the technology of keeping the corn ponds ice  free doesn't that benefit the waterfowl?
Where would they go if all waterways were froze up?

They would continue south until they found open water like they had been doing previously.
Understood.
 But you missed my point

What was the point then? honest question
" I have hunted almost every day of my life, the rest have been wasted"

Offline EWUeagles

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Scout
  • ****
  • Join Date: Dec 2011
  • Posts: 287
  • Location: Spokane, Washington
Re: Have corn pond complexes affected your 2018 duck season?
« Reply #83 on: January 03, 2019, 02:46:18 PM »
Can anyone point to some public land harvest statistics that show the negative impact of the corn complexes?  It seems all the stats are both public/private self reporting.  I'd bet more and more ducks are killed on public land each year or they at least mirror overall duck numbers in the area.  It would be great to see some historical data that would show a significant drop off in public land hunter success at the same time corn complexes started. 
I feel that if the complexes werent there neither would the ducks.  Each area only has so much carrying capacity its not like the birds concentrated on Eagle Lakes would magically show up at the Winchester QHA or Desert Unit.  They would probably just not be as many ducks.

I might be wrong but all the waterfowl surveys I have ever filled out it never asks if it was public or private. You can find harvest records by county but you would be making assumptions and I don't know if those surveys even ask big ranches like Eagle Lakes.

Offline huntnfmly

  • Trade Count: (+36)
  • Frontiersman
  • *****
  • Join Date: Apr 2007
  • Posts: 4722
Re: Have corn pond complexes affected your 2018 duck season?
« Reply #84 on: January 03, 2019, 02:50:54 PM »
JBG made a good point do we start banning hunting from boats because it effects shore hunters.
  Like he mentioned hunt around point X. I'm not a waterfowler so this doesn't effect me as much as some of you but what does effect all of us is the let's ban it because I can't or don't agree with the way someone is doing it way of thinking

JBG comparing corn complexes to owning a boat is the dumbest argument I have ever heard. Most people who boat hunt still hunt from shore haha. Boat hunting only allows you to get to a spot faster and maybe with less work. It doesn't physically draw ducks to you or keep ducks in an area because you are using a boat. I'm not saying I'm against corn complexes but his points are all pretty bad. Ducks do move their migration patterns because of these complexes. Last year there was a huge duck die off because ducks changed their natural migration patterns and stayed in one area because they had food and water. It made it a perfect breeding ground for Avian Cholera.

Personally I'm not really for limiting what other hunters can do just because I can't afford it but I do believe they have an unfair advantage. It would be nice to see the playing field a little more equal. Also JBG dry field duck hunting is way different than a flooded field.
You're actually missing the point

Maybe not being a waterfowl hunter you don't really understand what's going on. Let's say you hunt elk. All year elk feed and breed on hunt able land but then come hunting season LARGE land owners put out some feed or whatever that draws most of the elk to that one land. The herd you used to hunt year after year is now 1/5, 1/10 or maybe even less than it used to be. This feed isn't "illegal" but it marches a very tight line of being legal or not. How would you feel? Would you want people talking about it? Would you do anything?

And my original point of comparing boat hunting to corn complexes is dumb. I get JBG was trying to say it's the have not's trying to take from the the haves but I don't believe this is the case here at all.
Not being a waterfowler I still understand what's going on and your elk example is spot on and that would suck but there would still be elk in the area and actually might bring more in therefore I would just hunt the area different.
  That looks like what is going on with this corn complex and so I understand people's feelings about it but once again back to the bigger picture we cannot keep trying to take away legal hunting practices regardless of how we feel.
  Look at hound hunting/baiting bears how about the baiting deer and elk changes that just took place

I never said there would be more elk. There would be more less elk for the same amount of people who hunted it. Would you as an individual still harvest an elk? Probably but would the size of the success rate go down for you? Very likely. The success rate the whole would also go down. That's what I believe corn complexes are doing.

I think limiting the size of your bait for deer and elk isn't a bad thing. I have never hunted over bait so maybe I'm missing something.
I believe that in your elk scenario that more elk may travel thru public land to get to the private ranch which in many areas they already do and the feed helps.
   I actually agree with you about the corn complex you guys are talking about it doesn't seem fair but this is a big but  it's legal and once again we cannot take away legal hunting practices from others just because we don't like it.
  Private lands benefit all wildlife.
  Here's a really stupid example but it might make sense.
  Say the whole basin you guys hunt dried up and the only place that has water were these corn complexes do we take away their ability to attract waterfowl to the area which would keep them coming into the area or just make it so no birds come in at all.
  I know that is a really stupid and impossible scenario but I think it makes point. So don't laugh too hard at me for that😆😆

In general, I agree with that statement 100%. An exception, though, would be banning previously legal hunting practices that are the result of new advances in technology or innovation.

For example, drone scouting for big game. Previously legal...because drones weren't invented! These corn ponds are not a natural resource hunters are taking advantage of. They are MASSIVE infrastructure undertakings - made with heavy equipment, the size of major ag crop circles, flooded with fresh water through regulated irrigation, and kept ice-free all season long through the use of hard wired aerators.

Game laws need to keep pace with advances in technology - especially those advances that concentrate a public resource on private land and reduce opportunity for public hunters.
Understood
With the technology of keeping the corn ponds ice  free doesn't that benefit the waterfowl?
Where would they go if all waterways were froze up?

They would continue south until they found open water like they had been doing previously.
Understood.
 But you missed my point

What was the point then? honest question
My point is without the open water the waterfowl will just continue on the migration and not even stop in the area.And the corn complex should be looked at as additional carrying capacity
I'm your dam tour guide Arnie please don’t wonder off the dam tour.
Take as many dam pictures as you want ....
Are there any dam questions ..

Offline HaydenHunter

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Hunter
  • ***
  • Join Date: May 2007
  • Posts: 160
  • Location: Idaho Panhandle
Re: Have corn pond complexes affected your 2018 duck season?
« Reply #85 on: January 03, 2019, 02:53:50 PM »
Do you also want to ban (water in corn) the practice on public land?  Why not get WDFW to do a much better job of making good habitat on public ground?
Last I heard, WDFW wasn't charging $350 a gun for waterfowl hunts and had budget strains.

Offline JBG

  • Political & Covid-19 Topics
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Scout
  • ****
  • Join Date: May 2010
  • Posts: 305
Re: Have corn pond complexes affected your 2018 duck season?
« Reply #86 on: January 03, 2019, 02:56:37 PM »
Yea it would be pretty simple for them to put a box saying public or private land.  Anyhow this horse seems dead.  I think everyone who is a public land hunter needs to support the groups and politicians who have their best interests at heart.  (Dems are a pain in the ass but I am sure there are very few Republicans that support expansion of government for sportsman benefits in addition to imposing regulations on private entities)

Also as an aside I have access to private land (a west side version of a corn complex)all season long but I am currently boat shopping so I can hunt the big rivers and bays, I guess the grass is always greener  :dunno:

Offline JBG

  • Political & Covid-19 Topics
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Scout
  • ****
  • Join Date: May 2010
  • Posts: 305
Re: Have corn pond complexes affected your 2018 duck season?
« Reply #87 on: January 03, 2019, 02:58:30 PM »
Do you also want to ban (water in corn) the practice on public land?  Why not get WDFW to do a much better job of making good habitat on public ground?
Last I heard, WDFW wasn't charging $350 a gun for waterfowl hunts and had budget strains.

Maybe they should start!

Offline KopperBuck

  • Political & Covid-19 Topics
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Sourdough
  • *****
  • Join Date: Sep 2010
  • Posts: 1910
  • Location: GRV
Re: Have corn pond complexes affected your 2018 duck season?
« Reply #88 on: January 03, 2019, 03:06:33 PM »
JBG made a good point do we start banning hunting from boats because it effects shore hunters.
  Like he mentioned hunt around point X. I'm not a waterfowler so this doesn't effect me as much as some of you but what does effect all of us is the let's ban it because I can't or don't agree with the way someone is doing it way of thinking
As many have stated it's a bigger problem than what's fair.  It could potentially be very detrimental in several ways, one being disease.  A huge threat when you congregate any species.
They congregate in large numbers already  along thier migration so I don't see that as a valid argument.
  What this really comes down to is people feeling that it's not fair so let's stop somebody else that's only going to shoot all sportsman in the foot

https://www.yakimaherald.com/news/state_news/disease-killing-hundreds-of-ducks-other-birds-near-tri-cities/article_d92fe75e-e416-11e6-bafd-1b0d4df39e88.html
Thanks for the link but that makes a point that they congregate in great numbers already

Actually, the point is that they were congregating in harder numbers because of the winter causing the problems. In theory, you'd like the birds spread out a little more on the open water.

Whereas you get enough ice eaters going, you're concentrating birds in a much smaller area than would normally occur because they would spread out looking for big water.


Offline EWUeagles

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Scout
  • ****
  • Join Date: Dec 2011
  • Posts: 287
  • Location: Spokane, Washington
Re: Have corn pond complexes affected your 2018 duck season?
« Reply #89 on: January 03, 2019, 03:11:00 PM »
Yea it would be pretty simple for them to put a box saying public or private land.  Anyhow this horse seems dead.  I think everyone who is a public land hunter needs to support the groups and politicians who have their best interests at heart.  (Dems are a pain in the ass but I am sure there are very few Republicans that support expansion of government for sportsman benefits in addition to imposing regulations on private entities)

Also as an aside I have access to private land (a west side version of a corn complex)all season long but I am currently boat shopping so I can hunt the big rivers and bays, I guess the grass is always greener  :dunno:

The state doesn't care where the birds are shot. They want to brag about harvest rates going up even if it is all on private land, that way they get to pat themselves on the back. No politician is good, especially Washington Dems. Just look at the gun laws that get passed every year.

You don't really think hunting fees should be 350 bucks to shoot ducks?

 


* Advertisement

* Recent Topics

Bow mount trolling motors by GWP
[Today at 07:32:25 AM]


Nevada guide draw Mule Deer by High Climber
[Today at 07:18:34 AM]


Anterless 1334 muzzle loader by Bendejo
[Today at 07:17:52 AM]


Cowiche Quality Buck by buglebuster
[Today at 07:10:20 AM]


2025 Draw Results by Elkaholic daWg
[Today at 07:02:27 AM]


Son drawn - Silver Dollar Youth Any Elk - Help? by Rugergunsite308
[Today at 06:27:17 AM]


SE raffle tags holder by HntnFsh
[Today at 05:39:57 AM]


11th Annual 'Pull For Scouting' Clay Crushing Classic by high_hunter
[Today at 12:27:18 AM]


AKC lab puppies! Born 06/10/2025 follow as they grow!!! by high_hunter
[Today at 12:21:33 AM]


Ritzville Rifle Buck - GMU 284 by high_hunter
[Yesterday at 11:49:16 PM]


Antlerless Moose more than once? by shootem
[Yesterday at 11:25:51 PM]


Nooksack Muzzleloader Bull Tag by high_hunter
[Yesterday at 10:42:24 PM]


My wife drew quality deer DESERT rifle 10/18-10/26!!!!! by high_hunter
[Yesterday at 10:17:15 PM]


Palouse buck deer by blumtnelkndeer
[Yesterday at 10:14:00 PM]


Drew Quality by Jimmer
[Yesterday at 09:34:00 PM]


Quality Swakane by Rainier10
[Yesterday at 09:09:17 PM]


Observatory quality bull rifle by buglebuster
[Yesterday at 09:00:02 PM]


A little Martini Cadet varmint rifle I have been working on by JDHasty
[Yesterday at 08:43:33 PM]


Pogue Quality by geauxtigers
[Yesterday at 08:38:35 PM]


2025 OILS! by HUNTNORTHWEST
[Yesterday at 07:46:27 PM]

SimplePortal 2.3.7 © 2008-2025, SimplePortal