Have corn pond complexes affected your 2018 duck season?

[hunterednate]

Corn pond hunting is not a private property issue.  The issues are fair chase and the threat to free public hunting.  It makes no sense that knocking the feed down to the water is illegal because it creates an overly attractive condition for hunting but that raising the water up to the feed which creates the same condition is not.  Baiting rules should shift focus to defining what conditions are overly attractive for hunting and move away from focusing on how the condition was created.

And to those who think commercial hunting outfits with large sanctuary lakes can't capture significant portions of the wintering waterfowl in Washington State, you simply do not understand waterfowl behavior.  Waterfowl will move to wherever they find safety and food, and the more you have of both, the more waterfowl you will attract and the numbers will not cease increasing until either the safety or food get maxed-out, or there are no more birds to attract.  All it takes are corn ponds, safety and money.

This is one of the main concerns to me. There is no ceiling to corn ponds. We are witnessing a corn pond arms race in the Columbia Basin as the larger complexes compete with each other for birds. There's no end in sight to this. As clubs get more money from more hunters shooting ducks, they have the power to create more and larger and better conditions for holding birds.

If we ever get a year when duck numbers are below the long term average, public hunters will feel the pinch like never before.

[hdshot]

Hunting corn ponds is not baiting, it is called hunting over crops.  If hunting over (CROPS) was considered baiting then we could never hunt a farmers field again, public or private.  Sorry but that is the definition and only a public or knock of the door for permission hunter myself as well.   

[Mfowl]

Hunting corn ponds is not baiting, it is called hunting over crops.  If hunting over (CROPS) was considered baiting then we could never hunt a farmers field again, public or private.  Sorry but that is the definition and only a public or knock of the door for permission hunter myself as well.

Flooding standing corn with fluctuating water levels to maximize use of the unharvested crop is not a standard agricultural practice. The corn is grown for no other reason than to attract waterfowl for the purposes of hunting and making money off of it.

[Stein]

Same as the state does on public land, plant tons of crops and never harvest.  That isn’t standard agricultural practice either.  As long as you don’t spread it around or drop seed it is not considered baiting.


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[h2ofowlr]

Corn complexes on the east side in the triangle definitely suck the birds in.  Just can't compete with the feed, habitat, ponds, warm springs and flowing water.  It is definitely where the birds want to be.  You just need to hunt away from that particular location or the influence of it.
Sugar Ranch is 7k +acres, Black Dog is  6K + acres, Eagle lakes 4k + acres along with what they have tied up and one other big club.  Your talking over 200 natural or planted ponds plus all the lakes. The state just doesn't have anything that competes with it.

If they were smart, they would work a one day a week public option for those private clubs.  Possible hunt until noon scenario.  It will never happen, but it is a cool idea.

[3cityhuntr]

As stated earlier.  Discussing on this forum won’t change anything.  Public comment period is open on the current proposed regulation changes at the following link:

https://wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/regulations/seasonsetting/

There are currently no proposed changes for the baiting regulations.

You can submit general comments at the following email:

Wildthing@dfw.wa.gov

Comment period close February 13th.

[BD1]

If they were smart, they would work a one day a week public option for those private clubs.  Possible hunt until noon scenario.  It will never happen, but it is a cool idea.
[/quote]

You would have to camp out for 3 weeks in their driveway to get a spot on the one day hunt  The idea is awesome though...

[EWUeagles]

If they were smart, they would work a one day a week public option for those private clubs.  Possible hunt until noon scenario.  It will never happen, but it is a cool idea.

You would have to camp out for 3 weeks in their driveway to get a spot on the one day hunt  The idea is awesome though...
[/quote]

Not if they did a draw system that you put in your date before the season.

[hunterednate]

As stated earlier.  Discussing on this forum won’t change anything.  Public comment period is open on the current proposed regulation changes at the following link:

https://wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/regulations/seasonsetting/

There are currently no proposed changes for the baiting regulations.

You can submit general comments at the following email:

Wildthing@dfw.wa.gov

Comment period close February 13th.

Amen! Thanks for posting the link. I commented. Hopefully guys on both sides of this comment as well. My hope is that at the least the commission will see the need for some sort of formal study to assess the on the effect of corn ponds on local duck movement and public hunting opportunity.

[hunterednate]

Hunting corn ponds is not baiting, it is called hunting over crops.  If hunting over (CROPS) was considered baiting then we could never hunt a farmers field again, public or private.  Sorry but that is the definition and only a public or knock of the door for permission hunter myself as well.

The problem isn't the crops - it's the "crops +water" that makes it equivalent to baiting in effect (no one is arguing that it's baiting right now. It's totally legal as the law currently stands). Anyone could still hunt over dry crops or natural sheetwater if the law is revised to eliminate the corn pond loophole.

[hunterednate]

Corn complexes on the east side in the triangle definitely suck the birds in.  Just can't compete with the feed, habitat, ponds, warm springs and flowing water.  It is definitely where the birds want to be.  You just need to hunt away from that particular location or the influence of it.
Sugar Ranch is 7k +acres, Black Dog is  6K + acres, Eagle lakes 4k + acres along with what they have tied up and one other big club.  Your talking over 200 natural or planted ponds plus all the lakes. The state just doesn't have anything that competes with it.

If they were smart, they would work a one day a week public option for those private clubs.  Possible hunt until noon scenario.  It will never happen, but it is a cool idea.

I completely agree with this. It's amazing the difference when you hunt outside the sphere of influence of these corn ponds - and that's definitely the smart play right now for public hunters.

The problem is that the footprint is growing every year as corn complexes increase in size and sophistication (increased wiring for ice eaters, improved pump infrastructure, etc.). It's a shame that the state has lots of money invested in public lands close to these complexes that no longer provide consistent quality hunting opportunity to the extent they did pre-corn ponds.

[3cityhuntr]

Interesting post I saw on Tri city waterfowlers Facebook page this morning(thanks to whoever posted it.  These guys have put a lot of thought into modifying the regulations to close the baiting loophole.  Their page address is pasted below.

https://www.flywayfederationusa.com/who-we-are/?fbclid=IwAR15tAs30NlYsyh0-qIE_3XrreRcbI96XmKTTvTanwjqu4f63DcnEdvZE6c

[EWUeagles]

Interesting post I saw on Tri city waterfowlers Facebook page this morning(thanks to whoever posted it.  These guys have put a lot of thought into modifying the regulations to close the baiting loophole.  Their page address is pasted below.

https://www.flywayfederationusa.com/who-we-are/?fbclid=IwAR15tAs30NlYsyh0-qIE_3XrreRcbI96XmKTTvTanwjqu4f63DcnEdvZE6c

I contacted them and had some questions for them. I hope they can get back to me.

[hunterednate]

Interesting post I saw on Tri city waterfowlers Facebook page this morning(thanks to whoever posted it.  These guys have put a lot of thought into modifying the regulations to close the baiting loophole.  Their page address is pasted below.

https://www.flywayfederationusa.com/who-we-are/?fbclid=IwAR15tAs30NlYsyh0-qIE_3XrreRcbI96XmKTTvTanwjqu4f63DcnEdvZE6c

Wow! That is awesome. Thanks for sharing. I didn't know this group existed. I will be contacting them, too.

[3cityhuntr]

I haven’t seen a response from the WDFW regarding my questions about corn pond operations but a buddy did.

“Important to note; there is nothing illegal by federal or state definitions about the practice regarding the baiting regulations, however several conversations are occurring regarding this topic, and in fact the next meeting of the Waterfowl Advisory Group has been tasked with taking up this topic for discussion (date to be determined, but sometime in April) and has been a requested briefing item to the WDFW Fish and Wildlife Commission during the September 2019 meeting.
 
So, please feel free to reach out for more information related to those conversations as we approach April and September.”

So it looks like corn ponds and the baiting rules are definitely on the radar.  And it’s nice that the state is actually responding.  I’ll share mine if/when I get one.  Again, nothing will ever change unless the issue is brought to light and they know enough of us are concerned.