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Seminole????

5K views 27 replies 12 participants last post by  gaducman 
#1 ·
Looking at taking a trip down there next weekend for opening of second split. Anyone have any luck this year? im not asking for spots just seeing if anyone is seeing any birds.
 
#3 ·
i live on seminole and will not hunt it opening day bc there is way to many people hunting it and ive never seen anybody do very great with everybody bunched up together.i would suggest goin in the middle of the week if you are goin to.there was sum birds here the first split but now i havnt seen much at all.honest truth there.
 
#5 ·
Decent number of ducks for the weather, plenty of Rubberheads too!! Should be a little better this weekend. Lucked out and my son has a state playoff game in Bainbridge for 7-8yr old rec Football at noon, so we plan on hunting all day!!
 
#10 ·
It was a Fun and intresting first trip to Seminole for me. Killed some ringnecks, bluebill, and golden. Had a Buddy who killed a Drake Redhead. Alot of people though Saturday morning and had a few boat try to sit about 40yds from us. Also heard someone in a boat using a crow call. Oh well it was a fun trip and we got to Scratch out a few ducks. Anygood Reciepe for Ringers????
 
#11 ·
by GAbirdhunter » Sun Dec 09, 2012 5:21 pm

About five boats loaded with sky busters blowing mallard calls for every duck that there is on the lake....
That is typical of Seminole the last few years. I may go try it next weekend, time will tell.
 
#12 ·
Pretty aggravating to have birds working your decoys to have someone who got there after you set up 150 yards down and sky bust the birds that were working your set....or scare a bunch of ringnecks off by trying to blow their shiny new mallard call at them.....I try to hunt over there during the week when I can, much more peaceful then, and not nearly as aggravating
 
#14 ·
by hamer174 » Mon Dec 10, 2012 9:02 pm

Yeah, We got on the Water and 2:30 Georgia time just to make sure we had a spot...I slept pretty good for an hour or 2 on the boat haha
That is the other thing that got old, I used to hit the water around 2ish-3ish to get my spot then fight off the yahoos, got tired of that too.
 
#15 ·
Situation is about the same on the Florida side opening day.. Yahoos posted up about 75 yards from us and pepper us with shot all morning. Whiffed on a pair of Drake redheads that came off the back of the boat, but managed a few ringers. Went out yesterday this nasty weather cold and wet :beer: got a nice wigeon and a few ringers.
 
#17 ·
So help me out here...Should I bring my mallard calls, my crow calls or no calls??? Kills me how some folks will show up late to the party and come on in anyway. Guess you can have too much camoflage for human eyes but not enough for the ducks! Heading down in a week or two to give it a try. Hoping for more cold weather to push the ducks down and keep me from sweating!
 
#21 ·
GADKHNTR said:
anybody who travels to hunt that lake deserves exactly what they shoot
i heard that!! i live here and there is nothin here worth traveling for.i killed a few woodies this week thats it.and i hunt everyday.luckily i have a cypress pond that we own.i havnt been back out there and wont unless there is a decent amount of ducks.but it just hasnt been here this year.
 
#22 ·
So help me out here...Should I bring my mallard calls, my crow calls or no calls??? Kills me how some folks will show up late to the party and come on in anyway. Guess you can have too much camoflage for human eyes but not enough for the ducks! Heading down in a week or two to give it a try. Hoping for more cold weather to push the ducks down and keep me from sweating!
Leave the calls at home, maybe make you up a jerk string, you will get more out of it down there "I suspect.
 
#24 ·
About 20 years ago Seminole had large hydrilla beds where the bass in the summer would go for the cool shady water. There they continued to feed and grow to bragging size. These same beds were a factory for invertebrate production. Waterfowl management professionals use moist soil management for invertebrate production. Waterfowl need protein and invertebrates are the source they need not corn! Well the Corp in their questionable wisdom decided to spray and kill all or most of the hydrilla so boats would have an easier time navigating the lake. Now the ducks have lost an important and abundant food source. There used to be a half million coots and 10,000 ducks that wintered on Seminole as FWS surveys showed. Most,not all, waterfowl do not migrate with photoperiod. The two major factors that determine bird migration is the availability of food and the absence of pressure from predation, humans included. So why would birds accumulate on Ole Sem where there is little to eat and nowhere to loaf freely. The goose that lay the golden egg was the hydrilla plant which could be returned to areas with control management and the pressure could be reduced by stopping hunting at 12 noon daily except the last day of the season. Sadly there is no reason to go to what used to be a great waterfowling area with hunters instead of sky busting shooters and empty skies!

Our DNR told me once that the hydrilla plant was a foreign species and played no benefitual part in the lake's ecosystem. I replied that the dam and lake was a foreign and artificial environment created by man and that the hydrilla was a successionary plant to what we created. Our DNR could not give a counter argument to my point. Anyway GA does not give waterfowlers the support as other states do. Think of all the birds that fly thru GA to awaiting decoys and guns in FL! Probably half of the out of state hunters in AR are from GA. You can see the many GA tags at the AR boat landings. Our hardwood river bottoms are gone with their foods of acorns and invertebrates. Finally there is nothing on a pine tree or in it's forest with any food source for a hungry duck, so why should a duck come to or stay in GA? I don't know how to bring ethics to these shooters who can only be described as greedy and without Southern manners. Waterfowl hunters they are not! There are a lot of good waterfowl hunters and wannabes in GA. Huntable habitat can be developed if enough hunters push for it. Especially on nearby lands of Seminole.
 
#25 ·
Well written , I am in favor of no hunting past noon. The reason why i am is because of the few people that i have seen that hunt the roast in the afternoon way after hours and put a enormous amount of pressure on the ducks that are left on Seminole. And some of these guys call that duck hunting... But i believe Florida and Georgia DNR should pay close attention to how Arkansas and AGFC run there outfit. The guys here that are running the show are not educated enough on waterfowl or the habitat they need. Some of the things ive seen on the opening week here are worst than ive seen in Arkansas on opening day. It has really gotten to be aggravating the last couple of years.
 
#26 ·
Rodney, your reponse demonstrates that there are thoughtful, educated waterfowl hunters in GA. I no longer even try to hunt in GA because it's that bad and I now have the means to go out of Ga to hunt. I still care about the good people who deserve much better than they get here in GA. Unfortunately many of our DNR personel believe that the public is simple minded and does not possess the skills to influence waterfowl management. Not only is this wrong but it shows the arrogance in the DNR culture toward the public. Waterfowl management does not exist as a priority in GA. Waterfowl hunters do not have a voice to challenge or support our DNR's waterfowl management policies. In years past there was a strong effort to have a state organization of waterfowl supporters. There was a great response but there were two competing groups that diluted each one's efforts. I personally tried to get them to merge but their were competing egos that were the start up funding source on each side. No one was willing to give ground for the overall good. SC is organized and has a paid waterfowl biologist who can give professional challenges to the state's policies. Now the voices of GA waterfowlers are limited to comments or editorials in GON magazine. Many in GA are not aware of the number of birds that fly thru our state into the decoy spreads in FL. The major reasons that waterfowl move are depletion of food sources, loss of water from ice and pressure from human activity, hunters, or natural predators. The two main reasons for food loss are: they simply eat what's there and the other is their inability to access the food because of ICE . We can not control the weather but we can manage food and pressure.

I was in ND during the first week of November 2009 and witnessed thousands of snow geese flying north into Canada. That fall the Dakotas were very wet putting the corn harvest at only 10-15 % complete. It was very simple to understand why the birds were flying back up north. They were returning to a known and accessible food source! That same year thousands of acres of soybeans were lost to standing water, up to 15 inches. The ducks had a feast! They had every thing they needed and no reason to leave. You could not hunt them because they would simply move to the next field with no reason to leave or move around. No way to hunt with 10-20K mallards in the fields next to your set up. No human can call or decoy that well! Biologists later reported there were an estimated 1 million plus mallards in a 50 mile radius in that area of SD that I had witnessed. These are just a few examples that I have witnessed. They show there some GA boys with personal experiences that have taught them the facts of waterfowl behavior.

My experience has been our DNR already knows everything about waterfowl and shows no willingness to learn. My guess is they don't know the difference between a duck shooter and a complete waterfowler. We who continually strive to hone our skills and learn all components evolved in waterfowling are trying to earn the right to be called a complete waterfowler. We know we don't know it all.

I wish you good hunters in GA well and will support any effort you undertake to improve waterfowl opportunies here. Remember that because we are on the edge of two flyways with much smaller numbers of birds traveling through GA, we have to work harder and smarter for our opportunies. If it wants to, GA can do much better! In the meantime my Lab and I will put another 5-10 K miles on my truck this fall and go to where things are managed with professional skill. It's no longer about killing a limit every time out, but having the chance to call and work birds into my decoys. Take one or two for the dog and look forward to returning soon. Don't forget that scouting, which requires more time afield, is just as satisfying as hunting and never hunt in the evening!

The people that need to here these words will probably never go to this forum to be enlightened as well as the many that agree with my thoughts. Here's to the birds filling your sky, Chuck Thompson :beer:
 
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