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Altamaha WMA Waterfowling Changes

5K views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  Dep6 
#1 ·
Are the glory days just a memory of the past or can we bring it back to a destination that holds birds ?

I believe we can with a strategic focus on developing a master plan that gives the birds what they need besides fresh water pools that are choked with giant cutgrass. To attract and hold birds you have to provide the food they require and control the pressure by having areas where they can loft,preen and rest undisturbed from PEOPLE and TRAFFIC. The same management concept as providing an undisturbed sanctuary area for trophy deer management as proven by QDMA. You don't develope food sources in the refuge/sanctuary. The food sources are in the calorie rich habitats that are hunted on a limited and controlled basis. This has been proven at Cheyenne Bottoms ,KS. A 41,000 acre state managed property with 19,500 acre man made wetland with hunting.

On Saturday 1-17-2015, the refuge on Hwy 17, I witnessed a waterfowl population of ZERO ! There was plenty of road traffic right next to the refuge pool. A planting of waxmyrtle, a native evergreen shrub, would help isolate the refuge from human activity. This is not a place for birding from September 1 - February 1 . Small liner plants of Waxmyrtle are available at a SC nursery that can be planted with a tree dibble. This would make a great Saturday project for a group of young people during the month of February. There was evidence of a limited control of the water vegetation, primarily giant cutgrass, to open this refuge pool. This needs more control to open it up so birds have more visibility to relax and not feel threatened from what they cannot see, like alligators. Since a deeper water level helps control water plants I would suggest using a trac-hoe to dig islands that run parallel with the strongest winds. A 10 foot width with an over seeding of a short grass like Bahia.

A quality food source to attract and hold waterfowl does not now exist. Moist soil management when invertebrates and plant seeds are maximized is unquestionably the best method to producing a nutrient rich habitat that would fulfill a master plan's long term requirements. To maximize calories per acre you need plants that will produce both the seed and the nursery effect for invertebrate production when flooded. Giant cutgrass is not the plant to meet these requirements. We need a perennial plant that produces the calories & proteins required and lowers the long term management cost of habitat development. That plant is Smartweed ! I have seen it used successfully in many states and it grows naturally in GA. I have located a seed source in TX. It has a seeding rate of 5-10 lbs/acre when broadcast on bare soil. It's not cheap at $20/ PLS, but it has to be looked at as an investment in the future success of Altamaha WMA. Corn, rice, and millet have to be planted every year with an investment in seed, chemicals, fertilizer,labor and equipment. The goal should be, in my opinion, to plant all 3 hunted islands ( Butler, Rhett's, and Champney) with smartweed. The competing cutgrass with its massive root zone of reproductive rhizomes has to be eliminated for a successful stand of smartweed to be established. We have three main mechanical tools for a seed bed preparation. They are burning, mowing and plowing with a chisel and/or a disc harrow. One might consider an aerial spraying followed by burning during the summer growing season. The area that is not now hunted on Butler needs to be cleared and planted as well. One more management note: when flooding these plantings start with an water level of 12-15", with a final completed level of 15-20" but never exceed 24" !

I want to start a pledge drive to raise money to buy smartweed seed to be used on Butler first since it is under the least amount of hunting pressure. After 50% of Butler is planted then the next stage would be for seed to be allocated 30% Butler, 35% Rhett's, and 35% Champney. I will pledge $200 to get this started. :thumbsup: You don't have to hunt any more or ever to get behind this effort. Send me a pm with your pledges and I will report totals on this thread. Pledge what ever amount, $5,$10,$20 or more, you feel comfortable with. Remember $100 will seed 5 acres ! Get your friends and family who are not on here to pledge through you. This will take about 5 years to complete if we can get our DNR to do the soil prep and plant the seed we donate. Hopefully we can show that we are very serious about this with enough people willing to buy enough seed to get this started. I will go to Altamaha WMA managers as soon as we have enough money pledged ($5-10 K) to get them on board. There have been discussions about starting a Coastal chapter of Delta Waterfowl. We could have the money be collected through Delta and those monies counted as a tax deduction. We could make this a state wide campaign with all GA chapters of Delta Waterfowl working to raise funds and to give this project more political clout.

This project will take time to raise the money and to do the work. We will need to convince upper DNR management in Social Circle to commit the funds to do the soil prep and to plant our seed donations. Let's give the birds a reason to stay in Ga and not go to FL. When completed these plantings will increase the hunting opportunies around the greater Altamaha River Delta not just the three islands planted in the WMA. There are more islands in the WMA that could be developed for future waterfowl habitat for more birds and more hunters. Who knows in the future someone might look into developing green tree reservoirs for even more opportunities.

I look forward to your reply, Chuck Thompson, Lyons
 
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#2 ·
And you about right, But it is DNR that ruined those Islands to start with, with mismanagement, over burning, ETC. Just because we get a comittment from them doesn't mean they will follow thru, tried this years back when DU gave the 106,000 to repair the dike on Pond #1, I believe Carmen was in charge back then, not sure who is now to be honest. I think your going to have to basically start over, if you want to establish the smartweed like you want, I know the fires back in what 05/06 that went from 1 to 2 and burned everything really put a hurting on Rhett's.

I pulled over the dike at Rhett's, 3 years ago, at 7:30 PMthe night before and spent all night fighting off boats and still had at least 4 boats inside of 200 yards, they kept coming, on up until around 5:30 opening day. Until there is a restriction on the number of boats allowed inside of Rhett's I don't believe nothing will change. I do believe it needs to go to a quota system too of some sort to hunt there. Am I right or wrong, I don't know but I do know this, statewide there are so many hunting, the birds don't have hardly time to rest on public waters from the sheer number of boats alone that are riding/scouting/hunting. The water we do have does not seem to stack up to other states such as SC and FL. And I know it is not just a GA thing, other states have the same problems. Seminole has been ruined by GON magazine IMHO, calling Seminole the duck Mecca and all. There are no hard and fast answers to the problems we face as waterfowlers in this state. We will ALL need to get together to make something happen for sure.
 
#4 ·
Raising money for anything on public land is a waste of time IMO. If you want to do something, do it on private land. Try to find some like minded guys and do something that you can control. It doesn't help to raise money for smart weed seed on Butler. There is already smartweed on Butler, they just don't control the water level properly to propagate it. You planting more won't help. There are private impoundments across Georgia and South Carolina that hold ducks because the people that owned them manage them. If you want to do something, that is the route you need to go.
 
#5 ·
This thread was started to bring people together to make a positive long term impact on the future of an undeveloped state waterfowl resource. There needs to be a master management plan for Altamaha WMA that includes holding waterfowl and control of hunting pressure. Georgia's population growth has had a negative effect on hunting success by increasing the waterfowler numbers and reducing the acreage suitable to holding waterfowl. There are record bird populations, record number of hunters and not near enough public and private acres that are managed for holding birds with controlled pressure and a variety of food sources.

Do we give up and do nothing ? A few private properties can be managed to hold more birds for a few more hunters. The problem is the scale needed to have a positive impact. Georgia needs 50-100,000 acres of new habitat that is managed to hold waterfowl with feeding habitat, pressure free refuges, and controlled hunting in the food. These need to be 5-10,000 ac in size with flooded crops, moist soils and surrounded by pressure free buffer zones. States like MO have successfully used this model to have state sponsored hunts with many privately managed properties benefiting from the birds being attracted to the larger state waterfowl areas. I personally am a member of a group that leases managed waterfowl properties in MO that directly reaps the benefits of large MO controlled shooting areas. Altamaha WMA could be the starting point with crops like rice, smartweed, and moist soils. The effects would not only be on site but would attract birds that could be managed for hunting on private land.

It all comes down to time, money, and the will to make a difference ! It's so easy to complain and let some other fools waste their time and money. Many want a free ride and want something for nothing. Waterfowling in GA can get no better than it is now for anyone if nothing is done soon. Large enough tracts of land that meet the requirements of a waterfowl habitat are getting harder to acquire. Money can be raised by our DNR with an increase of a state duck stamp to $15, waterfowl liscense plate, a quota hunt blind fee, a WMA duck habitat fee, lease parts of Altamaha WMA for rice production, or tax credits for 50+ year land leases, equipment use/donation, cash donations, and land value losses from habitat land sales to the state.

Do you believe that the pioneers of the "Duck Stamp", Delta Waterfowl and Ducks Unlimited made their effort so they would have more birds to shoot on their local marshes ? Did they believe in saving the resource for people of the future ? I feel the same way. Now is the time to make things happen for our young hunters and a future we will never know. Waterfowl need the scale and vision of a statewide effort to make a meaningful change. Georgia needs a few selfless individuals to bring this effort to every GA chapter of Delta and DU to test the will of it's members. Time will tell if Georgia has the will of past pioneers on the scale that is needed.
 
#6 ·
Until DNR makes the committment for the good of the sport, your going to get no where. There are many private land impoundments that I know of, that are holding birds, They ( DNR ) is going to have to come up with a long term plan for waterfowl management, until they do that, yes Delta and DU might help but the acreage is not there except along the coast to do what your suggesting and the birds are there, just not where someone can shoot at them.

I have seen DU impoundments in other places, that are just for DU TV to shoot, in the northern tier states and Canada too. I would almost be skeptical of them volunteering to build impoundments.
 
#7 ·
Dep6 said:
Until DNR makes the committment for the good of the sport, your going to get no where. There are many private land impoundments that I know of, that are holding birds, They ( DNR ) is going to have to come up with a long term plan for waterfowl management, until they do that, yes Delta and DU might help but the acreage is not there except along the coast to do what your suggesting and the birds are there, just not where someone can shoot at them.

I have seen DU impoundments in other places, that are just for DU TV to shoot, in the northern tier states and Canada too. I would almost be skeptical of them volunteering to build impoundments.
like the ones at fishing creek wma the dams have been messed up for years and nothing has been done to fix them and the same way with the goose fields at clarks hill wma planted one time and cared for and then forgotten about or at least they look like it to me.
 
#8 ·
Krazy, I helped plant Lake Juliette, the shoreline to attract geese maybe 10 years back, and it worked but nothing since then, only reason I did because it was a Scouting project.
 
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