[KEH]

I have a friend who swears a pond cannot be overhunted. I strongly disagree. What are your thoughts? I'd like to win this argument!!!
:salude:

 

[DUKHTR]

Generally I would have to agree ....and I hunt with resource management in mind on such spots....However, there always is some place that they can be pounded, and still return day in and day out. Geese are notorious for this in my experience. We have pounded a field four of seven days, and they still want in no matter. I think ducks are more apt to move on from a pond, especially a roost location, when they get tagged too often. I have a spot where I hunt only three or four time a season...and they are almost always banner hunts. I'm actually afraid to find out if going there a couple times aweek would alter their routine. Rather not mess with a good thing!

 

[hooked on quack]

are i guess you could overhunt a pond if you went everyday and got ten birds everytime you go but i think you really cant over hunt a pond cause sooner or later ducks will want in that same pond.

 

[Quackkills9]

i disagree, i believe ponds can be overhunted for ducks, i would have some luck then the next day i go there only a few come by but flare away, it is different for every hunter, depends on their location and the numbers of ducks in the area. Geese is a whole different story... :getdown:

 

[donell67]

i think you can over hunt a pond. everytime a group comes in and you shoot at them.you are educating them. they probly wont come back to that pond for awhile. when i was a kid we over hunted spots. even years later no birds or few birds use that area anymore. there was a spot on a river on the middle channel. that we got alot of birds mostly goldeneyes and buffleheads they hardly use that channel anymore.

 

[TXbayhunter]

i agree with dukhtr i have a few spots that i will only hunt a couple times a year cause in my past experiances i have over hunted spots and they tend to stay away from that spot for a few years. and especially if it is a roosting spot you definately can run the ducks outa there. and alot of it depends on what kind of ducks you are mainly shooting at... if it is wood ducks... be very carefully cause they will move out quicker than you will ever notice

 

[SCoutdoorsman]

Dont ask us down here in SC b/c yes you can. You got to a have enough ducks to keep them coming back. :help: We have to manage out ducks( like deer) on private ponds most to the time unless a good migration gets pushed down here. :mrgreen:

 

[WhiteRiverguy]

Exactly SC.... It all depends on how small the place is and how many new ducks you have coming down.

 

[Greg Wile]

Around here if you hunt an area too often the birds find a new spot to go and it takes a long time for them to start comming back to the old one if at all. We have a lot of small ponds and streams for them to go to.

Take a Goose to dinner and enjoy it.

 

[yellowlab]

yes yes ... you can overhunt a pound ... if there aren't any live birds to draw new ones in ... nothing to shot... duck are stupid...just my .02cents yellow

 

[mccree79]

Ponds can be over hunted, if you have a strong migration and new birds you can hunt the pond more. If you are shooting at the same birds(slow migration) than the birds will start avoiding the pond. I have seen "local"ducks fly half circles around a pond.

 

[h2ofwlr]

duck are stupid...

Oh really? I guess you only have uneducated ducks over there then.
Over here in MN with 120,000 lic waterfowlers who are after the ducks , and after they are pounded on for 1 week, they either learn or they is dead. I swear some of the local ducks around here after 6 weeks of hunting pressure had gotten PHDs they were so smart. I see McCree has encountered them too.

So to answer the original question - definitely.

The real key to keep them around is undisturbed afternoon/evening roost. Biological studies from 40 years ago showed if you disturbed the roosts in any way--the birds would leave the area for better areas even with light PM hunting pressure.
And then the there is sustained hunting pressure in the AM-that will also induce the birds to transmigrate (East/West) or migrate earlier than normal to the traditional South.

 

[texan68]

my theory.......It depends on the location of the pond. If its a pond which gets flight birds everyday, then no the pond could not be overhunted, but some ponds only get local birds, in this case then yes the pond could be overhunted. The birds would relize they are shot at every time they try to land, this making the birds move to a safer location.

 

[Giv'em3]

Yes, unless you give the birds a rest they will leave for a safer area. Ducks are very smart animals. They have learned not to fly over certain parts of my slough. We don't hunt our slough in the afternoons until the last couple days of the season or before freeze up. You must give them a rest to kill more birds. :thumbsup:

 

[ks_waterfowler]

I wish we only had uneducated ducks here in Kansas. Make things alot easier. Some days the make me so mad I am ready to give up hunting. Other days it seems anybody could kill ducks.

 

[SCoutdoorsman]

Ducks are not stupid.

OK, duck season opens tomorrow, so here's our flight plan.