Just watched a show on the Outdoor Channel, they were interviewing the Duck Commander(Phil Robertson), I only caught a little bit of the interview, but he was saying that ****, fox, and skunk account for 85% of destruction of duck egg's in the northern U.S., and Canada. He was saying that we need to relocate these animal's away from the nesting ground's. If that percentage went down to 80%-75% the ammount of duck's would increase dramatically in ten year's. I believe that North Dakota is doing some test wher they allow trapping of these predator's either year round, or during the nesting season. This is only taking place in certain zone's. What do you guy's/gal's think about this, I know with the declining fur price's these predator's population increase every year. The amount of skunk's I've seen in the last year has been incredible( I mean that in a bad way) there everywhere. Maybe the states should put a bounty on these predator's. What U think :umm:
PREDATOR'S
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I know the season is open all year around for them here. I try to shoot all of them when I see them, but it is very hard to keep them under control. I do agree that we need to try and get all of them.
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predator management is one of delta waterfowls main focal points. they have studied controlled sites on the breeding grounds of ND and Saskatchewan. these are the results
species / percent success / location blocks / size of study
trapped / untrapped
mallard / 57% / 36% / saskatchewan/ 16 square miles
divers / 57% / 29% /north dakota / 16 square miles
shovelers / 71% / 50% / north dakota / 16 square miles
upland
nesting ducks/ 53% / 29% / north dakota / 1 square mile
upland
nesting ducks/ 48% / 19% /saskatchewan / 16 square miles
upland
nesting ducks / 36% / 15% / north dakota / 36 square miles
upland
nesting ducks/ 42% / 23% / north dakota / 16 square miles
these areas were studied between 1996 and 2004. the upland nesting ducks are mostly blue winged teal, mallards, pintail, shovelers, and gadwall.
so as you can see we need to help out both DU and Delta waterfowl to help secure more breeding grounds and control the predators on these grounds.........JMO
species / percent success / location blocks / size of study
trapped / untrapped
mallard / 57% / 36% / saskatchewan/ 16 square miles
divers / 57% / 29% /north dakota / 16 square miles
shovelers / 71% / 50% / north dakota / 16 square miles
upland
nesting ducks/ 53% / 29% / north dakota / 1 square mile
upland
nesting ducks/ 48% / 19% /saskatchewan / 16 square miles
upland
nesting ducks / 36% / 15% / north dakota / 36 square miles
upland
nesting ducks/ 42% / 23% / north dakota / 16 square miles
these areas were studied between 1996 and 2004. the upland nesting ducks are mostly blue winged teal, mallards, pintail, shovelers, and gadwall.
so as you can see we need to help out both DU and Delta waterfowl to help secure more breeding grounds and control the predators on these grounds.........JMO
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1,459 Posts
Duckdog makes a good point about the decline of the fur industry.If that were not the case then populations of furbearers in duck breeding areas would be very different.
If a large scale program did come into being with the objective to reduce duck predator numbers it would have some major hurdles to jump.
First it would require the money,then it would need support from all the fed,state and provincial goverments.It would also have to target specific species while avoiding others,one eagle,hawk or endangered lynx poisoned or snared would kill off a predator program in a hurry.
I don't know if it will ever come about but if it does it will take a lot of resources to do it and maintain it,which translates into guys like us being willing to fork over cash to orgs that will do it.
If a large scale program did come into being with the objective to reduce duck predator numbers it would have some major hurdles to jump.
First it would require the money,then it would need support from all the fed,state and provincial goverments.It would also have to target specific species while avoiding others,one eagle,hawk or endangered lynx poisoned or snared would kill off a predator program in a hurry.
I don't know if it will ever come about but if it does it will take a lot of resources to do it and maintain it,which translates into guys like us being willing to fork over cash to orgs that will do it.
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1,854 Posts
How much do hawks effect bird populations? I have heard that they have very little and then other people tell me that they are devestating to poplations. I know here in Missouri redtail hawks are extremely protected, but they are everywhere. If they are damaging to game bird populations, then they have to be doing a number on Missouri's birds.
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I know hawks and eagles kill a ton of pheasants and upland. I have witnessed it myself.
I shoot all the coyotes and ***** I see. I even get a chance to lay tread over the ***** every once in a while in town. Poor *****, they don't stand a chance when the 7600lb dodge rolls over em... :yes:
I shoot all the coyotes and ***** I see. I even get a chance to lay tread over the ***** every once in a while in town. Poor *****, they don't stand a chance when the 7600lb dodge rolls over em... :yes:
I have never seen a hawk go after a duck or goose, only uplan game. But I'm sure they probaly would if given the chance. In the past few week's the amount of bald eagles migrating through Iowa has really increased. They swoop down and nab fish out of the water I bet they would do the same to a duck!
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Raptors,hawks and eagles,prey on all bird species.One of the leading arguements to ban lead shot involved the number of raptors dieing from lead pellets ingested after taking cripples that had been shot but not retrieved.Anytime a hawk or eagle flies overhead the ducks I've seen take cover,for good reason.
Last spring I watched as a pair of red tailed hawks watched and tried to catch a hen black duck and her ducklings. The first hawk tried unsuccesfully to get the hen which would have made the ducklings easy pickins. The second hawk got one of the ducklings :thumbsdown: Any way thats the way nature works and as far as predator control goes trappers would probably help out with a bit of support from some of the organizations like Delta & DU and if more of you guys would buy your wives/ girlfriends fur coats. :laughing:
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256 Posts
it would be nice if there would be some incentive for people other than trappers to help get rid of predators. I know here in louisiana ldwf will pay 7 dollars a piece for nutria rat tails. they cause so much damage to the marshes that all you have to do is shoot it and cut off the tail and turn it in to the ldwf. maybe if something like this could be implemented it would help out with the predators. just a thought
When I did the Nuisance Wildlife Control stint for the DNR we were mandated to kill all skunks and ***** that we caught unless the people that called for the help had a property that these critters could be released on. Then we had to have land on which we could dispose of the carcasses. When they named it they got it right "Nuisance" because we were not paid by the DNR but had to charge the public for our services and you got calls in the wee small hours of the morning because someone had a pair of ***** fighting in their yard by the time you got off of the phone the critters had moved on. Man what a pain in the posterior. And none of the guys doing this work could get together on a standard charge for their service. I think they have that worked out some what now. But when I did it the programe had just been started.
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