The Canada Goose Weather Vane Decoys offer a realistic paint scheme, toughness G+H is known for, and are made proudly in America. Choose from  30″ magnum feeders, standard 25″ variety pack(3 pack/free shipping), or standard 25″ feeders(3 pack/free shipping). You won’t find a more reliable and tough decoy for Canada goose hunting.

At G+H we also carry snow goose decoys. When you are out snow goose hunting you want decoys that are light, fast to set up, and offer a lot of movement to replicate feeding birds. Our Snow Goose Weather Vane Decoys are all of that and more!

The same can be said when duck hunting with our Mallard Weather Vane Decoys. Mallards are constantly moving side to side when feeding heavy in fields. Our decoys will trick the wariest of ducks and decoy them in your face for feet-down shooting.

So don’t wait. We have your duck and goose hunting needs covered with our new Weather Vane Decoys. To place an order go to http://www.ghdecoys.com/ .

Related Articles

• Planning a Waterfowl HuntingTrip to Canada (0)
• Goose Recipe (0)
• Winged Migration (0)
• Wind and the Critical Role it Plays (0)
• Wildlife Biology Career (0)

Sooner or later – most likely later – what feels like spring will arrive. Just looking at the calendar makes that a pretty safe prediction, but I also know that spring is getting closer because of a bump in the volume of calls I get from students and parents looking for guidance and insight on a successful career outdoors field.

There are a lot of things to consider for a wildlife biology career.

I’ve never second-guessed my career choice, and few things make me happier than to hear how excitement in the voices of prospective students or college graduate about to embark on a similar career path. But most parents have questions about putting together the best game plan for success. Whether the student is still in high school or is about to graduate from college, there are many ideas to consider.

A high school student should keep his or her options as wide open as the prairie sky. A specific goal, such as becoming a game warden or researching bighorn sheep is a good initial step, but flexibility is also important.

Twenty years ago when I graduated from high school, I could not have envisioned that part of my work life would involve producing outdoors information. Along the way I’ve banded geese, arrested poachers, battled mountain wildfires and worked with landowners on improving habitat.

Contrary to what you might assume, highly developed skills as an angler or hunter are not a prerequisite to a wildlife-related career, but frequent participation plus an in-depth knowledge of biology and management strategies would help anyone relate to the hunting and fishing public. The most important factor is a genuine interest in and love for the outdoors, a standard shared by most of my coworkers.

Not every North Dakota college has a degree program specific to the outdoors or wildlife or fisheries field. In this day and age, it’s pretty easy to research schools to determine which one provides the best fit.

Most college graduates assume a competitive job market in the natural resources field. That has always been the case and it likely will remain that way well into the future. Job experience can set students apart, and a willingness to spend summers working for a natural resources agency, regardless of the school, is a big plus when finally comes to applying for that first job. I spent my first summer after high school as a volunteer for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A $10 day stipend didn’t go far even in 1990, but beyond the money, the experience established a solid foundation for the future.

Even with five summers of field experience, after college graduation it was four months of intense hunting until I landed a steady job, and many would say I was lucky. If you graduate without much work experience, my suggestion is similar to what I’d tell a recent high school graduate eyeing a career a decade down the road: don’t pass anything up, or become excessively selective. Networking and persistence, along with experience, may be the key to success.

Graduate school is also an option. If research or a highly specialized career is a goal, obtaining a masters or other advanced biology degree may be in order.

While in college I enjoyed working side by side with others who had similar goals. Some are coworkers yet today, while others for differing reasons moved on to different career paths. I can reassure students, and parents, that few people regret choosing natural resources as a career, and that in itself speaks volumes for the vocation.

Leier is a biologist with the Game and Fish Department. He can be reached by email: dleier@nd.gov  He can answer questions about a wildlife biology career.

Related Articles

• Winged Migration (0)
• Who’s Going To Look After the Ducks? (0)
• Waterfowl Hunting Memories (0)
• Water Up – Ducks Down (0)
• The Streak (0)

The NFL season opened a few weeks back with many teams having high expectations for a banner year. Such is the case for the North Dakota waterfowl season, which opens Sept. 25 for residents and Oct. 2 for nonresidents.

High expectations, however, are not always realized due to factors that no one can control, like injury in the NFL and weather in the waterfowl hunting world.

With that context in mind, North Dakota’s 2010 fall duck flight is expected to be up 20 percent from last year. Canada goose populations are high, and the snow goose migration will have more young birds in the flock than last year.

It appears that only a major weather event, like an extreme mid-October cold front/snowstorm that sends a lot of birds south prematurely, or an abnormally mild October that delays migration of birds into the state until deer season, can get in the way of a promising year for waterfowlers.

Mike Johnson, North Dakota Game and Fish Department game management section leader, said the fall flight estimate comes from statistics gathered during the Department’s spring breeding duck survey and summer duck brood survey.

The spring survey indicated a duck index 12 percent higher than in 2009 and 107 percent above the long-term average. Water conditions in May were up 5 percent from 2009 and 76 percent from the long-term average.

The mid-July duck production survey revealed a duck brood index that was up 14 percent from 2009 and 63 percent above the long-term average. Average brood size was 6.7 ducklings, down 0.4 from last year. The long-term average is 7.1 ducklings per brood.

The water index in mid-July was down 14 percent from last year, but still 28 percent above the long-term average.

The index does not count every water body or duckling in the state. Instead, biologists sample representative transects across the state each year. Over time, survey results provide biologists with trend information that allows annual comparisons of waterfowl production in the state.

Duck limits and season lengths for this fall are similar to last year, with the exception of an additional pintail in the daily bag limit. Hunters may now take two pintails daily, instead of one.

The hunting season for Canada geese in the Missouri River zone will close Dec. 31, while the remainder of the state will close Dec. 23. The season for whitefronts closes Dec. 5, while the season on light geese is open through Dec. 31. Shooting hours for all geese are one-half hour before sunrise to 1 p.m. each day through Nov. 6. Beginning Nov. 7, shooting hours are extended until 2 p.m. each day.

Extended shooting hours for all geese are permitted from one-half hour before sunrise to sunset on Saturdays and Wednesdays through Nov. 28, and on Saturdays, Sundays and Wednesdays from Dec. 1 through the end of each season.

The daily bag limit for Canada geese during the regular season is three, with six in possession. The daily limit on whitefronts is two with four in possession, and light goose is 20 daily, with no possession limit.

Nonresidents have the option of buying either a statewide waterfowl license or one with zone restrictions. Nonresidents who designate zones 1 or 2 may hunt that zone for only one seven-day period during the season. Nonresident hunters who chose to hunt in zone 1 or 2 and wish to use the full 14 consecutive days allowed, must use the other seven days in zone 3. Hunters in zone 3 can hunt that zone the entire 14 days.

Nonresidents are not allowed to hunt on Game and Fish Department wildlife management areas or conservation PLOTS (Private Land Open To Sportsmen) areas from Oct. 9-15.

Remember that even with an optimistic forecast, waterfowl hunting can have an off day. But just like in the NFL, there’s always next weekend.

Related Articles

• Winged Migration (0)
• Wildlife Biology Career (0)
• Who’s Going To Look After the Ducks? (0)
• Waterfowl Hunting Memories (0)
• Water Up – Ducks Down (0)

With the Vikings into training camp, regardless of who plays quarterback for the Purple this fall, most experts agree it should be a good season. The same goes for North Dakota’s primary gamebird species this fall.

That said, there’s no guarantee and we really won’t know until hunters or football players take the field. But my response when asked about hunting prospects is “so far so good.” Here’s a look at some biological data that helps support my early assessment.

Pheasants
North Dakota’s spring pheasant crowing count survey revealed a 6 percent decrease statewide compared to last year, according to Stan Kohn, upland game management supervisor for the state Game and Fish Department.

The number of crows heard in the northwest was down 16 percent from 2009, while counts in the southwest and southeast were relatively unchanged from last year. In the northeast where there are fewer birds, the counts decreased 10 percent.

“This past winter did not appear to have a role in the lower crowing counts,” Kohn said. “It is probably the result of a lower number of adult birds surviving the winter of 2008-09, coupled with poor production in spring 2009 because of cool, wet weather at the time of the hatch, resulting in chick mortality and fewer young entering the population last fall.”

Kohn said the good news from this spring is the quality of cover will benefit birds and broods of all upland species. “Pheasants are finding nesting and brooding cover in fair quantity and great quality,” he added. “Native, warm season plants are doing extremely well and one would anticipate a good number of insects and eventually grasshoppers to become available with this type of habitat component.”

While the crowing count survey provides good trend data on roosters, Kohn said it does not assess adult hen population. “Hens are the segment of the population that determines the fall population,” he said. “In spring 2009, field personnel noted the low number of hens with roosters (1-2 hens per rooster) indicating the hen population might be smaller than usual. This spring there were no such observations reported.”

The spring crowing count does not measure population density, but is an indicator of the spring rooster population based on a trend of number of crows heard. Biologists won’t complete brood surveys until early September, and those will provide an indicator of the summer’s pheasant production

Ducks
Waterfowl in North Dakota appear in very good shape as the spring breeding duck survey index of more than 4.5 million birds was up 12 percent from last year and 107 percent above the long-term average (1948-2009). For historical comparison, the 2010 index is the third highest on record.

All species, except for wigeon increased from last year. Pintails were up 10 percent and were at the highest level since 1970. Mallards were up 12 percent and were the fourth highest on record.

Spring waterfowl surveyors also count breeding resident giant Canada geese, and that index came in at the second highest on record.

In addition to good water conditions in North Dakota, reports indicate that much of the duck factory in South Dakota and Montana was in good shape, but Saskatchewan and Manitoba were on the dry side at the time of spring migration.

One final note as Conservation Reserve Program acreage in North Dakota continues to decline. Since the beginning of 2007, North Dakota has lost more than 700,000 CRP acres, and projections for the next two years indicate up to another 1.7 million acres could be converted to cropland.

So while the here and now would probably fit into an “OK” category, concern about the future continues to mount as the grassland habitat base shrinks.

Leier is a biologist with the Game and Fish Department. He can be reached by email: dleier@nd.gov

Related Articles

• Youth Pheasant Hunting (1)
• Winged Migration (0)
• Wiley Winter Roosters (0)
• Wildlife Biology Career (0)
• Who’s Going To Look After the Ducks? (0)

By Doug Leier

The next time you find yourself kicking cans in the shop, killing time at the gas station or coffee shop with the crew, I ask you to raise a question about favorite ducks.

No doubt the wood duck would garner a share of votes, and the pintail has subtle grace and definition–that pointed tail distinguising it from the other ducks. Maybe a vote or two will crop up for the blue-winged teal, accompanied by the rationale of, “those buggers are fast and hard to hit” … and they are!

The mallard, particularly drake mallards, would likely land at the top of the list for many hunters. The greenhead truly is second to none in North Dakota when you consider about 40-50 percent of all ducks taken are mallards, and about two thirds of those are drakes.

It’s a testament to the mallard’s plentiful population, solid reputation as a good eatin’ duck, and coloration that allows easy differentiation between drakes and hens. Let’s face it, there’s plenty of shovelers and late in the season the drakes are fairly easy to distinguish from hens, but most hunters will take a mallard over a spoonbill, given the opportunity.

A recent study involving thousands of ducks banded in North Dakota and other Central Flyway states and Canadian provinces produced information for biologists and hunters alike to dispel some of the myths of mallard production. One such discussion regards the production of mallards in North Dakota and Canada, as many hunters assume brown ducks that lack full color in late September and early October were raised locally, while field-feeding November mallards with all colors in place are transient late-coming migrants.

The study indicatec a solid majority of banded mallards shot in North Dakota early in the duck season were also banded in North Dakota. After Oct. 28, the proportion of birds recovered in North Dakota that were banded in Canada increased, but local birds were still well represented.

What that means is a lot of North Dakota-raised mallards are still in North Dakota in late October, despite the increased likelihood of shooting a mallard that’s on its way down from Canada.

Hunters in search of picturesque plumaged drakes might assume that the ones with a full set of full-curled tail feathers and not a pinfeather are “big northern mallards, down from Canada.”

That might have been the case a few decades ago when a much greater proportion of the Central Flyway’s mallards nested in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, instead of North Dakota. In the last 20 years or so, due to overall loss of duck breeding habitat in Canada, and a temporary gain in North Dakota with a wet cycle coupled with the peak of the Conservation Reserve Program acreage, North Dakota has attracted a much greater proportion of mallards.

While old hunting stories don’t change much over time, hunting dynamics do. These days, a plump grain-fed greenhead that decoys just before deer season could just as well have been born and raised over in the CRP across the slough, instead of hundreds of miles north on the Canadian prairie.

When you stop and think about it for a second, you’ll realize a drake mallard looks pretty much the same, whether it was raised in Canada or North Dakota. In fact to shoot another hole in the myth, the young-of-the-year North Dakota birds just might even have a slight edge in size and coloration because the nesting mallards stop earlier here than farther north migrating mallards setting the stage for earlier production and longer growth period before the hunting season.

I’ll also acknowledge that local mallard migration does take place and most waterfowlers have experienced many a cold front that pushes some local birds out, with migrating ducks filling in the void several days. It’s little nuances like this that give duck hunters something to kick around over a cup of coffee as they anticipate their next outing in the Prairie Pothole Region of the Midwest.

Leier is a biologist with the Game and Fish Department. He can be reached by email: dleier@nd.gov

Related Articles

• Winged Migration (0)
• Wildlife Biology Career (0)
• Who’s Going To Look After the Ducks? (0)
• Waterfowl Hunting Memories (0)
• Water Up – Ducks Down (0)

HIP information has provided wildlife managers more accurate data to better manage species such as doves

For almost a decade, migratory bird hunters have had to get HIP. No, not the “hip,” that loosely means “aware” or “fashionable” according the Webster’s Dictionary, but HIP, as in registered with the Harvest Information Program.

What is HIP?

HIP is a survey method developed by states and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) as a means to collect more reliable estimates of migratory bird harvests throughout the country. The program provides agencies the information necessary to manage hunting seasons.

It got its start in the early 1990s when the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies worked with the USFWS to develop a program to collect data from all migratory bird hunters, which includes those who hunt ducks, geese, swans, sandhill cranes, doves and others.

The requirement for HIP registration began in 1998. As with any new survey HIP was initially the target of unsubstantiated paranoia: “They’ll use it take our guns . The list will go to the anti-hunters,” bird hunters bemoaned. Others thought the program would become a new way of charging a fee for the mandatory certification. After a decade of existence, none of these problems have occurred.

“In the past we used names and addresses of duck stamp buyers as the sample frame for questionnaires to measure waterfowl harvest,: says Mike Johnson, North Dakota Game and Fish Department game management section leader. “This is no longer possible because of the way duck stamps are distributed. In addition, we had no way to get harvest survey questionnaires into the hands of other migratory game bird hunters, such as dove, snipe or woodcock hunters. Thus, we had no harvest information for most non-waterfowl species.”

Better data

For the HIP survey, state game and fish agencies register all migratory bird hunters to get their names and addresses. The name/address database is then sent to the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The USFWS randomly selects a sample of hunters from the list and asks them to provide information on the kind and number of migratory birds they harvest during the hunting season. Those reports are then used to produce harvest estimates of all migratory birds throughout the country. Responding to the mail questionnaire surveys is voluntary, however most hunters interested in helping to conserved our migratory bird resources and perpetuate our hunting heritage are willing and eager to provide information on their hunting activity and success.

HIP information has provided wildlife managers more accurate data to better manage species such as doves

The information gathered from hunters is kept confidential, and once the HIP survey is complete, the USFWS destroys all names and address records.

Johnson says that many hunters mistakenly think that the simple questions they answer when they register for HIP are the harvest survey. “This is not the case,” he emphasized. “The HIP registration questions provide the statistical foundation for sampling the hunter data base. Survey accuracy and efficiency is greatly improved if we know who is most likely to be a dove or duck hunter, for example, and their relative activity and success.”

The actual HIP survey is mailed to a small sample of migratory game bird hunters.

How to get HIP

Hunters need to get HIP before hunting ducks, geese, swans, mergansers, coots, cranes, snipe, mourning doves or woodcock. Those who purchase a license through the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s website (gf.nd.gov), or instant licensing telephone number (800-406-6409) are automatically HIP certified. Otherwise, hunters must call 888-634-4798, answer a few simple questions, and record the HIP number on their fishing, hunting and furbearer certificate.HIP registration is like any other hunting or fishing license requirement, Johnson says, except it’s free.

“Hunters play a very important role in the management and conservation of migratory game birds,” Johnson stated. “One of their easiest and most important responsibilities is to provide timely and accurate responses to harvest survey questionnaires.

“The Harvest Information Program,” Johns added, “is the most significant improvement in harvest survey methodology in the past 60 years.”

Related Articles

• Winged Migration (0)
• Wildlife Biology Career (0)
• Who’s Going To Look After the Ducks? (0)
• Waterfowl Hunting Memories (0)
• Water Up – Ducks Down (0)

I have often been asked what I enjoy the pursuit of most: ducks or geese. It is a difficult question for a person who would prefer to spend his time scanning the skyline above decoys for waterfowl. For me, I cut my teeth hunting ducks at my family’s lake cabin with my dad and relatives. On my first hunting trip with ‘the guys’, they harvested the first Canada goose ever on our lake. From that moment on I was hooked on honkers. As the recent years have brought an abundance of geese, dark and light, I tend to tip the scales towards the long-necked waterfowl.

When talking about ducks and duck hunting the conversations often focus on low population counts and the poor state of their breeding grounds. The Mississippi and Central flyways were handed the “liberal” season package for the 2006 season, but these liberal seasons may soon be a thing of the past. Droughts and predators on the prairies have had a negative impact on the duck population.

I will continue to duck hunt regardless of the state of the population and lowered limits. I will just have to hunt smarter, doing little things like making the effort to shoot only drakes. With all the negativity surrounding the population of the ducks, I feel that some hunters are even ridiculed for shooting legal limits of ducks when hunting is not the cause of lower populations.

At twenty-five years of age I have come to the conclusion that Mother Nature plays the biggest role when it comes to duck production. Wet springs and dry summers can help duck populations sustain. Ducks Unlimited does a good job setting aside land for waterfowl, and Delta Waterfowl has done an excellent job raising the need the for predator control. Still at the end of the day I feel that the greatest benefit these organizations provide is an awareness of healthy waterfowl environment and waterfowl hunting practices.

If people are not familiar with the sport, they will never have any interest or concern for it. As hunters we need to encourage others to try hunting, or go at least to gain an understanding of why others pursue it. DU and Delta keep waterfowl hunters out in the public’s awareness through many types of media.

If one looked at numbers, they would conclude that our own government, through Federal Duck Stamp dollars, has done the most for the waterfowl population. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has not only set aside land, they have also trapped predators on that land as well. I know that in the past Delta Waterfowl has encouraged hunters to buy additional Federal Duck Stamps, and I would suggest the same. Funding through the Federal Duck Stamps dollars can produce more birds for your buck.

Personally, I volunteer with a local Delta chapter and help out when I can with the Minnesota Duck and Goose Callers Association. I have helped build wood duck boxes with kids for the Minnesota Waterfowl Association and volunteer at the MWA Woodie Camp. I do my arguing for the ducks behind the scenes in low tones but with firm conviction.

One thing that I have never felt remorse for is bringing a Canada goose to the ground with a load of steel shot. With populations of Canada geese as high as they have ever been, there is no shortage. I encourage others to think of the possibility of more special hunting seasons to help keep their populations in check.

With September seasons for harvesting resident Canada geese and a Conservation Order in place for Snow geese, there has never been more opportunity for hunting. I believe that it is these opportunities that have allowed the younger generations of waterfowl hunters to embrace goose hunting. I myself have fallen into this category where mild weather and liberal bag limits have made hunting geese very enjoyable.

Snow and Canada geese are both vocal and social birds. Their responsiveness to calling and decoys makes hunting them a treat. Goose calling has become a pastime where I live Minnesota, and I embrace it. Calling contests for ducks and geese have created excitement among the younger hunters across the Midwest. It should come as no surprise that Minnesota competitive goose callers have excelled in competitions across the country.

This fall whether I am hunting in Minnesota or North Dakota, I will be setting up for geese. Does this mean that I enjoy goose hunting more? A little, I guess. However I will shoot plenty of ducks along the way. Every waterfowl hunter worth his steel shot knows that ducks decoy better to goose decoys than duck decoys. As much as I enjoy hunting ducks, I will continue to target geese. As waterfowl hunters we could all become conversationalists by targeting the high populations of geese. My suggestion would be to start consulting others for good goose recipes.

Related Articles

• Winged Migration (0)
• Wildlife Biology Career (0)
• Who’s Going To Look After the Ducks? (0)
• Waterfowl Hunting Memories (0)
• Water Up – Ducks Down (0)

Every duck stamp purchase funds more conservation

Even if you’re not a duck hunter, I think you’ll appreciate what thousands of duck hunters across the prairie are doing this fall. It’s about as simple a task as you can make it, and much of the time they don’t get enough credit for how they’ve contributed to the good of the cause.

Here’s what happened to make me stop and think. A few weeks ago I went to the post office and bought my duck stamp. I’ve done this for just about 20 years running, which seems like a long time, but I know there are readers who can tell me they’ve purchased duck stamps for decades upon decades. Some day I hope to reach that level also.

Buying a duck stamp provides a hunter age 16 or older the federal authorization to go afield hunting ducks, geese and swans. But it provides more than just a legal right to hunt. Consider that 98 cents out of every dollar generated by the sale of federal duck stamps goes directly to purchase or lease wetland habitat for protection in the National Wildlife Refuge System.

Understandably, the federal duck stamp program has been called one of the most successful conservation programs ever initiated, and is a highly effective way to conserve America’s natural resources.

As I signed my duck stamp I took a moment to appreciate the Ross’s goose which adorns this year’s stamp. I pondered the artist who won the right to have their work grace this magnificent stamp. Further research shows the designer was Sherri Russel Martin of California.

Duck stamps are responsible for over 5 million acres of habitat

Duck stamp sales began in 1934 and have generated just under $700 million and directly resulted in leasing and purchase of more than 5 million acres of waterfowl habitat.

What’s not often mentioned in translation, and this is where benefits to people who don’t hunt waterfowl come into play, are the multitude of fish, reptile, amphibians, shorebirds and other species that benefit from habitat preserved or enhanced because of duck stamp sales. Consider that an estimated one-third of all endangered and threatened species find protection behind duck-stamp-purchased property.

People from all walks of life, from hikers to birdwatchers, benefit from duck stamps. And last but not least, protected wetlands purify water supplies, reduce soil erosion and sedimentation.

This year a notation on the stamp is made about the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, celebrating its 20 years of existence. Like the duck stamp, the NAWMP in its own right has been a monumental effort to preserve, maintain and enhance waterfowl populations and their habitat, which trickles down to benefit more than just ducks as well.

I  flipped the duck stamp over and learned more about the NAWMP and its two decades of success. Basically, it’s a continent-wide response to habitat loss, low population levels and a need to reverse the trend.

As quoted on the back side of the stamp, the plan created a conservation model of public and private partnerships – called joint ventures – to conserve waterfowl habitat in areas of major concern.

What’s transpired is nothing short of a marked success, including 13.1 million acres of wetland habitat conserved, preserved and maintained across North America.

So hunters, take a moment to give yourself a pat on the back. And if you don’t hunt or haven’t bought a duck stamp, for $15 you too can maintain and enhance this conservation legacy.

Related Articles

• Winged Migration (0)
• Wildlife Biology Career (0)
• Who’s Going To Look After the Ducks? (0)
• Waterfowl Hunting Memories (0)
• Water Up – Ducks Down (0)

This day was not a dream, but an opening day reality in 2004

It was an unbelievable day. The snow was coming down sideways and the birds were committing suicide. I filled my Swan tag with a black neck collared bird that was sporting a tarsus band to boot. I picked the bird out of a decoying flock that came in at first light.

Matt and I also shot about twenty snow geese, one of which was a yellow neck-collared blue! Since I had shot the swan earlier I let Matt claim the collar and leg band. On top of a limit of drake mallards I also recovered a Spoonbill for my bonus bird. The catch, the spoonbill was also banded! The leg iron on the spoonbill meant more to me than the collared Swan. The band on the spoonbill was so old I could only make out the “AV” of Avise.

I felt like I was on top of the world as I drove my brand new pick-up across the snowy cornfield. It was cold, but my body was nice and toasty with the feeling of accomplishment. As I stepped out of the truck into the decoy spread Matt showed me his bonus bird. It was a banded Greenwing Teal he bagged while I was walking back to the pickup.

Later, we were sitting in a small diner in the middle of Nodak, decked out, wearing our lanyards in the joint, showing off the new bling. I was flirting with the cute waitress when I was awoken by my sounding alarm clock. Damn.

It was one of those dreams that are so real you have to check your surroundings when you wake. Needless to say, I was glad to find myself in my room, but discouraged that I had to be at work in a half an hour.

Since I was a young boy I have been having dreams about hunting. My most terrifying nightmares are also about waterfowling. Usually the nightmares are occurring on opening day of the duck season, and I am unable to hunt for various reasons. In these nightmares, ducks are swarming me like mosquitoes and all I can do is sit there and point my finger at them.

I have a reoccurring dream about shooting a double-banded snow goose. The location of the hunt, the time of year and the hunting partners change, but it’s always the same bird. More specifically, it’s a Ross goose with a twenty-five dollar “reward” band and the standard “Call” band.

I  retrieve the bird and as I am walking back to my hunting partners I have a Kool-Aid smile on my face. I’m a nice guy, so I tell the boys, “I am keeping the reward band for myself and the rest of you guys can draw straws for the other leg iron.” Just like that, two hunting buddies become brothers in arms, connected through a bird, each of them having a band from the same bird on their respective lanyards.

From what I have read about dreaming, the dreamer has little control of the events in the dream. Dreams typically deal with events that are occurring in the same time period in which the dream takes place. I dream about hunting more often before and during the waterfowl season. Dreams often include feelings and events that the dreamer has experienced in his or her life. I wonder what people who do not hunt dream about?

Scientists say we have many dreams throughout the night, but only remember very few of them. REM (Rapid Eye Movement) is the stage of sleep in which dreams occur. If the dreamer awakes during REM sleep they have the greatest chance of remembering their dreams. So if you are awoken you have a greater chance of remembering your dreams. I rarely wake up at five in the morning, unless to go duck hunting.

Native Americans believed that dreams were “visions” of what is to come. I hope I do not forget my gun next year on duck opener, as there are banded birds in my future.

Related Articles

• Winged Migration (0)
• Wildlife Biology Career (0)
• Who’s Going To Look After the Ducks? (0)
• Waterfowl Hunting Memories (0)
• Water Up – Ducks Down (0)

Delta Waterfowl President Rob Olson says one reason hunters across the country have been disappointed by recent duck seasons is that the Canadian portion of the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) isn’t attracting and producing as many ducks it once did.

“Duck hunters believe we still have lots of ducks,” Olson says. “They’ve been told the fall flights have been shortstopped by mild winters or by refuges or changing farming practices-or all of the above. But the biggest culprit is that we don’t have as many ducks as we used to, and lack of production on the Canadian side of the breeding grounds is a big part of the problem.”

Olson says duck populations always rise and fall in response to water conditions on the prairie breeding grounds, and the 1990s were no exception. “Most hunters were satisfied with the number of ducks they saw in the ’90s, but prairie Canada didn’t participate in the bounty-at least not at its former levels.”

A look at the breeding population of mallards during the last three wet cycles paints a grim picture of Canada’s waning productivity.

“Between 1955 and 1958, prairie Canada attracted an average of 6.9 million nesting mallards each spring,” Olson says. “During the wet cycle between 1970 and 1976, an average of 4.8 million mallards nested in prairie Canada. But during the wet cycle that lasted from 1994 to 1999, only 3.5 million mallards settled there each spring, barely half the number it attracted in the 1950s.

“Not only are fewer mallards settling in prairie Canada, but nest success is half what it was in the ’50s,” Olson says. “With half the breeding mallards experiencing half the nest success-well, you do the math.”

Olson says the average number of mallards that settled in prairie Canada during the wet cycle of the ’90s was comparable to the 1960s, a decade remembered for drought conditions, low duck numbers and very restrictive seasons.

“Prairie Canada is no longer the pristine wilderness many duck hunters envision,” says Olson. “Canada doesn’t have large-scale government-backed conservation programs like the US, and that means Canadian farmers are forced to put as much land as possible into production.

“With no provincial crop subsidies or conservation programs, it’s a simple matter of economics-farmers have to get bigger and more efficient if they’re to survive. Waterfowl managers have to become more efficient, too, if we hope to reverse the declines in duck production.”

Olson says the US portion of the PPR picked up the slack for Canada during the wet cycle of the 1990s. “Research conducted by the Fish and Wildlife Service shows that the US portion of the region now attracts three times the density of nesting ducks that Canada does, and hens nesting in the US bring off broods at a higher rate than Canadian-nesting ducks.

“One reason the US is more productive than Canada is the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), which idled millions of acres of nesting cover in the Dakotas, Montana and Minnesota,” says Olson. “And let’s not forget about the Fish and Wildlife Service’s federal duck stamp program, which secured over 90 percent of the permanently protected waterfowl habitat on the US side of the PPR.

“More than 90 percent of the continent’s ducks are produced on private land,” Olson says. “That means conservationists must work toward farm-friendly programs that provide the habitat nesting ducks require to be successful.”

Olson says Delta has been working with Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) and is close to announcing the first pilot projects for Alternate Land Use Services (ALUS), a CRP-type program for Canada. “ALUS is currently our best chance to have a large, landscape-level impact on Canadian breeding ducks, and it has the full support of most ag groups across Canada.

“Prairie Canada is critical to healthy duck populations,” says Olson. “Some of the conservation programs in place there have been successful, but others have not. The prairie portion of Canada occupies 120 million acres, and there simply aren’t enough conservation dollars to secure adequate habitat to impact duck production across all of it.

“In most areas of the Canadian prairie, we’ll never have sufficient habitat to increase duck production in our lifetimes, so we must put other management tools to work.”

Olson says Delta is expanding the use of Hen Houses (nesting structures) in Canada this year, and is hoping to launch a predator management program to Canada in the near future.

The spring issue of Delta Waterfowl Magazine contains the first in a three-part special report on the status of prairie Canada. To learn more about Canada’s waning productivity, visit www.deltawaterfowl.org.

Source – Delta Waterfowl

Related Articles

• Winged Migration (0)
• Wildlife Biology Career (0)
• Who’s Going To Look After the Ducks? (0)
• Waterfowl Hunting Memories (0)
• Water Up – Ducks Down (0)