Duck Hunting Gallery 8

Picture cropped as large as it was sent to us to show the equipment worn and one of the farm duck lakes other than our custom built wetlands that brings in the mallards.

No dog, short boots and one easily carried gear bag. What is not pictured were the 25 or so mix decoys all in one back pack. The farm road access to the blind and the shoreline posted, rippy grass covered ready to occupy duck blind.

Hard to do better! Two days on a farm pond.

Frank and son, Frank and firend.

From this buddy group of four hunters one sent in the following seasonal feedback report placed here for all to read as a first hand account of central mid-west self guided duck hunters.

John/Jon: Let me take a moment and send you my thoughts on MAHA waterfowl places versus public and private ground that I hunted this year.

Overall bird numbers, especially mallards were not as prevalent as years past on all lands (member since spring of 98). Overall, we harvested 250-275 birds this season, down from about 500 last season....this also includes snow geese during the conservation season, which has not opened yet for this season. Bottom-line up front was to scout and find the birds before hunting.

Consistent success was always preceded with an afternoon or even a whole day spent traveling and finding the birds before hand. Hunting areas without scouting resulted in a great time hunting, but not many birds in the bag. Unlike upland birds, the waterfowl habits and locations changed almost daily. You had to have several spots in mind over a 50 to 75 mile radius to be scouted. It worked well for us, because of four MAHA members who could get out and look at different places. This resulted in sometimes finding birds and when calling the office to reserve the property it was already locked up for the weekend. Hence the comment on having multiple locations to try.

Many of my ponds that are on private ground just failed to have birds this year, can't answer why, but water was just vacant of birds. The converse on MAHA land; what had birds in the past generally had birds this year, but you had to scout to be sure. On more than one occasion I would check a place one day and see 10 birds on it and one of our group would check it the next day and 50-75 birds would be present.

Public hunting ground was poor at best this year. Hunted Bob Brown, Benedictine Bottoms, Nodaway Valley and the Missouri River. All had birds, but the crowds really detracted from a quality experience when hunting and ALWAYS someone skybusting and setting up too close to your blind. People have even begun placing placards on the Missouri River in order to reserve a public sandbar!! and place permanent blinds.

Although MAHA has increased its dues over the years, it is still the best bang for the dollar. I have still yet to see, much less hunt over 90% of the waterfowl areas that MAHA has leased. So come this off-season (between spring snow migration and turkey season) I will be reserving as many areas as possible that can be scouted for future waterfowl hunts. In closing, thanks to MAHA and your staff for your hard work. I can think of no group as egotistical, demanding and hardcore as waterfowlers (and that's said after doing 20 years in the Infantry) and you guys do a great job of taking care of us along with all the upland and big game hunters. Thanks for a job well done. God Bless to all as we start another year. Don't forget those serving/sacrificing for our country overseas so we can spend time with our families and friends.

Albert C. Stahl LTC., US Army