Wetlands
Wetland Snapshots
Though out this web site and many aerial and water level pictures of our wetlands. If putting all of them together would represent 10% of what exists then we have done a good job. Nothing replaces being out there.
A farm pond hunt. Great day when dad and youth hunters can enjoy the day alone with their dog. Can it get any better? No public duck hunting pressure with us.
"...these guys stayed with us a long time. Even though it would seem they would act like live decoys they didn't help much. We still went home with less than a bag and a good hunt. We let this one fly..."
One of our more open water duck hunting wetlands, well at least a 1/4 of the water on this one lake with just the fringe of the flooded timber in the background. The blind in the background slightly right of center is accessible by chest waders from the far shoreline.
What does it take to develop private wetlands and good duck hunting has frequently been sought after by both landowners and hunters seeking to have their own wetlands and primarily so in Missouri where existing wetlands are prime real-estate. Our answer to all has been good luck as wetlands development for duck hunting is high risk and development costs a lot of money, even in the Missouri River bottoms.
Many wetlands development pitfalls exist from having the wrong soil type, undependable water or too much water, bad location, insufficient surrounding water structure, adverse farming practices, too many trees and the list goes on that greatly impacts on the duck attracting characteristics and hunting quality. To simply pick a spot and build a wetlands will invite failure more so than success.
When developing wetlands specifically for duck hunting our actions provide much information.
The first is that we only develop Missouri wetlands, ignoring Iowa and Kansas. The key difference being the duck hunting quality as Missouri's existing wetlands are superior at attracting ducks. Suffice it to say that Missouri's statewide wetlands given to us by nature provide the natural basis for duck attracting refinement of small wetland areas and the better duck hunting. The bottom line is it takes a lot of shallow water over a large are to hold ducks and that is Missouri's advantage with its less efficient drainage topography. The challenge is to then develop that one spot within a large area of options the ducks will chose to use.
Specific elements begin with keeping the waterfowl area development and duck hunting completely private by ignoring all state and federal funding.
This private approach allows for completed duck hunting oriented management starting with water level control to enhance both water vegetation and hunter safe access. Private waterfowl area advantages continue as trees many be cut and surrounding dry land use is free of restrictions of planting or cutting, especially the dry land areas that can be made into wetlands part of the year through flooding by manipulating water flow.
Private wetlands advantages continues with placement of duck blinds allowing for exploitation of morning sunrise and predominate wind directions. Being able to place duck blinds where they suit the local to that part of the wetlands duck flight pattern over that of wetlands habitat concerns gives far more advantage than blinds placed due to conservation minded wetlands development. A nuance lost on public wetlands built by those with competing environmental concerns.
An aspect largely unique to MAHA and its wetlands is our do it yourself duck hunt approach. We cater to the duck hunter that seeks to enjoy his own duck hunt on his own schedule.
We build the wetlands for duck blinds, layout boats and wade-in areas and the hunter provides all else. While these wetlands are customized for ducks, the waterfowl hunter enjoying some goose will find plenty incidental to the duck hunt. For those wanting to enjoy a dedicated goose hunt during the regular, late or return migration spring seasons we offer additional crop stubble acreage that will accommodate the largest of spreads.
One Morning On Our Wetlands
Close up and a more panoramic picture of the shooting pool just in front of the dry land walk up blind on a wetlands.
Bob does have dogs, pointing dogs. he is like many of our waterfowl hunters he hunts early duck season, moves to pheasant and quail, returns to waterfowl for peak migration and finishes up January pheasants and quail hunting.
Another aspect most will enjoy is that our waterfowl hunters screened by pay to hunt costs and average age well into the gray hair zone means a more leisurely approach to the hunt and avoidance of the public wetlands issues of setting up close, stealing flights or sky busting.
For duck hunting as good as it can get less than that of owning the wetlands what we offer in Missouri is as good as it can get.
The next Missouri wetlands duck hunting development issue that may seem not to be a problem, but it is, is water.
The typical Missouri water condition is either too much or too little. Too much water and hunter safety and duck attracting vegetation characteristics are degraded. Too little water and the right vegetation will be in the wrong place, the blinds dry and worst of all the ducks will simply fly by.
How to get that right water level is through a system of levees the longest of which on a single MAHA duck hunting wetlands and costing the Association $80,000+ is one long levee that requires vermin control year round.
A levee alone however, is not enough. The levee's purpose is to retain water and that requires an elevation survey and a dirt mover that knows what an elevation survey is. Once built the problem remains how to get water inside of that levee.
The next essential element is the inflow and outflow.
The inflow needs to be at the higher elevation so that the lowest elevation is not too deep while creating enough surface area of a limited water depth that will most enhance the total area of water and vegetation mix. And, by the way, do not impact on the neighbor's ground.
The inflow must be reliable regardless of rainfall in the case of a watershed, creek or river levels in a slough or well depth and capacity on dry land.
The next is outflow that will have the reactive capability to allow the levees to survive any amount of flood level flow while sustaining the desired water depth.
These elements all seem simple to describe and require work over a long period of time to acquire. We have never built any of our wetlands from start to finished status in one year.
Just water management alone is not enough to bring a waterfowl area development to being nothing more than a frog pond.
Self Guided Hunts
Means make the hunt what you like it to be.
"...One calls, one shoots and one takes pictures. It takes about 20 pictures to get one that we keep. We seem to like the pictures more than the birds in the bag more each year..."
The location within our state of choice makes a big difference. Having the best looking waterfowl area will probably make the initial sale, but the best looking duck hunting spot in the wrong location will make only for a lot of nature watching. To ensure we are in the right region of Missouri we reach back into history to determine the best locations. Such locations are only acquired through a long time, lifetime, of living in an area, hunting ducks regularly and knowing how to put all the elements together. If anyone aspect is lacking you will find a wetlands that looks good and has no ducks.
There are many historic references of the decades ago Missouri market duck hunting. This hunting was conducted on natural existing areas that were very specific in their locality and did not cover all of any one watershed. These localities are what the waterfowl experts now call micro flyways.
These areas are where the stories come from of days when the ducks and geese darkened the sky and the hunters with their 10 gauge, long barrel, bipod mounted shotguns would harvest ducks piled as high as a man's belt by noon.
A waterfowl area designed to attract ducks within these micro flyway makes for membership renewals based on the hunter having a good hunt. That is what we are after as we are a business, not a collection of good ol' boys duck hunting club.
