Interesting read......

http://www.deltawaterfowl.org/media/pr/ ... opping.php

I don't think the birds will be effected that bad. The oil isn't that far inland as most say.
I flew out of PHI Boothville on Wednesday to MP 310. East side of the river. Me and the guy with me, didn't see anything. Even along the first grasses that are at the gulf edge. Nothing.
Saw a few booms. They looked new. Tried to see oil at the base of the grasses, nothing. Not even a sheen.

Maybe it's further west but there wasn't anything that I could see on the east side.

Some years ago when we had that big spill near mexico that threatened TX it was taken care of by a hurricane which dispersed everything. Its not a great situation but we have fared much better than initially thought. I stand by my prediction that a good storm will blow most of it to hell. Mother nature will take care of us and there will be little to no reminders of it within a year or 2.

Oysters seem to be da only thing dat has really took a hard hit from dis situation.

Ima be a pissed off MFer if we dont have a good season in south louisiana. im tired of ducks unlimited and delta waterfowl. they keepin all the birds in arkansas and other northern states. back 5 years ago you could limit out on birds in about 10 min in a place that last year you didnt even see one bird.

I been out of Grand Isle and Venice recently and there is oil all in the grass. Its hard to find in wide open bays, but if you find small ponds its easy to spot in the grass.

I been tired of DU for years. I had to back out of a lease two years ago b/c they made a new requirement of having to be a Gold (sponsoring) member. I wouldn't do it, still won't.

mudman your wrong. We are victims of short stopping here too. Its all weather related.
Randy

ducks aint stupid enough to land in a pond or bay full of oil!
if there are any ducks that stupid,they must get shot way before they reach la's coast!
the ducks that i hunt down here have a college education!

I have been a chairman for Du four the past 3 years and trust me I and DU get alot of heat becuse the general publics lack of knowledge on what is happening around us. The reason we have been having some crappy duck seasons is for 2 main reasons. 1 weather has to cooperate if it doesn't freeze up north ducks wont have to fly down there food supply isn't frozen if it does freeze they have no choice but to fly down they cant peck through ice. 2 we will continue to have bad seasons unless state laws chang in the northern states what i mean is the state law states if a field of milo isn't harvested as long as the actual seed isn't on the ground it isn't considered hunting over feed but if it is knocked off of the bush and is on the ground it is considered hunting over feed. So what is happening is that just say a farmer can make $10,000 dollars when he harvest his field but if he doesn't harvest his field and leases it out or guides duck hunts he can make $30,000 dollars what would you do. We will mot see a change until the state laws change in the northern states becase there is a shit load of farmers that are doing this very thing i'm describing and it is all about the money so like I said it isn't DU fault it is the state laws that are killing south LA duck hunting not DU or Delta. It is the state law that says a field full of feed is not hunting over feed because it isn't on the ground!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Boduke I am going to disagree with you too on the fields/feed. State laws do not supercede federal laws. Its all in the weather. I live in Southern Indiana. I hunt Southern Illinois, Western Ky and SE Missouri regularly and can say weather is our number 1 factor for a good season. I hunt from Canada down to Ark and saying this by what I see every year for 35 yrs that I have been waterfowl hunting. Your state of Louisiana kills more ducks/geese than most states combined in the Miss flyway every year, year in and year out. Shoot you have parrish's that kill more ducks than the state of Indiana kills statewide in a season. I would be willing to bet that there is some parrish's that kill more than three or four upper midwest states.
The problem we have is that Indiana/Illinois has a mallard season and not a duck season. Your opener comes in before ours does. I set in my deer stand in Oct and see gazillions of teal,gads and woodies fly around unmolested. Then the first cold pop comes and they shag south without leaving some tasty breast behind. Missouri does it right. I have said this before and say it again. Go to Mo for your best waterfowl hunting.
Randy

it aint rocket science,if the seasons started and lasted 2 weeks later,we'd have good seasons down here.whoever decides season dates,thats whos fault it is!
du sucks anyway,their fault or not,they remind me of ninja republicans,wastin money,lookin for handouts,donations,all to help their own.
if you wanna support a good cause,support the NRA.

speaking of stupid ducks and geese, why do they try to land on mall and supermarket parking lots at night. Dumb fowl, they think it is a pond

Im not sure what to think about all of it. Not sure that spending that kind of money and in a sense creating new refuges would be the answer to this issue.. Its a bad deal in so many ways and the outcome will not be known untill the years to come.. I love and live for duck hunting, and make this promise to all... " I will give it my every effort to kill as many ducks as I can this year.. I make this promise to all that have the passion for waterfowl hunting as I. I will do my part in keeping waterfowl from the slow oily death the awaits them once they reach the Gulf Coast"..

"A duck will have no idea that there is oil in the bays. The majority of the oil in the large bays has subceded. I have personally ridden over bays where there was "no oil", but when a go-devil kicks up the mud, WAHLAH there's oil churning in the mud! From the surface it looks clean, but if Diving Ducks come in (canvas backs, redheads, etc...) they will be diving right into oil. I saw this in Redfish Bay in Venice this weekend if you're doubting."


i stand corrected,how bout that.
redfish bay would,in my opinion,prolly be one of the hardest hit areas.maybe not fair to compare east side to west side of the river.also,i have seen,before the horizon incident,where churning up mud makes a slick.ive seen this all my life in bays,ponds,canals,etc if your doubting.
make no mistake,i aint takin up for bp or saying it didnt or wont harm a habitat.dont get me wrong.
im just sayin what i know.what made me say that they wont land in oil is because i have witnessed a case where a ba$tard put some dirty oilfilters in a pond that was full of ducks and feed, because that pond had ALL the ducks.the blackbirds didnt even come back.

Cajun - I agree turning up mud can create a slick. Also, Redfish Bay is/was one of the hardest hit areas. I've never seen birds avoid an oil contaminated pond, simply b/c this is the first time I have been around oil contaminated ponds. I just know I couldn't see the oil until we churned it up, so I would think a duck couldn't see it. Interesting point regarding the dirty oil filters - sad, but interesting.

i will be hunting right at the bay in east pass, unless it will be closed, so i'll knock as many as i can down before they go further out into the oil. DU i dont need your help. Nor do i need yours deltawaterfowl.

if they dont do that short stop shit i have a feeling it will be a good season. went ride out to the haydel the other day and on my way back to the wax a flock of mallards buzzed us. i like to shit on myself. then i went ride in a pond off of the wax and the sky turned black with teal. the hydrilla and whatever else the ducks like is plentiful this year. i hope we have a better season than recent years