If you want to do something to help you can start by signing this petition.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/wmalaa/

See this thread for more info viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7972

I don't hunt dat area but I signed anyway because I know if it goes through my area may be next.

i live in TX can i sign

Signed

Website keeps timing out.. i'll try again later from a different computer

basinhunter, myself and a bunch of other Wax Delta hunters, just a few years back, fought the LDWF on afternoon hunting. They wanted to stop all afternoon hunting. We fought it and won. I'll have to repectfully decline signing your petition for that reason. I'll go back to hunting from an outboard and walking in before I stop hunting in the afternoon. In my 13 years of hunting down there I've killed well over 2x the ducks/hunter effort in the afternoon than in the morning. The tides and weather are the secret to killing ducks down there and typically in the winter the tides are low in the morning and high in the afternoon.
Trust me, the LDWF will try there little experiment and won't find any difference in the amount of ducks killed. The ducks have been flying offshore in the morning and coming in at night waaay before KP even put the words SURFACE and DRIVE together.
I realize some of you guys are standing behind your fellow MM man, but unless you hunt down there and understand what has been happening at that WMA for many, many years before this year, blindly signing the petition may restrict our hunting even more than anyone ever imagined.

machete31,

What are your thoughts on the LAA?

In your opinion if I took out the part about afternoon hunting would that generate more people to sign the petition?

Regarding the KP comment, I think he only meant that KP was the first person to come out with a surface drive (in 2003 I believe), so he was using that as a timeline and had nothing to do with KP or his opinion.

Second, do you have the maps of the areas on the other WMA's they included? I kinda like the idea of having a pirogue only area but it completely depends on where they want it. I hunt Salvador WMA some but if I don't agree with the area, I might sign the petition. BTW, on Salvador they already limit hunting to noon only and they have had the same issues recently.

I think if you expand the scope of your petition to inlcude the other WMA's, you might gain more support.

I THINK IT'S BULL SHIT. ONE PROBLEM IS THE SEASON OPENS TO EARLY.AND SAY THANK YOU TO DU.

[quote="machete31"]basinhunter, myself and a bunch of other Wax Delta hunters, just a few years back, fought the LDWF on afternoon hunting. They wanted to stop all afternoon hunting. We fought it and won. I'll have to repectfully decline signing your petition for that reason. I'll go back to hunting from an outboard and walking in before I stop hunting in the afternoon. In my 13 years of hunting down there I've killed well over 2x the ducks/hunter effort in the afternoon than in the morning. The tides and weather are the secret to killing ducks down there and typically in the winter the tides are low in the morning and high in the afternoon.
Trust me, the LDWF will try there little experiment and won't find any difference in the amount of ducks killed. The ducks have been flying offshore in the morning and coming in at night waaay before KP even put the words SURFACE and DRIVE together.
I realize some of you guys are standing behind your fellow MM man, but unless you hunt down there and understand what has been happening at that WMA for many, many years before this year, blindly signing the petition may restrict our hunting even more than anyone ever imagined.[/quote]

VERY well said.

Wilson, thanks for clarifing my statement regarding KP. You are correct it was just a timeline thing to show that way before surface drives were even invented the ducks were rafting offshore just like they do now.

As far as my opinion on the LAA, I really think the LDWF should have waited for a more "normal" year. Couple of reasons, 1) The duck numbers on the delta were down as compared to previous years which had hunters scouting more than ever lookin for concentrations of ducks to hunt and the high water only made matters worse. 2) The high water allowed the use of MMs on top of the bars at all times of the day. Normally the bars go dry for some number of hours during the day due to low tide, this year that didn't happen.

I guess I feel it is a knee jerk reaction to low opening weekend bag counts during an odd year. If after a couple of "normal" years the opening weekend bag counts were low, then I wouldn't have a problem with them trying some type of experiment with the LAA.

I'll be honest I wish they would have a lottery for opening weekends only. I truly believe the pressure from opening weekend runs alot of the ducks off for good. After opening weekend, the hunter numbers drop by well over half. I really wish I knew how may hunters hunted only opening weekend and never hunted out there again. Hell just look at the tents, there will be 50-60 tents for opening weekend and after that you'd be lucky to count 5 on any given weekend.

I believe you might get more signatures if you just had the petition for/against the LAA and dropped the afternoon thing. Also you have to realize, there are still alot of hunters who still hunt in outboards and hunt in the bay and never hunt in the marsh so they could care less if they have a LAA. I also don't know the terrain where the LAA is proposed, it might not even be accessible with a MM except for extremely high tides.

I'd also like to know the hunter sucess on the Delta NWR. I know it is paddle in only, no afternoon hunting, and only 4 days/week.

my true honest thoughts

ban them......

and thats my backyard

were do you hunt at tchredneck?

The measure is going before the commission in April...this will be your chance to voice your opinion...LDWF feels it has the support it needs to push this thing thru or they would not be trying it...

Commission meeting is April 1st at 9:30A.M....LDWF HQ Quail Drive, Baton Rouge

Earl King (whom is someone high up the WLF chain) Lives down the street from me. He walks in front my house almost everyday. Do I need to approach him with anything?

Due to the fact that isn't doesn't affect my hunting, do you want to bring me the money to give him?

fight hard to keep it the way it is !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

last year the USFW took 3,500 acres of open water marsh on the upper Mississippi and it is now a refuge for 15 years and if it holds duck they plan to keep it that way, if it doesn't hold ducks we get it back to hunt.

Signed it, here are my comments, I hope they make a difference:

To not allow use of internal combustion engines in this area would be a tragedy. Duck hunting seems to be becoming a rich man's sport down here in Louisiana. Unless you can afford a great lease its hard to hunt. I bought a surface drive simply for this reason. I figured I would hunt public land and save myself a bunch of money while using the resources my tax dollars pay for. To not allow me to use these areas is ridiculous. Why have public hunting land if people can't get to it to hunt? If there are problems with some people using motors on these lands, then deal with those people individually. Don't punish a large group for any perceived transgressions of a few.