Sad state of affairs

[featherduster]

The wife and I just did a drive by the KANKAKEE FISH AND WILDLIFE area to check out the current waterfowl numbers and it was sad.

There were several hundred in each of the 2 refuges and we never saw any airborne.

The local club looked empty and we never heard a shot fired.

I photographed the current harvest sheet so you can read it and weep for yourself.

[featherduster]

With about 2 weeks of Duck season left they are about at half of what the numbers should be.

[drfleck]

So there are plenty of birds in the area? Just not coming to the FWA?

[featherduster]

No, there are very few birds in the area.
These refuges I speak of years ago would be holding 15,000 to 20,000 birds at this time of the year.
The harvest should be around 3,000 birds at this stage of the game.
Northwest Indiana is loosing it's migration route.
Farm practices are changing, marshes are disappearing and so are the birds.

[mossberg500]

So much land is going to the ways of sub divisions and strip mall’s. A lot of the younger generation of Farmers want a different way of life , then the land ends up being sold and instead of corn stalks rising up from the ground it’s Support beams for buildings.

[duff]

It is more than habitat. Many spots I used to hunt are unchanged. Just lack of birds.

The goose population has shifted too. 30 yrs ago honkers migrated in huge numbers. Slowly that changed. Historic honker clubs shifted to ducks.

Now most are primarily snows and specs. Fewer and fewer ducks. Honkers are all giants, vermigratory. migrators, in Indiana.

[parkerbow]

Dec 7, 2022 6:04:26 GMT -5 mossberg500 said:

So much land is going to the ways of sub divisions and strip mall’s. A lot of the younger generation of Farmers want a different way of life , then the land ends up being sold and instead of corn stalks rising up from the ground it’s Support beams for buildings.

Or fields full of solar panels.

[freedomhunter]

Idk they seem to like the warehouse and subdivision detention lakes around here. I think the hatch and migration patterns has more to do with it. There are still plenty of fields.

[marshallco]

Checked all my ponds today, none frozen over, but ZERO birds.

[jman46151]

A buddy and myself managed 4 ringnecks, 2 mallards, and a Canada yesterday at a private lake.

[sculver7]

Earlier on in the year (a few weeks before duck season), I received an email from the DNR stating that if I was going to hunt Kankakee, Jasper Pulaski, or Kingsbury, that I should call headquarters first to see if there was any water. A lot of their hunting areas were bone dry.

I also have had the worst year ever for ducks on my dads property. Haven’t seen a duck out there yet this year. Frequently have 20-30 ducks at a time sitting on the creek. This year, nothing.

My personal opinion is that farming practices and lack of habitat preservation has absolutely killed the migration through this area (I am 10 minutes from Kankakee FWA). I’ve heard that as of last year, Laporte county is the most heavily irrigated county in the state. Problem with that is this whole area used to be a marsh. In fact, my house was built in 2006 and there was absolutely no way it could be built on a basement as the water table was too high. Now, the ground water level is Much deeper than it used to be. My opinion is that irrigation practices have taken too much water from the ground. I am extremely against government regulation, however, farmers get away with literally anything they want and it affects everybody. The amount of trees taken down every single year is absolutely disgusting, irrigation lowering water levels to the point that people’s wells are hitting a different vein of water or drying up completely. It’s not right. And I’m saying this as someone who worked on farms throughout high school and college. Something has to change. Sorry for my rant.