Limit of mallards in Huntsville
- Thread starter Carl
- Start date
Big Spring Park? You used to be able to bring your own bread and feed them and the Koi. Then, some HSV city leaders decided that was unfair and banned it.
roy brewington
Well-known member
Dock ducks. Funny story to come. Years ago Md. DNR used to release pen raised Mallard's about middle of Sept. on rivers and bayfront . Of course they released them easiest place they could get to water from a landing. Sometimes those birds were so acclimated to human presence meaning food they stayed near those landings. Many times we would return to ramp after a mornings hunting with zilch to show and Half a Dz. mallards would be swimming around where we launched boat .
Time to utilize one of the legal "primitive weapons".
Really? I hadn't heard that. Unfair how? I wonder if they find the Soup Kitchen unfair for giving out bread.
Doesn't take much to acclimate even wild ducks to people with food. There is a spot I drive past on my way to the usual boat ramp for tidal hunts. Small brook in the middle of town that, due to groundwater inputs, stays warm and unfrozen all winter. Of course the ducks find it whenever other freshwater starts to freeze up. Right in the middle of a residential neighborhood and across the street from a college, and students and homeowners alike toss food to them from whenever they show up until they leave. We sometimes see 50+ blacks and mallards there quacking for popcorn after we've spent 3 hours hunting their relatives down on the salt who flare if they see a head turn.
Years ago my wife and I visited Kauai Island, Hawaii. The island is overrun with chickens and the whole time I am thinking how tasty they would be, free range and all. One day I got to talking with a local and asked why nobody was eating them. The lady I asked got quite offended and said, "We get our chicken at KFC like everyone else!"
RM
RM
Feeding "wild" animals.
It's crazy how many chickens are on that island. And they have pheasant and turkey too. But they eat SPAM instead.
Steven
From what I found doing some googling they want you to use the feed in the park's vending machines because "people food" is unhealthy for ducks and fish while the vending machines are stocked with fish and animal feed.
From what I found doing some googling they want you to use the feed in the park's vending machines because "people food" is unhealthy for ducks and fish while the vending machines are stocked with fish and animal feed.
I went and found the city's article about it. Funny, they say humans should be "hands-off" on feeding the "urban wildlife", unless the humans are willing to pay for the provided food, then it's OK. From the article:
“You don’t do that anymore,” Sheppard says. “A lot of parks have gone to ‘no-feeding’ rules. We should observe the animals acting naturally.”
Having them going around begging for food might be cute, but it’s also unnatural.
“We have more understanding of urban wildlife,” she continues. “What it needs from us is to be hands-off and respect it.”
For those determined to feed the ducks, many small, unobtrusive vending machines have been strategically planted throughout the park that will dispense, for just a quarter, a handful of healthy food.
Tossing ducks bread is unnatural and bad so don't do it. Feeding the same ducks from vending machines is okay. At what part does "acting natural" even enter the picture?
I guess as a waterfowl hunter who has spent many hours chasing ducks in truly wild places the school of thought that these ducks are "acting naturally" and should not be hand fed rather use the vending machine seems like a farce.
I guess as a waterfowl hunter who has spent many hours chasing ducks in truly wild places the school of thought that these ducks are "acting naturally" and should not be hand fed rather use the vending machine seems like a farce.
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