So you want to duck hunt----

Al Hansen

Al Hansen

Well-known member
in the desert. I was looking through some pictures I took a couple of years ago and maybe this will give you an idea of what you might expect.
This first shot was taken in August when I drove my four-wheeler right to the spot that I wanted to build a blind. All of these are built with hopes that there will be water there when the season opens. Not always is that true however.

Honeyhole7-5-06.jpg


One month later after couple of good rains when the Rio Grande started to run this is the way it looked.

HoneyHole8-02-06.jpg


This was a great spot for three years, then the food source (smart weed) was choked out by the cattails. The last time I went down to check on this spot, I didn't recognize it because it was solid cattails with no openings.

Two years ago I was hunting a spot during early teal season that was just fantastic. During our monsoon season in late August, one area got a tremendous amount of rain. The arroyo ran high and filled a spot that the teal happened to find and like.
I hunted it three days and then called my friend to tell him about all of the ducks that were coming in to this hole. I couldn't hunt it on Friday because I was going to be teaching, so he called his buddy in Albuquerque to come hunt with him. The following morning they wandered out to the spot and Tim told me that he thought he was losing it because he couldn't find it. When it got light enough he finally understood. From Thursday morning when I hunted it and shot four bluewing teal to Friday morning when Tim and his friend were there---all of the water had evaporated. There was not one drop to be seen.
Duck hunting is definitely different in the desert.
Al
 
Al

It seems like getting rid of the cattails when things dry up would be as easy as bush hogging. Or perhaps spraying with roundup if there was still some water. Have you thought about managing the vegetation?

Eric
 
All state and federal refuges here have to manage the vegetation to maintain the desirable qualities of the marsh for waterfowl. The plants of greatest concern are cattails, phragmites, tamarisk (salt cedar), and in some cases Russian olive trees in the uplands. As a general rule 50% open water and 50% veg is considered an acceptable mix. They dry out the areas on the refuges where water level can be controlled and use heavy equipment or fire; I did that work in the early 1980's when working as a biological technician for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resource. Nothing like driving a "Cat" around a dried out marsh pushing up mounds of dirt to create nesting habitat and removing cattails for a college students summer job.

Al if you can get the land owners permission get your self some "Killz All" (same chemical as Round Up and much cheaper http://www.hi-yield.com/ProductDetails.aspx?prod=33693) and go to work killing cattails. You could outfit you atv with a tank and spray gun. You would be doing the waterfowl a favor and yourself for that matter.

Matt
 
Matt, does it work on phragmites? If so, the state of WI should by every drop of it that is made.....that crap is spreading like crazy...

Al, nice pics as usual, thanks.
 
Matt, Eric, and Carl,
Thank you for the suggestions. I used a Stihl weed wacker with a steel blade on it and was able to get rid of quite a few cattails this past summer. After reading about the Killz All, I think I'll try some of that this fall.
Al
 
Hitch, I have given thought to that but the trouble is not worth it. Not too far from my blind is a large area set aside for the endangered willow flycatcher. I have talked with the ornithologists that study this bird and they have shown me their maps of nesting sites, etc. I think I'll pass on that whooops flare thingy! A worth thought, however.
Al
 
I am not sure if it works on phragmites.....it will not work on tamarisk very well, sets it back but does not kill it. It has spread here in Utah also and just makes a marsh worthless for waterfowl. It will work on cattails.
 
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Matt,
The area that I cut salt cedar in was sprayed 7 years ago. Someone developed a herbicide that will kill only the tamerisk but not the native cottonwood or black willow that we have here. Choppers sprayed everything and when the salt cedar died, the water table rose. One large tree will consume up to 200 gallons of water per day. Al
 
Well the BLM and other agencies here better go get it...huge issues on the Colorado, Sevier, and Virgin rivers... Do you know what the herbicide is? I have friends that own property of the Sevier river and thay would love to get rid of the tamarisk without a bunch of fuss... I do know that roundup is basically ineffective on tamarisk.

Yes, tamarisk is a water pig, a huge water pig. You quoted 200 gallons and I have several research papers that put the usage close to 300 gallons per day depending on ET. You combine the loss of native veg with the water use of tamarisk, and the invasive nature of it, and then visualize the thousand upon thousands of acres of riparian zones infested with it and the problem becomes mind boggling.

So if you know what herbicide was sprayed I would love to hear what it is.

Matt

We also have the southwest willow flycatcher in southern Utah...hot button issue.
 
Differnt type of hunting indeed. Looks like you enjoy quite a bit of shooting there, with a good mixture of birds though. Thanks for sharing.
 
Hey guys,
I was in the business of pond/wetland mgmt for approx 8 years until I underwent a career change. I sprayed/removed more cattails and phragmites than i care to think about.
To keep it simple, my advice is to spray your target species with an AQUATIC APPROVED herbicide before removal. There are a long list of Aquatic approved herbicides such as Rodeo that are for this exact application. The use of Roundup is NOT approved around aquatic environments and will cause harm to macroinvertibrates (bugs). Without getting too nerdy, the aquatic approved herbicide has a different surfactant in it, which helps the active ingredient penetrate the waxy layer of the plant itself. (alright, that was pretty nerdy)

With cattails (and nearly every other aquatic weed I can think of), unless you're diligently (weekly) pulling them by hand and removing the entire rhizome (root), you're wasting your time cutting and removing without applying a herbicide - they'll grow back in weeks.

Phrag is worse, and my experience is that phrag stands thicken if cut and not treated because two or more chutes grow from where one previously grew. NEVER NEVER NEVER - attempt to pull phragmites with your bare hand - it will cut you to the bone.

I believe it was stated that this area was on fed property, so nothing can be done to it anyway, but I thought I chime in with a little know-how because it looked like there were some questions.

Kev
 
Wow, how totally different! I live surrounded by water. Even in dry years, when I head out for ducks, I have to think about what kind of water, and where in a whole lot of it, the ducks are going to be using. Open ocean? Coastal bays? Tidal saltmarsh? Tidal mudflats? Tidal freshwater marsh? Non-tidal freshwater marsh? Big rivers? Small rivers? Lakes with rice beds? Lakes without rice beds? Big beaver flowages? Little beaver flowages? Flood plain pocket wetlands?

I don't think there is any place within 100 miles of me that I could walk a half mile in a straight line and not get my feet wet. A lot of places I couldn't get 200 yards.

I spent most of this year making the wrong guesses and hunting over vast expanses of (different kinds of) duckless water. The idea that I'd have to work to find water, and that if I was just on water the ducks would be there, kind of blows my mind.
 
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