Birds be Gone!!

plenty of threads and info shared here all summer..........Uguide has ground managed for pay to hunt operations, so he will have some habitat advantages and SHOULD have a few more birds than the surrounding country side. i think most of us are unhappy with the weather and habitat this year......i.e. much lower bird population/hunting opportunity. it is frustrating to say the least.

what really chaps my ass, is the guys who get paid for enrolling their ground in WIA/WPA and when a drought hits they still get to hay half of it and use for feed. it's like getting paid twice. i guess to be fair i want my license fee to be cut in half too......fair enough?

Chris is going to trump up his business and advertise to ensure his success......nothing wrong with that, it's just business. and by and large the rest of us know the bird population is in the toilet and many businesses will suffer because a lot of NR's are going to stay home...and so it goes.
 
moedogee;236185 So I am only reporting honestly what I see and am experiencing.[/QUOTE said:
I appreciate that. My goal is to get folks off the commercial no commercial bend and focus on what creates pheasants. This sport is one of the most affordable hunting options. License, shells, gun and you are in business. As an alternative to land ownership of premium naturally produced pheasant hunting, UGUIDE is a tremendous value.
Click to expand...
 
meridiannursery said:
I did not start this thread to have people called thin skin. I started this to bring a boots on the ground live reporting of the bird numbers. Which are insanely low. I feel that at some point Uguide should acknowledge his commercial interest when reporting. Similar to CNN business or Fox New business channel reporting on a companies stock. They must disclose upon their review if they have a vested interest in the numbers or analysis of a certain company.
Click to expand...

I feel the link to my website on signature of every post is sufficient disclosure.
 
hunter94 said:
what really chaps my ass, is the guys who get paid for enrolling their ground in WIA/WPA and when a drought hits they still get to hay half of it and use for feed. it's like getting paid twice. i guess to be fair i want my license fee to be cut in half too......fair enough?
Click to expand...

You might be getting what you are paying for. WIA is $5-7/acre private land and CREP costs about $40/acre private land to open it up to acres. IMO CREP ground is much more likely to produce more birds. Even GFP is trying to add quality by now offering controlled access areas at a higher fee.

GFP does not have a lot of private landowner friends because various reasons of which they poo poo commercial and offer $0 for habitat to any one who takes in more that $1 from hunters. This is a recipe for failure.
 
I've never read the laws but I'm thinking the reason the SDGF&P not being able to give money for habitat to those that make money off of hunting has to be a state law more so than a GF&P law. Has to be something to do with using public money to make private profit. If someone knows the exact rules or laws I would appreciate being enlightened.
 
BigRand said:
I've never read the laws but I'm thinking the reason the SDGF&P not being able to give money for habitat to those that make money off of hunting has to be a state law more so than a GF&P law. Has to be something to do with using public money to make private profit. If someone knows the exact rules or laws I would appreciate being enlightened.
Click to expand...

http://law.justia.com/codes/south-dakota/2012/title41/chapter02/41-2-23

Here ya be. Why this does not works is it takes lots of small participants, subsidies, hand outs whatever to put high quality habitat on the ground be it private or public land. This law does not work. It should be repealed. I will soon write an article on the topic. You can't have your #1 objective be "to partner with private landowners" and have this law. They contradict each other.
 
So basically the federal government is ok with our tax money going to CRP and folks making money off of it. Where the state is not ok funding habitat improvement and having someone else make money off it. Makes sense why ones budget is balanced and one is trillions in debt.
 
BigRand said:
So basically the federal government is ok with our tax money going to CRP and folks making money off of it. Where the state is not ok funding habitat improvement and having someone else make money off it. Makes sense why ones budget is balanced and one is trillions in debt.
Click to expand...

I thought the state was in a cash crunch right now? Problem is one may make money but not profit. Farmers are less profitable than they used to be.

SD corn price is 2.66-3.07. That has loss written all over it. https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/sf_gr110.txt

Nobodys callin me up to get in UGUIDE.
 
hunter94 said:
plenty of threads and info shared here all summer..........Uguide has ground managed for pay to hunt operations, so he will have some habitat advantages and SHOULD have a few more birds than the surrounding country side. i think most of us are unhappy with the weather and habitat this year......i.e. much lower bird population/hunting opportunity. it is frustrating to say the least.

what really chaps my ass, is the guys who get paid for enrolling their ground in WIA/WPA and when a drought hits they still get to hay half of it and use for feed. it's like getting paid twice. i guess to be fair i want my license fee to be cut in half too......fair enough?

Chris is going to trump up his business and advertise to ensure his success......nothing wrong with that, it's just business. and by and large the rest of us know the bird population is in the toilet and many businesses will suffer because a lot of NR's are going to stay home...and so it goes.
Click to expand...

The WIA's are private land but the WPA's are federal. Those units should not be hayed just because were in a drought. Did you mean WPA or something else??
 
Chestle said:
Every so many years the Feds burn off the WPAs. I know of at least one this year where they auctioned the hay rights instead of burning due to the severe absence of hay in the area. They were going to burn it anyway, so the cover wouldn't be there either way.
Click to expand...

You were told by FWS management this or this is what you heard?
 
that sounds unethical? the state making money off drought conditions? guess they are trying to make up for the down turn in hunting license sales. :confused:
 
3car said:
You were told by FWS management this or this is what you heard?
Click to expand...

I was told by the guy that won the auction and hayed the WPA for his winter feed.

<edit> However, on further checking just now, this may not have happened. I just contacted another local up there and he says he doesn't think it got baled.

The first guy is a premier practical joker so.....I may have been had. I'll know for sure opening day.</edit>
 
Last edited:
I do know that those stations will plan on burning for example 20 units every year with the hopes of burning 5-10 units. Planning for the weather and resources are not always easy so you need many units that require different wind directions to allow for burning. In the case a particular unit does not get burned it could be put out for hay. Basically thinking some management is better than no management. I really doubt those units are released for hay just because of money. Those dollars gained from WPA's come with strings. You can use those dollars to buy fence, chemical, water development and maybe some seed for replanting the farming units.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top