James River CREP Acreage - Anybody Else Underwhelmed?

[Downtown Bang!]

Just came back from a quick three-day hunt and spent a lot of time scouting out new public access options since much of my old milk run has gone under the plow. To say the cover on many of the CREP parcels is a disappointment is an understatement.

Much of the "upland" acreage in the program boundries has very poor quality vegetation that is marginally suitable for nesting cover. The wetland buffers are sometimes decent cover but often small in comparison to the cattail sloughs they border.

In short I'm not convinced there was an imminent threat that most of these parcels would have been cultivated. Some are hardly suitable for pasture and many didn't get utilized for emergency haying.

I appreciate the fact they are open to hunting but because the upland and buffer cover is so poor most of the birds are deep in the cattails. Not my favorite environment because I prefer hunting up my roosters one at a time and doing it in cover where I can see the dog do his job.

For the record this rant is mostly coming from a hunting quality perspective. I do get that the program has been one of the few conservation & environmental bright spots in a pretty bleak landscape over the last five years.

 

[Uncle Buck]

I have had some fair sucess on CREP the last two seasons. Alot just went in this year and last and some appears to have been just let go. If seeded, they sure did not get much quality cover on them. I think in the next couple of years some of these spots will look much better---with some moisture.

 

[Downtown Bang!]

I have had some fair sucess on CREP the last two seasons. Alot just went in this year and last and some appears to have been just let go. If seeded, they sure did not get much quality cover on them. I think in the next couple of years some of these spots will look much better---with some moisture.

I hope it is a maturity issue and the cover improves with age. Had the same impression when I came over and hunted a few CREP parcels in 2010 and was thinking maybe I would see those kinds of improvements this year. I'm sure this years dry weather didn't help.

Based on how the program was set up and the fact they were looking for a diverse mix of wetlands, buffer & uplands I was envisioning something similar to the better WPA's I hunt in Western MN & Eastern SD.

 

[benelli-banger]

hunted few of these pieces the week of halloween...nice stuff, actually....with a friend who had hunted them last season...got birds out of all 3 of them...one was especially good...all in all it was about 3 hours of hunting...does not a scientific sample make!

 

[UGUIDE]

I saw one piece south of Mitchell that I was quite impressed with the quality of cover on it.

 

[RBN]

CREP was fine

3 of us hunted CREP on a Thursday midweek and killed 6 birds, cover was spotty on some and excellent on others. I found it to be a great supplement to the WPA's and the state should keep the program going! Well worth it in my book.

 

[Corndawg]

Hunted CREP a few times this past week. Cover was decent, we ran into a few birds and a couple of skunks. 1 dog was sprayed. There were a lot of hunters hunting public land, more than I have seen the last couple of years

 

[treedaddy]

I just got back from hunting southeast SD. The CREP areas that were existing CRP had good cover. The CREPs close to the James River did seem real thin, maybe they need some time to grow. I was pleased with most CREPs and some of the Walk Ins and GPAs had good cover also. Didn't have the time or energy to hunt all, but found birds on a few and some roosts on others. I think bird numbers were about 1/2 of last November. Didn't see many in the roads like last year. Still had fun and averaged about 2 roosters a day.

Here is a typical CREP

New CREP that was soybeans with a lake and cattails in the middle

Good Walk In where I found several birds.

GPA that had a nice lake. Killed 2 here

Saw a few CREPs that were hayed some

A CREP that had milo planted on it.

 

[Downtown Bang!]

Nice pic's treedaddy. Glad you enjoyed your time in SD. It is my favorite place on this planet.

Looks like I'm in the minority on the CREP cover. I did find a few gems and a couple of potential gems in the places I traveled but still had to drive by too many in my opinion.

Truth is with most of the general sign-up acreage going away I'll just have to make do and make some new memories in some new spots.

DB