Any duck habitat guys?

[Iowa_Dave]

Wow, awesome set up Swampcat. I am very jelly! :) It is hard to do such a thing up here in Iowa, as even if you had the low ground and a source of enough water...if you pumped that much water in somewhere and it was "dry" that year...it would drain away pretty quickly in most areas.

 

[H20fwler]

Duck ponds are fun!

 

[swat1018]

Very impressive, SwampCat! You obviously have one heck of a system, hope you are rewarded by the duck gods.

 

[swat1018]

H20, As close as we are to each, I can't believe how much better your fowling is. I just got a lake house in NE Indiana, and hope that ups my duck game, a little!

 

[H20fwler]

H20, As close as we are to each, I can't believe how much better your fowling is. I just got a lake house in NE Indiana, and hope that ups my duck game, a little!

How far are you from Grand Lake?

Our farm is like 300 yards from the river and we pull a lot of the traffic that fly's down it over, we only shoot our place once or twice a season to both my boys dismay. I don't want to spook the deer to bad and I like seeing and hearing all the ducks when I'm in the tree stand.

 

[swat1018]

How far are you from Grand Lake?

Our farm is like 300 yards from the river and we pull a lot of the traffic that fly's down it over, we only shoot our place once or twice a season to both my boys dismay. I don't want to spook the deer to bad and I like seeing and hearing all the ducks when I'm in the tree stand.

About 70 miles from where I live. My lake house is about 40 mi north of Ft. Wayne.

 

[SwampCat]

Very impressive, SwampCat! You obviously have one heck of a system, hope you are rewarded by the duck gods.

unfortunately, the duck gods overlooked me this year. Worst year I have had in my 58 years of duck hunting - by far.

 

[WeedyJ]

unfortunately, the duck gods overlooked me this year. Worst year I have had in my 58 years of duck hunting - by far.

Phew! Now I don't feel so bad about my weak year in spite of my efforts

 

[ksgobbler]

unfortunately, the duck gods overlooked me this year. Worst year I have had in my 58 years of duck hunting - by far.

I am 100% convinced we are chasing paper ducks. It wasnt my worst year, but it was in the bottom 5.

 

[SwampCat]

I am 100% convinced we are chasing paper ducks. It wasnt my worst year, but it was in the bottom 5.

I think the ducks are actually moving west with much wetter conditions in OK and TX. We had some good hunts west of me, this year.

 

[ksgobbler]

I think the ducks are actually moving west with much wetter conditions in OK and TX. We had some good hunts west of me, this year.

We had one of the wettest winters on record.

 

[SwampCat]

Wow, awesome set up Swampcat. I am very jelly! :) It is hard to do such a thing up here in Iowa, as even if you had the low ground and a source of enough water...if you pumped that much water in somewhere and it was "dry" that year...it would drain away pretty quickly in most areas.

A lot of times when I pump in early November, after a dry fall, I wait a week and top it off again. Dry ground absorbs a lot of water. Every now and then I will "flood" a millet planting in August, when it get really dry. Millet might be up a foot or two and I will pump water on it to a depth of a few inches to irrigate, and the water will be gone the next day.

 

[Iowa_Dave]

A lot of times when I pump in early November, after a dry fall, I wait a week and top it off again. Dry ground absorbs a lot of water. Every now and then I will "flood" a millet planting in August, when it get really dry. Millet might be up a foot or two and I will pump water on it to a depth of a few inches to irrigate, and the water will be gone the next day.

Once upon a time, I was in Arkansas on a duck hunt and the guide put us in the back of his pickup bed and was going to drive us out to a blind in a flooded rice field. When he pulled into the flooded field I was 100% sure he was going to stuck in an instant. Nope...he kept driving through the water with no trouble. He told me that their soil, when flooded, does not turn to muck 18" down like it would here in Iowa, but there would be an inch or two of slime and then a decent base. Well no wonder they could flood giant rice fields and have them hold water long term...that would never work up here unless someone lined the whole area in clay.