Eric's log book

Re: Eric's log book

Postby Ducaholic » Sat Mar 18, 2023 8:43 am

Speaking of snow Delta Waterfowl is reporting that Bismark received the 3rd highest snow total in the past 110 years. That should bode well for the ducklings.
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Re: Eric's log book

Postby Rick » Sat Mar 18, 2023 9:08 am

Ducaholic wrote:Speaking of snow Delta Waterfowl is reporting that Bismark received the 3rd highest snow total in the past 110 years. That should bode well for the ducklings.


And make me glad my onetime plans to move to that area got waylaid.
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Re: Eric's log book

Postby PorkChop » Sat Mar 18, 2023 9:42 am

That number three ranking is for the last year so it includes snow from last winter. This winter or snow season it is ranked 45th

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Re: Eric's log book

Postby Ducaholic » Sat Mar 18, 2023 9:59 am

Won’t be the last time Chop…


Delta Waterfowl Expands Predator Management Program in 2023 to Produce More Ducks

The Duck Hunters Organization begins field work in advance of nesting season

BISMARCK, NORTH DAKOTA — Even though deep snowdrifts still blanket the northern prairie landscape where more than half of North America’s ducks nest, Delta Waterfowl has begun the organization’s annual Predator Management field work.

For the 2023 waterfowl nesting season, Delta will expand Predator Management to 31 sites: 25 in North Dakota, and three each in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. A record number of Predator Management trappers began work on March 15, helping ducks increase their nest success by removing overabundant mammalian predators such as raccoons and skunks.

Mike Buxton, senior waterfowl programs manager for Delta Waterfowl, said this winter’s near-record snowfall and expected colder weather for the next couple of weeks will hamper early Predator Management trapping efforts, but the harsh winter provides a welcome advantage for duck production this year.

“The deep snow is an issue for getting into fields and traveling down minimum-maintenance roads, but there are some areas where our trappers can start trapping,” Buxton said. “I will definitely take these conditions over not having any snow on the landscape. Once the snow melts, all of the water will be great for nesting ducks.”

As they push north, ducks and geese will arrive to a wet prairie to start the breeding season. Bismarck, North Dakota, has already received 92.8 inches of snow during the 2022-2023 winter, making it the third-snowiest winter in the past 110 years. While the prairie region of southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan is not nearing record snowfall this winter, most areas are carpeted with deep snow.

“There are some areas where trappers can get going now, such as open areas and abandoned farmsteads where raccoons and skunks live,” Buxton said. “It’ll be a slower start, but our trappers will quickly set up in new areas as the snow melts.”

Nest success — the percentage of nesting hens that hatch eggs — is the driver of continental duck populations. Biologists agree that nest success of 15 percent to 20 percent is necessary just to maintain the existing waterfowl population. In many key areas of the prairie, nest success is abysmal, often less than 5 percent.

Raccoons and skunks, duck nest predators that were uncommon or absent across much of the prairie prior to the 1950s, have become overly abundant in many areas because of changes in land use and agriculture. The effects have been devastating for ducks. Studies have shown that more than 90 percent of the failed nests are destroyed by predators.

“The altered landscape has created an imbalance between waterfowl and predators,” said Joel Brice, chief conservation officer of Delta Waterfowl. “We focus Predator Management on areas where the balance is misaligned. The result is that more ducks hatch, and more ducks fly south every fall.”

Delta Waterfowl is dramatically ramping up the organization’s efforts to produce ducks. In July 2022, Delta announced the ambitious Million Duck Campaign, a $250 million fundraising effort with a goal of adding 1 million ducks to the fall flight every year.

“We work for duck hunters,” Brice said. “Our constituents are interested in duck production, and expanding Predator Management will put more ducks into the air.”

Delta Waterfowl is The Duck Hunters Organization, a leading conservation group working to produce ducks and secure the future of waterfowl hunting in North America. Visit deltawaterfowl.org.
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Re: Eric's log book

Postby PorkChop » Sat Mar 18, 2023 10:18 am

It’s unfortunate that they use last year‘s snow in this year‘s article and number. It’s misleading in my opinion. All that snow from spring of 2022 has long since melted and was used for the 2022 nesting ducks. We were fairly dry over the summer so a lot of that water is gone. We have plenty of time for more snow and we definitely will need spring rains.

All that being said Bismarck and to the south is doing much better than we are doing up here on the US/Canada border.

With less water, more predator management will be vital!!
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Re: Eric's log book

Postby Ericdc » Sat Mar 18, 2023 10:43 am

Image
Percent of normal precipitation year to date


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Re: Eric's log book

Postby 5 stand » Sat Mar 18, 2023 10:51 am

PorkChop wrote:It’s unfortunate that they use last year‘s snow in this year‘s article and number. It’s misleading in my opinion.



It is misleading, very much so...
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Re: Eric's log book

Postby Rick » Sat Mar 18, 2023 11:21 am

Just read this from a ND upland hunter:

Hey all, just thought I'd give you my impression of this winter. It can be summed up in two words: IT SUCKS!

We're getting hit hard this year, so far the third worst winter in recent memory. We're only about 8 inches away from breaking the 96/97 winter. And guess what? We'll more than likely break it.

We've been getting storms or snow every week for the past month. Seems like clockwork. We just got over one and they are predicting another for this coming week.. The worst part of this year is not so much the snow, it's the wind and cold. With winds in that 30 to 50 mph. We have some major drifts everywhere, some 10 foot in depth. And it's been a rollercoaster with the temps also. One day 30 the next -10. Right now it's -8

Now, how will this effect the bird population. I see a major winter kill here. Most of the cover is gone, drifted in. One cattail slough I go by everyday to work is totally under snow. This slough had cattails 6 to 7 foot tall.....gone now.

The only birds I've seen are in farm yards and the shelter belts around the farmsteads. Our only saving grace.

Looks like we'll be going from winter to summer, I doubt we'll have a nice spring. This of course will effect the nesting. Of course we can only hope, pray and keep our fingers crossed.

Good luck to my fellow North Dakotans..........it's been quite a ride!
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Re: Eric's log book

Postby PorkChop » Sat Mar 18, 2023 12:20 pm

Every year on the fuge some people are always talking about all these dead winter kill birds. Can’t tell you the last time I saw a dead winter killed upland bird. Maybe a few on the side of the highway that are hit by cars. Never found any in the trees, cattails, or in the fields. Also upland birds will fly miles and miles to find places to live and feed. Not sure if they’ve ever done any gps studies on them. I’m sure it’s probably not worth it with their short life spans. But I think they would see that they will feed in an area and then you’ll find that same group of birds disappears and suddenly there is a group several miles away.

Sometimes I wonder if these negative posts are to keep non-residents from wanting to come hunt here or if it’s a ploy to get more dollars to pheasants for the future, pheasants forever, rough grouse society or other conservation organizations.

99% of these 10 foot drifts are on the one side of the tree rows. The other sides are much less and then there are many bare spots out in the fields for the birds to feed on. Pheasants and sharp tails are like turkeys and will roost in trees if they need too.

Cattails die and bend in half. One cattail Slough full of snow does not give an indication of what the other thousands upon thousands upon thousands of cattail sloughs are looking like. And speaking of cattails this time of year I don’t typically see upland birds near them. they are almost always by trees patches.

I am not discounting that lots of the state has had lots of snow. But there are many different types of snow. For instants a couple weeks ago when Bismarck received over a foot of snow. That snow was big light fluffy flakes. You can compare it to cottonwood trees and that white fluff that comes off of them. Next to no moisture content.

We would be better suited knowing how much moisture we received over a winter instead of snow inches.

With all the driving we have been doing the last month for all these basketball tournaments we have seen plenty of birds. I dare to say this is the most Hungarian Partridge I have ever seen. They are really starting to pair up fast and I’m even starting to see sharp tails pair up. That is a good sign. And whether people want to advertise it or not there are many people that raise thousands upon thousands of pheasants and release them throughout the state.

Everybody has their own idea of what a rough winter is. As a guy that works outside this has been one of the better North Dakota winters I have ever experienced.

The whole point of this book is the say in my opinion upland birds are not doing as bad as some would like you to think and we also have not received as much snow as people are trying to lead you to believe.
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Re: Eric's log book

Postby Ericdc » Sat Mar 18, 2023 12:33 pm

Image
Had 1 good green wing shoot last year


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Re: Eric's log book

Postby Ducaholic » Sat Mar 18, 2023 12:40 pm

They Pretty!
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Re: Eric's log book

Postby PorkChop » Sat Mar 18, 2023 12:40 pm

Ericdc wrote:Image
Had 1 good green wing shoot last year


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I am on my way!!
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Re: Eric's log book

Postby Ducaholic » Sat Mar 18, 2023 12:44 pm

https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

Not looking too good currently.
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Re: Eric's log book

Postby PorkChop » Sat Mar 18, 2023 12:53 pm

Ducaholic wrote:https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

Not looking too good currently.


Not good at all. That’s why I say snow inches/depth mean nothing. It’s how much moisture those inches contain. I believe Canada is in worse shape.
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Re: Eric's log book

Postby Darren » Mon Mar 20, 2023 8:00 am

How is there so much conflicting info on the snow amount? The Delta article plainly says it's THIS winter, the account from the ND upland hunter refers to THIS winter, but then others are claiming the high snowfall was not this year, but last.

What

Is

The

Deal
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Re: Eric's log book

Postby PorkChop » Mon Mar 20, 2023 8:55 am

Darren wrote:How is there so much conflicting info on the snow amount? The Delta article plainly says it's THIS winter, the account from the ND upland hunter refers to THIS winter, but then others are claiming the high snowfall was not this year, but last.

What

Is

The

Deal


Snowfall is calculated two ways. If you Google Bismarck snow totals you will get one that is for the last 365 calendar days which makes it the third highest and then you’ll get one just for this season so basically the first snowfall which happened around October I believe till this date. With that one you get 40 something inches making uit rank around 45 on the all-time snow list.

April 2022 just before Easter we received a pretty good blizzard that gave us like 20 something inches of snow and then on Easter day we received another 10 inches of snow. Some people got more some people got less. I believe Minot ended up with close to 40 inches for those two snow events. Those are being added in some peoples totals.

As I mentioned above there are many different types of snow. We rarely get the wet heavy stuff. Most of our stuff is dry powder. Sometimes the dry stuff can be like big cotton balls so it adds up quickly inches wise but if you were to take that and put it in a 5 gallon bucket and melt it you would have next to no water.

When you live up here you notice it’s the same thing every year. The first snow of the fall people are typically pretty excited but once you get into January February the sight of a snowflake really brings people down. The lack of sunlight puts people in an ill mood and things seem worse than they are. I believe on 27 December we went into a warming trend and we had several days in January and February that temperatures were in the 30s. That is extremely mild considering last winter we had many days in the 20s to 30 below zero mark. That’s a 60° difference. I have zero complaints about this winter.

As I’ve mentioned before the southern part of the state especially south of I 94 and parts to the east have received more snow than my area but call that being said it’s nothing crazy.
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Re: Eric's log book

Postby PorkChop » Mon Mar 20, 2023 9:17 am

I just took these pictures on top of one of my tank batteries. First field is across the street to the south. You can see how the wind has blown many bare spots out there exposing food for upland birds. The second picture is straight to the west in the third picture straight to the east. You can see the tops of the stubble. Zero problem for pheasants and other birds to dig down to find food. One day with sunlight and 40° temperatures and that snow will start disappearing pretty fast.

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Re: Eric's log book

Postby Darren » Mon Mar 20, 2023 10:03 am

Wow! Thanks for the detailed analysis; think most assume "snow is snow" but ski resorts are quick to point out who has the driest snow, best for skiing; see Steamboat's "Champagne Powder," known for it's fluffy build, low moisture content.

Maybe Delta is just taking a positive spin on it all and proclaiming all that snow will spell full puddles in a month or two.
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Re: Eric's log book

Postby PorkChop » Mon Mar 20, 2023 10:10 am

Darren wrote:Maybe Delta is just taking a positive spin on it all and proclaiming all that snow will spell full puddles in a month or two.



The melting process is extremely important! As I mentioned about our warm January and February we lost a lot of snow but it was a very slow melt. We need it to melt fast so there is run off that will fill the potholes up. A slow melt will just be absorbed into the soil. That’s good for the farmers but it won’t really help the ducks out. Last year in March just about all the snow was gone and the potholes were not looking very good but that snow in April really filled things up and definitely helped out the ducks because it came fast and it melted fast.
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Re: Eric's log book

Postby Darren » Mon Mar 20, 2023 12:30 pm

Great insight, thank you !

If only the rain we sometimes get down here would fall up there on occasion......
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Re: Eric's log book

Postby Ricky Spanish » Mon Mar 20, 2023 3:37 pm

Got caught with weed so a judge made me attend AA Meetings. Weird but one thing I picked up on that keeps me out of trouble is "don't worry about things you can't control".
Precipitation in the duck factory is way way way beyond our control.
Don't sweat the small stuff and a lot of AA crap could easily could start oozing out.
I know Jim.
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Re: Eric's log book

Postby PorkChop » Mon Mar 20, 2023 4:18 pm

Ricky Spanish wrote:Got caught with weed so a judge made me attend AA Meetings. Weird but one thing I picked up on that keeps me out of trouble is "don't worry about things you can't control".
Precipitation in the duck factory is way way way beyond our control.
Don't sweat the small stuff and a lot of AA crap could easily could start oozing out.
I know Jim.


The winter of 2010/2011 was record-breaking snow. Hundred + inches from the first snow in Oct to the last snow. Then spring rains. That is when Minot and other places flooded. Besides blaming the Canadians for not letting water out of their big lakes earlier than they did on the Mouse river system, many people were saying that the Canadians caused it to snow so much as they were messing with the weather. I remember as a kid calling all those high airplanes with vapor trails “skyscrapers” and nowadays people say they are spraying us with chemicals and controlling the weather. Who knows?? I know here they do the cloud seeding when big thunderstorms are coming so it doesn’t hail so bad. So that there is man manipulating the weather. It’s funny though they say that the cloud seeding does not reduce the precipitation, only the hail, but you can watch over and over as the storms are coming and where the cloud seeding planes are and the rain storm suddenly breaks up and you get nothing.
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Re: Eric's log book

Postby Rick » Mon Mar 20, 2023 4:48 pm

Ricky Spanish wrote:I know Jim.


Bill's third cousin?
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Re: Eric's log book

Postby Ericdc » Thu May 04, 2023 2:49 pm

2nd nesting effort is underway in my wood duck box at pond. Image
Also, had some teal visit on April 21st.


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Re: Eric's log book

Postby Deltaman » Thu May 04, 2023 3:41 pm

Was the first nesting attempt a bust?
"It ain't what you don't know that gets you in trouble. It's what you know for sure, that just ain't so"
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Re: Eric's log book

Postby Ericdc » Fri May 05, 2023 8:26 am

Deltaman wrote:Was the first nesting attempt a bust?
No, I checked them on a Monday and the hen was out on break but eggs were hatching, 2 days later the box was empty. So I cleaned it out and put new pine shavings in it. First nest hatched in mid March.


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Re: Eric's log book

Postby Deltaman » Mon May 08, 2023 8:37 am

Sweet!
"It ain't what you don't know that gets you in trouble. It's what you know for sure, that just ain't so"
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Re: Eric's log book

Postby Rick » Mon May 08, 2023 9:08 am

Ericdc wrote:
Deltaman wrote:Was the first nesting attempt a bust?
No, I checked them on a Monday and the hen was out on break but eggs were hatching, 2 days later the box was empty. So I cleaned it out and put new pine shavings in it. First nest hatched in mid March.


A friend with scads of boxes, woodies and black-bellies tells me the BBs don't really compete for boxes with woodies, as I and, perhaps, others assumed, but tend to nest late enough that most woodies are done.

So maybe black-bellies will be your next guests. The way their range is expanding, it's only a matter of time...
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