|
|
Post by featherduster on Apr 3, 2013 6:58:25 GMT -5
How should Indiana spend the 13.9 million dollars it will be receiving from the U.S.Fish and Wildlife fund.
I personally would like to see it spent on restoring small game animals such as rabbit, quail and pheasant by this I don't mean a put and take deal but figure out a way to reintroduce and maintain populations.
|
|
|
|
Post by squirrelhunter on Apr 3, 2013 7:36:01 GMT -5
I'd have to agree with you.I really miss quail and pheasant hunting.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2013 8:38:09 GMT -5
It should be spent to buy public hunting lands, there are already incentives for habitat work. Restocking birds and rabbits won't work to well.
|
|
|
|
Post by Russ Koon on Apr 3, 2013 8:59:03 GMT -5
Agreed, timex.
Land earmarked as primarily hunting land with any other public uses being secondary would be great!
Paying a bounty on coyotes would be more effective, but we'll never see that.
|
|
|
|
Post by lwb on Apr 3, 2013 9:17:35 GMT -5
I agree with Russ,thin out the coyotes.I have hunted Mississinewa for over forty years and very seldom see rabbit,quail or pheasant anymore.I see coyotes every time I hunt up there.Thin them out.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2013 9:43:29 GMT -5
IF you kill all the coyotes, then you'll have more egg eating nest robbers such as coons and possums and skunks. Once coyotes reach the carrying capacity, the only control is posions and that isn't going to happen.
|
|
|
|
Post by throbak on Apr 3, 2013 11:49:29 GMT -5
Predator control will NEVER replace good Habitat
|
|
|
|
Post by duff on Apr 3, 2013 18:25:59 GMT -5
Predator control will NEVER replace good Habitat :-[I 100% agree! |
|
|
|
Post by cedarthicket on Apr 3, 2013 19:08:25 GMT -5
A substantial amount of money in that fund came from excise taxes on firearms and ammunition purchased and used by people who do not hunt. If I remember correctly, some money from that fund can (must?) be used for hunter education and range construction. More public range construction is something that I, and thousands of other Indiana citizens, would like to see in this state. And, new public ranges do not all have to be multimillion dollar ones. Outdoor shooting ranges are something that hunters and non-hunters alike can get a lot of benefit from.
|
|
|
|
Post by lugnutz on Apr 3, 2013 22:15:46 GMT -5
Spend every dime on purchasing new property.
|
|
|
|
Post by lugnutz on Apr 3, 2013 22:18:12 GMT -5
Predator control will NEVER replace good Habitat Double edged sword, whats good habitat gonna do with an over population of predators? |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2013 23:29:25 GMT -5
More public land. Compared with local States Indiana does not have very much Public Land.
Also, doing work to increase Quail, Pheasant, and Grouse populations.
|
|
|
|
Post by throbak on Apr 4, 2013 8:23:05 GMT -5
Good habitat also means places the prey can escape to for safety.. on Quail there should be a brushy covert anywhere you can throw a softball. hawks can not get through easily where a quail can get under.The Same for rabbit,s plenty of cover makes good escape routes for them you ever hunt rabbits in WSG they are next to impossible to get.Predators have the same problems Good habitat is more than Food
|
|
|
|
Post by Russ Koon on Apr 4, 2013 11:50:22 GMT -5
Agree on the cover being part of good habitat. A friend used to host rabbit bowhunts on his place and there were reliably enough rabbits to provied at least some entertainment, and occasionally some meat.
The place had a nice mix of open areas and cover, with a good many briar patches and brushy draws, surrounding the food plots and open fields left to provide cover growth. He supplemented that natural cover with lengths of PVC pipe left in selected locations around the edges of openings where the emergency cover might do the most good.
But he still noticed an increase in rabbit population when they permitted a local trapper to ply his trade on the property, in addition to the owners policy of letting no predators escape when seen, when it was legal to stop them. The trapper reduced the population of coyotes and other destructive predators of rabbit nests and those of ground-nesting birds.
Another effect of the coyote population that has an indirect effect on the rabbit population is that the coyotes devastate the groundhog population, and groundhog burrows serve as emergency cover for rabbits when they are to be found, either from predators or from extreme weather.
I hunted a ranch in ND for about fifteen years, almost every year, and usually enjoyed the rabbit hunting there as well as chasing deer and antelope. There were several factors that caused the rabbit populations there to vary from year to year. The rancher was also a hunter and had noted the variations due to weather and drought, but he said the greatest difference he saw was in the years when a foreman living on the ranch trapped the coyotes as a sideline. They still had hawks and there were still some coyotes, but controlling the population made a very noticeable difference.
|
|
|
|
Post by thecommissioner on Apr 5, 2013 7:03:08 GMT -5
Easy. Habitat can be made, land cannot. Get the land, make the habitat.
I read somewhere that good small game habitat (pheasant, quail, rabbit) is expensive because the land is being taken out of production. Only the State can afford to take good agricultural land and let it revert back to a place the critters can survive.
|
|
|
|
Post by Russ Koon on Apr 8, 2013 23:20:09 GMT -5
Saw the news yesterday where Utah is paying $50 ea. coyote bounty.
Trying mostly to reduce predation on muley fawns.
Coyote huggers screaming, hunters and deer huggers applauding.
|
|
|
|
Post by ms660 on Apr 9, 2013 0:19:17 GMT -5
IF you kill all the coyotes, then you'll have more egg eating nest robbers such as coons and possums and skunks. Once coyotes reach the carrying capacity, the only control is posions and that isn't going to happen. Trapping is a proven method of controlling the out of control coyote population. When the DNR shut down the live coyote market in this state 1000's that would have been taken in traps are alive and doing extremely well and doing a fine job destroying the states wildlife. I no longer take a100+ Indiana coyotes a year like I did when the live market was in business, The DNR did nothing to stop the deer killing pens, but they shut down the coyote pens. Good job IDNR.  |
|
|
|
Post by duff on Apr 9, 2013 4:13:55 GMT -5
Mother nature has a great way of controlling populations that can't be controlled otherwise. Not ideal but all part of the cycle.
Without the available habitat none of it matters anyway. Parking lots and roof tops don't make the ideal spot for any of them.
|
|
