Habitat improvement is the key

“We used to think and we were taught in forestry school that beavers were bad; however, over the years we’ve learned that it is a plus to have beavers and natural wetlands for recreational opportunities such as fishing and hunting,” Randy Pope said. “And it also adds value to your property if you ever want to sell or lease it.”

It’s all a matter of habitat options.

“Any time you have a natural wetlands on your property you can enhance it, and how you enhance it is by manipulation of the water levels.

“If you have a beaver pond on the property, you can do it with a riser just like a Delta farmer does it with his rice fields. Once you put in a riser you can lower the water level to plant and do habitat improvement for the slough, such as getting rid of unwanted weeds and grasses and by planting preferred duck foods for utilization later in the year.”

Pope recommended using approved herbicides and spraying programs to kill unwanted vegetation, as well as using Weed Eaters.

“You can lower your water levels in the summer, and get out there and Weed Eat areas to create openings in the weedy and grassy areas to create landing zones for ducks and to rid the area of unwanted grasses and weeds, which will open up sunny areas to allow duckweed and other more preferable vegetation a chance to thrive,” he said.

And if manipulation of the water levels is not an option, then spraying or Weed Eating from a small boat is an easy way to control and manage vegetation.

“Another way to increase your chances at harvesting ducks is to create natural duck blinds on or around your sloughs during the spring, summer or fall, so that you’ll have that established before the ducks move in, and they’ll blend in to the surroundings by the time the ducks arrive,” said Pope. “And once the ducks arrive you’ll have a place to hunt them from a concealed spot.”

This is just what Pope did at Lester Stevenson’s place just north of Decatur; he constructed and strategically placed a duck blind for hunting and waterfowl viewing in advance of the fall and winter. On our visit to the Stevenson farm recently we saw several varieties of big ducks and a large number of wood ducks utilizing three different duck holes.

At the end of the hunt there were so many ducks swarming in that I thought we were hunting in the heart of the Delta.