Clinton Decoy Company

DE-HOUSING PREDATORS
Introduction
Art Ladehoff, inventor of the Big Foot goose decoy, calls for destroying the homes of predators to improve duck nest success. Posted Dec. 22, 2008.
By
Art Ladehoff



http://www.madduck.org/article/de-housing <<<<<<<<<click here:idea:


"A couple of days ago I received a report about a study by Southern Illinois University professor Michael W. Eichholz. The subject of his study involves the drop in duck productivity in the prairie pothole region -- from the northern United States upward into southern Canada.

Prof. Eicholz focuses, in part, on raccoons and skunks, two predators blamed for increasingly high rates of nest predation. Anytime there is a discussion concerning poor duck production, predators are high on the list of culprits causing our problems."



"This plan of attack seems so obvious that I wonder why we haven’t already done it. I ask myself, “Am I missing something?” But I can think of nothing."

that very issue has been addressed, and done. Not completed yet, but about 85% done. Many of the old farmsteads are gone, and the foundations buried. Tony Dean wrote an article about this that I first saw in "94. I believe it was called "Ducks in Crisis". Great read, everyone should read it.

that very issue has been addressed, and done.

Matt

Is the issue done? We got the impression that it is a program Mr Ladehoff would like to see implemented now and in the future. Or is MadDuck dot org pulling up old files to publish on their website.



thanks

Here is something to ponder. While it is a good thing to rid the landscape of predator housing consider this;

Farmers should be happy to get rid of the obstacles and the eyesores. Landowners might even be convinced to cost share in such a program since they would be gaining farmable acres.

Often times those obstacles also contained decades old windbreaks that provided beneficial roosting and overwinter habitat for pheasants. Remove those and the landscape is turned once again into a black desert which is all too common on the prairie landscape.


The practice of removing a windbreak does remove Avian predator habitat.

still there for the most part. The old houses and barns are going away. That is the real habitat for the coons. In Tonys' paper, I believe he stated that raccoons showed up in SD in the 70's, spreading north and west through the state. There used to be a farmstead on every corner of every section. That's 4 houses evey square mile. That's how the country was settled. Most of those buildings were abondond for one reason or another. They were prime habitat for coons, skunks, and opossums. They are our prime nest raiders. But those farms are gone. In SD, there was a program 10 years ago, or so, to clean up, or destroy those old building sites. I don't remember if it was outright money, or tax incentives. Anyway, that was the end for many of the farm buildings.

In SD, there was a program 10 years ago, or so, to clean up, or destroy those old building sites. I don't remember if it was outright money, or tax incentives. Anyway, that was the end for many of the farm buildings.

Maybe it was the fence row to fence row farming mind set or in the case of the Dakotas, section marker to section marker.


Now with the removal of all those CRP arces it will be more important to remove some more of the old farm houses and plow up virgin Prairie/Grasslands so even more predators can invade the landscape.