Seasonally flooded impoundments produce natur

[peter]

Seasonally flooded impoundments, also referred to as moist soil units, can produce a smorgasbord of native plants that migrating waterfowl will feed on throughout the fall and winter hunting seasons.

"Natural foods are superior to row crops because they provide more complete nutrition, said Kevin Tucker, a private lands wildlife biologist with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. "With the proper water level manipulation its possible to encourage smartweed, wild millet, fall panicum and sedges, which will attract mallards and other species of dabbling ducks.



Seasonally flooded impoundments typically average about 10 acres in size, but can be as small as 1 1/2 acres or larger than 100 acres. The optimum water depth is about 18 inches.

The best locations for seasonal impoundments are low areas along rivers or in creek bottoms, where runoff water collects and the soil types hold water. Construction should take place during the dry part of the summer, but Tucker, who has worked in western Kentucky since 1995, said it can be too dry. "There has to be enough moisture to be able to compact the dirt levee, he said.

Water levels are controlled by whats called a stop log structure. This consists of a three-sided metal box with slots on the front facing the water where boards can be stacked on top of one another. "When water overtops the boards, it falls into the box and runs out a pipe through the levee, said Tucker. "Adding boards raises the water level in the impoundment, and removing boards lowers it.

After the growing season is over in early fall, the water level should be brought up slowly. "That way not all the food will be flooded at the same time, said Tucker. "You want the water level to peak in early- to mid-December.

With proper water level management, natural foods will be available to waterfowl for a much longer period of time than grains such as corn or millet, which deteriorate rapidly when flooded continuously.

Seasonally flooded impoundments continue to provide food long after the weed seed are gone in the late winter, when ducks migrate back through Kentucky on their way to their breeding grounds.

"Ducks forage through the fodder or plant debris, feeding on larval insects and other invertebrates that provide much-needed protein, Tucker said.

The draining of seasonal impoundments should not begin until early- to mid-April. "You want to slowly take the water level down, removing one board every two weeks, said Tucker. "By slowly lowering the water level you get a much different vegetative response. Drop the water level too fast and your mudflats will dry up. That will promote the growth of bad weeds such as the cocklebur.

Hunters with access to wetlands could have some excellent hunting this fall. Many of the ponds and sloughs in western Kentucky that dried up during the summer drought are now covered with lush stands of native grasses, providing excellent duck forage.

Duck numbers are up, too. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (U.S.F.W.S.) reports the 2012 estimate of breeding ducks in the traditional survey area was 48.6 million birds, a 7 percent increase from last year's record total. This is the largest estimate since annual waterfowl surveys began in 1955. Mallards were up 15 percentfrom 9.2 million birds in 2011 to 10.6 million this year. Only twice, in 1958 and1999, have more mallards been recorded during the May survey. Populations of all other major duck species, except northern pintails, were either above or statistically similar to 2011 estimates.

Seasonally flooded impoundments will help you take advantage of this fantastic waterfowl bounty this fall.

Author Art Lander Jr. has been writing about the outdoors since the 1970s. He is a staff writer for Kentucky Afield Magazine.

[Moveon]

Good read Peter.

I enjoy reading this type of stuff. Especially when it's information from the Department of Natural Resources wildlife Biologists.

This story reminds me of one of my first duck hunts with my old neighborhood friend. We were still in college. He was studying Geology and IU and I was studying Pre-Veterinary Medicine at Purdue. We arrived at the Joe Lutz farm down off Old Henderson Rd in Union Township of Vanderburgh County, IN. The farm is along the Ohio River and flat bottom land with good soil. There is a small slew that runs about 100 yards long and was about 25 to 30 yards across. It's just land that's a little lower than the rest and holds the rain water. It was not very deep. As Tim was wearing wading boots (not chest waders) and was able to set out some duck decoys by wading in the water. My first thought was that we needed to build a blind. Everything I had read about duck hunting said that ducks have excellent eye sight and can see a hunters white face looking up at the sky from a mile away.

But, this morning it was foggy and you could not see more than 100 ft or more. It was still dark when we arrived with the sun just about ready to come up over the horizon.

As we were setting up the decoys a flock of 4 or 5 Wood Ducks flew into the slew and landed in the water. Ha ha. That was pretty exciting as we could hear their wing beats but didn't see them until they hit the water.

I think we got two of them down before the decoys were set up.

We decided that we didn't need any more decoys as the ducks were already coming into this slew without our encouragement. So we just stood out along the edge of the water and waited for the next flock to land.

But, as the sun started to come up higher the fog lifted and the hunting was over for the day.

That's a day I'll never forget. I learned something new that day. Actually out in the field experience beats reading about something in a magazine or the news paper.

Tim and I had many more good hunts together after this.

He's been diagnosed with colon cancer and is getting ready for treatment soon.

He hunts Foote Pond these days as he bought the property with one of my other older neighborhood friends. Foote Pond is an old Ox Bow Lake off the Wabash or Black River near Griffin, IN in Posey County, IN. I've been there a few times with Tim and his father and brothers back when I was still at Purdue. We went there for a day or two one Christmas Break. Ever since I first meet Tim and his brothers he talked about fishing at Footes pond. I was in the third grade when we moved next door to Tim and his brothers. Back in those days there were farm fields surrounding the back yards and then a big wooded area behind the farm field. The first day I meet Tim and his brother Billy we went back into the newly plowed farm field hunting for Indian Arrow Heads. I guess the Indians of the area also hunted this land way back when. As they left a few arrow heads in the dirt. Going looking for them right after the field was plowed up was cool. I do remember it was hard walking as I was from the city and not used to walking long distances over hills and plowed up ground. But after a few weeks it was much easier to walk though the farm land and woods. I became a country boy back then. That was the summer of 1959. That seems just like yesterday to me sometimes.

Seasonally flooded impoundments, also referred to as moist soil units, can produce a smorgasbord of native plants that migrating waterfowl will feed on throughout the fall and winter hunting seasons.

"Natural foods are superior to row crops because they provide more complete nutrition, said Kevin Tucker, a private lands wildlife biologist with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. "With the proper water level manipulation its possible to encourage smartweed, wild millet, fall panicum and sedges, which will attract mallards and other species of dabbling ducks.



Seasonally flooded impoundments typically average about 10 acres in size, but can be as small as 1 1/2 acres or larger than 100 acres. The optimum water depth is about 18 inches.

The best locations for seasonal impoundments are low areas along rivers or in creek bottoms, where runoff water collects and the soil types hold water. Construction should take place during the dry part of the summer, but Tucker, who has worked in western Kentucky since 1995, said it can be too dry. "There has to be enough moisture to be able to compact the dirt levee, he said.

Water levels are controlled by whats called a stop log structure. This consists of a three-sided metal box with slots on the front facing the water where boards can be stacked on top of one another. "When water overtops the boards, it falls into the box and runs out a pipe through the levee, said Tucker. "Adding boards raises the water level in the impoundment, and removing boards lowers it.

After the growing season is over in early fall, the water level should be brought up slowly. "That way not all the food will be flooded at the same time, said Tucker. "You want the water level to peak in early- to mid-December.

With proper water level management, natural foods will be available to waterfowl for a much longer period of time than grains such as corn or millet, which deteriorate rapidly when flooded continuously.

Seasonally flooded impoundments continue to provide food long after the weed seed are gone in the late winter, when ducks migrate back through Kentucky on their way to their breeding grounds.

"Ducks forage through the fodder or plant debris, feeding on larval insects and other invertebrates that provide much-needed protein, Tucker said.

The draining of seasonal impoundments should not begin until early- to mid-April. "You want to slowly take the water level down, removing one board every two weeks, said Tucker. "By slowly lowering the water level you get a much different vegetative response. Drop the water level too fast and your mudflats will dry up. That will promote the growth of bad weeds such as the cocklebur.

Hunters with access to wetlands could have some excellent hunting this fall. Many of the ponds and sloughs in western Kentucky that dried up during the summer drought are now covered with lush stands of native grasses, providing excellent duck forage.

Duck numbers are up, too. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (U.S.F.W.S.) reports the 2012 estimate of breeding ducks in the traditional survey area was 48.6 million birds, a 7 percent increase from last year's record total. This is the largest estimate since annual waterfowl surveys began in 1955. Mallards were up 15 percentfrom 9.2 million birds in 2011 to 10.6 million this year. Only twice, in 1958 and1999, have more mallards been recorded during the May survey. Populations of all other major duck species, except northern pintails, were either above or statistically similar to 2011 estimates.

Seasonally flooded impoundments will help you take advantage of this fantastic waterfowl bounty this fall.

Author Art Lander Jr. has been writing about the outdoors since the 1970s. He is a staff writer for Kentucky Afield Magazine.