{"id":50279,"date":"2023-11-01T09:29:08","date_gmt":"2023-11-01T14:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisducks.org\/?page_id=50279"},"modified":"2023-11-01T09:29:08","modified_gmt":"2023-11-01T14:29:08","slug":"down-to-the-river","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/atomiccoffee.com\/WWA\/down-to-the-river\/","title":{"rendered":"Down To the River"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Bruce Ross, Executive Director [email]bross@wisducks.org[\/email]<\/strong><\/p>\n

This article originally appeared in Wisconsin Waterfowl Association\u2019s November, 2023 Newsletter<\/a>\u00a0edition.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
My recent hunt on the Mississippi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I spent two days on The River last week – the Mississippi River.\u00a0 I was pursuing ducks of course, not gospel history.\u00a0 I\u2019m a little embarrassed to admit that it was only the second time I had been on the river chasing ducks.\u00a0 And the first time, I had no clue how to approach its vast expanse of water and incredible waterfowl habitat and fell short of a good experience.\u00a0 But this time, with Director Shawn Gibbons one day, and the next with Eric of Muddy Miss Guide Service<\/a>, it created a phenomenal memory. \u00a0While a good number of ducks obliged our spread – and we shot a few of the most obliging – my lasting impression is what a remarkable resource the Big Muddy is for duckhunters.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m also a little embarrassed to admit that WWA\u2019s membership is not as strong in that part of the state as it is elsewhere.\u00a0 Since that experience, I\u2019ve been wondering why, and have re-committed to changing that situation.\u00a0 Don\u2019t get me wrong – WWA has had strong chapters along the river, and we still enjoy the Prairie du Chien\u2019s commitment to our organization, with their remarkable string of youth hunts (now 12 years straight).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Prairie du Chien Chapter’s annual youth hunt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"<\/a>One of the reasons WWA may not have the traction there that it does in eastern Wisconsin is that our habitat projects have been sparser.\u00a0 Of course, there are explanations \u2013 the hydrological impact of farming in that area of the state has not been as significant as in the east; locations of our ecologists has been further east, and the state\u2019s waterfowl habitat strategy focuses attention on landscapes with more restorable opportunity than found near the river.<\/p>\n

With the recent and future hiring of additional ecologists, we hope to turn that around.\u00a0 We now have an ecologist living west of Madison, working to ID and restore wetlands on both public and private lands. And more funding than ever to undertake those projects. \u00a0Stay tuned.<\/p>\n

But WWA does more than just habitat restoration \u2013 we are a hunting advocacy organization \u2013 and far and away the loudest voice for state waterfowl hunters in Madison.\u00a0 As one example, check out the article about WWA\u2019s organization of a\u00a0Sandhill Crane briefing for legislators<\/a>\u00a0last week.\u00a0 The room was filled with legislators and staff who wanted to learn more about sandhills and the issues surrounding a possible hunt in Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

Since we represent our active membership most strongly, a smaller, less organized, non-member, western perspective may get drowned out.\u00a0 While our surveys try to account for this, sometimes numbers matter.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A recent example:\u00a0 Our surveys indicated that 130 of our river hunting members preferred to have the river goose season open on the same day as the South Zone opener – two weeks prior to the duck season. We provided that input to the DNR and the Natural Resource Board and they followed that recommendation.\u00a0 But there was a small number of very vocal NON-members who didn\u2019t agree, and lambasted the DNR for making this change.\u00a0 That they didn\u2019t have WWA\u2019s \u201cmegaphone\u201d may have hurt their cause.<\/p>\n

Bottom line: whether its railroad crossing issues or season structures or sandhill crane opportunities, WWA is committed to being the state\u2019s strongest waterfowl hunting advocacy group – including representation of those who \u201cgo down to the river\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 That means we need the help of Mississippi River waterfowlers – as members, supporters and volunteers – to help us connect with the issues they face on the river.\u00a0 What do you think?\u00a0 Email me at [email]bross@wisducks.org[\/email].<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bruce Ross, Executive Director [email]bross@wisducks.org[\/email] This article originally appeared in Wisconsin Waterfowl Association\u2019s November, 2023 Newsletter\u00a0edition. I spent two days on The River last week – the Mississippi River.\u00a0 I was pursuing ducks of course, not gospel history.\u00a0 I\u2019m a little embarrassed to admit that it was only the second time I had been…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-50279","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomiccoffee.com\/WWA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/50279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomiccoffee.com\/WWA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomiccoffee.com\/WWA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomiccoffee.com\/WWA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomiccoffee.com\/WWA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atomiccoffee.com\/WWA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/50279\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomiccoffee.com\/WWA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}