In Jan. 2006, I had the incredible honor and privilege of staying with and accompanying into the field Phil “Duck Commander” Robertson and “The Duck Men”.
It has been amazing to see the popularity of “Duck Dynasty” his family’s hit reality series and how the vision of a man from West Monroe, La. has literally turned into a dynasty.
The following is part 1 of a brief excerpt from my award-winning book “Texas Waterfowl” you can order by clicking here where I interview the legendary call maker.
Phil Robertson’s lifetime of waterfowling experience and decades of traveling throughout the country to hunt has given him unique insight into problems facing waterfowlers. He believes one of the biggest problems is management of the federal refuge system.
A big part of the problem according to Robertson is that most of the refuges are in the flyways and wintering areas, not in the prairie pothole or “duck factory” region where they nest. This is a fact, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service boasts of on their website.
“Most of the more than 520 National Wildlife Refuges and additional Waterfowl Production Areas managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service are located along the migratory flyways, serving as breeding and wintering grounds and as ‘rest stops’ for these birds.”
“For example, in the ‘duck factory’ of the upper Midwest, the National Wildlife Refuge System manages just two percent of the landscape, yet 23 percent of the region’s waterfowl breed there.”
Robertson said it doesn’t make sense to have all of this refuge land in areas where the ducks winter if you’re trying to do something about duck production.
“They keep telling us we are losing crucial breeding grounds but they keep buying refuge land down in the wintering areas.”
“I think they have good intentions but should be buying up more nesting grounds to protect.”
The author with the Duck Commander in a blind in north-central Louisiana in 2006.
I agree with that. I also think that most of the land in the wintering areas are underutilized for waterfowl. They simple are not using good land management techniques to even hold the waterfowl in the area. The wintering waterfowl on the Texas coast continuous to decline. I’m not saying that this is the reason, but I am saying good land use could help regain the glory years of Texas waterfowl hunting.