Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management Ducks and Geese

we have a pond we are working on with owner intending on attracting geese and ducks. What are your guys Suggestions to keep them??

The water comes out of the ground at about 100*. and then has one dam before the new one we are building. The current pond does have fish in it but I dont know what or how much yet. It does also have lots of cattails. This water source flows at least 200 gpm and is used for irrigation with the deverion befroe the current dam. the new dam is below the existing one and will be about 13 acres with a deep spot planned of 18 foot and an average depth of 6. The dirt work will be finished soon. We are going to add metal nesting sites like shown by Delta water fowl. What else do you guys suggest to help keep water fowl around??

what would you guys suggest for fish. I am leaning for a smallmouth walleye perch, with fatheads and Golden shiners. I might also try to get redear and pumpkinseeds.
The owner doesnt want anything that might eat ducklings, so Pike and LMB are probably out.

Thanks guys!

I am not qualified to answer the fish questions but for the waterfowl managment I can add some value.

Are you trying to manage both fish and waterfowl in the same body of water?

Waterfowl are the primary target!!

With that being said, for the best waterfowl dam I have heard people say dont put fish in the dam?? is there truth to this. mnfish how would you build a perfect wet bird habitat lake that does lay in a fly zone and about 10 miles from a large lake that holds thousands of birds.?

A couple more questions.

1. Are you wanting to hunt these birds, build a viewing-hatching refuge?
2. If you do want to hunt, how many times a season do you intend on hunting them?
3. Which type of ducks and geese are you designing for? Divers or puddlers. White geese or dark geese.
4. The lake you mentioned what type of birds are on it now. Does it hold birds spring, summer and fall? Does it hold more during the migration?

The answers to these questions will narrow down your possible design inputs. Keep in mind, for OPTIMAL waterfowl pond designs, fish should not be present, at all. Unless you enjoy eating mergansers

1. He is an outfitter and wants to have clients shoot them.

2. As many as the birds can handle with out chasing them off too hard.

3. It does have mallards and green teal, but with no serious numbers "right now" it gets more birds in the migration. And canadian geese are about all we get. Sandhills fly over us but never seem to land here. I do love Sandhill Crane!!

4. He would like it to hold birds all year, and really produce during the migration. and he is putting a food plot designed for the birds right next to the pond.

Maybe it is too late but having a couple of acres that could be annually flood would be great. Maybe right within the pond design itself. Like having a board water control structure where outside of the season only x boards would it installed and a couple of weeks before waterfowl season an additional board or two could be added and with the well brought up to the new level flooding what ever you like as an attractant for waterfowl. Myself I am thinking corn and leave the area around a permanent blind free of crop and less worries about the baiting rules.

This sounds like a big scale project and a cool one at that. I would recommend emailing or calling Kyle at Praire Land Management. He is located here in MN. I have bought sago and wild rice from them.

http://www.habitatnow.com/

How is he going to have clients, when SD doesn't let any out of staters hunt waterfowl?

If I'm reading this right, it seems like you guys are after puddlers. If you really want puddle ducks, you have to think refuge and food. Did I mention food? Ducks try and consume 10% of their body weight a day! Thats a lot of seed and bugs comsumed every day. Shallow water is very important. Anything over 2' is just wasted land/water.

Good Luck and post some pictures now and after please.

Going along the thoughts of lassig, what about short milo, 18"-24" tall at maturity, then flood the field with 18"-24" of water?

I really like the moist soil aspect of managing for ducks. Not many people do it in my area here in MN and I think it would be a fun food plot to build. I am hoping to start on my project next summer. Small scale 1 acre of flooded soil next to my 2.5 acre pond. I might be able to do it all with native plants (smart weeds and such). Otherwise like you guys suggested corn or milo. Maybe jap millet or buckwheat

I started with the water food management first. Sago, wild rice, water potatoe, scuds. Slow results at first. Dissapointing actually. Then over the last couple of years it started to take. One day last week I had well over 100 ducks and 50 honkers on my 2.5 acre pond. Although, if we don't get some rain it will be a big mud flat

Limiting hunting pressure is as much a factor as the food on small scale properties (IMHO). Guided hunts with paying customers I personally wouldn't hunt the water. I would build a great roost pond(s) and hunt the fields in the surrounding area.

They love a lot of shallow water, with something they can feed off of. I get a lot on my pond but come Sep. 1 I really don't see much after that. They are not dumb shoot at them a few times they remember.I have called them to the decoys a few times when they are not to far. But they get wise to that too. Around here the dnr will put in a pond for wild life management but only 4' deep.

I agree. It doesn't take them long to get smart. I probably hunt my pond 3-4 times a season.

Frozengator - Do you duck or goose hunt your pond?

Our nusance goose season opens 9-1 and all the geese have pulled a disappearing act. I have no idea where they all went!
Smart turds........

Same here on both accounts (early season and the disappearance). I planning on setting out a dozen big foots sat. morning and drink some coffee. So hot here not expecting much but some non target wildlife watching.

You getting out?

The remnants of Issac are supposed to be hitting us about that time. Unless I can find them tomorrow, I'll be catching up on things inside. We have 15 days to whack them - 5 per day.

I just remembered I need to buy a Fed. stamp and call in for the HIP number!