The great spinner debate has never been about the use of spinning wing decoys, "spinner's"... that is a cop out and train haulin' full load of BS. I've been hunting in Arkansas for about the last 30 some odd years and have hunted some of the WMA's (Bayou Meto, Cache River, Black Swamp, Felthensal, Bayou DeView, Mercer Bayou, Sulphur River) & Private Clubs (Brinkley, Hazen, Stuttgart, Carlisle, Weiner, Jonesboro, Lewisville) throughout the years. ALL 'em mofo's used spinners, when they were legal... it's all smoke and mirrors and a visit to the Wizard of Oz in the name of politic's/ecomonic's and the public's perception. Alot of the WMA's in Arkansas have had a problems with overcrowding, as that was the "war cry" once upon a time... to many mofo's and not enough WMA's for them all to hunt on, especially with the guides, out-of-state hunters, etc. and heaven forbid you were there with out-of-state tags on your truck, as the local's would make you feel right at home in their own special way. So give the Average Joe a reason to believe he is competing on a level playing field with the big outfits, guides, private clubs, day leases, season leases, out-of-state hunters and so on and he'll support it. For many years "guides" were allowed to guide on WMA's fulltime and on many of the WMA's they have limited access or have been banned altogether. Now you can only bring 10 shells with you on some of the public places, in Arkansas in an attempt to stop sky bustin' or shootin' at ducks out of range. Waterfowl hunting is BIG BUISNESS in Arkansas... someone once told me that a million dollars a day is generated in the Stuttgart area in sales tax alone during duck season... that's alot of jack. It's all "politic's" and it's easier to "ban" the spinner and make everyone feel like they're doin' something for the ducks than to admit that you're dependant on hunter's spending their money, especially when that money is from tourist hunting dollars. And who is not gettin' kissed here... the average Arkansas duck hunter, who is dependent on the WMA's for his huntin' opprotunity as access to private huntin' lands has been just about all bought or leased up. A few years ago I was up in the Stuttgart area & all the "voodoo" was about how DU was in cahoot's with the Federal Gub'ment's Waterfowl Sanctuary System and how "they" were short stopping the ducks from Arkanas conspiracy theory... it was one of Arkansas' worse seasons ever, but one of Illinois' best seasons ever, as the ducks just didn't migrate like they traditionally did and the Louisianna boys didn't fair much better (there's a reason that the Duck Commander started filmin' out of his home state)... now El Nino, the spinner, Mother Nature, chupacabras, global warming, Zapruder Film, out-of-state hunter's, Atlantis, The Grand Passage phenomenon, Bigfoot sightings, how many shells you toted, Area 51, no till farming, the X-Files, etc. never came up, but who was openin' the next bottle of Crown did. I must admit the conversation was colorful to say the least. Now I'm not goin' to sit here and say that spinners are not effective on the ducks, especially the junvinille birds, they are. You watch any waterfowlin' video or TV show and you will see spinners in the spread. Even the Duck Commander uses 'em. Does this make it wrong to do so, I think not. Here's the link to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Migratory Bird Hunting Activity and Harvest During the 2005 and 2006 Hunting Seasons Preliminary Report: http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/reports/HuntingStatistics/Migratory%20bird%20hunting%20a ctivity%20and%20harvest%20during%20the%202005%20and%202006%20hunting%20seas ons.%20Preliminary%20Estimates.pdf If you did, in fact, read all 64 pages of the FWS Report did you happen to notice which State led the Nation in total number of ducks killed and which State led the Nation in total number of Mallards killed. This isn't rocket science, but it also isn't a grand conspirocey either. That facts are the facts, it's the way they are presented that is distorted by them that are politically and economically motivated in Little Rock that is the problem. Another tid-bit in the FWS Report is that the further South you go in each Flyway the ducks that are shot are older when compared to the ducks shot in Canada and the Northern States... hmmm, I would almost bet that has been the "trend" even before the FWS began the Harvest Report. I was also up there right after the "Big Freeze" they had in Arkansas that just about shut the State down for about a week... there were ducks everywhere. That freeze pushed the ducks on down and anyone with open water was covered up with ducks. The folks I hunted with turned their pumps on and put a little water here and there & it was the best 2nd split they'd ever had and it made the family farm/co-op look even better with the supplimental hunting dollars commin' in. And yes we would pick out the biggest greenhead out of a flock and take turns killin' 'em so the hunt would last a little longer. Our 1st mornin' we limited out in 17 minutes with 5 hunters, I hadn't even gotten the stopper screwed back in my thermos good when we splashed the 1st greenheads of the day. There was a study posted on Southern Duck Hunter, back in the day, where the spinner #'s vs the non-spinner #'s were something like 2.3 ducks a day per hunter without a spinner and 2.7 ducks per day with a spinner or somethin' like that. The study was done on private clubs vs public hunting areas somewhere like up in Illinois when the spinner debate first got going. Now I'm no mathmatician, I'm a duck hunter, but 3/10ths vs 7/10ths doesn't look like many 10ths to me, let alone much of a difference. That fact remains that spinners are legal in a lot of States and attempts to ban them is on the increase. The naysayers will try to have you believe that the spinner is somehow the all inclusive evil incarnate end all duck lure, but it isn't. The great spinner debate is actually one helluva a marketin' campaign and just like anyone in politics knows, if you will tell the people what they want to hear enough times they will disregard common sense and except the message as fact... it's just human nature to do so. Havin' said that, why don't we get right to the nut cuttin' and ban shotguns, shot shells, decoys, decoy weights, decoy bags, duck calls, camoflauge, gore-tex, thinsulate, outboard motors, mud motors, airboats, skiffs, layout boats, pirouges and well trained retrievers. See where this is goin'... how many people would go duck huntin' if they were limited to a loin cloth a a flint tipped spear that they had to knap themselves, probably not very many. Have you ever pondered the economic impact that would have in the loss of license, stamps, permits, boat registrations, truck registrations, gasoline sales, etc., as everyone of those things I listed has a tax attached to them. Now granted it may not cripple our economy, but they effects of lost revenue would be felt in a big way when you extrapilate the positive vs the negitive impact of the almighty dollar. You don't have to be an economist to see the potiental impact of tax dollars is commin' in or not... 0 from 0 is 0. Ya'll can color this anyway ya'll want to, but I think the "real deal" here is that Arkansas would lead the charge and the other States of the Mississippi Flyway would follow suit... thus gettin' more of the juvenille ducks to Arkansas so that Arkansas hunters could kill them in Arkansas and the out-of-stater's would come back to Arkansas and spend their money in Arkansas... it's never been about the ducks... it's always been about Arkansas & their economics.

Bookmark: