What predator do you think steals the most eggs: skunk, opposum, or coon? I suppose a mink or weasel or fisher could probably thrown in the mix. If I had to guess, I'd say skunks ('course there are less skunks than coon).

1 positive I heard about possums is they eat an insane amount of wood ticks. An unfortunate thing about possums is their fur & glands seem worthless.

I'd have to say coon are the biggest nest theif especially around here where there are more coon than skunks

Biologist from Wild Turkey Federation once said skunks.

crows too

Delta Waterfowl has been doing a great deal of research on nest depredation and how it relates to duck nesting success. I don't have the numbers handy right now .But they are astounding as far as how much impact occurs from ground predators . And that also goes over to ground nesting song birds Trappers truly are doing a service when they are keeping those ground nesting predators under control.

Coon

The big three you named. All do a very significant amount of damage, as they cover their home area much more thoroughly than say coyotes or bcats. Fox are right up there too in that mix. Between all of them, they can just about wipe out reproduction of ground nesting birds in an area.

I would have to say coon just because of the number of coon in my area. Coon have to hard on duck eggs. JMO

Unfortunately DU has taken a position that predator management does not improve duck production. I think their position is based on political correctness more than science. Delta Waterfowl says otherwise.

^^^
Which is why I changed who I support.

Walleye is correct...Delta is the way to go but I heard that they cut back on their research recently??
Wish they would be MORE VOCAL...advertise a bit more in outdoor mag.s like they when they first came out.

X 2

Ducks Unlimited is an anti-hunting & anti-trapping

pro-animal rights group just like HSUS & PETA.

w

Anti hunting?

I trapped for Delta Waterfowl for eight years, so I saw their numbers and saw it first hand. Red fox will clean every nest out of a section of grass. If there is a pair of fox in a section raising a litter, you will have a very poor hatch rate on it if any at all. They hunt their home range over and over covering it all daily. Badger are much harder on ground nests than most people think also. They cover more ground than most think too.
Most people have no idea how low the hatch rate for ground nesting birds is. It is almost always down in the 8-12% range. Here in good nesting areas, we will have over 100 pairs of nesting ducks per square mile. So 90 out of 100 nests are being taken. If we would raise the hatch rate ten percent or more they felt like we were successful trapping. I would guess that the main predator on ground nests, could very depending on the area and habitat. But I am sure red fox, are about as hard on nests as any of them in ND. During the nesting season, most predators will respond to eggs as well as anything. The larger the grass blocks, the higher the hatch rate will be on its own. Blocks with small grass areas seem to never do as well on their own. If you have blocks of grass a mile square or larger and several of them in an area, the ground nesting birds seem to do a lot better. A square mile of grass helps, but more then one compounds the help.
You can tell for the most part what got a nest by what you find. A coon will pick the eggs up and eat them from an end. A skunk comes in from the side and has a smaller hole in the shell than a coon. A badger eats eggs in the nest, shells and all and tares the nest bowl apart looking for more. A fox and coyote just take the eggs, the nest is often still 100%. Franklin Ground squirrels take one egg at a time and it is often laying in the area whole. They roll them out of the nest and don't get into a lot of them. Crows fly off with the eggs and often eat them on a mud flat. None of it is 100%, but holds true for the most part.
It was a interesting job. It was easy to see patterns with the number of traps you would have out at a time, once up and going full bore. I can not say I think killing a few predators helps increase the hatch. There is a lot of stuff hunting eggs this time of the year. You have to clean the area out pretty well, or all you are doing is changing who or what gets the nest. Its no different than beaver plugging a culvert. Taking one or two doesn't solve the problem, unless that's all there is. It may slow it down, but it won't stop the problem. To make any measurable difference, you had to get pretty aggressive with removal.

A very complete answer right there MJM, around here it has to be coon first.

Yes my friend up here did the same thing as MJM.He caught a pile of skunks when he trapped but was told to go after Mink and coon mainly-trying to save the nesting canvasbacks-even had a permit to shoot ravens-which he thoroughly enjoyed I might add LOL.He told me that in one square mile he caught well over 100 skunks-have no idea if it were true as he was a trapper after all LOL.

At this time Ducks Unlimited is doing studies on predators and duck nests. They are not doing and predator removal that I have heard of, but they are looking at predators and nest success.
Delta has gone to trapping all small grass blocks to try to show a higher increase hatch rate numbers. I am not sure if it makes more ducks, or just better sounding numbers. What makes more ducks an increase of 25% on 100 nests or a 15% increase on 300 nests? Delta said it was going to phase out a lot of the study, due to the expense and it being studied for so long. They said that for years too. After you see the same thing for 20-30 years, does it make sense to keep dumping money into it, or would you be better off to spend the money on what you feel increase the population?
I do not feel a bounty program would make a measurable difference in the hatch rate. You would just be change what got the nest on what day.

Well consider this me being deplorable but I think wildlife management decisions should be made based upon numbers put together like Mark J Monti and groups like the one he trapped for (boots on the ground and wildlife census takers).

Screw the anit's and their feelings or agendas.



I only got 3 words for simpletons like that
A
Mer
Ica!