What is Ducks Unlimited?

Were you as "shocked," "disheartened," and "confused" when you realized that the Sierra Club does what it does to further the leftist agenda by crippling America's (and other countries') economy with more and more "environmental" regulations?

Wow! I don't see a problem or conflict. Most animals will over produce in their environment without natural predators which causes diseases, albinos, etc. DU allows for waterfowl to reproduce, but not over populate. Hunting is not a bad thing! Most hunters kill to feed themselves. They may enjoy hunting, but it's not wasteful or unnecessary.

For me, it's that they're not up front in their marketing strategies to the general public. They publish "to preserve wetlands" (which is true), but conveniently exclude "... so we can shoot them". When I tell people that, they are shocked (or disbelieve me) so I know the company's real "mission statement" is not getting through to the general public.

As an avid birdwatcher, I was very supportive of the work of Ducks Unlimited, until I found out that they create these wetlands areas to ensure that there are always sufficient numbers of ducks so they can go out and blow their little heads off. That is appalling.

When I first read this article about Ducks Unlimited, I have to admit I was a little shocked and disheartened to learn that they support killing the same animals they are preserving.

But after giving this more thought, I think Ducks Unlimited seems to be a good conservation organization, regardless on their stance and practice of hunting.

Hunting is legal, and is a popular sport, so I doubt it is going to go away anytime soon. Also, some people hunt these waterfowls for food, which is no different than eating any other kind of meat.

Maybe if I was a vegetarian I would see things differently. I mean I guess there is a more humane way to kill these animals (although humane and kill seem like such an oxymoron), but it seems like that process would be very long and difficult. I don’t agree with killing animals for no reason, but if it is for food, I understand.

I think all things considered, Ducks Unlimited is doing a great job conserving our wetlands and the plants and animals that need the wetlands to survive.

@JessicaLynn-- I agree that this organization seems to have hunting interests in mind with some of their activities. I also read about how the organization was formed and it was established by hunters! I'm not saying that these hunters don't care about the environment, I'm sure they do. But I also agree that they seem to be very worried about not having waterfowl to hunt in the future.

A lot of the Ducks Unlimited art, stamps, t-shirts and other products also feature a hunting dog on them. Not to mention that they have duck hunting tips on their official website! So I think that this is a non-profit organization that is as interested in hunting as they are in conservation.

We have part of a wetland on our property and my dad is cooperating with Ducks Unlimited to help conserve it. He says that he really likes how the organization started out.

I guess in the early 1940s in the U.S., there was drought in many regions and wetlands were at risk of drying out. So some volunteers came together to help conserve them. My dad really likes that the organization was formed by and is still run by people who care about the environment and who think about what's going to be left behind for future generations.

I've also been to several of their fundraising events with my dad and it was a lot of fun. I like the Ducks Unlimited t-shirts a lot too! I have one with a waterfowl picture on it.

@JessicaLynn - You're being pretty quick to judge this group, don't you think? Hunting is legal, so technically they're not really doing anything wrong. In my opinion, even if they are hunting the birds, it doesn't cancel out all the good work they're doing for the environment.

Preserving the wetlands helps more animals than just waterfowl, after all. It also helps people indirectly by preserving the natural ecosystem of an area. So I hope this group continues on in their mission!

This organization might be a non-profit, but I think this organization was created for a pretty selfish reason. It sounds like they basically want to preserve the wetlands so they'll always have birds to hunt! Depleted wetlands = depleted hunting opportunities. In my opinion, that is super lame.

If they really want to do something good for ducks and the wetlands, they should stop the barbaric practice of hunting for sport! In my opinion, they cancel out all the good things they do by killing a bunch of defenseless animals for their own amusement.

I was also a bit confused when I heard that Ducks Unlimited is pro-hunting. It didn't make sense to me why an organization would work to conserve wetlands and the animals which live there and then say that it's okay to hunt those animals. But after reading more about the organization and thinking about this issue, I feel that they're doing the right thing.

I think that we can't prevent hunting entirely. It's always going to remain a popular sport and I think that legally, hunting is allowed in almost all states as long as it's done in season and that animal is not endangered. So instead of ignoring it entirely or trying to eradicate it, which isn't going to happen, I'm glad that Ducks Unlimited works with waterfowl hunters to make sure that hunting doesn't endanger these wetland bird populations.