(from another venue)
You wouldn't think you could become millionaires selling duck calls and decoys, but that gives you an idea of how many hunters are out there. It would probably amaze you to find out how many duck hunters invest in all the stuff you need for duck hunting to get out maybe three or four times a year.
If you don't have ducks you don't have duck hunters or buyers for duck calls. During the 1930's ducks, which were already under pressure from over hunting, nearly disapeared due to the Dust Bowl drought. Enter the New Deal. One of the New Deal programs was soil conservation whcih was something that would ahve greatly eased the Dust Bowl drought's effects. The Soil Bank program saw farmers receiving payments to keep a certain acerage fallow. The side effect of the Soil Bank was to restore critical habitat for all plains critters, including ducks. The only people who disliked the Soil Bank was the BIG AG INTERESTS. You don't need farm machinery, seed, and fertilizer for fallow fields. They wanted the farmers to produce huge surpluses,which would be purchased by government funds, to keep buying the goodies to produce more surpluses. This is no exaggeration.
Enter Jerry Ford and inflation. A loaf of bread went from 25 cents to 45 cents. Ford declares we must farm fence row to fence row. John Deere and Pioneer Seeds rejoice. Out on the plains they start draining the wetlands protected by the Soil Bank. The population of small critters dives, including ducks. Duck Dynasty can use their calls for butt plugs. (it also killed pheasant populations which basically have never recovered in most of their range.)
Under Clinton the Soil Bank was reestablished but with a different name. The Duck population boomed. So many duck call manufacturers disapeared during the lean years, that the Duck boys were able to cash in. Bush came in and tried to shut down the Soil Bank. Ducks Unlimited, went to Bush telling him they'd pull their endorsement of the Republican Party if he closed the Soil Bank.
Now here is the moral of the story. I can assure you these Duck boys have no idea that the only reason they have ducks is because of left wing legislation. Clueless... In fact going back even further it was the Migratory Bird Act of 1918 that even made this issue moot.
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