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Old 03-08-2015, 08:20 AM
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Oldtimr
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Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: south eastern PA
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There is a reason that the states closed their duck farms and no longer release wild ducks. Unless the hens and drakes are wild trapped the bloodline will not be true wild in many cases, they mix in the wild especially mallards. In addition when PA was still releasing ducks they almost always wound up where there were people, parks, neighborhoods with creeks flowing through them etc no matter where they were released because ducks imprint very quickly on the people who raise them and associate people with food and care, unfornately, the people rarely dissapoint the ducks so they do not disperse. If you are having wild ducks nest on your water, the odds are that is all the birds that area will hold for nesting, ducks are territorial and too many too close results in less than desirable outcomes. If you want to increase the number of birds, increase or enhance your wetlands and allow the increase to occur naturally. I see you are from PA. It is not legal to do what you are proposing. The law:

§ 137.2. Release of animals.
(a) Except as otherwise provided, it is unlawful to release captive held or captive raised game or wildlife on to any lands, public or private, without first securing a permit from the Commission. Lawfully acquired mallard ducks, ringneck pheasant, bobwhite quail and chukar partridge may be released for dog training or hunting purposes.

(b) It is unlawful to release any animal that is a member of the suidae family into the wild.

(c) A person violating this section is subject to the penalties provided in the act.

The permit refered to in sub section (a) is not a permit for what you want to do, it is a permit to have a regulated hunting ground where birds are released for hunting immediately and must be tagged after shooting before they may leave the place where killed. The other part where it spells out the birds that may be released for dog training or hunting only allows that to be done in season if they birds are going to be hunted and or killed and only withing the specific season for them and within the bag limits, except for chukar partirdge which is no longer considered a game bird and has no season.

Last edited by Oldtimr; 03-08-2015 at 08:36 AM.
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