AP and staff reports

NEW ORLEANS – Waterfowl hunting guide Mike Smith was moving through a routine honed by a lifetime hunting ducks: Motor out to his lease. Drop the client inside the blind. Set the plastic decoys in the water.

Then he began something new, added only this year: Attach the leads from a six-volt battery to a motorized duck on a 6-foot pole – and hope the darn thing works.

Smith sits back in his pirogue and slaps at the wings on the fake mallard. They begin rotating, picking up speed until they become a blur. Watching the contraption, Smith shakes his head and gives a low chuckle.

”Goofy-looking sucker,” he says. ”But, you know, sometimes it really works.

”So it’s become just one more new thing you gotta have.”

It has become more than that. Motorized decoys have become – and created – the latest rage in waterfowl hunting.

Miss-Lou hunters are not immune to the fad. &uot;We’ve got both kinds,&uot; said Adrian Sandel, the area chairman of the Natchez Ducks Unlimited chapter. &uot;Roto Duck and Mojo Duck, which has a kind of remote control.&uot;

Names like Robo Duck and Fatal DeDUCKtion have become part of the hunters’ lexicon and a topic of hot debate.

Many hunters say motorized decoys are the greatest new tool to come along for duck hunters since – well, regular decoys. But some hunters say the moving faux ducks are unethical, could pose a threat to the resource and are just plain bad for hunting. A panel of waterfowl biologists earlier this year recommended a moratorium on the sale of the motorized decoys until a full investigation of their impact.

”Me, I think it’s a lot of concern about nothin’ much,” said Smith, who runs the largest commercial hunting service in southern Louisiana. ”These things work great early in the season, but then the birds get used to them. By the middle of the season they’re much less effective.

”But people are talking about them.”

The first issue people talked about was impact. Some hunters using the motorized decoys claimed they seldom went home without their limit. Quick informal studies by the California Waterfowl Association seemed to confirm those claims. But the science used to establish game limits assumes most hunters will not come close to the daily limit – six ducks in the Mississippi Flyway, seven in the Pacific Flyway. In fact, the average hunter takes home fewer than three birds a day.

If motorized decoys went into widespread use and dramatically increased the national duck harvest past its current annual average of 15 million, would that force federal managers to issue more conservative regulations?

Sandel said he doesn’t think it will ever come to that.

&uot;They’re just like any attractant,&uot; he said. &uot;Some days they work better than others.&uot;

Natchez hunter Ken Janette agreed. &uot;They work better on certain days, in certain conditions,&uot; he said. &uot;If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, we turn it off and put it back in the box.&uot;

Nothing can guarantee that a hunter takes his or her full limit on any given hunt, Sandel said.

&uot;That’s why they call it hunting and not killing,&uot; he said. &uot;By no means can you just decide to buy one of these things and just go kill ducks. There’s location, their’s calling. It’s the pursuit of the ducks more than anything.&uot;

Another concern among some hunters is the rising cost. One of the drawbacks to using the decoys – which range in cost from $50 to $400 – is that it becomes so effective all hunters in a region are forced also to bait just to compete for birds. Will the growing use of motorized decoys force all hunters to rearm?

Not according to Sandel. &uot;I consider it a luxury item,&uot; he said. &uot;You can make duck hunting as expensive or not expensive as you want.&uot;

With the rising costs of hunting in general – especially for Mississippi hunters who purchase hunting licenses in Louisiana – the cost of a motorized decoy is the least of area hunters’ financial concerns, Janette said.

&uot;Basically, duck hunting is an expensive sport anyway,&uot; he said. &uot;It only drives the cost up if you think you’ve got to have one.&uot;