We need input from you, the readers, on this issue. Manatee County taxpayers paid for the 29,000 acres of land called Duette Park to protect the county’s watershed from phosphate mining. Initially, a committee of outdoor enthusiasts was appointed to an advisory board by the county commission.
At that time this part of the state was called the “black hole” by wildlife managers. Unlike most of Florida, there was no public hunting land nearby, and Duette promised a prime opportunity for local taxpayers.
It’s pretty rough country and too far out for a hiking park. There are nicer, ample campgrounds closer than Duette. But the hunting has been very good. County hunters thought that, at long last, the black hole was ending.
The county commission favored this program and deferred to the committee to recommend methodology. The state would have gladly taken Duette to add to its retinue of public wildlife management areas.
But that committee didn’t want to hand it to the state. County taxpayers paid for it, and they wanted to have a say in how it was managed.
At that time a large part of the management of Duette was committed to the forestry service. They began actively planting pine forests — poor habitat for wildlife. The original committee had envisioned the planting of food plots or, at the very least, food-bearing native trees like scrub oaks.
It didn’t happen that way.
Somewhere around this time the Manatee County Department of Natural Resources gained control of the area. Somebody, somewhere, decided the Duette woodlands should be managed (altered is a better word) to resemble pine and palmetto flatwoods. The marvelous abundance of scrub oaks there, one of the largest in the state, was given short shrift.
Somewhere the idea developed that Duette hunts should be extremely limited and managed for trophy deer. It’s my opinion that this policy is not the prevalent thinking of county taxpayers. Duette can stand more hunting pressure. It’s much bigger than many public Wildlife Management Areas that allow more hunts.
There are three bow hunts at Duette and two muzzleloading gun hunts. Only two hunts are allowed with modern weapons, and the hunts require a legal buck to have four points, far stricter than the state requirement.
But Florida’s most popular game animal, the mourning dove, is off limits to shooters despite generous state laws.
The DNR has done a good job with their goals. They even control does by issuing doe permits; though most public areas have antlerless deer seasons.
But I question whether county hunters really want trophy bucks and a very limited time to hunt them. I believe they would rather see more hunts, perhaps with less hunters, and the chance to bring home venison for the table; with trophy or spike buck left to luck.
I also believe they should put in a field and legal food plot for doves. The state does this at several management areas adjacent to the check-in station. Consequently, you can’t even hear dove shooters while trying to bag a deer.
I think a small dove field of about 40 acres would be recouped by the cost charged to hunters vying to shoot this popular bird.
There is a value in introducing children to the outdoors. The dove shoot is the perfect way to do that.
Such youngsters are thrilled to retrieve downed doves. Many a child too young to shoot still remembers the crude bow and arrow they constructed at a dove shoot and the pride they felt while eating birds they helped acquire.
I think those are better uses for Duette Park than the current program. During this election season, I’d like to know what readers think.
G.B. Knowles, outdoors writer, can be reached at 730-3234 or gb_knowles@yahoo.com. To have your voice heard on this issue, you can contact G.B. Knowles, leave a comment on this story at Bradenton.com/outdoors or write a Letter to the Editor at P.O. Box 921, Bradenton, FL 34206.
Email Story
Printer Friendly 
Quick Job Search
@Nyx.replyAnswerText@