As of Sunday Nov 17,2019 Rhett's is not only bone dry but the ENTIRE hunting area has been burned and is black. No where to hide even with water on it. Butler Island is grown up and very poorly maintained. Just hoping some of you folks don't make a long drive. After seeing what I saw I wouldn't make an hour drive
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Rhett's update 11-17-19
- Thread starter roxiesdad
- Start date
This was posted by Georgia Ducks Unlimited on Facebook today......
"Some of our Committee spent the day surveying the progress of the improvements to the Altamaha WMA, especially Rhett’s island. Here’s a few highlights for our local hunters:
The good. The work on Rhett’s is substantially complete. DU and the DNR have replaced the 4 previously working water controls with 12 water control structures. The old water control was comprised of 36” pipes. The new water controls have 2 48” pipes that allow for a 300% increase in water flow across the 12 stations. The effect of this will be to allow flood/drainage on 1 tide cycle, and to allow for infinitely better management of the brackish impounds. The recapping of the dikes is also almost completed, but work on that will continue.
The DNR also explained the theory behind burning the ponds last week. This is best practices. The burning takes away the cover, leaving the seed/food for the birds to feed on. While it may not look appealing to hunters, the charred ground is a dinner bell for waterfowl.
The bad. Ponds 1-3 have not been flooded as of today. The contractors need the water level low to do final inspections and complete the rigging on the water control structures. They anticipate final inspections will occur later this week, but opening day prospects may not be great.
The pull-overs are also not back in.
All-in-all the progress is incredible out there. Their commitment to getting the job done right is well worth sacrificing a “good” opening weekend for a vastly improved habitat.
A plea to pass along- some folks have been pulling the water control gates to flood the ponds. While we are sure that whoever is doing that is probably a waterfowl biologist PhD, please leave the structures alone. And if you see someone messing with the structures please report it to the DNR immediately.
We received a ton more good and verified information, so if you have any questions please reach out. If we don’t have the answers, we can get them."
"Some of our Committee spent the day surveying the progress of the improvements to the Altamaha WMA, especially Rhett’s island. Here’s a few highlights for our local hunters:
The good. The work on Rhett’s is substantially complete. DU and the DNR have replaced the 4 previously working water controls with 12 water control structures. The old water control was comprised of 36” pipes. The new water controls have 2 48” pipes that allow for a 300% increase in water flow across the 12 stations. The effect of this will be to allow flood/drainage on 1 tide cycle, and to allow for infinitely better management of the brackish impounds. The recapping of the dikes is also almost completed, but work on that will continue.
The DNR also explained the theory behind burning the ponds last week. This is best practices. The burning takes away the cover, leaving the seed/food for the birds to feed on. While it may not look appealing to hunters, the charred ground is a dinner bell for waterfowl.
The bad. Ponds 1-3 have not been flooded as of today. The contractors need the water level low to do final inspections and complete the rigging on the water control structures. They anticipate final inspections will occur later this week, but opening day prospects may not be great.
The pull-overs are also not back in.
All-in-all the progress is incredible out there. Their commitment to getting the job done right is well worth sacrificing a “good” opening weekend for a vastly improved habitat.
A plea to pass along- some folks have been pulling the water control gates to flood the ponds. While we are sure that whoever is doing that is probably a waterfowl biologist PhD, please leave the structures alone. And if you see someone messing with the structures please report it to the DNR immediately.
We received a ton more good and verified information, so if you have any questions please reach out. If we don’t have the answers, we can get them."
Mexican Squealer
Senior Member
Glad they got a good burn....
