Are we shooting too many ducks?

[Outdoors Junkie]

Here is an article that you may or may not agree with.  It really gets you thinking.  Read through the article and post your thoughts afterwards.

The article is titled "A More Conservative Approach to Duck Hunting".

Click the link below to view this aricle:

http://www.michaelfurtman.com/pdf/Conservative%20Duck.pdf

[dj]

The youth waterfowl hunt should be done away with.  I don't see any positives that come from it.  The kids can learn during the season.  The early hunt just gives pop an early start on the season. 

[Grute Man]

I didn't think the adults could shoot on that day.  Im not a duck hunter per say so I don't really know the regs but in lots of yough deer hunts, the adults can't even carry a weapon.

If its to promote the sport to more kids, Im all for it.  We need more kids in hunting and fishing these days. 

[ChrisWallace]

I dont see a problem with the youth opener, I participated in it twice. Both times my dad never brought a gun, the one morning i went through two boxes trying to hit the teal.

If a father is bringing out his shotgun on his kids DAY thats pretty lame and second hes not really teaching his kid much about ethics either. But if he knows he poaching, chances are hes doing it anyway so why do away with the day. Poachers will always poach.

I think that the higher limit we could have lived without. Let the birds hopefully flourish one more year, but then again the indians season already started and they are allowed 40....

50% of MN duck hunters are done after the first two weeks, its the same for fishing, 10% of the people are the real "killers" consistently.

[The General]

I know in our area their isn't enough ducks to shoot.  Instead of calling it duck hunting it should be called teal hunting.  I don't even see another duck in the area. 

[dj]

General, with this weather and the youth season you won't see any teal around on opening.  The kids day pretty much sends them off anyway. 

You watch now, it'll be 90 degrees opening.  We got snow just up the road this morning. 

[h2ofwlr]

Let me guess, these are the same idiots that pushed so we had a 4 duck per day limit for the last 2 years?  What a bunch of complete asses.   here is the difference in total munber of ducks between 4 per day and 6 per day: "The difference in harvest when going from 6 to 4 ducks or vice versa is pretty minimal," Cordt’s said. "It would be hard to measure the difference."  it is was so low.  Cordts is chief waterfowl biologist for the DNR.   The average hunter kills 1.3 ducks a day.  So goin to 4 did absolutely nothing for ducks numbers.  Nothing but a feel good measure so they could say they did something,  kind of like peeing in your pants for a warm fuzzy feeling for a few minutes, then the stark cold stinky reality of it sets in and you have to endure the decision.  puke.gif

Instead they cast a blind eye of the 90%+ drained wetlands and lost grasslands of southern and western MN.  The continued 19,000 miles of drian tile installed 4 years ago alone that year.  The unstopped destruction of existing wetlands, epecially type I & II.  And the continued farm chemical run off into the tiles, ditches and go into the streams, rivers, potholes, sloughs and lakes of MN.  Of the unchecked predators on the existing grassalands and wetlands.  These are the REAL issues facing the ducks in MN, not decreasing the daily bag limit.  Like I said, they are idiots for their stance.

[styles038]

I myself don't know to much about the biology or make-up of the surveys and numbers of waterfowl compared to existitng and deminished wetlands in the area.  I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with the limits set this year either.  What i do know is that a buddy of mine and i scouted for 4 hours this morning and saw more ducks than we could ever dream about.  All i will say is this was at a area near the metro.  I agree that alot of the teal have moved on.  But the mallards, wood ducks, red heads, bluebill, geese, and several other species are very abundant RIGHT NOW, RIGHT HERE!  I have seen my fair share of ducks but it is NO exageration when i say there were thousands, yes thousands of ducks!  I didn't think i would see much of anything being as nice as it was out this morning but i was proven very wrong.  Think what you may, but i am certian of what i seen with my eyes.  Hopefully this instills some moral back into the people who think otherwise.

[Mayfly]

What i do know is that a buddy of mine and i scouted for 4 hours this morning and saw more ducks than we could ever dream about.  All i will say is this was at a area near the metro.  I agree that alot of the teal have moved on.  But the mallards, wood ducks, red heads, bluebill, geese, and several other species are very abundant RIGHT NOW, RIGHT HERE!  I have seen my fair share of ducks but it is NO exageration when i say there were thousands, yes thousands of ducks!  I didn't think i would see much of anything being as nice as it was out this morning but i was proven very wrong.  Think what you may, but i am certian of what i seen with my eyes.  Hopefully this instills some moral back into the people who think otherwise.

Thats funny you mention this!!!  I worked an overnight detail in Annandale last night and I drove home down 55 to 25? in Buffalo and then up to 94 East and back to the cities. When that sun came up all I saw were ducks flying in the sky. They were everywhere, big groups, small groups, single ducks, everything. I am not a duck hunter and I don't know much about numbers and whatever else but I do know that I have never seen so many ducks flying around. So its funy that you made this post becasue I was originally going to mention something myself. I'm hoping that this is good news for you waterfowl guys out there!

[Roosterslayer]

I agree, since i can hunt near water for early goose where i duck hunt last weekend we saw a ton of ducks. Infact i seen more flocks of mallards then i have seen in some time and the flocks were 20+ and we also saw the mixed bag of woodies, teal, shovelers, and some gadwalls. I cant wait for Saturday morning to roll around i almost cant sleep as it is. now for the bag limits. I hope i dont tick off to many people but if they lower the bag limits for two years what good does that do. My dad remembers shooting three ducks a day and having plenty more to come back to. I actually would't mind seeing the limits dropped to three ducks a day with two mallards and an other, plus three geese a day. I think that if the limits are going to be dropped to improve the duck populations it needs to be that way for awhile and not just two years in order to see a real difference.

[mnscout]

I don't feel that minnesota at the top side of the flyway should lower our numbers.
the over kill appears to me to happen down south with thier liberal seasons and bag limits.   I always see big numbers of ducks early, but after opener the locles are out o here.  the fly ways  have shifted to the dakotas. 

[dj]

I'm with you scout.  6 limit is just fine.  The southern states is where they should give it some thought.  A 3 bag limit here would lose so many hunters, some for good.  And there'd be alot of over limits taken by those that do hunt. 

I've gone 2, 3 days in a row without getting a shot.  I'm not going to quit at 3 when I finally do get some shooting.  Heck, that's only a couple of shells.

[Roosterslayer]

So maybe someone here can tell me hoe being greedy and having to kill a full limit everyday is helping the population here. People say the southern states are taking too many ducks, but i will quit hunting if the bag limit is lowered. Well guess what the sourthern state dont have population problems and thats why they can shoot more ducks. So what are we as minnesota hunters going to do? Keep complaining and blame the problem on other states?? I dont know personally. I love the way duck tastes but i dont see the need to have that many ducks sitting in the freezer either. Now dont get me wrong when that good flight starts up later in the fall i have the hardest time stopping until i get my limit, but latey getting my limit here in MN just doesn't happen like it used to.

[dj]

I doubt there's one hunter in the state that shoots a limit everyday.  Most don't limit once in a season.  At least not with a 6 bag.  3 can come easy with just one group. 

So far, the increase in cans hasn't done me a bit of good.  I've only seen 2 groups of cans all season, and they were way up and headed somewhere.  Hopefully, that will change tommorrow.