Duck Season Dates

[RNAIL]

Duck, merganser, and coot seasons will be November 25 - November 27, 2016; December 2 - December 4, 2016; and December 7, 2016 - January 29, 2017. The duck daily bag limit will be a total of six ducks, including no more than four mallards (no more than two of which may be females), three wood ducks, three scaup, two redheads, two pintails, two canvasbacks, 1 mottled duck, and 1 black duck. The merganser daily bag limit will be a total of five mergansers, only two of which may be hooded mergansers. Coots will have a 15 bird daily bag limit. The possession limit is three times the daily bag limit for ducks, mergansers, and coots. The youth waterfowl hunting days will be November 19, 2016 and February 4, 2017.

[Wildfowler]

Thanks for posing this

[booger]

I am humbled by your duck mojo. Thanks

The look on my bosses face when I give him my vacation dates this early, priceless.

[teul2]

How have they picked dates this early? I didn't think this got done until June or so?

[Greenhead22]

It's usually closer to August it seems like. I'm kind of stunned myself.

[bigwater]

I read somewhere about the change in how dates are set. If I understand correctly.. They now go off the preceding years numbers. Not sure if that means breeding pairs or what.. But by using that number they can enact season bag limits and dates earlier in the year..

In the past I was always looking for the May pond count numbers . Guess those don't matter now??

[bigwater]

“This new selection process uses the previous year’s breeding population and breeding habitat data to provide frameworks for hunting seasons,” said Houston Havens, the waterfowl program coordinator for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. “This allows states to select migratory bird seasons when other hunting seasons are set, and to publish those seasons earlier in the year. Waterfowl breeding populations in 2015 were high, which will again result in a liberal season framework of 60 days with a six-duck daily bag limit.”