Season Dates?

[Red_Head]

Has anyone heard the dates on the Season? Or when they will set them?
I know I will probably get jumped on about being a weekend warrior, but I love the sport and go EVERY day I have off. Unfortunatly I have to work Mon.-Fri. and don't have the luxary of taking off a whole month to hunt ducks. So, If I am classified as a weekend warrior then so be it.
Here is a question for everyone.
If Mississippi gets a 30 day season shouldn't the whole damn country? In my opinion MS. is not the State that is mass murdering the ducks. If you ask me it is the States that have ducks in Nov. and still have them in Jan. and are still hunting them. Opening our season early hurts nothing. It wouldn't matter if we were given 100 days to hunt. If they open the season in damn july we don't have any ducks anyway. On the other hand if they opened the season in july in Michagan then they would murder the ducks. In the past two years Ms. has not killed the Ducks that they say we have. Last year the whole delta was under water and the ducks were spread out. And if I remember correctly there were not 5 limits of ducks talked about on this site. The season before was really Dry and not many people killed ALOT of ducks.
I just believe that the northern states are the ones killing the ducks and Ms. is getting the shorter season to make up for it. Someone that has to work Mon.-Fri. gets 8 days to hunt ducks. That is 4 weekends. I'll get the week after X-mas off and will get to hunt a little more. It would be fine with me if they went to 3 ducks but don't take away the 60 or 45 days. [img]images/smiles/icon_mad.gif[/img] [img]images/smiles/icon_mad.gif[/img]

[GulfCoast]

Webfoot would have the most information on this, or Scott Baker. I don't think the season will be announced until late July.

[GulfCoast]

A lot of things are up in the air now, but I look for 45 Days, 6 Ducks, 4 Mallards, One Hen Mallard....

The options for the Mississppi Flyway are:

Liberal: 60 days and 6 ducks with 4 mallards (2 hens)
Moderate: 45 and 6 ducks with 4 mallards (1 hen)
Restrictive: 30 and 3 ducks with 2 mallards (1 hen)
Very Restrictive: 20 and 3 ducks with 2 mallards (1 hen)

States (MS, TN, AL) with the extended
framework until Jan 31st wil NOT hunt until Jan 31st.
Under the Moderate Season, these states will close on the 3rd Sunday in January. (Jan 19th)

[damnyankee]

Unfortunately I agree w/ GC everyone I've talked to says that the moderate season is the worst that will most likely happen.
Many that are in the "know" or at least think they are are saying the season will remain as it did last season, I sure hope not but it is a real possibility.
MS gets the shorter because that's what MS wanted, go longer than everyone else with the hopes of getting the ducks at the right time.
I can tell you that no matter when or what state announces their season it's always wrong. People are always unhappy, either it's too early or too late(I'm usaully one). This is one of those years when states like MO,and S. IL hit the jackpot. But I can tell you of 20 other seasons when they missed the boat all together.
All you can hope for is a good hatch, good duck numbers, and a few hunts that give you a year full of memories until the next season.

[Double_R]

Talked to a pilot buddy that counts and he said the mallard numbers, most important in setting the AHM model to get the # days, looked like it was gonna straddle the fence between liberal (like last year) and moderate. He said areas in central Saskatchewan where he flies and bands had 50% of the water as last year and is drier than he's seen in ten years of counts. Said teh areas where we banded last year were bone dry. Said also that number of pintail counted in Alaska was down which isnt good news - Alaska usually produces 1/3 or more of the U.S. pintail during dry periods. Also said that there was some real serious talk earlier in the year about cancelling the Sept bluewing teal season but that the numbers support having it this year.

[damnyankee]

My idea years ago was to allow hunters to buy tags for the birds. The date you bought the tags was the date your number of days had started, with a "no earlier" start date and a "no latter than" end date.

To further expand on it you could buy tags for weekends only, week only or all days consecutive. It would obviously add more cost to hunting but it seems like it would be a good option for sportsmen who can only hunt weekends. It would also help people share the cost of blinds. One group could hunt early season w/ a slight overlap and another group could hunt late season.

The number of tags would be in direct corelation to the population numbers, just like the number of days the tags would be good for. The day you buy your duck stamp you sign AND date it, this in turn is your start date, no questions asked.

You could take it so far as you have to send in to the state and fill out the dates you want to hunt , then the state would issue a duck hunting liscense with the details.

Just a thought.......

[ June 20, 2002: Message edited by: damnyankee ]

[BrianB]

I can tell you this, the only reason we didn't get a moderate 45/6 season last year was becasue of the high pond counts. if they drop at all with the same number of birds, we will get teh moderate choice. But also remember, they are changing the way the estimate the mallard counts this year and it will produce a lower number. If they had used it last year, it would have been 45 days. so, 30 is still a possibility, but I'm thinking 45, and I can live with that. By the way, they are proposing starting the season sooner in the north to compensate for closing later in the south. That way we still might get until the last sunday in january.

[SB]

Frame work dates will not be issued to most likely August. All four Flyways will meet in the month of July to discuss waterfowl issues, including frame work dates. Once the USFWS sets those dates, the MDWFP will then set the duck hunting season dates.

An above post mentioned the States of MO and IL. Did you know that a hunter within those states that was willing to travel the state hunting could duck hunt a possible 86 days? The way they set up their zones, splits, and season dates allows this. Not bad huh?

[Doc & Nash]

I will be happy with 3/30 as long as they let the season last until the end of January. There are never any ducks until January anyway plus we can keep busy busting a few geese until then.

[Duck Nawteek]

I agree with Red Head also. We talked about it lastnight on the phone. How do yall think that if they do go to 30-3 how it will affect people like us who have to work during the week and have weekends to hunt paying to get into duck leases. We are talking about people paying say 1500 or more a membership and only getting 8 days to hunt. [img]images/smiles/icon_mad.gif[/img] Alot of people doesnt matter how much money they have will think twice about getting into leases that cost a little more and can't hunt them only 8 days. Let me say that I'm not upset about them lowering the limit just the days. I also hope they make a decision pretty soon because this is gonna determine whether people get into a lease or not. They don't need to wait till the last minute like they have in the past. If they do cut the back on the days I hope that it does'nt go past 45. Hell they can cutt the limit to 2 birds just don't take away the days. But if they go to 30-3 [img]images/smiles/icon_mad.gif[/img] I just soon they cut out the whole duck season for 2 years nation wide to get the population back to where it will be able to handle 60-6 or 60-3 [img]images/smiles/icon_mad.gif[/img] [img]images/smiles/icon_mad.gif[/img]

[Red_Head]

Everybody on the site has good points. I would rather be a everyday duck hunter but, unfortunately I can't. I guess if it goes to 3/30 then I'll hunt when I can and enjoy the creations of THE MAN.
In Wildfowl mag. (one of about 6 mags I get a month)(hunting mags) They have an artical on hunting the pothole region and in the artical it say's " Washington's waterfowl season is incredibly long, lasting from mid-october to late January. Evergreen state waterfowlers could bag seven birds daily, ALL of which could be mallards (only two hens).
Now that is a season!!!!
That is 3 1/2 months. That is longer than our deer season.
I believe that IF they give us a 3/30 season that it will hurt alot of leases. And probably boom the guide service, since it would be cheaper to go on a guided hunt than to lease a place for 30 days.
I guess all in all it really doesn't matter on the number of ducks we can kill.(3 would be fine) as long as we get enough time to enjoy the season.

[Cephous]

Unfortunately..that's the price we pay in MS. If we never hunted ducks again would suit all of those in the northern states. Wonder why that is?
[img]images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img]

[swampland]

I want the days. Two ducks would be OK.
I have a 4 year old daughter that is already
blowing on an old Mallardtone. She doesn't
sound as bad as some I've heard, but I got
a problem, she doesn't like hats and she
has a head full of the whitest hair you have
ever seen.

Hanna and I will take every day we can get!

How about: 12/1 thru 1/31.

[damnyankee]

I gotta ask and I'm sure this will ruffle some feathers ...hehehe... but why would the Northern States care as much about the MS season as theirs?

[Cephous]

They shouldn't and that's why we should