liberal seasons - how or better yet, why?

[gator]

i'm ripping this from webfoot's site...

i'm sure this is gonna start a $hitstorm on here - and yes, i just love the fact that we're getting 60 days and 6 ducks (probably)...feel warm and fuzzy all over....

BUT, and i ain't no statistician, and I'M SURE i don't know as much as Delta, DU, USFWS, etc; but the numbers just don't add up to equal this decision making sense...

Breeding Population of Ducks Down 11 Percent from Last Year......from LAST YEAR! that right there worries me.......

gadwall numbers stood at 2.6 million, up two percent from 2003 and 56 percent over their long-term average; wigeon dropped to just under 2 million, a decline of 22 percent from last year and down 25 percent long term; green-winged teal were at 2.5 million, down eight percent from 2003 and up 33 percent long term; blue-winged teal slipped 26 percent to 4 million, down 10 percent from the LTA; northern shoveler was at 2.8 million, down 22 percent from 2003 and up 32 percent from long term; northern pintail dropped to 2.2 million, down 15 percent from last year and off 48 percent long-term; redhead dropped five percent from last year to 605,000, three percent below long-term; canvasback was up 11 percent to 617,000, 10 percent above the long-term average, and scaup rose two percent to 3.8 million, which is 27 percent below the LTA....

i feel quiet certain that this has been beaten to death, but these numbers coupled w/ the flyway decision concern me...what are we trying to "conserve", ducks and production, or state/federal funds?

looks like cans are coming back 'by this article'...i have to wonder if it came from all the great work these org. have done and all the research or if it came from pure ole common sense - restrictive seasons and bag limits on a species having trouble sustaining adequate numbers...

how bout this type of "number crunching"...if the PPR has good rainfall and pond counts are up, longer seasons and liberal bag limits...if not, more conservative limits and days...just makes sense to me...

oh yeah, BRING BACK THE POINT SYSTEM and SUNRISE/SUNSET HOURS!!! those might help too, considering they did in the past....gator

[Anatidae]

Well........By golly........nobody's gonna to force ME to hunt 60 days or kill 6 ducks if I don't want to!

'Gator' I'm like you.....I don't understand it either.......and the only reason I have to question 6/60 is the same reason everybody else down here does.........because we haven't seen any evidence (bird concentrations in our area) in the past 3 years, that would support even condsidering a liberal framework. But that's not reason enough (for me) to question the numbers or the regulatory process.

But here's the positive........there may be only a handful of days (this far down the Flyway) that are likely to have the kinda weather that puts birds on the move. Let's just pull a number out of the sofa and say that we have 20 days (out of 60) of the right kinda weather for ducks.......not duck hunting......but to put ducks on the move ('cause hunting the same ole ducks that've been here for the rest of the season ain't no fun, if you know what I mean). I'd rather be able to choose 20 days out of 60 (or 1/3), than be limited to 15 out of 45, or 10 out of 30. I'll take the 20 GOOD days, any season.

[RebelYelp]

i can agree with both previous comments, i still don't understand how they come to the #'s they get like you said, the past 3 years haven't been great, or even good most of the time, and now they're telling us it's ok to kill that same amount of ducks, it just doesnt' add up to my simple way of thinking. maybe the lands we've got in the ppr can be made more productive somehow......

[gator]

hey anat, i hear ya...and i feel the same way...

my concern lies in the fact that the 'liberal' framework is flyway wide...so every state in the miss flyway sets liberal season frameworks as allowed and the ducks are pounded for sixty days SOMEWHERE...not here, or so the last several seasons have shown, but somewhere...we're shooting and killing species which can not take the beating right now or so, THERE OWN NUMBERS SHOW...

we may not be hurting em, but somebody somewhere is...recent history it's been mizzou or even as far north as nebraska...

then i look at (and again, it's there numbers) there numbers, and cans showed an increase; coupled w/ the restricted seasons we've had - well, it just seems self-explanatory...

the damn wrench in the works is the pintail...there steadily declining....course they prefer short grass to nest, so they are a whole different vegetable to figure out...

my point is, why set a precident (given the numbers) and say LIBERAL is aight...why not go flyway-wide more conservative, and let that be that...man, all these topwater mofo's still gonna hunt...there here, so it can't/ain't that, I HOPE...gator

[Wildfowler]

Well........By golly........nobody's gonna to force ME to hunt 60 days or kill 6 ducks if I don't want to!

'Gator' I'm like you.....I don't understand it either.......and the only reason I have to question 6/60 is the same reason everybody else down here does.........because we haven't seen any evidence (bird concentrations in our area) in the past 3 years, that would support even condsidering a liberal framework. But that's not reason enough (for me) to question the numbers or the regulatory process.

But here's the positive........there may be only a handful of days (this far down the Flyway) that are likely to have the kinda weather that puts birds on the move. Let's just pull a number out of the sofa and say that we have 20 days (out of 60) of the right kinda weather for ducks.......not duck hunting......but to put ducks on the move ('cause hunting the same ole ducks that've been here for the rest of the season ain't no fun, if you know what I mean). I'd rather be able to choose 20 days out of 60 (or 1/3), than be limited to 15 out of 45, or 10 out of 30. I'll take the 20 GOOD days, any season.

EXACTAMUNDO!!!!!!

[Anatidae]

.........we're shooting and killing species which can not take the beating right now or so, THERE OWN NUMBERS SHOW...

Yeah, I know.......I wonder about that, too.

........and the ducks are pounded for sixty days SOMEWHERE...not here, or so the last several seasons have shown, but somewhere. We may not be hurting em, but somebody somewhere is...recent history it's been mizzou or even as far north as nebraska...

Yeah, I can't stand the thought of somebody else gettin all the action, either .......Somebody, somewhere is gonna be hammerin' the birds.......and we ALL wanna be 'that guy'......but if you'll remember not so long ago, the Northern states only had about two weeks they got to hunt waterfowl before the cold weather hit and locked everything up, solid. Remember when they were griping about us killin' all their birds? 'Long 'bout the time Trent Lott and the Mississippi 'Connection' got us the January 31st closing. Boy, we weren't real popular with the yanks back then.....a double WHAMMIE!

But for the past 3 years, we've been on the recieving end of NO BIRDS......so it's like everything else in waterfowling.....things run in cycles. We keep hoping the tide will turn in our favor. Keep your fingers crossed, that it'll be sooner than later. 'Gotta ride the bad years with the good.

.......and when things finally swing our way (and I agree with Benny that it won't be THIS year), all these lean years that we've been fussin' about will make us appreciate a good year when it comes along......however infrequently that might occur.

And I just had another thought.......what do you think the usage is going to be like when the birds finally get here?

[Money]

Lott for Pres in 2008 !

[Seymore]

Lott for Pres in 2008 !

Lott v. Bitchery Rodham Clinton. Now I might actually watch that debate.

[gator]

Yeah, I can't stand the thought of somebody else gettin all the action, either

dude, no where, NO WHERE was i ever complaining about how many I may or may not shoot...i ain't gonna say that "i don't care if i shoot any, it's all bout the sunrise" either...when i'm there, i'm there to kill ducks...i'll worry bout the sunrise in june...and, if they give me 60, then i'll hunt as many of that 60 as work will allow...

my point is, a deaf, illiterate, chinese speaking arab can look at those figures THAT THEY READILY PRINT and look at what the 'powers that be' are allowing and know that it don't add up...why give the option?

basically they're saying we're gonna do all this work, crunch all these numbers, spend all this money, THEN COME BACK TO YOU AND SHOW YOU IT DON'T MEAN SQUAT...oh yeah, then we're gonna complain about not having enough funding for the july counts...don't really seem like there doing what they're paid to do anyway; that being interpret data and make the best decision...or maybe they are, i dunno...gator

[gyver]

we're not killing that many ducks so it doesn't matter if we get 60. i'm glad it's open to us though. if you only have 10 good hunts in 60 days then how much damage can we be doing to the ducks. i want dec. and january because you might have them screwed up weather patterns like last year. 30 and killing ducks today , 60 deg. the next and nothing. 2 weeks later its back to normal.
60 and 4 only 1 susie. tuesday, thursday sat. and sunday. 4 days hunting, 3 days resting. they could open season in november and run thru jan. 31.

ban the twirlies and stop hunting at noon. limit the wma's to 1 box of shells per person to stop them damn skyblasters from crippling the ducks.
tighting down on the bass turds that brag about double & triple hauling ducks out on good mornings.

[hwy61DuckCamp]

Limit the season and bag in Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Missouri etc...thats as far south as the birds seem to be flying these days !

and convince the southern boys to quit tellin stories on their HIP reports...I think some folks think its funny or makes you a bigger man to say you shot 100 ducks on the HIP when you only shot 3 !!

I get a kick out of asking some guy in passing..Hey man how was your season last year...And the reply comes back..."Better than every...WE shot 432 birds last year out of one pit...." Cmon....did the guy keep a computer log ? did he count every bird every person shot when he wasnt there or what ?? Most business people need an accountant to tell em whether they made alot of money at the end of the year....Some duck hunters seem to know to a mathematical certainty the precise # of birds they shot....I have a general idea...I can remember the really good days..the really bad days.....and sort of a general feel for the year....but is it just me, or do some folks spend too much time worrying about EXACTLY HOW MANY BIRDS they supposedly shoot so they can brag at church or wherever ??

There is so much more to it than numbers guys....Have fun...enjoy yourself....spend time with your friends and family...have a cold drink if you care to...cook a good steak....sit by the fire....Have fun..thats what its about !!

[H20 Fowl]

There is so much more to it than numbers guys....Have fun...enjoy yourself....spend time with your friends and family...have a cold drink if you care to...cook a good steak....sit by the fire....Have fun..thats what its about !!

Amen Brother

[gator]

OK, let me try again...

I'm not complaining about 60 days and 6 ducks - if we get that great...you'll never come across anyone that will be happier that we got that if we do...

i'm also not concerned (in this post anyway) about how many ducks mississippi has killed vs. other states...that's gonna come out in the wash eventually just like everything else...

i'm just wondering (and i don't think anyone can give an answer), but how does a group that has done all this work, spent all this money, etc look at that data that they printed and say liberal framework is just fine...

these folks are smart and they spend all year worrying about one thing: ducks...so, i must be missing something and it must not be so black and white...gator

[tunica]

I thought I was supposed to count My ducks. As far as what the Fed's say or do or set the schedule I aint going to argue or analize. I've tried for 40 years to figure out what the goverment is going to do or why the heck they did so an so....I've lost most of My hair trying to make sense out of it all. I'm just going to be that dumb booty Redneck and be a good ole Boy and figure they are looking out for ME. Hunt the days I can cuss them Yankee's and every other potbellied Single Snag DNA reject that shoots at MY ducks cranks the motor when I have ducks and all those stupid idiot's that think MY public space is open to them,,,,,


This year I am going to practice turn the other cheek christian teaching an let anyone that sets up within eye color range have all MY dekes My blind and MY Model 90. So guys if you need extra hunting stuff just come see Me when I am setup it can be all yours.


I'll not give away MY gator or beaver suit to anyone....