sportsman450 wrote:Yes I was in support of the extension, but in hindsight, I think it was a mistake. More for what was given on the front end up north than for the late season here.
Does anyone else hear greed resonating from this statement?.... I was for the extension when I thought it would only benefit us. Now that I know the yanks got the better end of the deal, I'm not for it anymore.
The fact of the matter is that you perceive "the situation" as being to much hunting pressure. And you think the cure to that situation will be lowering the days to thin out the crowds. That's just as greedy as my wanting to go for 60 days when biologists are telling me I can. Here's why I think it won't work.
What do you think the regs might be like in your beloved National Wildlife Refuge during a 30 day duck season. Do you think they will re-structure the deer season do as not to inadvertently cut out any additional days from an already abbreviated duck season? I doubt it. During a 30 season, you're not even going to get to hunt 30 days in that place. How would you like the opening weekend of state duck season to be closed due to a deer hunt in your favorite spot.
You're already being cut short for wanting to hunt there due to the deer regulations. Currently by your own admission, the hunting pressure is too heavy for your preference. Just imaging how much worse it's going to be if you get restricted to just 15 or 20 days of being able to hunt in there?
Look, the only duck hunters who will quit hunting during the 30 season are the ones who just can't kill any ducks because of their inability or because of their reluctance to try something different, or possibly leave their familiar surrounding and look for another area to hunt. When it is no longer FUN for people to duck hunt, that's when they'll quit. The majority of the folks who duck hunt now, will still continue to hunt even during the shorter season because it's still going to be fun for them. A shorter season will actually give many folks more days to feel like they can deer hunt or do something else without feeling like they are missing anything fun in the duck blind. During a short season, those who rely on public land are still going to "cram" themselves into the same spots they do now because of less total number of days to do it because they are obviously having fun doing it now.
Really, the only way you're going to loose the hunting pressure is if the duck populations drop so low, that people REALLY aren't killing ducks anymore. To self-imposed such a restricted season when it's not necessary is not going to cause people to loose the ability to kill their ducks. It's just going to give them less days of which to do it. What you're asking for doesn't even make sense because it won't thin out the crowds.
Listen to what I'm saying. If folks are continuing to hunt under the conditions that you and your buddies are complaining about now, it's because the are really having FUN doing it. No one is so sadistic that they will continue to punish themselves by doing something over and over again when they really don't like doing it. No, these folks will continue to hunt even if given only 30 days. Honestly, nothing will have changed from this year to next year if we merely self-impose a 30 season upon ourselves for no reason other than to try to thin out the crowds. Except, we'll only have 30 days to do the same thing we've been doing. Just because you're not seeing them in your old familiar spot, doesn't mean they're not somewhere else.
Hey, you want to thin the crowds out, just start advocating that we do away with ATV's on public land. That would thin out a lot of folks.
driven every kind of rig that's ever been made, driven the backroads so I wouldn't get weighed. - Lowell George
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