I can't believe it, the DNR actually did something!!!

[troutkingmaster]

Full story here: News Release

Main points:

Hunting north of Minnesota Highway 210 – the North Duck Zone – will be allowed continuously through Tuesday, Nov. 22. Hunters in the South Duck Zone – anywhere south of Highway 210 – will have a split season. Hunting will be allowed Sept. 24-25 to take advantage of early migrations then close for five days. The season in the south will resume on Saturday, Oct. 1, and continue through Sunday, Nov. 27, Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Legal shooting hours on Sept. 24 will be one-half hour before sunrise rather than the 9 a.m. start that has been in place for the past seven years. Shooting hours end at 4 p.m. daily statewide until Saturday, Oct. 8, when hunting will be allowed until sunset.

Hunters will be able to keep up to four mallards, two of which may be hens, and three wood ducks. The hen mallard and wood duck limits increased by one compared with recent years. Daily limits for pintail, scaup and redhead remain at two. Hunters may still take one canvasback and black duck. The possession limit is twice the daily bag limit.

[B. Amish]

the legislature had to change the rules on when the season could open before the dnr could do anything about it.

[cat-man]

thats b.s the north lost a week at the end. should have split the hole state.

[leech~~]

thats b.s the north lost a week at the end. should have split the hole state.

Cat, unless your hunting some rivers your probably breaking ice on most lakes up in the northern zone by then anyway!

[cat-man]

true but its the best week of the season..

[surewood]

I have mixed feelings. Be nice to get after them earlier up here, but a little concerned about hunters saturating my hunting areas the first week as many areas are a half hour from 210. I guess I'll have to wait and see. Time to adjust my vacation time a bit.

[Gordie]

well I too will be doing some adjusting and its about we get to take three woodies

[RumRiverRat]

So can we only hunt one zone?

Or hunt both?

[Scott M]

Wow, I'm speechless as well. I like it though, something different to try. No one is married to it going forward, Landwehr is a waterfowl guy so it could always be changed back.

[carpshooterdeluxe]

3 wood ducks and no 9 am opener...I'll be field hunting opening day for sure now.

[Heartman]

Split zone ok, but the Youth Waterfowl Day still shags the birds away anyway. and I have to agree the late-season waterfowling is the best of all - be it river or open water, nothing like freezing your butt off waiting for those northern birds to come in - for me it's what it's all about. Way, way better than slapping mosquitoes in mid-September heat.

But change is good. Let's see how it works.

[Muthagoose]

What no one gonna snivele about the ywd? Those guys and vegetarians make me laugh.

Why would it matter the early goose seasons rolling and the birds are getting pushed anyhow might as well let some kid have a good time.. ...

Sept 10th, I better carve some yellow duckies for the kids to use.

The early 24th and 1/2 hour before is prime.Ill have my decoys setting on the dock and my coffee cup in the holder. Its always been a bummer to watch the birds come though that week and now to gun a week early and a 1/2 hour before......................... ITS ON.

As for closeing north of 210, Im south chasing mallards and geese by then.

The best time last fall up here was in Oct when the 4 days of the record low presure came through.we ate 28 birds in 4 days and YES 2 were mergansers.

Can you say FAJITAS. for those wondering how anyone can eat them..

I marinate them in orange and apple juice with fresh ginger and garlic for 24 hours then grill to 160* let stand for 5+ minutes slice on the bias and

Hey Elwood we gonna hit it this fall? We can start up here?

As for the commish..

“I’m really looking forward to this waterfowl season, and I hope Minnesota’s duck hunters are, too,” said Landwehr. “Given favorable weather conditions, Minnesota hunters should see more birds in the sky and more in their bag. And if that happens – and the entire conservation community continues to work together on providing the food, cover, nesting and refuges areas that waterfowl need – it will be a good thing for hunters, waterfowl, and the businesses whose livelihoods are linked to hunting.”

Seems hes onboard.....

[Finlander]

About time this happens in Minnesota! I'm pumped!

[Gordie]

Ill have my decoys setting on the dock and my coffee cup in the holder.

Hey Elwood we gonna hit it this fall? We can start up here?

put an extra pot of coffee on and give me directions and I'm there

[Jaspernuts]

I love the changes! One weekend to pound early migrants and still have the late season hunting. Whats not to love?

[Heartman]

Last day in the Northern Zone will be Tuesday, November 22 by my count. Maybe we'll be all right after all - just need to get used to lots of pinfeathers I guess early in the year...

And on a related topic that has a number of different sides to it, the Youth Waterfowl Day - does anyone know if the state has any evidence of this event actually helping or increasing the number of under 16 waterfowl hunters? I mean, it's part of the hunting season and all, but I was under the impression it was intended to provide opportunity for younger hunters in an effort to bolster overall hunter numbers. Am I wrong? If I am I'll be the first to admit it - just sayin'...

[mulefarm]

Great news! Has anybody ever seen ducks that couldn't fly by Sept 1.

[B. Amish]

absolutely.

[strait-meat]

very happy about the changes. I have reservations already! I can't wait to go out ywd with my 2 boys and have the early opener so we can shoot some teals and the extra ducks we can shoot too. what is not to love?

[Roosterslayer05]

Not happy. The earlier opener and split zones are fine with me, but I dont like the increased bag for hen mallards and woodies. I also dont like the earlier shooting time on opener. Shooting more hen mallards that breed in the state isent good for our local mallard population and just because other states can shoot more woodies doesent mean we should. The breeding population of wood ducks in MN has declined the last 8-10 years. I also firmly believe the 9 am opener provides better hunting that sunday morning. I shoot plenty of ducks after 9 on opening day and do well on sunday a half hour before. I think the earlier shooting times on opener will decrease success on sunday. Making the regulations more friendly to shoot a few more birds doesent solve the problem. MN waterfowlers should be grumbling about more important issues than YWD and how many wood ducks you can shoot.

[theharvester]

shot young ringbills that could not fly yet in central mn on oct 7 thought it was a little buhch of cripples joined together looked at the wings when i picked a couple up and wow they were just pin feathers on the wings

[theharvester]

+1000 no need for two hens on mallard either they have enough pressure nesting

[jparrucci]

This is a step in the right direction. The DNR has stated for a number of years now that shooting an extra wood duck would have little effect on the breeding numbers. Chief DNR waterfowl exerpt Cordts also said the same thing this year regarding the extra hen mallard. It will not have MUCH of an impact. It is not serving the best interest to MN waterfowlers to produce these ducks, and let them fly south where they can be taken with more liberal limits down there. Unless the whole flyway agrees to the lower limits and it makes BIOLOGICAL sense, then it is moronic to limit the few MN waterfowlers still willing to hunt.

The 9 AM opener was not liked by the vast majority of us, so that one was a no-brainer. The extra ducks in the bag was the same way, especially the wood ducks. Spliting the state and the season was long overdue. We are a large state geographically.

As stated by other members here, habitat and climate still play a bigger part. Wet seasons means more water and ducks. Agriculture and farming still plays the biggest role in the current state of the MN duck population. Drain tiling has desimated most wetlands. They aren't coming back boys, so we will have to find ways to do more with less. While we still have much less water for ducks to breed, feed, and nest here, the bigger problem is the quality of those wetlands. Most of the WMA/WPA sloughs are too deep, overun with cattails, minnows and carp. Head up into ND or Canada, the sloughs there look different. There is good grass cover up to the waters edge, not cattails like here. There is freshwater shrimp and aquatic plants that duck prefer. The water is very shallow; last year I waded out and set dekes on just about every WMA I hunted in ND. Here in MN, I would have been sinking into the mud and over my head. Puddle ducks need very shallow water. Divers need food. Farm runoff ponds on our WMA's are a joke. The DNR next needs to start fixing our existing waters instead of aquiring what amounts to a sewage plant.

Nesting boxes for mallards and woodies should be right at the top of the list for the DNR, and for DU. While both have the waterfowler and ducks in mind, we are never going to achieve the amount of water the state and country once had, especially in this economy. Delta is the only one to really be pushing this. The success rates don't lie. Why isn't the DNR or DU mass producing these nesting boxes by the tens of thousands? They have proved to be the best thing for waterfowl right now, and neither of those parties is living up to what they have the ability to do. There should be numerous nesting boxes on every WMA/WPA in this state. I do see a few mallard platforms here and there out west, and the occasional wood duck house around the metro, but not nearly as many as should be out there. I believe that is the single best way to improve duck numbers now. We aren't getting back milliions of acres in farmland to turn it back into potholes, so lets start producing ducks on the ones we have. The platforms are not difficult to build, but the average joe can't mass produce them. But, if DU or the DNR was having these mass produced (for cheaper than I can do it) and having us sportmen putting them up, I bet we could drastically change duck numbers here, and nationwide.

Predator are still a big problem, especially with fur prices being so low. But I also thing we have to start looking at the massive goose population. Every year I see more and more geese. Ponds that used to have a couple of mallard families, now only have geese. This is something I think most of us waterfowlers are overlooking. I bet for every extra goose in this state, we have one less duck.

[johnsd16]

Well said jparrucci!!!!!

You guys that think an extra hen mallard in the bag will impact populations need to get a grip on what will actually effect the population. It only seems rational that every less hen we shoot in the ealy fall equals another brood next spring. I get that, but it has been proven time and time again that fall hunter harvest has very little impact on spring return.

Look at what happened when we started hammering Canadas in the early season. In theory, the population should have started dropping with the first season, obviously not the case. Same goes for snow geese, the pop should have started dropping with the advent of the CO season. Again, not the case.

Remember, how many guys go out and don't shoot any hen mallards even with one being allowed in the bag. Sure, very early more will get killed because of the 2 hen limit, but we're talking a few thousand ducks here. A drop in the bucket for a migratory species with a population in the millions.

Our habitat quantity is one problem, but IMO the quality is the bigger issue. Even driving around on the interstates in MN you see tons of little sloughs and pieces of shallow water. In March/April you see lots of ducks on most of these places, but come May/June very very few of them have broods of ducks. Go to ND or SD and most of those little puddles have a brood to several broods on them. Our wetlands just don't provide compreshensive habitat for waterfowl. The water/cover/food is just not what they need, with food being the biggest issue. The water in our puddles isn't the right composition/pH, whatever to support the invertibrates and plants ducks need.

Wood ducks, don't get me started. MN is the #1 woodie state in the country and it was a joke that we had the lowest limit. You could make it 5/day and not make a dent. If I'm not mistaken they are the #2 or #3 most numerous duck in the bag in MN with a limit of 2, when ducks like teal and ringers have a bag of 6. We have more woodies than we know what to do with, lets let our hunters in the woodie capital of the US kill 3.

[jparrucci]

As much as I liked the new seasons, if you look along the gulf coast (Mississippi for example) their teal season still starts 2 weeks ahead of our season (Sept 10th), and that is a thousand miles south of us. Most of the teal will still be gone by opener. We all should hopefully shoot some more at least, and I think it will really help us with woodies, as we are just opening up at about their peak migration in previous years.

It has seemed for years, that the MN DNR was doing everything it could to stop us from shooting ducks. People like my father are done with it, and even these changes aren't getting them back. For too many years, we have limited hunting opportunities, and spent way too much money on WMA's that have no ducks. If the DNR was so obsessed with buying up ever pothole it could get their hands on no matter the price, and instead started fixed the ones that at least had a chance, we wouldn't be in this position.