Dates of Opener?

[FOOT]

If it follows like last year it will open Sept 25. From what I've heard the length of season and bag limit may be about the same. Problem is they set the regs so late you really can't plan.

[Seabass77]

Moose opener is 10/2. Do you think that the Waterfowl opener will be on the 2nd as well? They usually seem to match up.

[Curly]

Does anyone know when the date will be announced for the opener?

[Sartell Angler]

They said that they will be announcing it sometime in August....think I remember it being mid-month.

Can't wait to see what the framework is for this year...plan on hunting as much as possible.

S.A.

[Guest]

It BETTER be October 2nd.

Sept 25 is WAY too early, and if we only get 45 days, we'll be done Nov 8th!! That's when the hunting really gets good! And if it starts Oct 2nd, then the last day will be on a Sunday instead of a Monday.

Don't screw-up my late season mallard shoots boys!!

[big_fish_guy]

but Tom, if you are able to shoot mallards late into the season, there won't be as many for those southern fellas to hunt. Don't be greedy, there are plenty of ducks for everyone.
</sarcasim>

[Guest]

And if we open early, then the southern boys will have fewer teal and woodies to shoot...LOL

I'll take my mallards

[fishface5]

Give us 4 or 5 ducks, open the 25th of sept. Close DEC. 31! We won't affect the harvest one bit! The ducks are NOT here that long.

[Riverratpete]

Fishface, I agree, we could keep the season open till the end of the year, what shuts us down up here is nothing but good ole fashion winter and freeze up except for some selected areas that have open water, then you have to be able to have access. by then I'm pretty much back in my fishing mode and ready to do some ice fishing but MAN! I do love my duck hunting. 25th/2nd don't make no diffrence to me as long as I'm there and I get to make my 3-4 trips per season and some late season diver shooting up nort around freezeup.

[Borch]

Tom,

I thoght I heard somehwere that it was going to be a 60 day season. Maybe I'm just confusing with the longer pheasant season.

Didn't duck season used to stay open into early December? I know I've gone out after deer season a few years ago and I hunting in Zone 1 that closes the weekend before Thankgiving.

I love the late season as well and I hunt right up to deer season and beyond if there's open water and the season is still open. Love those big northern mallards and divers.

Borch

[Guest]

No one will know until after the flyway council meeting. They are talking about low hatch numbers, but last year they said the same thing early then after they recounted they found that it was just a late hatch. Hoping for the same thing this year.

Anyhow, yea, it did stay open later, but that was when it opened later too. If we do have a 45 day season, it would be nice if they opened it on the 25th, kept it open until the 10th, close it down, reopen on the 23rd and then close again on Nov 20. It's a Saturday, but then we'd have a day to put everything away for the year

[Flash]

I would love the season open til the end of the year. In December hunting geese, the Mallards are buzzing the decoys all morning long. Big Greenheads. Awsome site. Would be nice to nab a few.
Flash
"Set the hook"

[fishface5]

Ya know...? There are about 4 of us that would hunt untill Dec 31. The rest would be out "Christmasing", ice fishing or whatever. Come on, through us a bone!!!!!! My smoker is empty!

[fishface5]

I mean throw.

[Guest]

I say cut out Tues Wed and Thursday of most weeks and give us a long season that starts early and ends late if we go to shorten seasons. Even on a long season give the ducks some mid week time to rest but don't impact the time afield for those that work. I keep hearing from some people all this stuff that the days matter more on impact of population than the limit. I think that is **** ! Do all the other states in our flyway have a 4pm cut off time the first week? It is "hunting season" so let's hunt! I think it's time we start advocating for more opprotunity. How about some Swans and Sandhills, there is plenty of them from what I see and what a great opprotunity to raise a few more $ on license sales!

[dkhntr]

I had just read in the paper today (Sun). That they will be meeting this week. We will be finding out soon.

The only bad thing I see is where they get their numbers the duck count is down in ND and the prarie Pthole region in Canada. That COULD hurt us.

Meanwhile when you look at MNDNR HSOforum their count is the 3rd highest in the last 10 years. Numbers are up for our state. But it doesnt count like that.

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Lawn sprinklers save your grass...
Fire sprinklers save your A$$

[Curly]

I heard that the fish and wildlife services told the flyway councils to be liberal, that would make me think that the opener would be on the 25th, we'll find out soon.

[Guest]

The flyway council does not set our opener dates. They just set the time frame that the DNR can decide upon. The date they will give them will be the earliest it can start and the latest it can end. It's up to each states DNR to place the season within that range.

[jlm]

I will be happy with any date they set. I do not have a problem with season lengths however. I have a question for you guys, what would you think of having start dates and ending dates for southern and northern zones? It seems that when everything is done up north, the south is just getting fired up. A later start date is not well accepted by the northern folks, particularly if there is an early freeze. An early ending date does not sit well for the southern hunters because there potentially could be lots of good hunting to be had after the season closes (because things are not froze up yet). I realize this does not happen every year but it does happen often. There are some drawbacks to this but what do you guys think?

[Guest]

What do you propose? Are you saying we would have to designate which "zone" we'll be hunting in?

If the "zones" were open to anyone regardless, then you would have tons of hunters hunting the Northern zone on the Northern opener and tons of hunters hunting the South zone later in the season. Crowding would ensue, especially on the Northern opener, worse than what it is now.

Now if we could only hunt one zone or the other, this would be unfair to those of us who like to travel all over the state depening where the birds are.

Seems like there would be more problems there than it's worth.

[jlm]

Tom-
Ya, that crossed my mind. However, do you think it would be a lot different than it is now? After the opener, many hunters go north anyway. Later in the season after the freeze up, lots go south. I am not sure there would be much of an influx of hunters...a least not much more than now anyway. The one major problem I see is if the northern zone opened earlier...that would certainly create mass deployment to northern public land. I am just thinking out loud.

[WALLEYENUTZ]

that's how Michigan does it. I never had a problem with the north invading the south or vise versa. my .02 cents

[Sartell Angler]

what you are proposing is interesting, but overall is a bad idea. ultimately, overharvest would be the main reason why it would never get approved. there might be more overcrowding due to traveling hunters, but the main problem would be more birds harvested. I know Ducks Unlimited is an organization, but as far as waterfowl goes, we certainly don't have an unlimited supply.

S.A.