4 bird limit poll

[Mark Christianson]

Look at it this way HD.

You'll have your limits quicker this year, and you can spend more time taking pics and posting for us to see.

[hobbydog]

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Look at it this way HD.

You'll have your limits quicker this year, and you can spend more time taking pics and posting for us to see.

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That is the plan. I will shoot plenty of sunrise pics too for all those that go out just for the sunrise.

[Nova]

Hobbydog, I respectfully disagree. Where I hunt there is more prime habitat that you can shake a stick at, but there are not more ducks. I hunt every single weekend of the season and do once in a while get "my limit", but it isn't that important to me to fill out every time. There are a number of times I could fill out, but I would rather watch my sons or a "green horn" that is with me shoot. If we don't fill out big deal. Maybe I am in the minority here, but I am not sure it's all habitat. I know that if I really worked at it I could fill out most of the time and that would reduce duck populations no matter what biologist say. I do my very best to shoot drakes and only drakes but not everyone does and dead hens have a hard time raising a brood. I guess my point is if we shoot less ducks it can't hurt. I know it won't bother me.

[riverbasher]

Limit really doesn't affect me. I just enjoy getting out. I do agree that more and more habitat is getting destroyed every year. The DNR needs to really look at the root of the problem before taking the easy road out and blaming the lack of population on limits.

As for hunting or fishing....about the same

[hobbydog]

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Hobbydog, I respectfully disagree. Where I hunt there is more prime habitat that you can shake a stick at, but there are not more ducks.

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Hard to comment on that unless I knew the general area you hunt, however on the micro level that are some good habitats however habitat on the macro scale is is serious trouble...no....repeat NO biologist will disagree with this fact. Also what looks like a good habitat on the surface may not be so good in the eyes of a duck.

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I hunt every single weekend of the season and do once in a while get "my limit", but it isn't that important to me to fill out every time. There are a number of times I could fill out, but I would rather watch my sons or a "green horn" that is with me shoot.

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But some of us take hard earned vaction to pursue ducks and weekdays are much more productive. I take young hunters also and it is fun for me to watch and teach but that has nothing to do with what the bag limit should be.

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If we don't fill out big deal. Maybe I am in the minority here, but I am not sure it's all habitat. I know that if I really worked at it I could fill out most of the time and that would reduce duck populations no matter what biologist say. I do my very best to shoot drakes and only drakes but not everyone does and dead hens have a hard time raising a brood. I guess my point is if we shoot less ducks it can't hurt. I know it won't bother me.

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There are a lot of things you could say...."It can't hurt". Double the price of a duck stamp...it can't hurt. Close it down at noon the first 3 weeks...it can't hurt. I think what everyone in the "6 duck camp" are saying is that use scientific methods to set the season. If you want to reduce the harvest in Minnesota there are many ways to do it....the bag limit is a poor way to acheive that goal. My main point of contention is that if you are going to reduce the harvest then spread it out across the entire hunting base by using some of the alternative methods.

Heck here is another thought. Have a 2 tiered system, those who buy a regular state date stamp go with the state imposed restrictions and those that buy an enhanced stamp could go with the Federal framework. Price the enhanced stamp at say $50 to $100. It would be interesting to see how many buy the enhanced version. It would also be intersting at how many would buy the enhanced version even thought they rarely shoot over 4 ducks.

[Nova]

I understand what you're saying, but how can it be wrong to lower the limit if the ducks populations are low. Sure there are other alternatives, but let's try this one and improve on it as we go. I just don't know what a person would do with more than 8 ducks(possesion limit). you would have to eat them every night. I am not saying this is an all cure by any means, but it is a start.

As far as the stamp and enhanced stamp, maybe not a bad idea, but I would like to see how much of that money actually went to the ducks and how much went to added admin costs. Any time you get more fees they seem to eat more of it than goes to the ducks.

Not looking for an argument here, but seeing the decline in the ducks the last few years I am glad they are at least taking a step.

[mwktrapper]

HD, nice post. I can tell you have put some thought into this instead of the "4 duck limit?! Heck, I can actually shoot a limit this year!" I don't want to offend anyone, but if that's your reason for agreeing with the new limit, you're in it for the wrong reasons.

What you all need to realize is that the duck populations are not low...they are just LOWER than they have been in the past several years. If you look at the populations in the long run we are still pretty high.

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I just don't know what a person would do with more than 8 ducks(possesion limit).

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I do eat them every night...and I will. I grind 'em up and eat 'em for breakfast, lunch, and supper. If you add the right spices and do enough variety...you can use duck just like beef. If the Lord gave me the time and the money, I would shoot a limit a day and eat a limit a day, for 60 days straight. You can call me a meat hog or whatever. But I figure that if they're going to give me 60 days to hunt, I'm going to use them.

I don't think people understand the reasoning behind this new 4 bird limit. It will not change the bird population. This forum is a prime example. Nearly every post stated that they never shoot a limit anyways. The harvest at the end of this season will be pretty darn near past years...watch and see. It was done to please those who keep stating that there are no birds in MN. Hobbydog has done his homework and I applaud him for that.

As for birds in the area, I have been out scouting for the past several weeks and have seen more birds in the area than we have in the past several years. Mallards, teal, geese, and woodies are very abundant everywhere.

[big drift]

I think I have made my position on this fairly clear.

60/4 No way unless it is recommended by USFWS. Biologist over bureaucrats just my opinion.

And yes there are more birds then last year, geese are all over cut grain fields. And every ditch and small pond was covered with ducks. This was from Bemidji to DL then back up through Mahnomen.

And yes I spend more time and money for waterfowling then fishing.

big drift

[Wild Thing]

Interstsing post, folks. But the problem isn't how many ducks we shoot. It's our lifestyles. It's development at any cost. It's too many roads and people. It's cabins on lakes we used to call swamps. It's continued loss of wetlands. It's politicians who pretend to support ducks at rallies and then vote to cut wetlands protections. And politicians who pose with guns in their hands and then dismantle clean water laws. It's stupid farm policy that doesn't leave marginal land in grass and still is tileing fields! It's an anti-government and anti-tax attitude that prevents enough money going into federal land acquisition programs. (The federal government is the only one that can solve the problem, even DU admits that.)

While we may have a lot of geese around because they can adapt to urban development (like deer and turkeys) the days of wild ducks are doomed. There aren't enough wild places left for them to summer or winter, or to rest and feed in between. It's over, our grandchildren won't have huntable populations of ducks -- unless there is a sea change in land management across the continent, including canada.

Personally, I do shoot six ducks in a day fairly often. I eat every duck. (anyone who doesn't like duck hasn't had mine!) I have two dogs to help. I'm glad I do most of my hunting in Ontario, which is still six ducks a day. It's not the number, it's the time out there and the retrieves and the decoying. Calling in five drakes or flagging in six bluebills is more fun than 2 or 3. I'm not a game hog, I'm just being honest.

So, sorry, feel good about reducing the limit by 2, but it won't put more ducks on the pond. It's not a bad rule, it just doesn't do anything to truly help the problem, and it gives the wrong impression to people who don't truly understand the issue that something is being done. When, in reality, all key factors are going the wrong way.

And that's the truth. Pthhhhhhhhhttttttttttttttttt.