Will they ever consider....

[brdhunter]

Will anyone (the dnr/everyday hunters) ever consider a duck season that starts in mid Oct and goes through mid Dec? At least the last 5 years has resulted in a miss of the major migration. The huge flocks of mallards and geese have moved through much later in recent years. The southern states claim us Northern hunters are shooting all the ducks? My answer is.... I have seen mallards stay in Minnesota all year long. The ducks (mallards) are probably not making the flight all the way to southern states. Should a later season be a serious consideration?

Late goose hunts have been some of the most amazing mallard shows!

[fishgutz77]

I would love to see split season that went from sept 21 to oct 4 and then Oct 17 to dec 1 or so in a 60 day season and get rid of that lousy lull that happens every year until the big water in canada freezes up. that way we could still enjoy teal and woodys and then look forward to the late mallard and diver season,.

[brdhunter]

Doesn't Wisc. do something like that? Or is that for deer season?

I would rather see it split from early Oct/late Sept, hunt for 2 weeks. Then leave the rest for Nov. and Dec.

[dan z]

most of the time the lakes start to lock up before then ne how so why havr the season later. I would like to see and early season teal, this year they all left aboout then. we hunted a local lake and it was loaded with BWT and come middle of the early goose they all left, could have been the youth day hunt pressure but who knows. last year we broke some big ice and then it openned for the last couple days and the very last day the lake froze solid as I left. I ice fished two days later on the same lake

[jigginjim]

I'm for canceling the youth hunt. I have heard of guys showing the kids how to hunt. Not the kids only shooting.

[slabchaser]

why not split the season and have the youth hunt on one of the closed weekends. iowa has a weird season in which they open for two days I think for ducks only. closed until the next saturday then open for geese only. then I think they wait another week or so and open up for both. not saying thats what I want but its nice to see that other states do things differently

[hhguide]

I think we need to get rid of all these early seasons and youth seasons. dont get me wrong i'm all for taking out the youth but it gets the ducks and geese so jumpy that they leave. As for later season if its cold enough by the end of duck hunting most lakes are frozen over anyways so i'm ok with it right how. I would always like a longer one though. haha

[riverrat56]

Leave the youth hunt, or are you a guy that only hunts on opener? If you are going to complain about the youth hunt then you better dang well complain about every other day of the season before you go out hunting as there are people out educating and pushing ducks then to.

As far as the split season, I think it's a great idea as the last 3 weekends have been tough, sure there is birds to be had but not many. Maybe if all the youth hunters wouldn't have scared them away in September they would still be around?

[riverrat56]

Ya lets get rid of the early goose season too while were at it, maybe we shouldn't let anyone go bow hunting before duck opener either, they might bump some woodies off a pond in the woods.

Everyone's looking for an excuse as too why duck hunting isn't what it used to be (lack of habitat, maybe thats it huh? Everyone wants the birds to be there for them when they chose to hunt. If you want to shoot geese, hunt them in september when the young dumb ones are around. If it's ducks your after then put your time in and hunt more than opening weekend.

[jumboperch]

I second what riverrat says.

[Farley]

I disagree with the youth hunt also. It's great to get kids involved but a lot of those kids who go on the youth hunt are kids who get out hunting a lot during the season anyway. it should be for kids who have never duck hunted or dont get the opertunity to hunt often.

i would love to see a later end to the season. Not sure if we need a split season or if we just start it later but it sure would be sweet. There are times when I'm ice fishing in early ice and there are ducks and geese keeping a spot open on the lake. The season is long gone by then.

BTW, I'm still seeing plenty of ducks around right now.

[hhguide]

riverrat I hunt all year long until the last time you can get on water and then i hunt fields. those bowhunters and others aren't flinging pellets at those ducks are they? I can see your point but early goose and youth hunting are much different than a few guys maybe jumping a few ducks in a small pond in the woods. I think it should all open up at the same time for duck hunting and goose hunting that is. or put it after the season or something.

[oilguy]

Here we go again. The biggest thing I've observed that affects duck numbers around here during the middle and late part of the season are high powered fishing boats running on the big roost lakes.

[hhguide]

HAHA OILguy: "Here we go again" I hear you on that one.

[riverrat56]

Right I know the bow hunter statement was over the top and irrelavent.

My only change I would make (and here we go again is right) is that Early Goose should be feild hunting only. It would keep the geese and ducks around for much longer. (If you want my drawn out rambling feelings on this page back to August sometime)

I will defend the youth hunt forever as it is the only reason I am a duck/goose hunter right now, my dad doesn't waterfowl hunt but a neighbor offered to take me out for the youth hunt and lit a fire in me for waterfowling.

There already is a late goose season, and it is much more of a feast of famine than early season is. If your on the X it can be amazing, if not it is just cold.

[kobear]

Why doesn't Manitoba's season opening before our youth day and two weeks before our opener drive the birds here? Why doesn't ND hunting for a week before MN opens drive the ducks here? Why doesn't Iowa's youth days right before MN opener drive the ducks back?

I can see hunting geese over water for a couple weeks before opener might make ducks nervous.

[SledNeck]

Id like to see a duck season from sept 15th on and shooting start at 1/2 hr before sunrise the first day. Heck, id be okay with changing shooting hours to 45 mins before sunrise.

Id also like to see the fed and state allow coppercoated lead.

Its cheaper and it would result in less wounding of ducks. Why can we hunt everything else with lead, yet not waterfowl?

Also Id like to see the 3 shot limit go away....waterfowl hunters sure have to put up with alot of Bee-Ess laws that we just sit back and take. Thats why it takes 30 minutes out of your day everytime a gamewarden stops you and has to magnet all your shells and plug check guns, make sure you sign your 8000 ducks stamps...etc.

relax some of the unecessary rules and youll get more people intersted in waterfowling again

[brdhunter]

"Unecessary Rules"? Ever heard of lead Poisoning? Thats what happened to all the ducks decades ago. After they outlawed lead shot for waterfowl, the ducks made a rebound. I don't even want to know how few ducks would be around if lead shot was still used.

PS: You can't use lead shot on WMA's. Therefore you can't hunt "everything else" with lead. Lead is bad for all species of birds. I hunt my pheasants with #2 steel shot. I think it has more knockdown power at a closer range. And they can eat the pebbles of steel (part of their daily digesting habbit) without harm.

Lead should be OUTLAWED for everything but clay pigeons!

As for shooting 45 mins before sunrise....... I can barely ID a bird at 20 yards 30 mins before shooting time. Do you ID birds before you shoot?

But back to the season........ The rivers stay open all year round. Therefore the ducks stay here all year long. All they need is water and a bit of food. I believe we miss the huge flocks of mallards that follow the rivers to the south. IMO the best duck hunting imaginable! I agree the small pot holes and swamps freeze before the season is over. But that doesn't mean the ducks are gone. For that matter it doesn't even mean the ducks have showed up yet.

[slabchaser]

I agree with most of what you said brdhunter. You can find ducks to hunt when it freezes. Somtimes its a lot of work but you have to go open up pot hole. Adds extra time gets you sweaty but it usually pays off. Most of the laws we have I can deal with they are easy to get along with. The rivers I hunt do freeze up though.

[Roosterslayer05]

Actually you can use lead on WMA's, its WPA's you cant use lead on. As stated in the past, I am all for the Youth Hunt, I personaly dont think it scares the ducks away. I like the current season lengths, and although there are still ducks around after the season(Iv had countless times when I decoyed mallards during late goose, and it is frustrating) Usually everything is froze up and most of the ducks are gone anyways. You can gripe all you want about youth day and early goose "scaring away ducks" but thats not the reason why there arnt any ducks in MN. I believe hunters use youth day as a scapegoat, it all boils down to habitat. The facts are right in front of your face, MN does not have good duck habitat anymore period. Until that changes, expect more of the same.

[jumboperch]

Good post rooster.

[BigTen]

While I see the point of the post that started this thread, I'm gonna have to disagree for the most part. I grew up in the best of the best as far as mallard country in Minnesota goes, and usually do a fair share of hunting later in the year in MN. If you look at the last handful of years,

2002, I can't remember what MN was like but I know that on Halloween North Dakota was basically locked up with 4"+ ice on even the lakes

2003, I have ice fishing pictures from Thanksgiving day in West Central Minnesota on a 6 mile long lake.

2004, I have pictures from December 4th (late goose opener) and you could walk on the sloughs.

2005, very seasonable weather up to Thanksgiving, by the following Tuesday (last day of duck season) there was not a bird to be found, froze tight.

2006, warm weather hunted in T shirts on thanksgiving weekend.

2007, thanksgiving morning had to look long and hard to find even the biggest slough with a hole being kept open.

2008 isn't looking too favorable for thanksgiving, depending on what happens over the next 10 days.....

The point I'm trying to make is that while you can find birds at the end of the MN season, it is usually a large pod here and there, and most years most water is froze tight. Don't think there is a need to keep it open longer than it already is....just my opinion.

[ChuckN]

I agree with rooster, Big Ten..I'll add...

2006 - I hunted Thanksgiving (<<see pic in avatar) 3 days, big water (not a duck on the big water either, migrated, too much ice and I had to go elsewhere ) My boat is actually on top of ice, I had to drag the boat on ice for 150 yards. Yep, I'm nuts...hardcore...live for it. 6 days later I was in my fishhouse. Major cold blast shortly thereafter...

I've always been ice fishing (on a big lake, somewhere) by Dec. 5th. Sometimes up to 1 mile out... WC MN.

[brdhunter]

Again, not talking about sloughs and potholes. I know those are froze. There are rivers that run all through this state, and most of them are huntable. And again.... most of them stay open well into December throughout the state. Again..... when the ponds and sloughs start to freeze, DOES NOT mean the ducks have moved through yet.

If you were fishing by Dec 5 any of the last 2 yrs.... you must have been in the boat or the boundary waters?

[brdhunter]

Very interesting study on Lead shot........

New health study shows first link between lead bullets, wild game consumption and blood lead levels in humans

By Chris Niskanen

Staff writer

Article Last Updated: 11/05/2008 03:58:07 PM CST

A new U.S. Centers for Disease Control study has found a link between people who eat wild game taken with lead bullets and higher levels of lead, a known toxin, in their blood.

The North Dakota Department of Health reports the study of 738 North Dakota residents showed people who eat wild game tend to have higher lead levels than those who eat a little or none.

Dr. Stephen Pickard, an epidemiologist with the health department, said in a news release today the study corrects for other sources of lead.

"The study also showed that the more recent consumption of wild game harvest with lead bullets, the higher the level of lead in the blood," Pickard said.

The study, based on blood collected from North Dakotans in May and early June, shows the first link between lead bullets, wild game consumption and blood lead levels in humans.

North Dakota authorities say pregnant women and children younger than 6 should not eat any venison harvested with lead bullets. Those groups are sensitive to lead exposure because they absorb most lead that is consumed and the brains of children are still developing. Lead is considered a toxin to the human nervous system.

Last year, agencies in North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin found varying levels of small lead fragments inside venison on meat donated to food shelves. Minnesota's food shelf venison program has been continued this year, but with extra training for meat processors and a ban on ground venison, which studies show have more lead particles than whole cuts.