MNDNR
- Thread starter wildfire
- Start date
Bucks&Ducks
5 year old buck +
They didn't raise the duck limit so the article must be incorrect.
Also the DNR has a lot less control as the FWS set federal regulations for the flyway.
Also the DNR has a lot less control as the FWS set federal regulations for the flyway.
Bucks&Ducks
5 year old buck +
Skimmed the article. These "liberal" limits have been in place for quite awhile and comparing deer to ducks is not a fair comparison.
Drought and wet cycles can shift migration patterns. MN used to be a great duck hunting state and the Dakotas were merely ok. Now it is the complete opposite. Most the ducks hunted are not local ducks except in the early season. Even if you had strict limits, states further down the flyway likely will not have strict limits. So you really aren't getting much accomplished. Really the only thing you can do to help the MN duck hunting (and pheasant hunting for that matter) is improve the habitat. the DNR actually has a number of projects in place to improve habitat on or adjacent to public lands. FWS and DU have also bought lands and tried to improve them. The biggest habitat problem is all the farmers tiling everything in Western MN. Two things I would like to see is farmers tiling over X amount of acres to have to divert it into some sort of holding pond/wetland. Other thing is putting in wetlands by damning rivers, ditches and creeks to control springtime flooding (expensive but can't be worse than the FM diversion project).
edit: Didn't mean to direct this at you wildfire. Just got on a roll.
Drought and wet cycles can shift migration patterns. MN used to be a great duck hunting state and the Dakotas were merely ok. Now it is the complete opposite. Most the ducks hunted are not local ducks except in the early season. Even if you had strict limits, states further down the flyway likely will not have strict limits. So you really aren't getting much accomplished. Really the only thing you can do to help the MN duck hunting (and pheasant hunting for that matter) is improve the habitat. the DNR actually has a number of projects in place to improve habitat on or adjacent to public lands. FWS and DU have also bought lands and tried to improve them. The biggest habitat problem is all the farmers tiling everything in Western MN. Two things I would like to see is farmers tiling over X amount of acres to have to divert it into some sort of holding pond/wetland. Other thing is putting in wetlands by damning rivers, ditches and creeks to control springtime flooding (expensive but can't be worse than the FM diversion project).
edit: Didn't mean to direct this at you wildfire. Just got on a roll.
leexrayshady
5 year old buck +
I agree the DNR has actually done very well with the duck seasons the last few years especially getting rid of archaic rules like noon opener and October start dates
biglakeba$$
5 year old buck +
MN did not adopt the teal season.
I dont honestly think the 3 daily limits in possesion will do much of anything in MN..... My son and I hunted 5 weekends last year and we didnt shoot 3 daily limits each for the entire year..... I dont know very many that do any more either. Its quite sad to see the change in the duck hunting in my lifetime.
When the possession limits were 2 daily limits, we ate ducks for dinner so we could keep hunting additional days.... So I dont see this changing things much at all.
Oh I miss the good old days.
I dont honestly think the 3 daily limits in possesion will do much of anything in MN..... My son and I hunted 5 weekends last year and we didnt shoot 3 daily limits each for the entire year..... I dont know very many that do any more either. Its quite sad to see the change in the duck hunting in my lifetime.
When the possession limits were 2 daily limits, we ate ducks for dinner so we could keep hunting additional days.... So I dont see this changing things much at all.
Oh I miss the good old days.
Bucks&Ducks
5 year old buck +
Possession limits have essentially no effect on harvest numbers. They do not stop people from hunting, they either break the law (and likely break daily limit laws) or they eat the ducks. I have never heard of anyone not going hunting over the weekend because they were at their possession limit....
The wood duck limit has been 3 for a few years. All the states surrounding MN are allowed 3 wood ducks. So would it really save that many woodies by going back to 2?? No. Would I care if it went back to 2? No.
While I don't like Early teal season either (unless they backed up the opener), as BLB said they opted against the Teal season.
The DNR has done a lot of things to rub me the wrong way I just don't see it with the recent waterfowl regulations. They could reduce the bag limits to 3 and have very little impact on the populations. Birds would get shot down the flyway and how many people are shooting more than 3 birds on a regular basis.
The wood duck limit has been 3 for a few years. All the states surrounding MN are allowed 3 wood ducks. So would it really save that many woodies by going back to 2?? No. Would I care if it went back to 2? No.
While I don't like Early teal season either (unless they backed up the opener), as BLB said they opted against the Teal season.
The DNR has done a lot of things to rub me the wrong way I just don't see it with the recent waterfowl regulations. They could reduce the bag limits to 3 and have very little impact on the populations. Birds would get shot down the flyway and how many people are shooting more than 3 birds on a regular basis.
