The attempt was to illustrate how on one hand the DNR basically told HFW to pound sand but they not only allowed and took input from a different special interest group for setting a season, they let them make a season up and publicly supported it.
I've come to the conclusion Cordts is a patsy for the guys above him. Here's my 'conspiracy theory' as to what went down......
“Our preference would be for a five-day teal season with one non-teal [“mistake duck”] allowed in the bag,” Cordts said. That would mitigate the take of “mistake ducks,” he said, but it’s uncertain the Fish and Wildlife Service would approve such an option.
This quote is both baffling and extremely telling at the same time and important for many reasons.
One, the notion that a state waterfowl specialist could go to the USFWS and ask them to cater solely to just his state by creating a season and limits for migratory waterfowl outside of the federal frameworks they offered [such as asking to shoot species that are non-teal] is beyond ludicrous.
Two, there is no possibility that someone in Cordts position could not know how ludicrous it’d be to ask the USFWS to do that. Via phone calls and email correspondence with personnel in similar positions in other state departments, as well as contacting the USFWS, they reinforced my suspicion that it‘d be highly unlikely for Cordts to not be aware what he was quoted saying in the paper wasn‘t possible. I have an acquaintance I’ve hunted with in another state that’s in a similar position to Cordts and when I emailed the article to him for his opinion he was dumbfounded. He couldn’t believe a long tenured waterfowl specialist that has represented his state at the flyway council meeting for years would publicly lobby and go on record saying that; he thought Cordts had to know it was absurd. The only other possible explanation if it wasn’t a ruse would be complete and utter incompetence, and nothing else has lead me to believe that would be the case with Cordts.
Three, I cannot find anything that shows Cordts actually ever approached the USFWS to ask them for the ‘preferred‘ season. It isn’t a bold assumption to doubt he ever asked them because he knew it wasn’t an option and he’d look completely incompetent by even asking the USFWS to consider it. It is possible he called or emailed someone and was immediately shot down; which would make sense because that is what would assuredly happen and he would have known that before making the call.
Four, this one is by far the most important. I have emails supporting that the very idea of a ‘five-day teal season with one non-teal duck allowed’ was created by the MWA. The “Our preference” start of the quote is ironic because it is meant to come across as Cordts referring to himself and the department but in reality it essentially refers to Cordts as the mouthpiece relaying what the MWA told him they wanted. Even though what they asked for was outlandishly not possible and I suspect Cordts knew as much, he did not tell them that, he actually went along with it. It looks quite possible that the MWA has so much influence over the department that they can literally get the state waterfowl specialist to publicly lobby in support of a season they made up even when he knows it isn’t possibly an option. This is absolutely amazing when you stop and think about it.
