Minnesota Waterfowl Hunting

Fish Felon wrote:Closing the season in the South during what is literally the best part of the season.....the first two weeks of the duck season was when the most ducks were shot statewide and especially in the South, back when it was ran statewide straight through prior to zones.

I'm with you---river zone at Hastings with a later start and some splits thrown in if they really want it to run late.

The rumor I've heard is that Schroers and the other MWA guys have access to some prime fields by Hastings, shoot the piss out of the mallards field hunting, and that more than anything is what has that group....what has been the most powerful and vocal group when it comes to lobbying/influencing the DNR on season frameworks, dates, real season, and even limits.....these guys got the DNR to do a four duck limit when the entire nation was shooting six or more....they got the DNR to keep the wood duck limit at two for multiple years when the rest of the nation was shooting three.....they killed us getting a teal season......the fukcers had pull and I tip my cap to them for pulling that shit off despite thinking it was all retarded....."

Agree
Agree.
Laughing my ass off! Do you really think they ever had that much sway?
BTW, Schroers hunts Scott Cty, he lost is his main place to hunt due to housing development a few yrs back.

So who is the vocal element on retaining the late season hunting? Affluent hunters that have access all across the S zone to farms for field hunting, these are people that are leasing, from affluent (expendable $) to G&O. they do not give a crap that the sloughs and shallow lakes are froze up by mid Nov. and that the average hunters do not have access to farmland to hunt, and that these same lower to mid income hunters are being penalized by at least an extra 7 days of opportunity with the stupid 12 day closed zone. In effect this similar to what happened down S in the Flyway - the affluent leased it all up for the most part shutting out the blue collars hunters.

Why won't the DNR do a SE zone (E of 52) ? - they are afraid of way too much hunting pressure in a small area - I was told this several years ago.
Nor will the feds allow a late season Mallard season in the MS flyway like ND has to appease the affluent hunters so they have late season Mallard field hunting.

So unless the rank and file hunters speak up very loudly the next 16 months to get rid of the 12 day closed S zone, we'll be stick with it again from '21-25.

Hansen wrote:Are the Cans and Reds bag going to remain the same?

One wing bills and ringers are dang hard to tell a difference. Good luck with that.

Like I said above - the only change was the Bills - thus Reds and Cans are the same.

I heard that there is an article in this weeks Outdoors news about a proponent of the Early Teal season as hunter opportunity. I've been saying that for several years now. I even told that to the new DNR Commish last spring directly in person.

Perhaps some one would be kind enough to take a photo of the 2 pages and post it up so we can all read it.

h2ofwlr wrote:

Hansen wrote:Are the Cans and Reds bag going to remain the same?

One wing bills and ringers are dang hard to tell a difference. Good luck with that.

Like I said above - the only change was the Bills - thus Reds and Cans are the same.

I don't understand that. I don't have the exact numbers but aren't cans and red both under 1million birds and bills are still around 3-4 million?

As for the river zone. Everyone and their redheaded step son know spring lake is a shit show around thanksgiving. Changing wont make that big of a difference. I DO think the south MN split is too long but I'm fine with it. I had great hunting around thanksgiving on a small creek system up to Thanksgiving weekend. Just because your favorite point is frozen doesn't mean you should quit hunting for the season.

Hansen wrote: I don't understand that.

welcome to my world.... wait another 20 yrs and you'll be as bald as I am from scratching my head about what the Gubberment does.

If I showed up at that I would be flipping tables on ending the spinner restrictions and 4 pm closures. What are the point of those?

Hansen wrote:I DO think the south MN split is too long but I'm fine with it. I had great hunting around thanksgiving on a small creek system up to Thanksgiving weekend. Just because your favorite point is frozen doesn't mean you should quit hunting for the season.

It sounds like you're not fine with the split if you think it's too long. You don't let it piss you off and you try to make the most of it versus only pissing and moaning about it, which is admirable, but you're not fine with it. I get what you're saying and don't disagree that there's almost always birds to be had if you're really interested in finding them, BUT....

....with that being said Southern MN needs to be done with the split.

As someone who was very in favor of zones and splits I'll be the first to admit I was wrong. It's one of the worst calls I've made...one of the dumbest things I've gotten behind and supported for reasons that I thought would happen, and not only did those reasons not occur once splits/zones went from a concept and became reality....as much of a positive impact I thought they'd make, the actual observed results were that big of a difference maker the other [negative] way....

I believed that splits/zones were going to benefit hunters by providing them more opportunities to hunt (AKA "more time"), and provide better hunting when they took advantage of the extra opportunities to get afield (AKA "better quality"). I thought guys that do fair to crushing it on openers were going to now have multiple openers to repeat the results that are their best day/hunt of the year.

Wrong, wrong, wrong....I couldn't have been more fukcing wrong.

All the split has done is taken away opportunities and worsened the quality of not just opener, but the rest of the season.

Southern MN should never be closed for even a day in the first half of October. The split in the South literally coincides with what was the highest two week harvest period for the season in that part of the state....BY FAR. Seriously, if you had the power to control how this shit (split) takes place.....the Southern MN All Holy Duck Czar....and you're goal was to fukc up the duck hunting season as much as possible, by setting the season up with dates that are as counterproductive to guys shooting ducks......

.....you literally couldn't place the split to fukc shit up any worse than when the split currently takes place.

And that makes it what I like to refer to as being,

"Fukcing Retarded."

Big Doe Hunter wrote:If I showed up at that I would be flipping tables on ending the spinner restrictions and 4 pm closures. What are the point of those?

Why are you speaking in hypotheticals?

Big Doe Hunter wrote:When I show up at the meeting I will be flipping tables to end the spinner restrictions and 4 pm closures. What are the point of those? Nothing but placating the gay azz Dennis Anderson wannabes, that's what!?!

FTFY

The Southern Split doesn't work for dudes in Marshall, Tracy etc unless the fall is warm. Most shallow potholes are frozen by the 10th of November. It works in eastern MN. It works for me because I have access to a creek that hold mallards and takes a lot of cold to freeze.

I don't think a state can have more than 3 zones. I could be wrong.

Hansen wrote:The Southern Split doesn't work for dudes in Marshall, Tracy etc unless the fall is warm. Most shallow potholes are frozen by the 10th of November. It works in eastern MN. It works for me because I have access to a creek that hold mallards and takes a lot of cold to freeze.

I don't think a state can have more than 3 zones. I could be wrong.

Really any of those southwestern lakes freeze easy. I think heron lake in 5 foot deep maximum or less. Like you said it really only works east and mostly on the river. But the river has been terrible anyway the last few years late. They all went through much earlier

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