Mon Feb 03, 2014 12:09 pm
lumbertick wrote:Trigger wrote:Just curious... Why do you think it would be a bad idea?
I subscribe to the theory that while early seasons will give folks an oppportunity to possibly bag more birds on opener...it also drives birds out of the area and creates more problems later in the season. YWD, early goose on water, teal season...it's all the same to me. For most hunters opening day is the best day of the year in terms of birds bagged. Does it matter if it's in October or September as far as recruitment goes? Throw in the amount of other ducks that are gonna get stomped into the mud from mis-identification and I don't see the benefit? Minnesota is a state struggling to hold ducks and this just makes it worse.
lt
So you really think that we hold birds from the beginning of the season to the end? If we open the season on Oct 1, we are a full two weeks past the peak BW Teal migration and we are still incredibly dependent on them for a successful opener statewide, do you think there is some way we can stop them from migrating? Why wouldn't we want a season to coincide with peak numbers of huntable birds in the state before they find the cities and refuges or migrate?
I would be all for not having a teal season if we did away with the failed YWD and all early goose over water. Even though we would still be dependent on a warm September for a good teal harvest on opener, atleast they wouldn't be pushed out of the state before duck hunters get a chance to hunt them. With a teal season they are finally finding a way to give back to the hardcore duck hunters who are almost always forgotten about by the DNR.
"When we have as many hot button issues going on as we do at any given time, we must use a science based approach to management. It is not always the most popular, but is the only way way we can defend ourselves." Tom Landwehr, September 2013