Trigger wrote: The 50% of flocks shot at (note that does not mean 50% of ducks killed are non-teal) are of all the other species combined, so the actual take of any one specific illegal species will be fairly small to insignificant when speaking of overall duck populations.
As for a later opener, that's not a bad idea. If that's what it took to get the season, I'd be down for something like that.
I disagree that the non legal take would be any different than the attempt rate. Meaning If I attempt 50% of the birds are legal teal, would not the average be 50% teal in the bag? Thus if 50% of time I am shooting at non legal birds that on average the bag would consist of 50% non legal birds? Same if one was to atttempt 10% on non legal birds, the bag would on average consist of 10% non legal birds.
While I agree the overall harm to the non legal species would be very minimal because on non legal harvest, the USFWS had a set a 25% non legal attempt rate.
And I agree a sunrise legal shooting would help in IDing and a 'til noon hunting perhaps would help in keeping the non legal birds in the area with the no PM hunting.
As for the original topic, I am like most here, I try my best to ID but have made mistakes. For me it kind of reminds me when you could only have 3 BB and I had 3, and waiting for a Ringbill to come along. Personal restraint must be used - meaning I had legal Ringers go by but because of the angle I could not guarantee they were not a BB, so I did not shoot. I think that this is what many guys on here would do too. But some guys are of the mentality of "it's brown, it's down". And if you subsribe to the 80/20 view point (80% of ducks are shot by 20% of the hunters), it is those 80% that have a lot less experience that would much more likley miss ID ducks and run a foul of the law.
But as someone pointed out last week, so do we issue licences based on what some might do? Or issue based on the what the majority do? A case in point is a Driver Lic, and we know a small % drink and drive, or do other moving violations. Yet they issue DLs none the less and punish those that are caught. Along with that goes education as far as helping on compliance. I think the same can be said for a Teal season.
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God, help me be the man that my dog thinks that I am.