Will they ever consider....

[7outof10]

i like youth day i think it is good for the sport but i would like to see a split season.. close for 10 days or so in the middle of oct or end of oct idk .... then go 10 days longer

[ABreuer]

Wow how hilarious!! A migration! there is barely a migration in this state. Duck hunting in minnesota has declined almost to the point where they should shut it down. Do you have any idea what the minnesota migration used to be? it use to last for days on days it didnt matter where you lived, there was ducks everywhere.[PoorWordUsage] it didnt even matter about the migration there was actully ducks then all season long without one. Them days are long gone. The ducks in this state are long gone too.Wanna know what happened to the ducks THEY GOT SHOT!!!!!.there are way to many hunters in this sate and they claim theres not. They must be high!! hunting is nothing but a sales gig now days. i remember when i was younger i could have shot 10 boxes a day on a slough if i wanted. now days you cant even hunt anywhere with out tons of people. not to mention you got people who think they can shoot at ducks at 50 yards or above HA! my god they must be out of there minds. If the dnr was smart they would shut it down or drop the limit drastically, or have a very short season. I have watched the ducks decline my entire life and its getting worse and worse. I know you got your private spot hunters who are gonna respond and say hunting is just great! ya right open your eyeballs. Hunting know days is just a bunch of show offs seeing who can cover there vehicles in the most stickers and buy the most expensive call. wow its sad the whole united states duck numbers are poor. Do you actully think any of the large orginazations are gonna tell you "ya there are no ducks or the numbers are way way down" [PoorWordUsage] NO because then they will loose money god forbid. People will stop spending 300 dollars on a call and 2000 dollars on there benelli shotguns. Its a sad state of affairs. I duck hunt all over the country but was born and raised in MN. They should triple the cost of a license and use the money to pull out the drain tile that all the farmers put in to dry up the wetlands years ago after all mn use to have more wetlands then the dakotas.I would like to hear others opinions,im sure there are some educated duck hunters that might relate.

[morefishplease]

Yeah a lot of good points in this thread. The ducks just are not around like it use to be. A lot of it has to do with habitat, a lot of the lakes in my area in the 80's and earlier had a maze of weeds on the them, now they are all dead seas. All the corn and bean fields now days are on "steriods" and all that run off goes right into the lakes. A split season probably wouldn't do much good because there is not a "migration" like people seem to think. In my opinion there just aint any ducks. But hunting is a "big business" and it's all about getting that money to flow in.

[Surface Tension]

The Youth Hunt is one day. If that drives the ducks out of here then same could be said for first day of the regular season.

I'm not buying it. I can think of more positive gains then negatives. Of coarse if you don't have a youngster or don't include them in your hunting I can see how you can't see the advantages.

Heres something to keep in mind. You can complain about the numbers of hunters but if your out there then your part of the problem. So its logical that if your to do anything about that it would be stay home.

I'm from Northern MN and have ice before the season ends.

Hunting rivers isn't an option here because of the 100 yard wide rule, we just don't have many if any rivers that meet that. I wonder if all hunters are aware of that law.

Loss of Habitat is the #1 reason for less ducks. With less nesting areas, #2 reason, predators have an easier time.

So what can you do?

Well #1 is create more habitat. You can complain about the number of hunters but without their support of clubs and organizations like DU or PH, there would be a whole lot less being done. Land acquisition and restoration, its simple more habitat and more hunting opportunities. So lets get real, farmland won't be restored unless they're acquired and it'll take support from you.

Got a kid in Scouts? If you didn't know they are in need of someone just like you to get involved. Plan your own predator proof Wood duck and Hen house project.

Those are a couple things you can do to make a difference.

[SledNeck]

Taking in Open Water

A person may not take migratory waterfowl, coots, or rails in open water unless

that person is:

a) within a natural growth of vegetation sufficient

to partially conceal

the person or boat, or

pursuing or shooting wounded birds (while in compliance with the

watercraft restrictions listed below), or

c) on a river or stream that is not more than 100 yards in width.

a stream 100 yards wide? big stream, eh?

I was not aware of this....what is the purpose of this rule????

[riverrat56]

Wanna know what happened to the ducks THEY GOT SHOT!!!!!.there are way to many hunters in this sate and they claim theres not.

I acctually laughed when I read this, we have had the lakes to ourselves since the second weekend. To many hunters? No theres not enoung after the teal and woodies leave, ducks land in one small bay and spend the entire day there.

There is less hunters now than in the Good'ol days, which I missed out on, so instead of sitting here waxing about how bad duck hunting is I go out and make the best of it the way it is now. Limits aren't common, and I've been skunked more than once, but thats why it's called hunting right?

[riverrat56]

Duck hunter numbers have dropped drastically since the early 80's.....so if there is too many hunters now there must not have been any open areas to hunt in the past...

Sled, the 100 yds wide rule on rivers allows you to basically sit on a bare shoreline and/or float down a river in a boat and jump ducks.

[PDOGG]

I am by no means an expert so take what I say with a grain of salt. But I spend alot of time in the fall in the Dakotas and judging by the MASS number of birds(waterfowl)I see out there I don't think there is any shortage of birds. Flocks of ducks and geese out there look like flocks of blackbirds here. I think our area has just developed so fast that the mass migration doesn't come though this area and has moved west were there is way less population density and that is why we have fewer ducks and geese then in the past. Just my $.02.

[MinnesotaMongo]

I think you are right PDOGG - I'm old enough to remember those days crawling through the cornfield to jump some ducks that were sitting in standing water out there. 1000's and 1000's of ducks.

Now, all I see is sky-carp flying over my house...

[brdhunter]

Yeah a lot of good points in this thread. The ducks just are not around like it use to be. A lot of it has to do with habitat, a lot of the lakes in my area in the 80's and earlier had a maze of weeds on the them, now they are all dead seas. All the corn and bean fields now days are on "steriods" and all that run off goes right into the lakes. A split season probably wouldn't do much good because there is not a "migration" like people seem to think. In my opinion there just aint any ducks. But hunting is a "big business" and it's all about getting that money to flow in.

I'm going to disagree and agree with both of you. I believe their is a migration. Sadly,the migration no longer comes from MN or ND raised ducks. Their simply are none. The migration comes from Canada. And those Canadian mallards are the heartiest mallards on earth. They simply don't migrate unless they MUST. With the warming of our earth, this migration has become later, and later every year. We simply miss the Major Migration of mallards.

I have seen thousands to millions of mallards coming into the state after the season is over. I know the duck hunting isn't what it used to be. Now-a-days we simply need to rely on Canada.

Bald,

You have a great point! It is all about money. Money for the retailers in all the new Tech, money for the DNR, DU, ect. to attempt to improve duck numbers/claim duck numbers are up, but it all comes down to the money for the farmers who drained all the potholes to make more money from crops for themselves. They might not have know the devistation this would cause at the time, but something needs to be changed!

[fishn4kids]

I duck hunted a lot in my first 16 years of life. Some of you would be jealous of the amount of ducks me and my brothers shot. When you can get anywhere from 600 or more mallards to commit to your decoys, then you are doing good. What gets me is all the talk about no ducks. The one thing about ducks is, they are like every other animal. THEY HAVE EVOLVED!!! DUCK HUNTED THE BEST YEARS OF THE 80'S AND 90'S. When you have dummarses shooting at ducks and geese @ 80 yards and more on opening morning and the ducks are flying at 100 yards and higher the next day then i would say they are alot smarter. Got back into duck hunting this year after 15 years of not doing it, and all i can say is i'm glad i'm not sitting on my arse complaining about not shooting any ducks. Please take my comments with a grain of salt. But when does one have to realize that it is not the hunter that has figured out the duck but it is the duck that has figured out the hunter!! The way i look at it is, the more we biatch about this year, the less hunters there will be next year and that means more ducks for me and my group of hunters

Duane

[dabber]

My View: (besides loss of habitat)

Youth day--Minimum effect on ducks. They may get hit hard on a pond, but it's only one day, they can rebound before opener. On the other hand early goose hunters can sit on your favorite WATER spots for weeks and that can chase all the ducks.

Opening the season Oct 4th this year was questionable. The majority of Teal and some Woodies always leave MN sometime around Sept 24th. It can be the nicest weather but they leave based on DAYLIGHT hours.

Why does our DNR deny us some of the best hunting. Don't say it's because you can't ID the sex of some birds, if that's the problem, then don't shoot. (Mallards are the only birds in question).

Do the late season hunters have more say than anyone else? We're losing young hunters. We need to reconsider our season. I agree: have a split season.

[dan z]

more days less daily bag would make me very happy.

[castmaster]

Anyone who thinks there are no birds or limited numbers of birds in MN come December needs to drive down here to SE MN. Anywhere along the Mississippi River. Late goose season we have LITERALLY tens of thousands of mallards around here, and all we can do is bird watch. You know, those BIG flocks of MIGRATING birds some say no longer exist.

Why not do a split zone like some other states do? Common sense tells me its pretty unrealistic to think that one season will work for those up on the Canadian border AND for those on the Iowa border.

Make a Norther Zone, a Southern Zone, and a Mississippi River Zone. You buy a license for whatever zone you'll be hunting.

[dan z]

good idea also

[BigTen]

Anyone who thinks there are no birds or limited numbers of birds in MN come December needs to drive down here to SE MN. Anywhere along the Mississippi River. Late goose season we have LITERALLY tens of thousands of mallards around here, and all we can do is bird watch. You know, those BIG flocks of MIGRATING birds some say no longer exist.

Why not do a split zone like some other states do? Common sense tells me its pretty unrealistic to think that one season will work for those up on the Canadian border AND for those on the Iowa border.

Make a Norther Zone, a Southern Zone, and a Mississippi River Zone. You buy a license for whatever zone you'll be hunting.

Could you please take a picture of a BIG flock of MIGRATING birds for me? I've never seen one. People near Lac qui parle have to sit and watch more like 50-100 thousand geese on the lake well into some winters, and they can't even hunt the Late goose season. Do you hear them whining?

You've got all those geese down there in December go shoot some and take some nice pictures of some BIG flocks of MIGRATING mallards.....

[brdhunter]

Originally Posted By: castmaster

Anyone who thinks there are no birds or limited numbers of birds in MN come December needs to drive down here to SE MN. Anywhere along the Mississippi River. Late goose season we have LITERALLY tens of thousands of mallards around here, and all we can do is bird watch. You know, those BIG flocks of MIGRATING birds some say no longer exist.

Why not do a split zone like some other states do? Common sense tells me its pretty unrealistic to think that one season will work for those up on the Canadian border AND for those on the Iowa border.

Make a Norther Zone, a Southern Zone, and a Mississippi River Zone. You buy a license for whatever zone you'll be hunting.

Could you please take a picture of a BIG flock of MIGRATING birds for me? I've never seen one. People near Lac qui parle have to sit and watch more like 50-100 thousand geese on the lake well into some winters, and they can't even hunt the Late goose season. Do you hear them whining?

You've got all those geese down there in December go shoot some and take some nice pictures of some BIG flocks of MIGRATING mallards.....

Completely agree with Castmaster. BigTen, why take pictures? I would rather shoot them. December is the large migration for both canadian mallards and geese. As for mallards, the season is over! For geese, you can hunt them but maybe not in your prime spot. It completely makes sense to me that they split the MN season into Northern and Southern half.

[jaymack10]

South dakota has 4 zones and it works pretty well.

http://www.sdgfp.info/Wildlife/hunting/Waterfowl/Duck.htm

[BigTen]

Originally Posted By: BigTen

Originally Posted By: castmaster

Anyone who thinks there are no birds or limited numbers of birds in MN come December needs to drive down here to SE MN. Anywhere along the Mississippi River. Late goose season we have LITERALLY tens of thousands of mallards around here, and all we can do is bird watch. You know, those BIG flocks of MIGRATING birds some say no longer exist.

Why not do a split zone like some other states do? Common sense tells me its pretty unrealistic to think that one season will work for those up on the Canadian border AND for those on the Iowa border.

Make a Norther Zone, a Southern Zone, and a Mississippi River Zone. You buy a license for whatever zone you'll be hunting.

Could you please take a picture of a BIG flock of MIGRATING birds for me? I've never seen one. People near Lac qui parle have to sit and watch more like 50-100 thousand geese on the lake well into some winters, and they can't even hunt the Late goose season. Do you hear them whining?

You've got all those geese down there in December go shoot some and take some nice pictures of some BIG flocks of MIGRATING mallards.....

Completely agree with Castmaster. BigTen, why take pictures? I would rather shoot them. December is the large migration for both canadian mallards and geese. As for mallards, the season is over! For geese, you can hunt them but maybe not in your prime spot. It completely makes sense to me that they split the MN season into Northern and Southern half.

I don't care what they do in the SE corner of the state. Like I said earlier I believe, I knew brdhunter had to be talking down in the SE corner of the state, because in the other parts of MN, the birds are gone most years right around Dec. 1st.

If they do decide to do the zones then I think people should have to do some kind of choosing process so every MN hunter isn't in northern MN for early season and they're all in SE MN for December.

[dan z]

they would prolly have to do a zone they reside in or charge extra for the guys that want to hunt other zones

[dan z]

I would not ever go north to shoot ducks I will always hunt around sc min

[SledNeck]

your still better off in southern mn early anyways,,,, well, better off than NE Mn, anyways.

[SledNeck]

I would not ever go north to shoot ducks I will always hunt around sc min

What about NoDak if you knew someone with thousands of acres you could have all to yourself?

[dan z]

nope I would still stay here we shoot plenty with in an hour of my house were havin a bad year this year and my group has still managed over 70 ducks this year

[honker23]

Since everyone is throwing their opinions out there, here's mine.

Ducks follow the water and food. The amount of water has exploded in the Dakotas and diminished in MN. In MN we now have ponds with houses around them or well tiled farm land. The ducks have changed their migration patterns. Not all of them of course, but a majority. Also look at how fast a field in sc MN gets turned over compare to SD. Picked one day, plowed the next.

Our season is usually good for geese early, good ducks on opener. Bad for 2-3 weeks, then the Cans and Bills start to come through. We still have the Big water in northern MN to thank for that. But as far as Mallards go, we need a steady dose of WEST winds to shift some of those Dakota birds this way or we miss out. If you guys were out this weekend you saw proof of that. N-NW winds = bills all over, but limited mallard migration. Friends have been out west pounding mallards for 3 weeks. It's a weather game now a days for us in southern MN. Right during the freeze up in the Dakotas, we need strong west winds and we'll shoot a lot of mallards. Otherwise we'll see some big flocks late in the year, but not the big push we all freeze our butts off to see!

I also tend to disagree about the number of hunters. It may be because of loss of habitat, but the area I hunt is loaded with hunters. Compared to the 90's when I could shoot 3 birds, we have nearly double the hunters. That's why I think they keep the limit at 6....fool us into thinking there are a lot of birds and keep hunters buying!