Post by Woody Williams on Aug 13, 2008 18:26:06 GMT -5
Regular-season waterfowl season dates announced
The regular-season waterfowl dates, as proposed to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) by the Indiana DNR, are as listed below. The dates are not final until approved by the USFWS in mid- to late September. Look for another Wild Bulletin around that time that will either confirm or amend these dates. Historically, they have been accepted as proposed.
At the end of the dates, there is important information about changes in some regulations for this year.
- Ducks, coots, and mergansers:
North Zone: 10/18/08 - 12/16/08
South Zone: 10/25/08 - 11/2/08 and 11/26/08 - 1/15/09
Ohio River Zone: 11/1/08 - 11/2/08 and 11/29/08 - 1/25/09
Bag limit of six ducks daily, including no more than 4 mallards (no more than 2 of which may be hens), 3 mottled ducks, 3 wood ducks, 2 redheads, 1 scaup, 1 black duck, and 1 pintail. The season on canvasbacks is closed. Possession limit is twice the daily bag limit.
- Canada geese:
North Zone: 10/18/08 - 10/19/08 and 11/8/08 - 1/18/09
South Zone: 10/25/08 - 11/2/08 and 11/26/08 - 1/29/09
Ohio River Zone: 11/1/08 - 11/2/08 and 11/21/08 - 1/31/09
Bag limit of 2 Canada geese daily; possession limit is 4.
Counties that were previously in the SJBP Zone are now in the North Zone. The SJBP Zone no longer exists.
Late Canada Goose Zone: 2/1/09 - 2/15/09
The late Canada Goose Zone includes the following counties: Adams, Allen, Boone, Clay, DeKalb, Elkhart, Greene, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Huntington, Johnson, Kosciusko, LaPorte, LaGrange, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Morgan, Noble, Parke, St. Joseph, Shelby, Steuben, Starke, Sullivan, Vermillion, Vigo, Wells, and Whitley. Special restrictions apply: a free permit is required, and all geese harvested must be checked at a DNR check station. Details will be available later this winter.
- Light geese and brant:
Statewide: 10/18/08 - 1/30/09
Bag limit of 20 light geese (snow and/or Ross' geese) and 1 brant. Possession limit is 2 brant. There is no possession limit on light geese.
Light goose conservation order: 2/1/09 - 3/31/09
No bag or possession limit. A free permit is required. Details will be available later this winter.
- White fronted geese:
11/7/08 - 1/31/09
Bag limit of 1 white-fronted goose. Possession limit is 2.
- Youth hunt:
North Zone: 10/11/08 - 10/12/08
South Zone: 10/18/08 - 10/19/08
Ohio River Zone: 10/25/08 - 10/26/08
Bag and possession limits are the same as for the regular seasons.
- Extended Falconry:
Mourning Doves: 10/17/08 - 11/6/ 08 and 1/1/09 - 1/16/09
Woodcock: 9/20/08 - 10/14/08 and 11/29/08 - 1/4/09
Ducks, coots, and mergansers:
North Zone: 9/27/08 - 9/30/08 and 2/14/09 - 3/10/09
South Zone: 10/18/08 - 10/24/08 and 2/17/09 - 3/10/09
Ohio River Zone: 10/25/08 - 10/31/08 and 2/17/09 - 3/10/09
Waterfowl hunters to see changes this year
While Indiana will enjoy another liberal duck season this year, there are a few changes of which hunters should be aware.
The SJBP Zone is gone
For Canada goose hunters, the Southern James Bay Population (SJBP) Zone will no longer exist. These counties will now be incorporated into the North Zone.
Adam Phelps, waterfowl research biologist for the Indiana Division of Fish and Wildlife, said, "This zone was established years ago to protect flocks of long-distance migrant SJBP geese. However, we have been able to show through band return data that these birds are now spread out across the state, so the zone no longer works to protect these birds. That, plus the increase of locally breeding giant Canada geese, has caused goose managers in the Mississippi Flyway to shift their thinking. Goose seasons throughout the Flyway have been liberalized experimentally for five years to determine if the number of local geese will 'swamp' the Canadian birds in the harvest."
"Swamping" means there are so many giant Canada geese, in Indiana and in surrounding states, that just by their sheer numbers they will keep the long-distance migrants from being harvested in large numbers.
The removal of this SJBP Zone means that Canada goose hunters statewide will have the same season length-74 days-for the first time since 1990.
Late Canada goose season will continue
In addition, the experimental Late Canada Goose Zone season that began last year will continue. This season will be open Feb. 1-15, 2009, in the following counties: Adams, Allen, Boone, Clay, De Kalb, Elkhart, Greene, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Huntington, Johnson, Kosciusko, La Porte, Lagrange, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Morgan, Noble, Parke, St. Joseph, Shelby, Starke, Steuben, Sullivan, Vermillion, Vigo, Wells and Whitley. During this season, hunters may take five Canada geese per day.
Hunters will still be required to obtain a special permit. The process should be easier this year, with an online permitting application that is in the works.
Hunters will still be required to check in all birds taken at a DNR check station.
"We definitely feel the frustration of hunters who have to drive a long distance to check birds, especially with the high cost of fuel. But if we want to keep this season past the three-year experimental period, we must collect and measure the heads of adult geese, and there is no other way to do it. Hunters are asked to be patient during the three-year experiment-if all goes as expected, birds will no longer have to be checked and permits will no longer be required after the 2010 season," Phelps said.
An extra wood duck in the bag
Another bright spot for Indiana hunters this year is that the daily bag limit for wood ducks will increase from two per day to three. Years of work by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has shown that these popular birds are capable of sustaining more harvest than is currently being taken.
"This is great news, especially for early season hunters. A large proportion of the bags of early season duck hunters contain wood ducks. Populations will be monitored closely for the next few years to ensure that the extra harvest is not adversely affecting wood duck populations on a continental scale. This is an experiment, and if wood duck numbers drop, the bag limit could be reduced back to two birds per day," Phelps said.
Phelps cautions hunters to enjoy this, but not to get used to it.
"I think that everything will be fine and we'll have three woodies in the bag for the foreseeable future, but if things take a bad turn, the bag limit will be reduced," he said.
Diving duck bag limits to be reduced
After a record population estimate in 2007, the 2008 count of canvasbacks breeding on the North American prairies dropped 44 percent this year. Because of this rapid drop, the USFWS is recommending a closed season for this prized species this year.
Last year's record count prodded the USFWS to do something unprecedented: set a two-bird per day canvasback limit during last duck season. Hunters may see that high limit last year, followed by a population drop, and draw the obvious conclusion that canvasbacks were overharvested last year.
"Not so fast," Phelps said. "Despite the two-bird bag last year, harvest only increased 25 percent in North America, and was 350,000 birds lower than was allowed by the USFWS's model. We're not sure what's going on with canvasbacks, but we know we didn't shoot them all."
There is some suspicion that the birds have spread out this year into more northerly areas, because the southern prairies are so dry.
"Nothing explains this population drop except missing birds on the survey. We know of no large-scale mortality, we had no overharvest. These birds are apparently alive, but in unsurveyed areas," Phelps said.
There is some evidence for this. The last time canvasback populations dropped so quickly was 1978, and they immediately rebounded in 1979, despite the season remaining open.
In addition, canvasback populations are strongly correlated with redhead duck populations. Redhead populations hit a record high this year. Why would canvasback populations drop while redhead populations stay strong?
"That's the big question. There may be a ton of canvasbacks out there that weren't counted this year. Next year's survey should shed some light on this, but in the meantime, we must close the canvasback season," Phelps said.
There are more changes for diving duck hunters. The USFWS is requiring a reduction in scaup (bluebill) harvest this year as well. This is despite the fact that scaup populations have been stable since 2001, have increased 8 percent from last year (and 15 percent from 2006), and remain, at 3.74 million birds, the third most abundant duck species in North America.
Most waterfowl experts will tell you that hunter harvest has nothing to do with the decline in scaup numbers since the 1970s. The decline is likely caused by a complex interaction of factors, including habitat destruction and degradation in the boreal forest of Canada, plus impacts from exotic parasites and pollutants.
"We will have a one bird daily bag for scaup this year. It's too bad that the third most abundant duck on the continent has been relegated to the status of 'mistake duck'." Though Indiana could have a partial season with a two-scaup limit, Phelps said that the extra opportunity is not worth the confusion on differential limits during different days.
"We don't take enough scaup in Indiana to make that much difference to most hunters. I think it would be more of a headache for hunters to keep one more regulatory complication straight," he said.
The scaup limit is complicated by the bird's close resemblance to other species.
It's hard to tell scaup from ring-necked ducks a lot of the time, and they often fly together over big water. The limit on ring-necked ducks remains six per day, and the limit on redheads remains at two per day-despite the fact that redheads, at a population of 1.06 million this year, are outnumbered by scaup in North America by more than three to one.
Many waterfowl conservation groups oppose the reduction in bag limit. Phelps said that further reductions in scaup harvest are unlikely to contribute to the species recovery, and will only serve to drive diving-duck hunters away from the sport.
Phelps said he's worried about the impacts that the reduction will have on conservation.
"When you remove most of the opportunity to shoot scaup, and close the canvasback season at the same time, those hunters who have the specialized equipment to hunt big water for these birds just aren't going to bother," he said. "That's sad, from a hunting tradition standpoint, and affects northern states like Wisconsin and Minnesota much more than Indiana. But think of the financial impact on habitat programs when those folks don't buy duck stamps this year. We are driving our best partners in diving duck conservation away from hunting."
The regular-season waterfowl dates, as proposed to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) by the Indiana DNR, are as listed below. The dates are not final until approved by the USFWS in mid- to late September. Look for another Wild Bulletin around that time that will either confirm or amend these dates. Historically, they have been accepted as proposed.
At the end of the dates, there is important information about changes in some regulations for this year.
- Ducks, coots, and mergansers:
North Zone: 10/18/08 - 12/16/08
South Zone: 10/25/08 - 11/2/08 and 11/26/08 - 1/15/09
Ohio River Zone: 11/1/08 - 11/2/08 and 11/29/08 - 1/25/09
Bag limit of six ducks daily, including no more than 4 mallards (no more than 2 of which may be hens), 3 mottled ducks, 3 wood ducks, 2 redheads, 1 scaup, 1 black duck, and 1 pintail. The season on canvasbacks is closed. Possession limit is twice the daily bag limit.
- Canada geese:
North Zone: 10/18/08 - 10/19/08 and 11/8/08 - 1/18/09
South Zone: 10/25/08 - 11/2/08 and 11/26/08 - 1/29/09
Ohio River Zone: 11/1/08 - 11/2/08 and 11/21/08 - 1/31/09
Bag limit of 2 Canada geese daily; possession limit is 4.
Counties that were previously in the SJBP Zone are now in the North Zone. The SJBP Zone no longer exists.
Late Canada Goose Zone: 2/1/09 - 2/15/09
The late Canada Goose Zone includes the following counties: Adams, Allen, Boone, Clay, DeKalb, Elkhart, Greene, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Huntington, Johnson, Kosciusko, LaPorte, LaGrange, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Morgan, Noble, Parke, St. Joseph, Shelby, Steuben, Starke, Sullivan, Vermillion, Vigo, Wells, and Whitley. Special restrictions apply: a free permit is required, and all geese harvested must be checked at a DNR check station. Details will be available later this winter.
- Light geese and brant:
Statewide: 10/18/08 - 1/30/09
Bag limit of 20 light geese (snow and/or Ross' geese) and 1 brant. Possession limit is 2 brant. There is no possession limit on light geese.
Light goose conservation order: 2/1/09 - 3/31/09
No bag or possession limit. A free permit is required. Details will be available later this winter.
- White fronted geese:
11/7/08 - 1/31/09
Bag limit of 1 white-fronted goose. Possession limit is 2.
- Youth hunt:
North Zone: 10/11/08 - 10/12/08
South Zone: 10/18/08 - 10/19/08
Ohio River Zone: 10/25/08 - 10/26/08
Bag and possession limits are the same as for the regular seasons.
- Extended Falconry:
Mourning Doves: 10/17/08 - 11/6/ 08 and 1/1/09 - 1/16/09
Woodcock: 9/20/08 - 10/14/08 and 11/29/08 - 1/4/09
Ducks, coots, and mergansers:
North Zone: 9/27/08 - 9/30/08 and 2/14/09 - 3/10/09
South Zone: 10/18/08 - 10/24/08 and 2/17/09 - 3/10/09
Ohio River Zone: 10/25/08 - 10/31/08 and 2/17/09 - 3/10/09
Waterfowl hunters to see changes this year
While Indiana will enjoy another liberal duck season this year, there are a few changes of which hunters should be aware.
The SJBP Zone is gone
For Canada goose hunters, the Southern James Bay Population (SJBP) Zone will no longer exist. These counties will now be incorporated into the North Zone.
Adam Phelps, waterfowl research biologist for the Indiana Division of Fish and Wildlife, said, "This zone was established years ago to protect flocks of long-distance migrant SJBP geese. However, we have been able to show through band return data that these birds are now spread out across the state, so the zone no longer works to protect these birds. That, plus the increase of locally breeding giant Canada geese, has caused goose managers in the Mississippi Flyway to shift their thinking. Goose seasons throughout the Flyway have been liberalized experimentally for five years to determine if the number of local geese will 'swamp' the Canadian birds in the harvest."
"Swamping" means there are so many giant Canada geese, in Indiana and in surrounding states, that just by their sheer numbers they will keep the long-distance migrants from being harvested in large numbers.
The removal of this SJBP Zone means that Canada goose hunters statewide will have the same season length-74 days-for the first time since 1990.
Late Canada goose season will continue
In addition, the experimental Late Canada Goose Zone season that began last year will continue. This season will be open Feb. 1-15, 2009, in the following counties: Adams, Allen, Boone, Clay, De Kalb, Elkhart, Greene, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Huntington, Johnson, Kosciusko, La Porte, Lagrange, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Morgan, Noble, Parke, St. Joseph, Shelby, Starke, Steuben, Sullivan, Vermillion, Vigo, Wells and Whitley. During this season, hunters may take five Canada geese per day.
Hunters will still be required to obtain a special permit. The process should be easier this year, with an online permitting application that is in the works.
Hunters will still be required to check in all birds taken at a DNR check station.
"We definitely feel the frustration of hunters who have to drive a long distance to check birds, especially with the high cost of fuel. But if we want to keep this season past the three-year experimental period, we must collect and measure the heads of adult geese, and there is no other way to do it. Hunters are asked to be patient during the three-year experiment-if all goes as expected, birds will no longer have to be checked and permits will no longer be required after the 2010 season," Phelps said.
An extra wood duck in the bag
Another bright spot for Indiana hunters this year is that the daily bag limit for wood ducks will increase from two per day to three. Years of work by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has shown that these popular birds are capable of sustaining more harvest than is currently being taken.
"This is great news, especially for early season hunters. A large proportion of the bags of early season duck hunters contain wood ducks. Populations will be monitored closely for the next few years to ensure that the extra harvest is not adversely affecting wood duck populations on a continental scale. This is an experiment, and if wood duck numbers drop, the bag limit could be reduced back to two birds per day," Phelps said.
Phelps cautions hunters to enjoy this, but not to get used to it.
"I think that everything will be fine and we'll have three woodies in the bag for the foreseeable future, but if things take a bad turn, the bag limit will be reduced," he said.
Diving duck bag limits to be reduced
After a record population estimate in 2007, the 2008 count of canvasbacks breeding on the North American prairies dropped 44 percent this year. Because of this rapid drop, the USFWS is recommending a closed season for this prized species this year.
Last year's record count prodded the USFWS to do something unprecedented: set a two-bird per day canvasback limit during last duck season. Hunters may see that high limit last year, followed by a population drop, and draw the obvious conclusion that canvasbacks were overharvested last year.
"Not so fast," Phelps said. "Despite the two-bird bag last year, harvest only increased 25 percent in North America, and was 350,000 birds lower than was allowed by the USFWS's model. We're not sure what's going on with canvasbacks, but we know we didn't shoot them all."
There is some suspicion that the birds have spread out this year into more northerly areas, because the southern prairies are so dry.
"Nothing explains this population drop except missing birds on the survey. We know of no large-scale mortality, we had no overharvest. These birds are apparently alive, but in unsurveyed areas," Phelps said.
There is some evidence for this. The last time canvasback populations dropped so quickly was 1978, and they immediately rebounded in 1979, despite the season remaining open.
In addition, canvasback populations are strongly correlated with redhead duck populations. Redhead populations hit a record high this year. Why would canvasback populations drop while redhead populations stay strong?
"That's the big question. There may be a ton of canvasbacks out there that weren't counted this year. Next year's survey should shed some light on this, but in the meantime, we must close the canvasback season," Phelps said.
There are more changes for diving duck hunters. The USFWS is requiring a reduction in scaup (bluebill) harvest this year as well. This is despite the fact that scaup populations have been stable since 2001, have increased 8 percent from last year (and 15 percent from 2006), and remain, at 3.74 million birds, the third most abundant duck species in North America.
Most waterfowl experts will tell you that hunter harvest has nothing to do with the decline in scaup numbers since the 1970s. The decline is likely caused by a complex interaction of factors, including habitat destruction and degradation in the boreal forest of Canada, plus impacts from exotic parasites and pollutants.
"We will have a one bird daily bag for scaup this year. It's too bad that the third most abundant duck on the continent has been relegated to the status of 'mistake duck'." Though Indiana could have a partial season with a two-scaup limit, Phelps said that the extra opportunity is not worth the confusion on differential limits during different days.
"We don't take enough scaup in Indiana to make that much difference to most hunters. I think it would be more of a headache for hunters to keep one more regulatory complication straight," he said.
The scaup limit is complicated by the bird's close resemblance to other species.
It's hard to tell scaup from ring-necked ducks a lot of the time, and they often fly together over big water. The limit on ring-necked ducks remains six per day, and the limit on redheads remains at two per day-despite the fact that redheads, at a population of 1.06 million this year, are outnumbered by scaup in North America by more than three to one.
Many waterfowl conservation groups oppose the reduction in bag limit. Phelps said that further reductions in scaup harvest are unlikely to contribute to the species recovery, and will only serve to drive diving-duck hunters away from the sport.
Phelps said he's worried about the impacts that the reduction will have on conservation.
"When you remove most of the opportunity to shoot scaup, and close the canvasback season at the same time, those hunters who have the specialized equipment to hunt big water for these birds just aren't going to bother," he said. "That's sad, from a hunting tradition standpoint, and affects northern states like Wisconsin and Minnesota much more than Indiana. But think of the financial impact on habitat programs when those folks don't buy duck stamps this year. We are driving our best partners in diving duck conservation away from hunting."