November 03, 2015 at 7:29am
Guys we aren't that far off maybe duck-huntiac didn't notice but I stated that the 14th opener in my opinion offered a better option for more people.. My issues are that claims of bias for a few are not supported by any data and the earlier season in other states are irrelevant for the birds on the coast,there absolutely is a rational for early seasons, its known as photoperiod. I noticed that you guys mentioned a desire for better bird count, no doubt I think we can benefit from better data collection and I think it is essential to improving the situation. The data is a reflection of birds per hunter per hunt and not a a measure of total birds killed so the fact that there is more hunters in the marsh opening day does not artificially inflate the numbers. of birds per hunter effort. Moreover most people surveyed in a random email and mail in survey after the season shows that people were happy with the season dates and zones. there is no majority asking for zone changes in the waterfowl survey data, you can have your opinions about the data, the collection of data and all that but that unfortunately is all we have access to. Greenhead id like to see the other survey if you can put up the link, thanks. Asechikan, you are likely right that the vast majority of birds killed during the opener and November are early migrants (teal gadwall, spoonies, ect), but unfortunately from a management perspective if those birds are the majority of birds killed annually a resource manager has to accommodate to those species to try and ensure successful harvest year in and year out. Not saying that I agree or like this because lets face it we all like killing big ducks like pins and mallards but that's kinda what we are stuck with. I think as you suggested a survey of species killed with respect to the area would be really interesting and probably the best biological indicator of zone boundaries. however as others said i doubt there is adequate funding to pull it off. sooo before you bash this post, understand i agree the 14th would have been preferential, and I agree we can benefit form better data collection and i wish you all a sky full of feathers..