early duck opening down south

Well, With all the up's and down's we have ducks and we don't, I for one thinks that LWF could fix this by making every thing b low hwy-90 to the gulf, costal zone. That were most of us that don't have ducks due to high water and hot weather, on and early opening we don't get ducks unstill we get our first good cold front comes in and lowers our tide. To me lwf don't even look or think about us in the lower cost. Lwf I invite you MR. Commissioner to come down and I will bring you around ,then you can see for self how many ducks we have down here and that my friend will be next to 0, So y not let some one like Larry fly over here from hwy 90 to the gulf. WE WENT BULD OUR BLIND SAT. THER WAS ABOUT 2 FT OF WATER IN SIDE OUR OLD BLIND AND ABOUT 2FT ON THE ROAD GOING TO THE BOAT LUNCH. We saw about a hand full of ducks and they were black ducks.

SAW ABOUT A HAND FULL OF DUCKS AND THEY WERE BLACK DUCKS.

A man once said,' our natural resources shall not be exploited by the few against the interest of the many, our aim is to preserve our natural resources for the public as a whole, for the average man and the average women who make up the body of American people'. This must be why he is one of the Presidents on Mount Rushmore. The 26th President of the United States, Teddy Roosevelt. I think The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries could learn something from this statement! and this man.

Greenhead1, glad you pointed this out.--Mississippi-NOV.27 --Arkansas-NOV.21---Alabama NOV.27---Florida NOV.21---N. Carolina NOV.14---S. Carolina NOV.21--- Georgia NOV.21---Tennessee NOV.21 ----louisiana NOV.7 --

our natural resources shall not be exploited by the few against the interest of the many, our aim is to preserve our natural resources for the public as a whole, for the average man and the average women who make up the body of American people -

The amount of irony in this quote is laughable and ridiculous coming from a person complaining about season dates and zones...

1.The waterfowl survey data shows that the majority or in the 'interest of many' is that the zone sections and season dates were just fine and people were largely happy with them. and that people kill more ducks per hunter during the early parts of the season. So 'the few' in this case would be you, the persons complaining about the zones and seasons. Changing the season to accommodate you would be to the benefit of a relative fewer number of people according to the survey data.

2.LDWF did recommended a season date as starting the 14th so direct your anguish appropriately towards the commission.

3. pointing out season dates for other states is a straw-man argument especially when you don't point out states with earlier seasons. Texas opened last weekend and I have plenty of friends who killed their limits just fine. In addition, the habitat and bird species hunted in the other states is completely different. Mississippi, the Carolinas, Arkansas etc do not have the vast expanses of coastal marsh that Louisiana does and in some cases are not even part of the same flyway! The birds respond differently to habitats and you cannot examine these areas in a blanket, black and white manner. I could go on and on about this, but the fact is birds arrive at our coastal marshes very early compared to other habitats such as bottomland hardwood.

lastly, Im sorry if the zones and dates do not offer you ideal hunting and hope that we can amend things to help you and the youths in your area get in on some good hunting next year. I personally feel that the 14th opener does accommodate a greater number of people on the opener and hope it changes in future years to help ya'll out a little.But complaining and looking at other states won't get you anywhere. I will work with what I'm given and go find birds on one of the deltas and not in the more northern parts of the coastal zone. best of luck this season

Ak, first off I do not come on this site to slam anyone! Second I was stating FACTS that other states in the Mississippi flyway and some states below us and above us in the Atlantic flyway let there waterfowl hunters hunt till the end of January. I will kill ducks even if they opened the season in mid October because I know where to go to get them. I was unable to comment on this issue back in 2001 but I am going to speak my mind this time around. Yes I would be happy if the season started on the Nov 14 same as last year, my problem is with the season closing on the 17 of January and the rest of the state getting to hunt till the third weekend and the last weekend of January. And you may like the early start and I respect your opinion. Look at the survey a well respected radio host put out on this issue, The final results of his survey pointed to most hunters wanting to be put back in the east zone by an overwhelming majority. So bottom line it is not just Greenhead1 that would like to see later dates it is the majority of southeast Louisiana waterfowlers.

greenhead1, you are correct. the duck migration really is just starting. hunting until the end of january is the better thing to do. i, like you, have been hunting a long time. our experiences tell us the later the better.

Thanks Swamphunter,it seems like the people complaining the most on this site about the late season are the hunters that didn't hunt southeast Louisiana when we were in the east zone, and haven't been hunting ducks as long as we have. I will tell you why your harvest data is better in early season than late season its because there are more hunters in the marsh. think about it, what season has not opened yet in southeast Louisiana, Gun Season for Deer! and every Deer hunter that wants to go hunting is out there shooting ducks. Not to mention the opening weekend hunters that don't even hunt late season. It was like this even back in the eighties good hunter turn out early in the season and low hunter turnout in late season. And I forgot to mention the ducks have not become wary this early in the season yet either. Good luck to all you true hunters, and to those of you that know who I am . Greenhead1, former HQ41 10-7!

I would love to see a survey after this opener and first week of how many birds killed in SW LA vs SE LA costal zones. But one that actually acounts for birds killed per hunter per 100 sq miles, and then compare it with same survey data done after 14th. that way it is actually relavent data.

Also would love for it to break it down per species killed as well. think it would show a huge varience of types of ducks in various areas of the costal zone. some with heaver populations of late migrants vs early migrants.

I think it would clearly show what alot of us already know, but it will never happen.

the thing about the surveys is that not every area is surveyed haven't seen a surveyer in south Lafourche in years so all that data is inconclusive in my opinion

lorane that is kind of my point. everyone for this opener is touting survey data to support thier personal agenda but the data is itself not an acurate representation of the costal zone as a whole but rather a small isolated area or rather a very few small isolated areas.

unfortunatly the type of survey data that needs to be collected will never happen b/c the state has niether the money or resources to do it. this is why public opinion surveys must be tied in with emperical survey data and a common ground reached (which is how it was proposed). The commision however played politics for personal gain rather than their constituant wishes and overuled both public opinion and the lead state waterfowl biologist.

Couldn't agree with you more: Greenhead1, Swamphunter & speckle_searcher. As for as,,,,,,
AKsportsman, please, please, go waste space on another forum.

One more thing guys, the people on this tread that say its because we are coastal and the species we kill migrate early and this is the reason the coast opens the earliest have no idea what they are talking about. The reason the season was changed back in 2001 had nothing to do with any of this. The reason we were moved into the west zone in southeast Louisiana was because of some political bigshots that hunt Delacroix island wanted the season to open early due to not wanting to hunt in low water situations in late winter. This is the only reason it was ever changed in the first place! Just like this year it was totally political and had nothing to do with harvest data. And think about it what else happened around this time, BP donated some of the most prestigious waterfowl habitat in the state of Louisiana located north of Pecan Island called WHITE LAKE! What did the fatcats try to do with that, you guessed it Keep it for themselves. If this donation would have happened in the sixties of seventies that prime area would have had a good chance of becoming a Wildlife Management Area, now you have to be a millionare or as I stated before a FATCAT to hunt a public area . 30000 dollars for a weekend hunt to hunt state land is totally ridiculous! I used this as an example to let you guys know that the majority of the decisions that are made by that department are done to satisfy the FATCATS and politicians of this state and not you. This is the type of crap I was stating when I quoated Theodore Roosevelt. I wonder what he would think about the way the average hunter is and has been treated in the state of Louisiana.

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..

I am in the coastal zone on the other side of the state from you but I am in complete agreement as to the absurdity of starting the coastal zone season this early. The ducks haven't even made it down to the northern parts of Louisiana yet much less the coast. I was in central Arkansas the last several days with temps in the 70's. Temperatures in Minnesota and Michigan today were in the 70's and the season starts in 2 days. What the hell are LDWF thinking? A kindergartner should be able to tell that the coastal zone season needed to start later, not earlier. The last several years, for opening day all we got was teal leftover from teal season, and ducks that stay year round (wood ducks, mottled ducks, and Mexican Squealers). Best day of the season was the last day of the 2nd split for us. Meanwhile the season in north LA was still open but most of the ducks had left north LA and were all on the coast. The seasons were exactly backward.

Don't even get me started on White Lake. I am LIVID that they only give fat cats access to White Lake. Their excuse is that they need the money to maintain it, but the truth is they just need to maintain the fancy facilities for the fat cats. The marsh would still be marsh even if they did not do anything to it.

well 2 days left b 4 open. Went check our lease to day we have 0 ducks.

well 2 days left b 4 opening Went check our lease to day we have 0 ducks.