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WHO'S LOOKING OUT FOR
CALIFORNIA WATERFOWL HUNTERS?
By: Ron Wilson
January 23, 2003.... This year the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the federal agency responsible for
conserving, protecting and enhancing wildlife, fish and plants had
proposed waterfowl regulations that would have continued the same duck
hunting season and bag limits that were offered in 1997. A 100 day
hunting season and a 7 duck a day bag limit.
USFWS director Steve Williams explained
that while it was clear that habitat condition in the prairies and
parklands of mid-continent North America will lead to a reduced number
of birds in a fall flight compared to last year the duck numbers were
still sufficiently high to offer the long season and bag limits.
The California Waterfowl Association
(CWA) had a different idea. They contented that with the decline in
waterfowl numbers (especially mallards), poor local duck populations and
their overall concern about maintaining the state's hunting heritage,
there was need to shorten the season and cut down on the bag limit. They
were very instrumental this year in setting our waterfowl hunting season
and bag limit. We lost 2 ducks a day and 40 hunting days. That's a 26
percent cut in the waterfowl season! Other states in the Pacific Flyway
opted for the liberal season and bag limit.
Most of the hunters in our area have a
very limited number of good shoot days and most of them are in the
grasslands where the majority of birds are teal, spoonies, gadwall and
widgeon with a few Sprig and Mallards thrown in. I think CWA did this
group of hunters a big injustice by being instrumental in getting the limit and the season
length cut down.
As a avid waterfowl hunter they did no
favor for me either. In the area I hunt, the split season took away some
very important days. Days where the ducks migrated on through the state
without getting shot at.
The decreased bag limit on ducks from 7
to 5 to protect the mallard populations was ill advised as far as I am
concerned. If CWA wanted to limit the number of mallards killed then
they should of proposed a lesser limit on them, not cut the entire duck limit down. From
what I have read the duck population is pretty much holding its own
except for a few species.
I don't know how many days I have sat in
the blind this year looking at empty skies. The days when the
birds do show up, I get a few hours fun and then have to go home.
A mixed bag of 7 birds would have allowed me to enjoy the good hunt days a
little more and helped make me forget about the bad days looking at an empty sky!
So far this year I have hunted every
weekend and a couple weeks of vacation where I hunted almost every day.
One week I don't think I killed a 5 bird limit if you put all the days
together! So far this year, if my memory is
correct I have only had 5 good shoot days where I limited out on
ducks.
Ducks migrate from north to south and if
your not in the field when they come through then all that money you
spent for a blind, licenses and shells to hunt them is going to waste as
far as I am concerned.
For years I supported Ducks Unlimited, their goal of raising ducks and protecting them was great until
they created a system of non huntable land that allowed the waterfowl to
fly from Canada to Mexico without ever
being shot at. I quit supporting them and started supporting CWA. I
thought they were an organization designed with the good of the hunter
in mind! I guess I made another mistake with my hard earned dollars.
The way its getting in California I
believe I would be time and money ahead to plan a week or two
vacationing in Mexico or somewhere else out of state. I hunted ducks and
dove in Mexico last year. Lead shot, no plugs and no limits. The
white-wing dove hunting was ok, very similar to our morning doves, but
the duck hunting wasn't hunting to me, it was a slaughter. Over 60 ducks
in one day and a pile of doves!
Before the Department of Fish and Game
takes recommendations from supposedly well knowledgeable groups they
better do there own homework to protect there jobs. Hunting licenses
sales have fallen off so bad in California that the DFG cannot support
itself with the license fees coming in and if they are not careful they
will end up out of a job as more and more California hunters leave the
state to do their hunting elsewhere!
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