Frustrating

So I’ll preface this post by saying I’m venting a bit here but….

I watched a Mojo TV show where these guys were down in Mexico shooting redheads. At the end of the show the one guy says that in 2 hours of hunting they killed about 150 redheads. First off…WTF? Why is there a “need” to shoot that many in a 2hr period? Many were hens. And I don’t know if what they’re shooting comes down the Mississippi flyway, but redhead population are down some 27%. Well no wonder why.

Unfortunately the scaup population keeps declining. Hopefully there’ll come a day when it’s figured out why and how to bring the populations back up, but that may never happen. Limits this year for scaup state wide are 1 through like October 22, and 2 the rest of the season. Dang hard to tell the difference between a scaup and a ringneck while in flight.

And as for the 2-week closure for the southern region…. what a fu@#$& up idea the DNR has there. These shallow lakes and sloughs are almost always froze up by the 2nd week in November. How they think it’s better to extend the season into the first week of December is beyond me. They obviously don’t hunt and travel the southern region. If anything they should move the border for the southern region to Hwy 14 because in my area, some of the best hunts we’ve ever experienced have come around that October 10 time frame. But since this zone creation, all we can do is watch out our window as flocks of ducks head south with zero opportunity to hunt them. The DNR most certainly broke a sport which didn’t need fixing when it comes to the regions and mid-season closures. Fricken stupid as hell and i wish they’d go back to how it used to be years ago.

Weekender wrote:

And as for the 2-week closure for the southern region…. what a fu@#$& up idea the DNR has there. These shallow lakes and sloughs are almost always froze up by the 2nd week in November. How they think it’s better to extend the season into the first week of December is beyond me. They obviously don’t hunt and travel the southern region. If anything they should move the border for the southern region to Hwy 14 because in my area, some of the best hunts we’ve ever experienced have come around that October 10 time frame. But since this zone creation, all we can do is watch out our window as flocks of ducks head south with zero opportunity to hunt them. The DNR most certainly broke a sport which didn’t need fixing when it comes to the regions and mid-season closures. Fricken stupid as hell and i wish they’d go back to how it used to be years ago.

I’ll leave the Mexican duck hunting show alone. They shouldn’t be harvesting that many ducks but Mexico is not the United States and never will be. A lot of other countries don’t have fish and game laws like we do. They just harvest as much as they want and don’t worry about overall populations.

As far as the closure in October…I thought it was a stupid idea when they started doing it years ago and its still stupid. I know the reason they do it is because there is a federal cap on the number of days the season can be open (60). So they want hunters the chance to shoot early migrating ducks like teal in September but they want other die hard hunters to be able to hunt late migrating ducks in early December too. Their solution? A temporary closure. Just open it and leave it open for crying out loud. The first Saturday in October it should open and stay open until the 60 days has come. Pheasant opener on Oct 10 is way too early too but that’s another bridge to burn.

Our hunting spot is about 5 miles into the northern end of the southern zone, always seems the most ducks and geese are around the time we cant hunt. Never can hunt til end cause always frozen. Never could understand why we have to let the few we have leave so they can get shot down south.

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Weekender wrote:</div>
And as for the 2-week closure for the southern region…. what a fu@#$& up idea the DNR has there. These shallow lakes and sloughs are almost always froze up by the 2nd week in November. How they think it’s better to extend the season into the first week of December is beyond me. They obviously don’t hunt and travel the southern region. If anything they should move the border for the southern region to Hwy 14 because in my area, some of the best hunts we’ve ever experienced have come around that October 10 time frame. But since this zone creation, all we can do is watch out our window as flocks of ducks head south with zero opportunity to hunt them. The DNR most certainly broke a sport which didn’t need fixing when it comes to the regions and mid-season closures. Fricken stupid as hell and i wish they’d go back to how it used to be years ago.

I’ll leave the Mexican duck hunting show alone. They shouldn’t be harvesting that many ducks but Mexico is not the United States and never will be. A lot of other countries don’t have fish and game laws like we do. They just harvest as much as they want and don’t worry about overall populations.

As far as the closure in October…I thought it was a stupid idea when they started doing it years ago and its still stupid. I know the reason they do it is because there is a federal cap on the number of days the season can be open (60). So they want hunters the chance to shoot early migrating ducks like teal in September but they want other die hard hunters to be able to hunt late migrating ducks in early December too. Their solution? A temporary closure. Just open it and leave it open for crying out loud. The first Saturday in October it should open and stay open until the 60 days has come. Pheasant opener on Oct 10 is way too early too but that’s another bridge to burn.

1000% with you on that! I understand “why” they think they need to close it and open it earlier, but i can say….. in my 38 years of waterfowl hunting, those teal and woodies are around in full force when it opened that first Saturday in October! I can only think of one season where it got unusually cold right before the opener and those kinds of ducks bugged out. BUT, there were divers that slid in that year and it was the first time we ever shot divers opening weekend.

First Saturday in October and let’er buck for 60 days. Season would STILL end in December when everything is froze up and migrated south. Hell, many guys are ice fishing over Thanksgiving weekend!

The issue for me is that I don’t do any duck hunting once deer hunting starts in November. So I miss out on 1-2 weeks of duck hunting in October.

Duck hunting in late September is honestly too early too. Its been way too hot to sit there in a marsh in waders swatting bugs. Plus the youth waterfowl weekend is 2 weeks before the real opener and that sends local ducks outta here too.

Weekender wrote:

these guys were down in Mexico shooting redheads.

I think the late season thing has more to do with field hunting than hunting sloughs and lakes.
There are opportunities in my area every year until the closure in December. The birds (especially mallards and geese) won’t leave until they absolutely have to. In my area it’s snow cover that pushes the last of them out. The rivers provided plenty of open water through the end of the season.

gimruis wrote:

The issue for me is that I don’t do any duck hunting once deer hunting starts in November. So I miss out on 1-2 weeks of duck hunting in October.

Duck hunting in late September is honestly too early too. Its been way too hot to sit there in a marsh in waders swatting bugs. Plus the youth waterfowl weekend is 2 weeks before the real opener and that sends local ducks outta here too.

5 posts. I was wondering how long it would take for someone to complain about the youth weekend.

Sharon wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Weekender wrote:</div>
these guys were down in Mexico shooting redheads.

grubson wrote:

I think the late season thing has more to do with field hunting than hunting sloughs and lakes.
There are opportunities in my area every year until the closure in December. The birds (especially mallards and geese) won’t leave until they absolutely have to. In my area it’s snow cover that pushes the last of them out. The rivers provided plenty of open water through the end of the season.

Yep, and I believe that is what the DNR had in mind as well. However from what I have observed, the vast majority of waterfowl hunters hunt the water (lakes & sloughs) and in most instances the water is froze by about deer hunting season.

Still though…. open the season first Saturday in October and the season would be open until the first week of December. So the late season opportunities would still be there along with the late goose season.

For instance this year if the season opened October 3 and went 60 days, the season would be done about December 1. Ending only 5 days earlier in the southern zone, yet there wouldn’t be a 2-week closure during a prime part of the hunting season (Oct. 4 – 17).

And I’m not a big fan of the youth season either. The way I see it, if a parent or guardian can’t make their child the focal point of the hunt, then they aren’t really out there for the kid(s).

It shouldn’t require a special season to introduce youth to waterfowl hunting. It should be just as easy to do at the regular start to the season.

With that being said, I don’t have quite the beef with a youth season as I do with mid-season closures.

Sharon wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Weekender wrote:</div>
these guys were down in Mexico shooting redheads.

Sharon, you crack me up!

Redhead populations have been relatively stable since 1955, and are population surveyed annually. I’ve never once seen the USFWS indicate that they are adjusting bag limits on redheads due to overharvest in mexico.

As far as MN’s season…either allow a teal season and move back to an october start, 60 day season, or lobby hard to change the flyway framework to a 72 day season similar to parts of the central flyway.

Weekender wrote:

The way I see it, if a parent or guardian can’t make their child the focal point of the hunt, then they aren’t really out there for the kid(s).

It has nothing to do with the child being the focal point. It has more to do with giving a kid the chance to shoot something before the rest of you die hard sky busters (not everyone but seems like most) get out and shoot at everything before letting the ducks circle and actually let someone have a good chance.

JEREMY wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Weekender wrote:</div>
The way I see it, if a parent or guardian can’t make their child the focal point of the hunt, then they aren’t really out there for the kid(s).

It has nothing to do with the child being the focal point. It has more to do with giving a kid the chance to shoot something before the rest of you die hard sky busters (not everyone but seems like most) get out and shoot at everything before letting the ducks circle and actually let someone have a good chance.

Agreed. It’s not like the kids are out there hunting for weeks on end before the regular waterfowl season starts…..it’s one dang weekend. Is it really so much to ask for parents to be able to have ONE weekend where they can take their kid(s) out for a hunt, let them be the focus, and NOT have to worry about some jackwagon setting up 50 yards down the shoreline? If you worry about the youth hunt blowing ducks out of your area with no more ducks to show up throughout the course of the year, then it probably isn’t a great spot to begin with.

I stopped hunting ducks years ago when I realized that I couldn’t keep up with all the changing laws and regulations. Then the thugs will take your guns or claim you owe them hundreds of dollars if you misunderstand even one of them.

If there were fewer ducks and fewer regulations i’d still hunt because I don’t need to fill my bag. I loved doing it. Instead we got fewer ducks and more regulations. Government fixed another problem.

The point of this thread is not to discuss the youth season so I’ll refrain from continuing that. I am against a closure in October and think that it should be a 60 day continuous season starting the first Saturday in October.

There are plenty of reasons and explanations for having a youth season, but the opposite can be reasoned and explained just as quickly and easily. Plus, it doesn’t matter how sweet your spot is… if the ducks get blasted at for 2 days, they are 1)educated and 2)outta there. And in the southern zone, you might have to wait 3 to 4 weeks before getting that next decent chance because for 2 of those weeks the season is closed.

There’s lots of us that never had a youth season. It never existed. And we still hunt. You deal with the adversities of every hunt. It seems we want to make everything so easy and convenient these days. Hunting out there on public land, public waters…. you learn lessons from it all. Good ones and bad ones. It’s all a part of the experience. It’s not a perfect world. Never was when I started as a kid, still is not to this day (as it pertains to hunting).

Everybody can still take their kids out and make it that one weekend where they are the focus. My dad did it with me 38 years ago and never needed a youth season to make me the focus. He did it opening day and much of that season, but he didn’t need to because I was hooked way before I got to even tag along and watch.

Nobody here has ever, ever hunted with me. So I don’t know how I could be accused of sky busting. As long as it’s within 80 yards it shouldn’t be too hard to bring it down.

It’s great that the DNR has a hunter survey that they conducted in 2017. Here are the results. Go to page 6 of the PDF to see the short summary on Youth Waterfowl Hunting Day, and the management strategies for the zones and opening date.

https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/wildlife/waterfowl/2017_waterfow_hunter_opinion.pdf

Quick notes from it.
Overall, 73% of respondents support the youth hunt, with 46% strongly supporting it.
Study respondents were asked if they took any youth hunting on Minnesota’s 2017 Youth Waterfowl Hunting Day, and 12% reported participating. Those respondents who participated in Youth Waterfowl Hunting Day reported escorting an average of 1.8 youths. Based on the percentages provided by the survey, it is estimated that 18,027 youths participated in the youth waterfowl hunt in 2017.

Weekender wrote:

Nobody here has ever, ever hunted with me. So I don’t know how I could be accused of sky busting. As long as it’s within 80 yards it shouldn’t be too hard to bring it down.

Are you saying you can down a duck that’s 80 yards up? Or are you saying you can get one to come into the dekes that’s 80 yards out? I hope its the latter.

Yeah I was being facetious. Basically being called a skybuster without ever hunting with me or knowing who I am even…I felt it was a proportional response.

Quite honestly, most people that hunt with me think I try to get them in too close… that I wait too long to call the shot. I just like clean kills because 9 times out of 10 I’m also the retriever.

This was a fun solo day last year. Shot a few, sat and enjoyed just watching a few.

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Weekender wrote:

Yeah I was being facetious. Basically being called a skybuster without ever hunting with me or knowing who I am even…I felt it was a proportional response. tongue

Quite honestly, most people that hunt with me think I try to get them in too close… that I wait too long to call the shot. I just like clean kills because 9 times out of 10 I’m also the retriever.

I will have an opposing opinion to the majority here.

I don’t care how long the mid-season closure is. I strongly support being able to hunt well in to December. I would actually like it to be open later and if that meant a longer break, that would be fine by me.

I also think the early season is dumb, but I still go. Most waterfowlers don’t want to go out when it’s late-season-cold and most of them “need to shoot their BWT and woodies”. If the main reason for the September opener is simply to shoot BWT and woodies, I call BS. There are TONS of woodies and teal around in October. I’ve never understood that argument.

If I could make the dates, they would be a second Saturday in October opener for 60 days, statewide, no breaks. If the September season is totally and completely necessary, then make the break longer so we can hunt later in to December.

The later the better for me. I only hunt the beginning of the season for my 12 year old as I don’t want to bring him out to break late season ice. I wish the season was open a little later.
DT

I didn’t say you were a sky buster but it seems like most are. I would rather let them circle the lake a few times and have them go into your decoys, then shoot at them a mile away and have them fall in the weeds or on the other side of the lake. Don’t seem many have that same feeling. Seems like there is times when people shoot just because they think your gonna get a chance and they don’t want you too.

JEREMY wrote:

I didn’t say you were a sky buster but it seems like most are. I would rather let them circle the lake a few times and have them go into your decoys, then shoot at them a mile away and have them fall in the weeds or on the other side of the lake. Don’t seem many have that same feeling. Seems like there is times when people shoot just because they think your gonna get a chance and they don’t want you too.

Yeah, we experience that quite often on the lake we hunt. Incredibly frustrating to say the least!

I apologize for the facetious comment. It’s been a tough few days and today has been no better.

I understand we cant control what happens in Mexico but getting people to complain about it to sponsors can go along way.

Also to the tv show program.

I think there is going to be a lot more people duck hunting (and other hunting overall) this season so prepare to see more of this sky busting.

Sharon wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Weekender wrote:</div>
these guys were down in Mexico shooting redheads.

Redhead Lives Matter!!