Heads up CT Waterfowl Regs Meeting date

Yes it did. They either get eaten or they don't. The carcasses all go to the same place in the end.
 
Don't try to equate the morality of "not eating" to the legal definition of "wanton waste". The legal definition doesn't say you have to eat it to be legal, it says you need to make a reasonable effort to retrieve the birds and transport them from the field. How you dispose of them is up to you. You can bury them in the yard for fertilizer if you want, just like fish. I told you I won't eat certain things, if you don't like it tough. FWIW, you'll be relieved to know that our favorite crow spots have been developed, saving countless corvus from waste.
 
I understand that sea ducks are trending down and a shorter season would be advisable. But combining the sea duck limit with "regular" ducks is bull. It sucks that mergansers are included in this limit as well.
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OK, back on target:

Why is combining the sea duck & "regular" duck limit "Bull"?? Especially if they want to reduce hunting mortality and the Sea duck season & Regular duck season run concurrent?

Is CT the only state that combined the mergie & regular duck limit? Or have other NE states done the same? Still split down here.
And yes, we also eat every mergie we shoot. I make jerky, gumbo or jambalaya.
 
I think that reducing from a ~105 day season to 60 is drastic enough, for now. See how the populations react, collect data, then reasses.
 
No Carl, CT joined NY in combining the merganser limit. Not sure if there are others.

The seaducks have been pummeled the last 20-some years, especially the scoters. The eiders and oldsquaw tend to stay a little further offshore and are not quite as trusting of a boat as the coots. Although I think guiding is a major factor, something needs to be done. Not too sure combining the limits will do much as guys tend to specifically target seaducks for a given day since the equipment needs to be changed out to hunt most other species. In other words, a 60 day combined season is still just a 60 day seaduck season for the guys who hunt them hard.
 
Thanks for the responses. I tend to agree that going from 102 days to 60 is drastic. But then maybe it is needed?????

What was the reasoning behind combining the mergie/duck limit? That one does baffle me.
 
Thanks for the responses. I tend to agree that going from 102 days to 60 is drastic. But then maybe it is needed?????

What was the reasoning behind combining the mergie/duck limit? That one does baffle me.
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The rationale given was what I stated, that it would make hunters feel more successful taking a limit including mergs.
 
I don't think it matters for most guys in CT. about sea ducks. There aren't that many eiders in the state and scoters are hit and miss. Some years there are good numbers of scoter and then not so good. As for Old squaw I think they have been taking a pounding in Norwalk the last couple of years. Also I think more guys have been hunting sea ducks lately, do to the lack of other ducks. I don't think it is the hunters killing all the sea ducks, but the food supply. Even sea ducks get smart after they been shot at.
Pete
 
I don't think it matters for most guys in CT. about sea ducks. There aren't that many eiders in the state and scoters are hit and miss. Some years there are good numbers of scoter and then not so good. As for Old squaw I think they have been taking a pounding in Norwalk the last couple of years. Also I think more guys have been hunting sea ducks lately, do to the lack of other ducks. I don't think it is the hunters killing all the sea ducks, but the food supply. Even sea ducks get smart after they been shot at.
Pete
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You make some good points Pete. Until the late 80's there were large rafts of scoters in LIS all season long, now it's unusual. Same with the broadbill. I notice a lack of seed clams on the anchor when I pull it lately, in areas where the mud was full of them years ago and the birds rafted.

An interesting aside regarding the eiders in CT is the numbers that have been breeding recently. There were a few nesting in Stonington/Mystic years ago but not many elsewhere. When hunting in Groton perhaps ten years ago there was a small group of eiders hanging around at the end of the season, some of which were clearly wingbroken. I didn't think much of it until a few years later. I play golf at Shenecosset a few times a year, from the 16th green & 17th tee you're right next to the water. In the last few springs there's quite a few eiders nesting on Hobb's Island and the point by the beach. What's interesting is that several of the hens I've seen with chicks were clearly wingbroken. I guess the cripples just nest where they can? Nice to see them nesting here.
 
As usual I will go if I'm able and thank Min for having the meeting. I'd recommend making the meeting if you can, you won't change the big picture but Min does take our input into account a lot more than Paul used to. You disagree with the present administration's late season position, deal with it and move on.

As I understand it the DEEP doesn't have to have the meeting, it's held for our benefit. If no one shows up, they will simply stop holding them, and good luck at ever getting the meetings going again. Our next Biologist (when ever it changes) may be more receptive, but if there isn't a meeting, we'll never know.

Don't want to eat fried Cabelas' food, pick a local spot and we can meet there, heck it may even be more fun with a few brews.
 
Gunning for scoters and old squaw in the Western part of the LIS on the NY side from the late 60's to early 90's was INSANE. Limits were easy to get hunting out of plain white fishing boats. We routinely shot 21-35 birds on Sat and Sunday and then every day of our 2 week October vacation.It was nothing to see a daily line of coot across the sound in late Oct and Nov. They would feed and rest in the waters in front of the Throgs Neck Bridge.Give me a hard NE blow for a few days in late Oct/Nov and there would be over a thousand scoters there.Mostly Commons in Oct.
Present day....There were more old squaw in the LIS this year than I have EVER seen but the scoter numbers are much less and literally non existent that far West.
 
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Gunning for scoters and old squaw in the Western part of the LIS on the NY side from the late 60's to early 90's was INSANE. Limits were easy to get hunting out of plain white fishing boats. We routinely shot 21-35 birds on Sat and Sunday and then every day of our 2 week October vacation.It was nothing to see a daily line of coot across the sound in late Oct and Nov. They would feed and rest in the waters in front of the Throgs Neck Bridge.Give me a hard NE blow for a few days in late Oct/Nov and there would be over a thousand scoters there.Mostly Commons in Oct.
Present day....There were more old squaw in the LIS this year than I have EVER seen but the scoter numbers are much less and literally non existent that far West.
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That's pretty much the way I remember it in eastern LIS.
 
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