Scaup bag limits to increase WOW

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Tony H

Well-known member
Looks like the feds have approved very liberal scaup limits for the pacific, atlantic and mississippi flyways. 7 for the pacific and 4 for the atlantic and mississippi.

With some states already giving full daily limits. Its rumored that Ohio will follow suit with a daily bag limit of 4 and I expect many others to as well.

Dust off the layouts buys its gonna get fun again.
 
Yep, like I noted in my email a couple of days ago: Live it up this year, the "good old days" are now.
Scaup numbers this year are actually slightly above the long term average we havent seen numbers like this in years.

IF we get cold weather, and you have water in your area (we always have water on the coast and our grassbeds are looking great), this should be a great season.

But if the drought holds over this winter, all bets are off for next years duck production.
 
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Anyone heard what the central flyway is going to get for scaup? Last I saw our state proposal was for only 2.

Tim
 
The FWS has NOT approved or proposed a scaup limit yet. The FWS did indicate to the flyways what the harvest strategy would recommend with the current population level and realized harvest. The flyways are all proposing the liberal scaup package under the harvest strategy. The FWS will here that and discuss tomorrow, on Thursday they will announce their proposed regulations. The harvest strategy calls for a liberal package on scaup this year which includes 4 birds in each the Atlantic and Mississippi Flyway, 6 birds in the Central and 7 birds in the Pacific. See page 21 in this report http://www.flyways.us/sites/default/files/uploads/2012_ahm_report.pdf
 
The FWS has NOT approved or proposed a scaup limit yet. The FWS did indicate to the flyways what the harvest strategy would recommend with the current population level and realized harvest. The flyways are all proposing the liberal scaup package under the harvest strategy. The FWS will here that and discuss tomorrow, on Thursday they will announce their proposed regulations. The harvest strategy calls for a liberal package on scaup this year which includes 4 birds in each the Atlantic and Mississippi Flyway, 6 birds in the Central and 7 birds in the Pacific. See page 21 in this report http://www.flyways.us/.../2012_ahm_report.pdf

Brad, I have never seen a scaup since I moved to New Mexico. It is good to hear that they have begun to recover in numbers so that those hunters who see them can once again have some good gunning.
Al
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Brent,

The way I see it, if you shoot your two and bluebills continue bombing into your decoys, it was worth waking up. I am curious if New York will amend the proposed regs, assuming the liberal plan for bluebills is officially adopted. In my at least 17 years of paying attention, I can't remember New York ever changing the proposed regs, but I'm sure it has happened.

Mike
 
I would have a hard time believing that any of the states will not adopt the prescribed framework. But then strangers things have happened over the years......
 
I would have a hard time believing that any of the states will not adopt the prescribed framework. But then strangers things have happened over the years......
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Carl, just last season did Virginia finally allow 6 birds. As long as I can remember, while the AF was at 6 birds, VA was at 5. So, I will be very pleased if they give us the liberal BB limit. We certainly see decent numbers of them, though see nearly as many Cans some days.
 
I know it's just a small snapshot, but we had more scaup around than ever before last year. I really hope that they manage to keep their numbers up!
 
I would have a hard time believing that any of the states will not adopt the prescribed framework. But then strangers things have happened over the years......
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Carl, just last season did Virginia finally allow 6 birds. As long as I can remember, while the AF was at 6 birds, VA was at 5. So, I will be very pleased if they give us the liberal BB limit. We certainly see decent numbers of them, though see nearly as many Cans some days.
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WOW, that is mind-boggling! What was their justification???????
 
Justification? Surely you jest..... this is the Great Commonwealth... where the ABC stores are now open on Sunday, but we are still not allowed to hunt on Sunday. I can fish, drink, shop, shoot, everything once controlled by Blue Laws, but still can not hunt. Came to a vote in committee again this year, and never made it out of committee.

We are too close to DC... not much logic in government here.
 
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I would have a hard time believing that any of the states will not adopt the prescribed framework. But then strangers things have happened over the years......
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How about a friendly side bet. Minnesota, the State where absolutely nothing is allowed, will not allow the BB limits as proposed. The DNR's role here is to protect the game and satisfy the non hunters desires all at the expenses of those footing the bill.

Stay tuned......

And unlike Dave above in his post, we can hunt Sundays but we can't buy a beer on a Sunday. Luckily it is a 10 minute drive across State lines to where I can buy beer, and fireworks which also are not allowed in MN if they shoot anything in the air.

Mark W
 
Has there been any scientific discussion on why Scaup have mounted a 7 year come back?
 
I have not heard anything yet but habitat conditions have been consistently good, with pond numbers above the LTA since 2004, with one down year in there.
Some biologists are thinking that maybe hunting mortality is additive and not compensatory after all and that the lower limits (combined with better habitat) helped.
Maybe the 10 point days (10 scaup/day with some states having a bonus "black & white duck season") put them into the downward trend and they are just coming out of it.
Maybe the years we had breeding population estimate of 6-7 million plus scaup was an abnormal high, and 4.5 - 5.5 million is the norm. (The LTA is 5.0)

Heck, it also could be some natural long term population cycle.

I am not sure we will ever know. But whatever it is, I like the current trend and hope it continues.
 
This part of an mass email from Brad Bales here in Oregon


Also, FYI, duck seasons will once again be liberal, similar dates to last year. Bag limits for mallards unchanged, 2 pintails, 1 canvasback for the entire season, with the biggest change being 7 scaup daily for the entire duck season.
Brad Bales
Migratory Game Bird Program
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
Looks like we will be seeing the 7 bird limit in Oregon. I kind of liked 3 since most people didn't feel it was worth it to hunt them. Very little competition and I could always get the spot I wanted. I am curious to see how many brand new spreads of bluebills I will see.... Still a lot of hunters here see divers as "trash ducks"
 
It is my understanding that our daily bag limits are still to be determined for the ducks. We did get a nice season date change for the North and South zone. Coastal could have been better and we objected to it but at the request of the Director of Fish and Wildlife, we agreed to back off and do a statewide survey.

But this is pretty cool....and has been this way for a few years.(New Jersey)
C​
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ANADA GOOSE​
September Season​
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(Statewide)​
Sept. 1 - Sept. 29​
Daily bag limit: 15 Canada geese​
The following special regulations apply:​
1. Electronic calls permitted​
2. Shotguns capable of holding no more than 7 shells (including magazine and chamber) are​
permitted.​
3. Hunting hours: 1/2 hour before sunrise to 1/2 hour after sunset.
 
Mike, the way the dates fall in September, it opens on a Saturday and have 5 Saturdays in the month. That's an added bonus. As much as we need rain, I hope August isn't as wet as last year. It was the wets month on record and the farmers couldn't get in their fields. All my fields still had corn or soybeans into October. Only had water hunts last September.
 
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