DEC seeking input on setting dates for waterfowl season

[L&M]

By David Figura/The Post-Standard

March 16, 2010, 5:37AM

The following is a press release.

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Pete Grannis today invited hunters to submit recommendations to regional Waterfowl Hunter Task Forces for the dates of the fall 2010 duck hunting seasons. DEC will evaluate the task force recommendations in setting waterfowl seasons, which must comply with federal rules.

New York is divided into five waterfowl hunting zones: Western, Southeastern, Northeastern, Lake Champlain, and Long Island. DEC recently appointed task forces for each zone (except Lake Champlain, see link below) to solicit recommendations for the fall 2010 hunting seasons, including opening and closing dates, split seasons and a special hunting weekend for youths. Each task force includes representatives from the New York State Conservation Council, established waterfowl hunting organizations and individual waterfowl hunters who were chosen to provide input.

The recommended dates must be within federal guidelines established by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). For fall 2010, DEC expects the USFWS to allow a 60-day duck season, split into no more than two segments per zone, opening no earlier than Sept. 25, 2010, and closing no later than Jan. 30, 2011.

Waterfowl hunters can participate by providing duck season suggestions to any task force member on or before March 25, 2010. Names and contact information for all task force members are listed in alphabetical order in the attached table and on the DEC website.

Comments can be provided by mail, telephone or e-mail. The comment due date is important because the task forces will meet in late March and April and DEC plans to announce tentative duck hunting season dates in June.

Input on hunting seasons for other migratory game birds, including Canada geese, snow geese, brant and woodcock, may be submitted also to any member of DEC's season-setting team. However, due to greater uncertainty about federal regulations for those species, decisions and tentative dates will probably not be known until later in the summer.

Waterfowl seasons in the Lake Champlain Zone will continue to be set by the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Management Board, with input from DEC and waterfowl hunters in New York and Vermont. Although there is no formal task force for this zone, hunters can send their suggestions to any DEC season-setting team member on the attached list.

Descriptions of New York State's waterfowl hunting zones can be found on the DEC website and are also listed in DEC's Waterfowl Hunting Seasons and Regulations brochure.

The tentative waterfowl hunting season dates will be posted on the DEC website and announced by news release in June.

http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/42364.html

[seasquirrel]

Open up duck and goose in Sept. at the same time and close it Febuary1st regardless of the zones. I have a hard time believing that the migration can be predicted very accurately and population can controlled by opening and closing dates the way they do. You have to be a cartographer to see when goose season is open and where. Hardly anyone seems to know exactly when and where it is open. DEC always asks for hunter input but to my knowledge rarely listen to the hunters. Best part of the late season is the very last few days in my observation. Just my observation so take it as you wish.

[axion2090]

i agree 100% i contacted the guy in my region i would love to see something like dec 25th to jan 25th the 14 days is a tease i probably go 6-8 of the days of the late season and always wish it was longer .....and the last few days of the year seem to always be the best because there is so few open water spots they are all compacted into a few areas...i highly doubt any of our input will matter though

[GAMBLER]

Leave the nuisance goose season open longer . They are getting out of control!!!! My dads 28 acre pond had around 150 geese on it last summer.