2020-2021 western zone season dates

[thejigger]

We had a meeting via conference call on Saturday. The Goose limit of 2 and 30 day season is still in effect for the West central zone. The question was asked if there was any chance of the Atlantic Flyway council getting us back to a 50 day, 3 bird limit anytime soon and the answer was no. No flight observations are taking place over the breeding grounds this year due to the Corona virus. 

Duck                                Oct 17 thru Nov 8, Nov 28 thru Jan 3

West Central goose         Oct 24 thru Nov 8, Dec 21 thru Jan 3

South goose                     Oct 24 thru Jan 9

Youth weekend                Oct 3 and 4

Veteran/Military                Wed, Nov 11 AND Sat, Nov 14

Brant                                Oct 3 thru Nov 21

Scaup                               First 40 days of duck season the limit is 1, the last 20 days of the season the limit is 2

Good luck and safe hunting

Edited April 13, 2020 by thejigger

[Missdemeanor]

I initially heard the season dates were going to be the same for 5 years then re-evaluated... Is that correct? Just wondering how long we are stuck with these dates

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[thejigger]

Yes, the duck season dates will be the same for 5 years, then be re-evaluated.

[troutman10]

So who picks the season dates now? Seems that the task force way was better. You'd sit for hours in a day just to still disagree bc one group or another would be shafted. That was still better than however it's done now. Too bad they cant split up the regions to accommodate hunters better.  

[suttontroller94]

Jigger is you're part of this group I'd  kindly like to ask you to please bring up the March goose season in the southern zone. Extremely disappointing that they got rid of that. It's far more successful in helping to control the populations of the "park geese" that don't leave those parks all September long. If banding data helps, which is what it's for, I'm sure there are many of us I'm the southern tier with band report after band report of local geese killed in the March season. Id bet money that it's more successful than September season is.

Edited May 4, 2020 by suttontroller94

[sandwick50]

My friend is a wildlife biologist with DEC.  He said the reason they shut down the March season is that there has been a number of AP goose bands showing up in the returns.  Given the decline in the AP population they thought it best to err on the side of caution and close it.  That’s all I’ve got on the subject.

[suttontroller94]

10 hours ago, sandwick50 said:

My friend is a wildlife biologist with DEC.  He said the reason they shut down the March season is that there has been a number of AP goose bands showing up in the returns.  Given the decline in the AP population they thought it best to err on the side of caution and close it.  That’s all I’ve got on the subject.

Crazy. More AP birds are killed in the last 2 weeks of September than during March and that's undeniable. Piles of ~100 geese and they tell us the March season and regular season are what's hurting the population. Let them go back to the 8bird per person per day during September and put the plugs back in if they want to see a difference....

[sandwick50]

You make the same argument that I made. DEC’s response:  those aren’t AP geese being killed in late Sept when everyone sees the big push.  Those are Ontario/Quebec’s resident birds.  They clam only a very small fraction of the birds killed with bands at that time are AP birds.  My response to that is that only a very, very small fraction of AP birds are banded, therefore you should not expect to see many band returns.  Nope, you’re wrong, the so called experts say.

[suttontroller94]

9 minutes ago, sandwick50 said:

You make the same argument that I made. DEC’s response:  those aren’t AP geese being killed in late Sept when everyone sees the big push.  Those are Ontario/Quebec’s resident birds.  They clam only a very small fraction of the birds killed with bands at that time are AP birds.  My response to that is that only a very, very small fraction of AP birds are banded, therefore you should not expect to see many band returns.  Nope, you’re wrong, the so called experts say.

Agree with you 100percent. Rarely ever hear of a bird banded in Quebec/Ontario being killed I'm September either. It's crazy that guys can sit behind a desk and make all the decisions. I honestly hope the populations continue to drop under these new regulations so maybe they can realize just what joker's they are and maybe they took the wrong route

[sandwick50]

The irony is I am a retired career DEC employee who started out in F&W.  Moved on to another division after 8 years when no opportunity for advancement.  Best decision of my life.  

[thejigger]

On 5/3/2020 at 9:30 PM, suttontroller94 said:

Jigger is you're part of this group I'd  kindly like to ask you to please bring up the March goose season in the southern zone. Extremely disappointing that they got rid of that. It's far more successful in helping to control the populations of the "park geese" that don't leave those parks all September long. If banding data helps, which is what it's for, I'm sure there are many of us I'm the southern tier with band report after band report of local geese killed in the March season. Id bet money that it's more successful than September season is.

sandwick50 hit the nail on the head  with his reply. I totally agree that we should be able to kill geese in late January, February and early March, not only in the South zone but also the entire Western zone. That change was made at the federal level. AP geese have migrated out of the area by then and the geese left in the Finger Lakes are "park geese". Not saying that some AP geese aren't still around and that some aren't killed in early March when the season used to be open, but as we all know, waterfowl hunting is very weather related, and the weather has been weird the last several years, to say the least. I totally agree with returning to an 8 per person limit in September, increasing the limit to 15 was a mistake IMO.

[sandwick50]

15 bird limit was the kiss of death for resident hunting in my area.  Groups going out and routinely taking 90-100 birds at a crack, now wondering what happened to the hunting.  Duh, it’s not an inexhaustible resource.  Hunting now sucks until new “resident” geese magically show up in the 3rd week.

[Missdemeanor]

Waterfowl hunting in NY blows now anyway... Birds migrate down on cold snaps in December. Usually when the first season is just ending or after its closed. They have time to get acclimated to the area, find feed and settle in.
Now they arrive... Fly into a Hot LZ and never get a chance to settle in. Last year I saw big flocks arrive, get shot at by every dock or Floating bush and then hauled the mail. The birds that stayed got super stale... Real fast.
I will be spending my money out of state now.

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[suttontroller94]

The people in charge of the laws now clearly have never spent any time watching migrations. Something needs to be done. Seasons and bag limits are screwed up from Canada all the way down the Atlantic flyway.

[SeanP]

I seem to be on the outside of this but I think the new dates are awesome!!! I only wish that the West opened closer to the 1st of Oct.  I Had the best year of the last 15 last years......my logs match what i've noticed as far as numbers of birds after Thanksgiving compared to before.........now in the western zone having the whole month of Dec, it is perfect, although you do need to want to hunt in the cold!!!