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dreaming long
12K views 122 replies 24 participants last post by  Matt 
#1 ·
I think it's been pushed to the back burner again. Every year we talk about shutting down public areas at noon or 1 P.M. Every year an arguement insues. If we as waterfowlers are truly serious at improving the quality of our hunts, I believe this is something that could be a huge 1st step and cost absolutely noting to implement. The more I read about it, the more I see we're missing the boat. Studies have been done many times over and the results are ALWAYS positive.

If someone wants, I can dig the data back up and post it. We continue to be laughed at by neighboring states. I'm sure that people are going to post up a variety of reasons why this won't work for them. That...there in... lies the problem.... It isn't suppose to work for you. It's suppose to work for the ducks. If we had an early closure trial like just doing it Monday thru Friday and let the kids hunt all day on the weekends, that would be a starting point and allow us to collect some data. If you want to hunt afternoons during the week.....Find a field,stream,pond on some private ground and have at it.

Other states have done the ground work and provided numbers that truly are mind boggling. Instead of us getting some nasty weather that blows in a bunch of ducks and we kill them for a day or 2.....lets kill them all week and all month. If the ducks can just get some adequate time each day to be left alone and loaf, there is a far better chance of them sticking around day after day after day. I'm sure anyone in Missouri just loves the way we operate. They can't wait for the ducks to show up in Iowa. We blast the heck out of them and food is scarce. They know darn well, when the Mallards make it to Iowa, their only a day or 2 away from moving through and hitting what is fast becoming.....the promised land for waterfowl.

We'll never know for sure until we try it.

Opinions????
 
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#2 ·
I think that it would improve the hunting alot. Alot of the places that I hunt people seem to like to walk in in the afternoons and jump shoot birds and leave. I would be in favor of this if it was just on public areas like you stated and then open all weekend. Theres too many fools out there though that wouldnt do it though and it would probably generate some revenue thrugh violation tickets.
 
#3 ·
I am in total agreement here, but you'll NEVER get that passed here. Same reason as with the later dates. Iowa will tell you it's for the majority of the hunters, which in there eyes are fair weather hunters. I am all for it and will disperse my own email to all that need to be contacted. I encourage all that like thisidea to follow along.

Lance
 
#5 ·
Good idea, however we are not comparing apples to apples.
Look at ALL the public ground in Mo.
I would love to be able to get off the lake by noon with a limit or with some ducks, but with limited areas to hunt here in Ia it is after noon when the birds start to trickle back.
Another example Mo. has 3 zones to hunt, we have the same opening and closing dates.
When guys in Northern Ia. are ice fishing the first weekend in Dec. we have open water down here in SW Ia and I cannot hunt because the season is over, Why?
Yes I can travel to find birds but again why have the same dates state wide?
Birds migrate with weather, common sense tells you it is suppose to get colder north before it does in the south!
Why kill a teal or a wood duck in Sept. when you can harvest Mallards in Dec. and no bugs!!!!!!!!!!!
Just my 1.75 cents
Dean
 
#9 ·
Gude said:
Reverse pyschology.
:)

It's great for you guys who can hunt in the mornings.. that's for sure.

But really, I think you guys are missing the mark with the early closing.
It seems Iowa's ability to HOLD ducks is weak at best. Closing things down at 1:00 isn't going to solve that. How about closing more areas in public land as actual refuges? How about making these refuges appealing to waterfowl?

Early closing is a band-aid as far as Iowa is concerned... at least that's my opinion. I hunted in IL for a couple years (public land closes at 1:00). It works great down there, but they also have flooded corn refuges that are closed throughout the season.

Ducks aren't stupid. They'll be 25,000 there... you'll see every one of them, but they also know the drill.

All in, early closing would help, but I'd rather see them close shooting at actual legal shooting time. I'll often pick up decoys and watch the ducks/geese fly after shooting time. Every single time I was out last season there were people shooting 30+ (up to 50 or so) minutes after sunset.
 
#14 ·
bustinbeaks said:
Sorry, better clarify to the folk.

Any and all PUBLIC HUNTING areas in the state of Iowa shall be closed to WATERFOWL hunting after 1pm during the coinciding seasons.
I understand exactly what you're saying.

I'm saying... they can make seasons now... they could have a two day season if they wanted.
But I'd like to know how many will still hunt in the afternoon anyway. In my experience most guys on the public land couldn't care less about time they are supposed to cease hunting. They just keep on a poachin' right on after sunset... I have a hard time thining 1:00 is gonna stop them.
 
#15 ·
Unfortunately you can make any kind of rule and the rule breakers will always break them. We can't make guidelines around these folks, the times, seasons, and limits must be made with the law abiders in mind.

Unfortunately you will never seen a ton more refuges put in place due to the overwhelming complaints of the folks to the south of us say we are ALREADY holding up the natural migration process.

I'm in total favor of closing down the hunt say 1 pm on WATER ONLY. Allowing for field hunting at the evening feed time. Thus giving us an opportunity to hunt yet not busting up the roosts for half the day.

DocRay said:
bustinbeaks said:
Sorry, better clarify to the folk.

Any and all PUBLIC HUNTING areas in the state of Iowa shall be closed to WATERFOWL hunting after 1pm during the coinciding seasons.
I understand exactly what you're saying.

I'm saying... they can make seasons now... they could have a two day season if they wanted.
But I'd like to know how many will still hunt in the afternoon anyway. In my experience most guys on the public land couldn't care less about time they are supposed to cease hunting. They just keep on a poachin' right on after sunset... I have a hard time thining 1:00 is gonna stop them.
 
#16 ·
Not hunting after 1 p.m. on public marshes or even lakes is a good practice possibly even a good rule/law that could be presented. But I dont think in my opion that it is the cure all answer. I believe we need more refuge areas and split marshes that are refuge and public hunting. If you have ever been to Riverton I think that is a well ran marsh that is mostly refuge. I know alot of guys that try hard to be out of there no later than two oclock, but as some have stated before in Iowa it can get pretty hot and heavy right around noon to two oclock when the birds are filtering back in. Moral of the story, MORE REFUGE AREAS. There are lots and lots of good ethical hunters out there lets not weigh so heavy on the guys that pot hole jump ducks and geese. There will always be one bad egg.
 
#17 ·
I agree more/better refuges would be nice HOWEVER; a no cost, immediate step in the right direction would be to shut down public water hunting by 1:00.

Now try to use the not enough manpower or not enough money or don't check my email but once a week(sorry that was the last argument)

Like I said.....No cost with immedaite improvement hmmmmmm......We won't do it
 
#18 ·
J. Abbas,
The 1 PM on water only sounds great, better than closing it all together. But what constitutes water... Could I put six dozen full bodies on the side of a pond and hunt that way? That'd be a difficult one to write. Then you'd be talking "400 yards from water" does that mean creeks too? Could a CO write you up for being too close to a puddle in a ditch?

I'm sure the legal beagles could figure it out :)
 
#20 ·
The only way I would support it is if it was done every day and not left open all day on the weekends and what not. Why would it help to do it some days and not others? Also if you are going to try it try it on a few bigger public areas and see what happens before jumping into it full bore.
 
#21 ·
Make it simple.... PUBLIC LAND

How many field hunting opportunites are there on public land in Iowa?

If you walk past a green sign after 1pm...you better not be wacking any waterfowls.

More refuge areas is NOT going to happen anytime soon. Sustainable Funding gets voted in, we may see more habitat on the map by 2016 if we are lucky.
 
#22 ·
bustinbeaks said:
Make it simple.... PUBLIC LAND

How many field hunting opportunites are there on public land in Iowa?

If you walk past a green sign after 1pm...you better not be wacking any waterfowls.

More refuge areas is NOT going to happen anytime soon. Sustainable Funding gets voted in, we may see more habitat on the map by 2016 if we are lucky.
bustinbeaks I agree with you about it is not going to happen anytime soon, but it is just on my wish list.

Just a question though, and I have no idea how it works but how much work would it really take to divided or close off a bunch of public marshes, ponds, lake, ect. and make them refuge areas. I would even throw on the wadders and get my post pounder and a couple wrenches, let the bean counters take care of the paper work in the regs. But I am very uneducated on what it would take so does anyone have an idea of what it would take?
 
#23 ·
I think there is a lot more political red tape involved in creating refuge then just moving a few signs. Seems like it should be that easy. I know it won't happen either, but I would almost like to see blind stakes in a few of the public marshes in iowa just to keep some of the crowding under control and to keep people back away from the refuge lines a bit. there is plenty of room to hunt in a lot of those places, but people will crowd right up on the line even if you are already set up a ways back in the same line.

I would have no problems with hunting being closed down in the afternoon on public land in the afternoon. I have had a lot of great water hunts in the afternoon, but if it means that ducks stick around longer, or that it will create better opportunities in the field...I can handle that. For me its a lot easier to set up quickly in a field for an afternoon shoot after work then it is to get a boat all rigged up.
 
#24 ·
I would be completley against it. I have had many many great afternoon hunts on the public marshes. Latley they have been better than the morning hunts because I have less yahoos to contend with.
 
#25 ·
Missing the Point!

And you realize what that does to the mindset of the ducks....correct?

What if you woke up in the morning,,,,,,got punched in the mouth.....went to McDonalds for breakfeast,,,,,,got punched in the mouth,,,,,,,,went back to your house (Still Hungry) got met at your doorstep and punched in the mouth again?

How many days are you going to try this routine before you say,,,,, "I"M MOVING!

Read back to the very 1st post......It's not a personal preference. It's what's best for the ducks to keep them around longer. True waterfowlers can still adapt their styles and strategies to kill afternoon ducks (Not on Public Land) and the ducks won't feel near the pressure as they're getting now.

It's tried and proven.....it's free....what more could 1 possibly want?
 
#26 ·
I personaly think this is a great idea and had already sent an email to zenner about a week ago,and he replied with this response.

"In regards to half-day hunting, it has been tried in several locations in the Mississippi Flyway in the past. Unfortunately, in most cases, it was not rigorously tested. In some cases, the results showed increased numbers of ducks using the areas, but increased hunter success was inconclusive because there are a multitude of factors that influence hunter success besides numbers of ducks. In most cases, good pretreatment data was lacking. This idea is difficult to test because of the problems in designing a rigorous experiment that will give you conclusive results. If you monitor duck harvests, hunter success, and duck use of an area for 5 years with all day hunting and then close hunting at noon and monitor it for another 5 years, you might see changes. But would those changes be due to closing at noon or due to other factors, like changes in the duck breeding population and fall flight, changes in the fall weather, changes in habitat on the area (our wetlands don’t have the same habitat conditions year to year), or even changes in habitat on surrounding areas (even private land). Or, you could test this idea using paired areas, i.e., one area with a noon closure and another without. But you would have to do this on numerous paired areas (e.g., 6- 10 pairs) to account for the differences in duck use, habitats, and hunter use of the areas, ideally for a series of years. In either case, you would have to control hunting by checking people in and out so you could monitor hunting effort and success. That takes staff and money, both of which we have less of with each passing year.

The bottom line is that the IA DNR’s Wildlife Bureau does not have the money to test this idea. In a state with 95% of its wetlands drained and converted to other uses, I think we are better off using our money to restore habitat than trying to fine tune harvest opportunities. If the IA DNR’s Wildlife Bureau can find some additional sources of funding in the future, this would make a good experiment."

Thanks again for your input.

Guy

Guy Zenner

Waterfowl Research Biologist

Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources

1203 N. Shore Drive

Clear Lake, IA 50428

phone: 641-357-3517

e-mail: guy.zenner@dnr.iowa.gov

All we can do is keep asking them!
 
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