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New Proposed Late Waterfowl Zone

DoneRight

DoneRight

PMA Member
I received the following information today for all the waterfowl hunters out there. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

IowaFinalProposal.jpg



A plan has been laid out to propose changes to Iowa’s current 2 zone (north/south) waterfowl (duck and goose) structure to add a “Late Zone” along the Missouri River, the Des Moines River and Cedar River corridors as well as incorporating nearly all of Mississippi’s pool 19. The dates for the structure changes will incorporate the current start and end season dates (south zone would open the weekend prior to pheasant season) with the proposed “Late Zone” starting the week following the south zone and ending one week after the south zone.

Reasoning and benefits of additional zone:

* Offers hunters an additional week of hunting opportunity
* Rivers and reservoirs maintain open water later in season providing water & field opportunities beyond current season close dates
* River corridors are public land, open to hunting outside of urban zones
* More accurately aligns season dates to hunting opportunities and peak bird numbers in specific areas
* Few changes to those outside proposed late zone
* All major marshes remain in current zone
* If hunters in “Late Zone” wish to hunt earlier in season, they are within 30 miles of earlier season opportunities
** If/when moderate or restrictive seasons are implemented; a 3 zone structure would give the opportunity to maximize our days in the field and the ability to align all zones with season dates that reflect peak fowl numbers
** Current season structure has been focused on early season hunters. This proposal offers late season hunters the opportunity to hunt when they prefer while not restricting early season hunter opportunities.

Would you support the proposed zone changes and addition of a “Late Zone” option for Iowa?
Yes __________ No ___________


Name:
Address:
Email:


Please email me at [email protected] if you support the above zone proposal.
When you e-mail please include your name, address, and e-mail. This information will not be used for anything other than this petition.
 
This is a great proposal and needs to get more support. This is the kind of thing we can get passed if we work together and send large amounts of emails to the decision makers.

Its easy and only takes a few minutes of your time, email Jeff at [email protected] and ask him to put your name on the list! Iowa's waterfowl regs and zones are way out of date and are in desperate need of reconstruction.

HELP OUT!!!!

:way:
 
A couple of questions I am wondering.

1. Why does the late zone run to Des Moines and the Waterloo area. (River System)?

2. Are we still mandated by the Federal Migratory regs on only so long a season?

Reason I am asking is because I still do not understand why even in the North Zone it

is not open later into the season. (January)?

Seems like there could be a lot more late season hunting there without hurting the population, or the ducks do not even come down until the season is closed.
 
risto2351 said:
A couple of questions I am wondering.

1. Why does the late zone run to Des Moines and the Waterloo area. (River System).
Click to expand...

Following the Des Moines and Cedar River. I think this would cover trying to reduce metro area geese that stage and never leave. Trying to hunt them when they go out to feed as well.
 
Thanks for the info.

To me the goose season has been extended and seems to be pretty liberal.

I don't think it would have much affect on the geese pushing them South.
Most of them roost within the City Limits anyway and are not hassled except for when they feed.

The ducks on the other hand is what concerns me as far as length of season
in the North zone.

Thanks again for the information.
 
i think they need to push all dates back, the good push of geese never show up until the last week of november (in a good year) and generally hang around until the end of jan, we obviously need to change our seasons to allocate for the changing flight patterns of the birds because the traditional seasons just aren't getting it done anymore
 
North Zone seems to get screwed every year, and even the south zone its seems the ducks dont get here until the last week or even the last couple of days the past couple of years.

I don't really know if this just pertains to ducks or to geese as well. If it applied to geese that would mean Jan 17th or 18th (which seems a little late) would be the end date for goose in the 3rd zone and somewhere around Christmas for ducks in the 3rd zone I would guess.
 
risto2351 said:
34?? What did I miss?

I would just close them all on Jan. 10th. ??
Click to expand...

Highway 34 , & closing everything on the tenth would make every thing a lot easier to remember.
 
risto2351 said:
A couple of questions I am wondering.

1. Why does the late zone run to Des Moines and the Waterloo area. (River System)?

2. Are we still mandated by the Federal Migratory regs on only so long a season?

Reason I am asking is because I still do not understand why even in the North Zone it

is not open later into the season. (January)?

Seems like there could be a lot more late season hunting there without hurting the population, or the ducks do not even come down until the season is closed.
Click to expand...

The Wloo/CF area and DSM urban areas are included because of the amount of waterfowl that winter in those areas long after the season closes. Both of these areas, as well as Cedar Rapids hold very large, huntable numbers of birds well past most of the rest of the state's ice-up. These areas also hold few birds early in the season with the exception of Saylorville and Red Rock.

Yes, we are still regulated by the USFWS and only allowed the maximum number of DUCK hunting days in the state. Currently the USFWS is using the liberal season framework and in all liklihood, that will be the case next year as well. However, should the current dry trend continue coupled with the severe loss of habitat in Iowa, the Dakotas and southern Canada, I think anyone would be naieve to think that we're not going to be back to moderate or a restrictive season structure before too awfully long. This proposal gives the state added flexibility should a moderate/restrictive season come into play by being able to stagger season dates to maximize hunter time in the field while still abiding by the federal framework.

The reason we cannot simply push the north and south zone dates later is because the state conducted a survey at the end of the 2010 season and compiled the results last year which showed the VAST majority of waterfowlers prefer to hunt early in the season. While I don't enjoy hunting during that time, as well as many others, the survey is statistically vaild and it's very difficult to completely ignore those numbers. However, that survey was a depiction of the state as a whole, not a specified region such as this proposal, so the survey results do not hold nearly as much weight when trying to counter this proposal.
 
DoneRight said:
North Zone seems to get screwed every year, and even the south zone its seems the ducks dont get here until the last week or even the last couple of days the past couple of years.

I don't really know if this just pertains to ducks or to geese as well. If it applied to geese that would mean Jan 17th or 18th (which seems a little late) would be the end date for goose in the 3rd zone and somewhere around Christmas for ducks in the 3rd zone I would guess.
Click to expand...

This would pertain to ducks and geese.

Using our current season date structure, the late zone would open 1 week after the south zone, thus ending around the 22nd of December for ducks and the 18th for geese with some variance for shifting calendar dates. Another way to look at it for duck season would be the late zone would open on Halloween weekend, the south zone the weekend prior and the north zone the weekend prior to that.
 
risto2351 said:
34?? What did I miss?

I would just close them all on Jan. 10th. ??
Click to expand...

Moving the zone to Hwy 34 simply encorporates more of the state into the late zone while not following the premise of only trying to include the major urban areas along major rivers and reservoirs.

There's absolutely no way to please everyone when making a change - for that matter, not everyone is satisfied currently. But I think the proposal is a good step in the right direction with a good amount of compromise. None of the major "surveyed" marshes are included in the late zone nor are they moved from the current zone they are in. The early hunters get to keep hunting when they want to and the late season hunters get their opportunity to chase ducks when there's snow on the ground and piles and piles and piles of mallards around.
 
Gude,

Thank you for the explanations.

I agree with you that everyone will never be happy with whatever you do.

I used to hunt waterfowl exclusively but when the nice winters came and

the mallards came through after season for a few years everything was sold.

It has seemed to be the trend for quite a few years.

Too bad the USFW couldn't be tweaked a little bit.

Seems like a lot of birds are getting past us only to get shot

farther South with their liberal seasons ?

Thanks again.
 
Thanks for the added info Jeff. You have a very clear and well presented plan. I hope we are helping this cause.
 
hotshott2289 said:
i think they need to push all dates back, the good push of geese never show up until the last week of november (in a good year) and generally hang around until the end of jan, we obviously need to change our seasons to allocate for the changing flight patterns of the birds because the traditional seasons just aren't getting it done anymore
Click to expand...

Exactly. Why make the regulations more confusing. Leave the two zones the same and push both seasons back a week.
 
Gude said:
Refer to post #11, it addresses both items fully.
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I read it. However, the last figures I heard was that there are less than 20,000 waterfowl hunters/licenses sold in Iowa. Many of those are like me. I buy the migratory stamps every year to support the resource but probably haven't hunted waterfowl three of the last seven years. And in those years, I bet not more than a couple times. You would still have the early teal season which is when 90% of the waterfowl hunters go. I only know a few waterfowl hunters (over water/duck) that hunt after the opening weekend of teal season. The majority of waterfowl hunters I know hunt geese over land. I will bet that you don't affect license sales at all keeping the zones the same and just moving the season dates back. As far as waterfowl wintering in the some of these areas...big deal. There are usually 10,000 geese that winter on West Okoboji in NW Iowa every year. There will always be waterfowl wintering on various bodies of water throughout the State as long as there is not much snow cover, if they can find food they will keep some local body of water open. Therefore move the season dates back and keep the zones the same. Need to simplify the regs not complicate them.
 
I really don't care what they do for duck season, as in my lifetime they just never seem to hang in Iowa too much but i sure would enjoy being able to goose hunt until the end of jan. I just think it pointless to open the regular goose season in october when you dont have a good push of birds for three weeks if not a month later.
 
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