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MOTTLED DUCK HARVEST OFF LIMITS FIRST FIVE DAYS
Duck hunters in Texas will have to keep an eye peeled for dusky ducks and fingers off the trigger during the first five days of the season, as concern about mottled duck populations have forced a delay in harvest. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is holding Texas and Louisiana to a 20 per-cent harvest reduction on mottled ducks, citing a need for additional conserva-tion based on estimated population declines resulting from major storms in recent years and slow habitat recovery due to extended drought conditions. While Louisiana will be trimming its daily bag limit on mottled ducks from three birds to one to meet its 20 percent reduction in harvest, Texas can achieve the same goal with a five-day delay at the start of the season. “We ran our harvest-per-day numbers on mottled ducks and determined we could wait and open hunting of mottled ducks on the sixth day of the season and achieve a 20 percent reduction because we were already at one dusky duck per day (mottled duck, Mexican-like duck or black duck),†said Vernon Bevill, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department program director for small game. Bevill went on to say that mottled ducks are a front-end loaded species with the majority of the harvest occurring early in the season. “The sixth day falls on a Thursday (Nov. 5) and by opening on a weekday, we feel mottled ducks will get a quick education before the hunting pressure goes back up on the second week-end,†he said. “They have suffered the impacts of several hurricanes destroying their breeding areas and flushing the wetlands with high salinities and destroying their food sources.†Due to similarities in appearance, all dusky ducks will be off limits during the first five days of the season, with a daily bag limit of one starting on Thursday, Nov. 5, in the North and South Zones. In the High Plains Mallard Management Unit, dusky ducks may not be taken until Nov. 2.
MOTTLED DUCK HARVEST OFF LIMITS FIRST FIVE DAYS
Duck hunters in Texas will have to keep an eye peeled for dusky ducks and fingers off the trigger during the first five days of the season, as concern about mottled duck populations have forced a delay in harvest. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is holding Texas and Louisiana to a 20 per-cent harvest reduction on mottled ducks, citing a need for additional conserva-tion based on estimated population declines resulting from major storms in recent years and slow habitat recovery due to extended drought conditions. While Louisiana will be trimming its daily bag limit on mottled ducks from three birds to one to meet its 20 percent reduction in harvest, Texas can achieve the same goal with a five-day delay at the start of the season. “We ran our harvest-per-day numbers on mottled ducks and determined we could wait and open hunting of mottled ducks on the sixth day of the season and achieve a 20 percent reduction because we were already at one dusky duck per day (mottled duck, Mexican-like duck or black duck),†said Vernon Bevill, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department program director for small game. Bevill went on to say that mottled ducks are a front-end loaded species with the majority of the harvest occurring early in the season. “The sixth day falls on a Thursday (Nov. 5) and by opening on a weekday, we feel mottled ducks will get a quick education before the hunting pressure goes back up on the second week-end,†he said. “They have suffered the impacts of several hurricanes destroying their breeding areas and flushing the wetlands with high salinities and destroying their food sources.†Due to similarities in appearance, all dusky ducks will be off limits during the first five days of the season, with a daily bag limit of one starting on Thursday, Nov. 5, in the North and South Zones. In the High Plains Mallard Management Unit, dusky ducks may not be taken until Nov. 2.
