# Never too early to discuss Season Dates.



## goosemanrdk (Jan 14, 2003)

I am sure I may regret this, but I have tried to put something together date wise that just maybe could give everyone a DECENT slice of what they would like from the seasons. This is based on trying to get as "much" as I can for my constituents but also taking into account the other waterfowlers that have a say as well.

So, assuming no change in zones and a 60day season:

Zone 1 
9/24-10/2, then 10/8-11/27

Zone 2
10/1-10/9, then 10/15-12/4

Zone 3 
10/8-10/16, then 10/22-12/11

Rationale:
3 Seperate openers for each zone.
Consistency for the seasons in each zone(ie each opens for 9, closes for 5, re-opens and runs out.)
Having re-openers be at a time of the year when EVERYONE can participate(ie nothing is froze)
Zone1, get westsiders as early opener as possible and only jip them out of 5 days, albeit weekdays, rather than 7 like last year, but also get the eastside guys their later run time.
Zone 2, get the early guys their opener, and still get the late guys their later time.
Zone 3, get the early guys their opener, and get the late guys some time that they would like.

beneficial by products:
3 seperate first day openers available for EVERYONE(ie those willing to travel).
2 Reopeners available for EVERYONE.
79 available days of duckhunting somewhere in Michigan.

Constructive thoughts?


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## lewy149 (Apr 19, 2007)

I like it. Seasons don't really matter working shift work. I get ample time. But I like giving local birds a week off and going later.


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## waterfowlhunter83 (Aug 10, 2005)

I bet this thread goes 10 pages + :lol:

What have you done Rob...


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## Ruger-44 (Apr 2, 2009)

Man you are a glutton for punishment aren't you? I think those dates would work. A lot better than what we usually have.


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## anon2192012 (Jul 27, 2008)

From a west siders perspective it is a start, but not that great. 5 days is not enough of a split to rest birds to any degree. Also, that only gives us one more week into Dec. which is not enough. I'll catch some heat for this, but give us at least two weeks or give us nothing and we'll keep the late 2 day gimme hunt.


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## casscityalum (Aug 27, 2007)

Huntermax-4 said:


> From a west siders perspective it is a start, but not that great. 5 days is not enough of a split to rest birds to any degree. Also, that only gives us one more week into Dec. which is not enough. I'll catch some heat for this, but give us at least two weeks or give us nothing and we'll keep the late 2 day gimme hunt.



I sorta agree right now. I hunt all over the place, and if the seasons are opened like 2 years ago(3 different openers) my group plans on hitting every opener, and then almost every weekend after that besides getting in a little rut hunting with the stick and string 

So like max-4 said, i could def use another week into december, but if not then i like the split in Jan. Ya I cant hunt the bay most likely in Jan, but have other options farther south now


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## decoy706 (Jul 28, 2006)

Well I hate to bust your bubble but it ain't gonna happen.
With the deer baiting ban gone the state wants those deer hunters not waterfowlers in the field.
Besides that the Bay hunters will probably be opposed and facts show they carry ALOT of weight with the DNR and Natural Resources Commission


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## highcaliberconsecrator (Oct 16, 2009)

This is gettin' good. Not even off the first page. Those darn deer hunters. 

Forget the 2day! Gimme a week in January!!!! :evil:


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## bombcast (Sep 16, 2003)

highcaliberconsecrator said:


> This is gettin' good. Not even off the first page. Those darn deer hunters.
> 
> Forget the 2day! Gimme a week in January!!!! :evil:



Or just an extra 7-10 days in December.


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## cupped-n-locked (Jan 5, 2006)

It's never to early to discuss the season dates ..........


BUT IT'S ALWAYS A WASTE OF TIME SUGGESTING CHANGE........


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## lang49 (Aug 1, 2005)

I'd like to see a 2 week split in zone 2. What you proposed isn't really any better than last year. An additional week in December is what i'd like to see.


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## Bow Hunter Brandon (Jan 15, 2003)

As far as the UP zone proposed dates. I would be extremely disappointed if that were our actual season. I don't see a really good way to use the split in the UP this year with the way the dates are falling.


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## Time_Will_Tell (Apr 5, 2009)

This state when it comes to duck hunters bend over for the corn row hunters god forbid they hunt late season there corn might be frozen dont get me wrong im all for the managment area hunts but ask some die hard hunters exspecially if they hunt divers they want the season to go as late as they possiably can get it so if your going to do a split let they guys blast away at the woodducks and such for a week or 2 shut it down for a few weeks and run it right out to the end of the year. another thing michigan gets screwed over on is an early teal season if you want to shoot the little buggers early ya have to go to Ohio or some were ! Just my rants so hope i dont crap in anyones cornflakes :evilsmile


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## anon12162011 (Jun 9, 2009)

Looks good to me...I like the extra week in December over last year and it doesn't hurt my feelings at all for the 2 day to go away....the same birds that are seen on the 2day are there much MUCH longer before that (in reference to divers mainly). I wouldn't mind having the chance to get at them somewhere in early December when its much more likely to get a boat out, versus in January. My best field mallard hunts fell all way before Firearm deer, so from a West Siders perspective, looks good to me. I can't really comment on the UP dates, although I do like the 3 seperate openers. Without cueing up the Toby Keith song "I wanna talk about me" too much and showing selfishness, I think this set of dates provides a great opportunity for a wide array of waterfowlers and their desired species to hunt, places to hunt, methods of hunting, etc. If it were up to me, I'd love to have a week in September to pound the snot out of teal and woodies and I'm with HCC, a week in January would be interesting, along with a couple weeks in December and September, but if I am doing the math, it would take about a 120 day season and people would still bitch and find some BS loophole in the dates. > No matter what, if you had proposed 3 weeks in December, I guarantee someone would say, "Looks o-k, but the last 7 days is really where we should be for late hunting"....never going to make 100% happy.


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## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

I'll chime in before we hit 10 pages :yikes:

We all know not everyone will agree on whatever is proposed. Personally I think what was proposed is a good compromise, and it gives everyone a bit of what they want, but no one gets it all. That's how it should be. 

I think Brandon has a point that a split in the UP may be a waste. But I guess the UP guys need to all chime in, not just Brandon.

And Decoy may be right that the western bay hunters may want an earlier opener. So make their split a bit longer, but still extend out into December.

I guess the real over riding question in my mind is do we want to maintain the Jan weekend, or do we want to "frontload" a split similar to what was proposed? That's really what this is about. And personally I think his proposal is on the right track


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## Blacklab77 (Jun 21, 2006)

Maybe we need to do duck season here in michigan like they hunt gators. Give you X amount of tags. State that Duck season starts on A and finishes on B that way you like mallards/woodies/teal you do all the hunting in sept/oct time. If you like the divers you hold and wait till nov/dec/jan timeframe. When the season closes or you fill all your tags your done.

Get away from this BS of these dates here and these dates here for this sections just give us a start and a finish and let the type of hunter determine where, how, when you spend time in the field.


Just my thoughts


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## bc21 (Dec 15, 2010)

Blacklab77 said:


> Maybe we need to do duck season here in michigan like they hunt gators. Give you X amount of tags. State that Duck season starts on A and finishes on B that way you like mallards/woodies/teal you do all the hunting in sept/oct time. If you like the divers you hold and wait till nov/dec/jan timeframe. When the season closes or you fill all your tags your done.
> 
> Get away from this BS of these dates here and these dates here for this sections just give us a start and a finish and let the type of hunter determine where, how, when you spend time in the field.
> 
> ...


Not a bad idea, I agree, but then how do you satifsfy the hunter who hunts hard all season and won't be satisfied with the number of tags they are allowed?:evilsmile


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## Shiawassee_Kid (Nov 28, 2000)

in before 10 pages.

zone 3:

a front loaded split works if you open on sept 25th or october 1st. opening on october 8th and then splitting is not that attractive as we (srsga) will lose too much season. I personally can give up a week of hunting (december freeze) for a useable second opener (split)...but I personally don't want to give up 3rd week of october to accomplish this.


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## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

Blacklab77 said:


> Maybe we need to do duck season here in michigan like they hunt gators. Give you X amount of tags. State that Duck season starts on A and finishes on B that way you like mallards/woodies/teal you do all the hunting in sept/oct time. If you like the divers you hold and wait till nov/dec/jan timeframe. When the season closes or you fill all your tags your done.
> 
> Get away from this BS of these dates here and these dates here for this sections just give us a start and a finish and let the type of hunter determine where, how, when you spend time in the field.
> 
> ...


I actually drafted a proposal a few years ago to CWAC that was kind of along this line...basically allowing each hunter X total days of hunting, and you pick your dates when you purchase your license from an overall window. for example if we were to have a 60 day season, hunter A could choose a contiguous 60 days between September 24th and January 7th. If you want to hunt early, you front-load your license. If you want to hunt late, you choose as late as possible. The answer I got was that the feds would not approve of such an arrangement because (in theory) 100% of the hunters could choose the same dates, putting severe pressure on the resource. They also told me that the DNR would object because of problems enforcing such a licensing system...the CO's would actually have to CHECK each and every hunter to make sure you had the correct dates to be in the field. Of course my response to that was "don't they have to check now to see if you actually HAVE a license?"

Sorry for the hijack...back to subject please.


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## TSS Caddis (Mar 15, 2002)

Blacklab77 said:


> Maybe we need to do duck season here in michigan like they hunt gators. Give you X amount of tags. State that Duck season starts on A and finishes on B that way you like mallards/woodies/teal you do all the hunting in sept/oct time. If you like the divers you hold and wait till nov/dec/jan timeframe. When the season closes or you fill all your tags your done.
> 
> Get away from this BS of these dates here and these dates here for this sections just give us a start and a finish and let the type of hunter determine where, how, when you spend time in the field.
> 
> ...


Socialist:lol:


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