# season dates need change..



## pikenetter (Mar 28, 2009)

how do we get serious about pushing the start of the season back and extending it into december more?

we all know that once opening day is over the hunting sucks till it gets cold and birds move down here.

that always happens the week before it closes. i would much rather have at least that first week of october moved into december to hunt when the flights are here.

duck humting is more fun in the snow then in shorts and 60degree weather.

just my .02!


----------



## flavo (Aug 30, 2004)

I second the motion! This warm weather stuff is great for a week or so but I like the january 2 day hunt the best and wish we had more December hunts.....think of them as Christmas ducks:lol:


----------



## DEDGOOSE (Jan 19, 2007)

Again....:yikes:

Were we not just talking about a Thanksgiving freeze up a month ago


----------



## Branta (Feb 6, 2002)

mark this date!

I was wondering when the first person would post this up!! 

really thought it'd have been last week over this, but 11/11 will work!


sure has been an odd (temperature wise) season for sure.

wasn't there talk last year or the year before that about moving them up due to "_I missed 2-3 weeks at the end due to freeze up." _!!!


I'm more inclined to always pick a date like "2nd saturday in october" and stick with it. some years, you'll be perfect. others you'll get freeze out and eyt other times... you'll wish it'll carry further into the year.

(i'm grinning right now becuase come mid december I guarantee that guys will be grousing about all the birds they're seeing here, there, .... :rant:


----------



## DEDGOOSE (Jan 19, 2007)

I say best sixty days for you, whether it be Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. DNR gives ya a lil punch card, you punch out a number each time you hunt. Hit sixty punches your done until after the first of Jan. This would accomidate for weather, work, family obligations, migration patterns, other hunting seasons etc etc:gaga:


----------



## idylmoments (Apr 28, 2002)

Or how bout a split? I like shooting the variety of birds early as well as the fat late season mallards.


----------



## LoBrass (Oct 16, 2007)

DEDGOOSE said:


> I say best sixty days for you, whether it be Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. DNR gives ya a lil punch card, you punch out a number each time you hunt. Hit sixty punches your done until after the first of Jan. This would accomidate for weather, work, family obligations, migration patterns, other hunting seasons etc etc:gaga:


I don't think that would fit into the frame work.

Tell you what, everyone quit hunting right now for a week. You will see ducks on every pothole. That's the same thing that happens right after the season closes and everyone cries out "all the ducks just got here!"

Same story every year.


----------



## TSS Caddis (Mar 15, 2002)

DEDGOOSE said:


> Again....:yikes:
> 
> Were we not just talking about a Thanksgiving freeze up a month ago


It's the normal mythological "West Michigan Migration" thread we had been missing. You know the one where everyone from West Michigan claims the birds come directly from the N and travel down the east side of the state earlier in the season and the west side later in the season, ignoring all band data:lol:

So those flocks of 50 birds at a time that you've been decoying for a few weeks now and shooting in West Michigan DEDGOOSE are all local birds. I thought you knew that?


----------



## SuperBlackEagle2 (Nov 4, 2005)

DEDGOOSE said:


> I say best sixty days for you, whether it be Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. DNR gives ya a lil punch card, you punch out a number each time you hunt. Hit sixty punches your done until after the first of Jan. This would accomidate for weather, work, family obligations, migration patterns, other hunting seasons etc etc:gaga:


People would still find a reason to complain about it, and start 6 page threads discussing it. It can't be stopped.


----------



## Branta (Feb 6, 2002)

idylmoments said:


> Or how bout a split? I like shooting the variety of birds early as well as the fat late season mallards.


give up two days in january to be able to hunt weeks into december?

You're nutz.

I've never heard of such a crazy idea...


----------



## thedude (Jul 20, 2004)

early split, reopen 2nd week of nov, run 2 -2.5 weeks into dec. easy peasy.
no jan split, but hey, you can hunt Dec 15th... thats pretty much the same as jan1 most years.




TSS Caddis said:


> It's the normal mythological "West Michigan Migration" thread we had been missing. You know the one where everyone from West Michigan claims the birds come directly from the N and travel down the east side of the state earlier in the season and the west side later in the season, ignoring all band data:lol:
> 
> So those flocks of 50 birds at a time that you've been decoying for a few weeks now and shooting in West Michigan DEDGOOSE are all local birds. I thought you knew that?


i'd like to see all this band data. seriously - normally i'm being facetious and condescending but this time i'm genuinley interested in seeing it. 

birds have been trickling through here for the last few weeks. Few show up a few leave - never really accumlating much. Not locals, no - but locals from somewhere else for sure. Wherever they come from, I'd like to hunt when the valve is wide open rather than just a drip. Last year it was the weekend before thanksgiving and lasted about a week and half. It was over 1 day before the season ended (north of GR anway, damn snow). Last year was also the 1st in the last 5 i started ice fishing in dec and continued to do it until march. I had friends in SW mi killing the snot out of them in the fields on the last day of the season. 

I'd like to see the goose season run from mid-oct straight to early dec as well. Shame its closing tomorrow, they have been migrating through for 3 weeks and there's no shortage of them.


----------



## Trippin' Dipsies (May 7, 2003)

Get rid of the two days in Jan for a good ole' normal split to the season. All the two days in Jan does is jam too may hunters in too small of areas and causes undo stress on birds trying to overwinter on limited food and body fat reserves. Just one hunter's opinion.....


----------



## DuckMan87 (Jun 11, 2009)

LEAVE IT CLOSED TILL NOVE 1ST IMO open it through jan sometime? or have a 2 week season in sept to lay into the little ducks? lets say the same time as early goose?


----------



## Shiawassee_Kid (Nov 28, 2000)

whats the over/under on this?


----------



## Big Honkers (Dec 20, 2008)




----------



## bombcast (Sep 16, 2003)

9 day early season statewide (2 wknds and the 5 days in between, opening 9/25-ish) then shut down for 12-19 days depending on the zone and run the remaining 51 days.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Mike L (Sep 8, 2003)

........lol Gee's honkers I love that dead horse beating.....


----------



## Flooded Timber (Nov 1, 2006)

Shiawassee_Kid said:


> whats the over/under on this?


5 pages for $5. Are ya in or out SK???


----------



## schutty09 (Oct 28, 2009)

i hate to be the bearer of bad news but the season dates will never be backed up. simply due to hunter opportunity. the state game areas are struggleing to stay a float now. if you back up the season you'll get the few die hards and thats it. so yeah don't expect to see a change. i've been to the SEWAC meetings and its not gonna change.


----------



## Shiawassee_Kid (Nov 28, 2000)

Flooded Timber said:


> 5 pages for $5. Are ya in or out SK???


its goin over for sure.


----------



## smoke73 (Jun 4, 2006)

:woohoo1:







I've got mine ready.


----------



## Branta (Feb 6, 2002)

given the weather right now and this topic is flaming already...

6 (pages) ...easy.

no one better cheat and pull the off season thread either! no linking :evil:


----------



## Flooded Timber (Nov 1, 2006)

schutty09 said:


> i hate to be the bearer of bad news but the season dates will never be backed up. simply due to hunter opportunity. the state game areas are struggleing to stay a float now. if you back up the season you'll get the few die hards and thats it. so yeah don't expect to see a change. i've been to the SEWAC meetings and its not gonna change.


Pretty good first post Schutty09, I would have to some what agree with this train of thought. By the way welcome to the site.


----------



## Shiawassee_Kid (Nov 28, 2000)

schutty09 said:


> i hate to be the bearer of bad news but the season dates will never be backed up. simply due to hunter opportunity. the state game areas are struggleing to stay a float now. if you back up the season you'll get the few die hards and thats it. so yeah don't expect to see a change. i've been to the SEWAC meetings and its not gonna change.


i do believe we are coming up on a zone reassignment year, which could possibly mean a change to a season date for some.

IMO the dates are fine. what i want to see is some certain saginaw bay areas put into zone 2. This would allow/gaurantee a later start to zone 3 every season IMO. there is no reason shiawassee should open before the second weekend in october at the soonest. Any earlier and we are fighting to have enough zones open anyways because of crops and flooding. Majority of our birds ride the ice on the way through and ice out usually happens between thanksgiving and mid december...that part is a crapshoot.


----------



## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

Can't we just cut and paste all the posts from last year, and call it good? This is painful each year, and I guess I'm just not bored enough to stick with this thread. See ya.


----------



## Michigan Sniper (Nov 19, 2008)

What's wrong with giving us two eastern flyways longer seasons? Under Adaptive Harvest Management, which has been in place since 1995, we have had "liberal" seasons in all but '95 and '96. Since 1997 the total breeding duck survey numbers have ranged from 31 to 43 million birds. We had 42 million this year. That's a range of over 10 million breeders, which puts the fall range at about 20 million (1 young per adult). With that many more birds in the air we should be given increased hunting opportunities, which means a longer season, a higher bag limit, or both. I am in favor of a longer season. The central flyway gets 74 days to duck hunt and the pacific flyway gets 107 days and a 7 bird limit. Even Ohio gets more hunting time with their early teal season. I know last year a lot of guys were whining about being frozen out for the last three weeks, and this year guys are complaining the seasons that were moved up need to be later. I have always been in favor of a later season and hunted the last day of last year's UP season in the Soo and there were birds around (all winter, in fact). People will always complain and the weather won't always cooperate, but give some thought as to why 12 million more breeders doesn't give us any extra hunting opportunities.


----------



## DEDGOOSE (Jan 19, 2007)

TSS Caddis said:


> So those flocks of 50 birds at a time that you've been decoying for a few weeks now and shooting in West Michigan DEDGOOSE are all local birds. I thought you knew that?


Yeah with no migration they must be "late molters" cuz they sure the heck werent around opening day in any of those areas. 

Its either that or this, the weather got cold, the lil ol ladies at the parks didnt go and feed cheetos. The ducks were stunned and started flooding into my area. Now that it has warmed up the lil ol ladies are back out and ducks are back at the park. 

Their legs were not Red enough to be Northern birds.


----------



## Swamp Boss (Mar 14, 2003)

A lurker like me finds these reports very discouraging- I need to know your spots not that there are no ducks! I sure would hate to get off my lazy butt and actually have to scout out some new places!

Take a Midol and get over it! Nobody can crystal ball the weather. BTW I have had plenty of great days this year with the same weather on Public Land so maybe all of my lurking has paid off!

I am going to sign off now and come back on annonymously so some of you who spend your time counting lurkers have something else to complain about.


----------



## The Doob (Mar 4, 2007)

Hey Kid, I hope you are right about moving Saginaw Bay into zone 2. The week before the season started here, birds were heavily moving into the area. We have had, overall, a very good season but unusual in that it has been feast or famine, i.e. multiple skunks days and multiple days with over 20 birds killed.

Right now, things on the open water are dead. Our bluebills and redheads have moved on and the swans have arrived, which is usually the harbinger of the end. We pulled our big floating blind from Sebewaing on Monday but our small blind is still in at Quanicassee.

Now, the mallards are feeding in the corn fields heavily just north of town (Caro) and we have seen a lot of them in the evenings. I would have to think that this morning, with the temp at 23 degrees (27 yesterday morning), Fishpoint will be freezing up off and on. 

But it sounds like things are just starting to heat up down south with roughly three weeks left to the season. Good luck to all


----------



## Big Honkers (Dec 20, 2008)

Shiawassee_Kid said:


> i do believe we are coming up on a zone reassignment year, which could possibly mean a change to a season date for some.
> 
> IMO the dates are fine. what i want to see is some certain saginaw bay areas put into zone 2. This would allow/gaurantee a later start to zone 3 every season IMO. there is no reason shiawassee should open before the second weekend in october at the soonest. Any earlier and we are fighting to have enough zones open anyways because of crops and flooding. Majority of our birds ride the ice on the way through and ice out usually happens between thanksgiving and mid december...that part is a crapshoot.





That about sums it up. I have no problem (well, very little problem anyway) with the current season dates but putting the bay in zone 2 should be a priority. That issue should be the topic of discussion rather than changing the season dates IMO.




Online fighting about season dates reminds me of this:


----------



## Quakstakr (Nov 3, 2009)

idylmoments said:


> Or how bout a split? I like shooting the variety of birds early as well as the fat late season mallards.


I've always said the split seasons work for geese, how about doin' it for the ducks.

It gives them a chance to settle down. I've seen the birds down by me totally switch flight paths the day after season, like, "hey nobodies shootin' at us, what's up."


----------



## TSS Caddis (Mar 15, 2002)

The Doob said:


> Our bluebills and redheads have moved on and the swans have arrived, which is usually the harbinger of the end.


They are still there, we just need the right wind and it has be S way too many days this fall. Have it turn W for a few day and you'll be amazed at how many appear out of no where.


----------



## waxico (Jan 21, 2008)

Yes, same with Lake St. Clair. LOTS of birds, feedin' big.
We need the West wind too, and LOTS of it. Anything to break up the mother rafts that are out there.

I took a ride last night, LOTS of birds on the Canadian side.


----------



## Cardinal (Nov 2, 2005)

Trippin' Dipsies said:


> Get rid of the two days in Jan for a good ole' normal split to the season. All the two days in Jan does is jam too may hunters in too small of areas and causes undo stress on birds trying to overwinter on limited food and body fat reserves. Just one hunter's opinion.....


----------



## ThumbDweller (Aug 2, 2007)

Big Honkers said:


>


 

That made me laugh out loud. That is perfect!!!! :lol::lol::lol:


----------



## DEDGOOSE (Jan 19, 2007)

thedude said:


> i'd like to see all this band data. seriously - normally i'm being facetious and condescending but this time i'm genuinley interested in seeing it.
> 
> 
> birds have been trickling through here for the last few weeks. Few show up a few leave - never really accumlating much. Not locals, no - but locals from somewhere else for sure. Wherever they come from, I'd like to hunt when the valve is wide open rather than just a drip.


Heres a lil, killed one two weeks ago Minn 08. Killed one last year Wisconsin 02 both around Halloween

If you are from where I think you are, my buddy just up the road absolutely put the hammer down last week. 2k+ mallards seen some mornings. Where he is at has a good local population but not that good.


----------



## KLR (Sep 2, 2006)

thedude said:


> i'd like to see all this band data. seriously - normally i'm being facetious and condescending but this time i'm genuinley interested in seeing it.


I'll keep searching as time allows but I found this information on Flyways.US....

http://www.flyways.us/surveys-and-monitoring/banding-and-marking-programs/bands-across-america

Currently viewing Mallard banded in the state of Ontario, recovered in the state of Michigan, over all years 

Matched *4,283 *of *3,171,219 *Records 

http://www.flyways.us/surveys-and-monitoring/banding-and-marking-programs/bands-across-america
Currently viewing Mallard banded in the state of Manitoba, recovered in the state of Michigan, over all years 

Matched *1,081 *of *3,171,219 *Records

http://www.flyways.us/surveys-and-monitoring/banding-and-marking-programs/bands-across-america
Currently viewing Mallard banded in the state of Wisconsin, recovered in the state of Michigan, over all years 

Matched *1,995 *of *3,171,219 *Records

http://www.flyways.us/surveys-and-monitoring/banding-and-marking-programs/bands-across-america
Currently viewing Mallard banded in the state of Minnesota, recovered in the state of Michigan, over all years 

Matched *909 *of *3,171,219 *Records 


I searched band records for Mallards recovered in MI. 
Manitoba, Minnesota and Wisconsin produced nearly as many bands as did Ontario.

It's is hard to draw conclusive evidence 1 way or the other from this information - Considering that Ontario covers the Northern Boarders of MI, MN & WI and that surely some of the ON birds are from the Western 2/3's of that Province. Unfortunately I haven't found the site that breaks down the band data any further than that.

I do find it valuable that nearly 25% of the Mallards in the above research came due West from Wisconsin, with another 25% coming from due NW.

Incidentally, there were more Mallards banded and harvested in MI than the other cited States/Provinces combined.

As far as timing goes...hunted an area a few weeks ago that on the opener had maybe 100-150 mallards around and now probably 7-10 X that number. Talked to a buddy South of BR and North of GR that is seeing fields with 2-3000 mallards feeding in them 10 days ago...Could still be locals from some other locale I suppose........Who knows 


Regarding Season Dates - 1 out of every 5 years we are going to be frozen out by Thanksgiving. And 1 out of every 5 years you'll end up with the cluster we have now, with 2 weeks of wind out of the South, halting bird movements. The other 3 years will be perfect, and somebody will still be bichin' about the season dates needing changed.


----------



## thedude (Jul 20, 2004)

DEDGOOSE said:


> Heres a lil, killed one two weeks ago Minn 08. Killed one last year Wisconsin 02 both around Halloween
> 
> If you are from where I think you are, my buddy just up the road absolutely put the hammer down last week. 2k+ mallards seen some mornings. Where he is at has a good local population but not that good.


2k is a lot of ducks. day after halloween we had 200-300 in a marsh along with teal. they were "new" of course however i wouldn't be surprised if they were just great lakes birds that moved down from the yoop or NLP, WI/MN or whatever. 

I did find the banding data site. Sure enough a lot of bands come from everywhere but straight north ontario. Probably cuz they don't band birds there (flyways.us shows like 3 recovered bands form anywhere north of the UP that originated in northern/central ontario) and thats not michigan - thats anywhere. Thats the trick with bands, there's a lot of barren wilderness in canada - that no one will ever go band a duck in. Ontario north of the yoop is exactly like that. Band data won't tell you if birds are migrating from there - because no one is banding birds there and therefore, we have no data. Same with NE manitoba. lots of duck production up that way and some places a modern human my never have stepped foot in.

I'm not arguing that birds don't migrate through late oct/early nov. I'm just saying that "primetime" around here is later than it is early. I scout 3-4 days a week within a fairly good distance from my house- if there are large flocks of ducks going to a field - i will see them eventually. Some areas are holding them and some aren't right now - just like it always is. Halloween was when i started to see them. My only point is - finding scattered migrators around here early on is difficult. Finding condensed flocks feeding heavily due to cold weather in late Nov/Early dec is much more rewarding. I'd personally like to see us have the opportunity to hunt a week later into december. I really don't think that missing a week of the mid/late oct lull is too big of a sacrifice for that. Help give our local populations a bit of a break as well.


----------



## DEDGOOSE (Jan 19, 2007)

thedude said:


> 2k is a lot of ducks. day after halloween we had 200-300 in a marsh along with teal.


 Not trying to start an argument either. But I have hunted with him in this area and when he says its clouds, I can take his words that there are clouds.


----------



## TSS Caddis (Mar 15, 2002)

thedude said:


> Thats the trick with bands, there's a lot of barren wilderness in canada - that no one will ever go band a duck in. Ontario north of the yoop is exactly like that. Band data won't tell you if birds are migrating from there - because no one is banding birds there and therefore, we have no data. Same with NE manitoba. lots of duck production up that way and some places a modern human my never have stepped foot in.


I don't doubt that, I'm just going off what what data we do have. 

Waive might be able to provide more information on what kind of banding if any occurs due north of us.

I still stand by my theory from the other year that with SW, around the first week of Dec when all the small local potholes freeze up that it appears the migration just started, since it startes to congregate birds. Every year we see this on our lake. A good amount of birds show up in mid Oct, but it get's insane after the first week of 20's at night and 30's during the day when the small potholes quit thawing during the day. We go from a few hundred birds, to thousands in about 20acres overnight. Get a thaw the next week and we are back down to a couple hundred.

As DEDGOOSE mentioned, we thought we were sitting pretty the other weekend, but his buddy the same weekend in close proximaty to you was seeing even more birds than us. Luckily for me that DEDGOOSE didn't bail on us to go with his buddy:lol: 

If I get a chance tonight, I'll try to find how many Ontario bands are harvested in Wisc.,

We've been eating it on divers the last 4 sundays. Not because the birds didn't migrate yet, or because they left, just because of the south wind. I actually had to stay on the West side to get birds.

We are basically on the same page. Cold weather does wonders in W michigan to congregate birds. The migration is basically the same throughout the state. It is just the East side is not as dependent on cold weather.

There is a post on another board right now claiming the migration in Michigan doesn't even start until the last 7-14 days of season and up until then it is all local birds


----------

