Both, the season dates this year are wrong and the proposed zones are wrong...


why do we even have a coastal zone to begin with? why did we do away with the old east and west zones? why cant we open the second weekend in november like it has been forever? why did we have to change something that didnt really need to change? and why in the hell did the commission go against the majority votes?

What is remarkable here is that 57% of the respondents to the 2015 survey were from the coastal zone, and 31% from the East Zone. Of all respondents, 65% indicated that they were either satisfied or very satisfied with the current zones.

32% indicated that they preferred the current zone format (wait, what? I thought 65% were either satisfied or very satisfied. Shouldn't this number be close to that one?).

34% indicated they had no preference in the zone alignment (I would suspect this 34% is composed of guys that hunt well within the boundaries of a given zone, and would not expect to see much of a change).

26% indicated a preference towards a 2 zone (North and Coastal) alignment.

Now read this closely: only 8% were in support of the zoning alignment that is currently proposed.

So why is it being pushed as the only alternative?

One disturbing issue I see is the lack of participation in the survey. Only 19.8% of those that were sent a survey responded. I suspect it will be even less in the future with the decisions that were made this year. People now know that it doesn't matter what they say when a handful of men can override it.

Proposed new zones for 2016-2017 duck season
 

Me personally, do not have a huge problem with opening early in the coastal. It could be a crap shoot, but maybe not. Who knows. I do think it was fair to , I guess you could say "meet in the middle" as the traditional dates were proposed and not favor what the swla marsh guys wanted. Although I'm ok with it, I agree that it was wrong favoring one side.
And the more I think about all the public comment on here , other places and the comments at the meetings that are held around the state (yes I attended one this year) it shows it is up to commission in the end and they don't care about the public. Larry is doing a great job for us, he can only do as much. And he has done a lot already.
I believe when they vote on this next zone change the public is allowed (I think) at that meeting. Curious to see how many will go and let the commission know what ya think.
Also, I still think there are a ton of people who have 0 clue that the zone boundaries and dates are even debatable . A lot are not informed

I hunt NE La and the zones and dates are fine with me. First split there is no water to hunt where I hunt. Only thing I will not like is getting SE La placed in the east zone and those guys griping in a year or two to change the dates. The dates are fine for us up there and the zones cant change but the dates can. I foresee a bunch of whining in a year or two from the SE La folks.

All LWFC Meetings are open to the public. If you look at the August Meeting Minutes, it was people representing major landowners in SWLA that made all of the comments about moving the opener up, or having more days in November and December.

I don't fault the land representatives for wanting what is best for their people, but I do fault the committee for taking the voices of the few and changing the season. There were even several charts included from past surveys that indicated later dates were preferred in the coastal zone.

If people are not happy with the dates and want earlier dates, they should be responding to the surveys. When the hunter surveys indicate that a later season is desired, and LDWF proposes the seasons as such, the commission should honor that.

I still don't understand where these guys came up with the idea that opening the first weekend of November was good. They keep claiming harvest data supports it. What harvest data? When has the season ever opened that early? Are they using the data that shows from Week 1 to Week 10 what the harvest is? How do they know that that will automatically correlate to better harvest numbers if you move up the season by 1 week? All you are doing is moving the pressure up. Survey numbers indicate more birds later in the season. I assume they do not believe the surveys are correct, and some of Courville's questions seem to be hinting at that.

Interestingly enough, the harvest numbers in SELA by week are pretty similar to SWLA, according to Larry's numbers. So I'm not sure why these guys want to be in the East Zone. I suppose they liked the later dates, and feel as though the coastal zone is going to continue to be set earlier than the other 2 zones.

Proposed new zones for 2016-2017 duck season
 

Yes that's what I was trying to get across^^^

[
QUOTE=Smalls;775284]All LWFC Meetings are open to the public. If you look at the August Meeting Minutes, it was people representing major landowners in SWLA that made all of the comments about moving the opener up, or having more days in November and December.

I don't fault the land representatives for wanting what is best for their people, but I do fault the committee for taking the voices of the few and changing the season. There were even several charts included from past surveys that indicated later dates were preferred in the coastal zone.



I still don't understand where these guys came up with the idea that opening the first weekend of November was good. They keep claiming harvest data supports it. What harvest data? When has the season ever opened that early? Are they using the data that shows from Week 1 to Week 10 what the harvest is? How do they know that that will automatically correlate to better harvest numbers if you move up the season by 1 week? All you are doing is moving the pressure up. Survey numbers indicate more birds later in the season. I assume they do not believe the surveys are correct, and some of Courville's questions seem to be hinting at that.

Smalls I believe we had an early opener several years back, because the youth hunt fell on nov 1st and 2nd. I'll have to find the dates in my log book. So we would've opened the second weekend in Nov that year, which is basically what we are doing this year. But, that could've been when it was still just east and west zone. I'll also try to find the email or quote Courville where he said they shoot all of their birds early. Last year we did not have a "decent day"after Jan 5th in our marsh. Unless you like chasing scaup.

Proposed new zones for 2016-2017 duck season
 

Well I screwed that multi quote thing up......here's the email I took a screen shot of why Courville wants early datesAttachment 96163

^^Well said^^

Another good read is on the refuge forum, under Louisiana flyway. Larry actually posts in that forum along with some other knowledgable guys. Take a look. I believe Rick hall started the thread called " here we go again"

Regardless, as a Commission, it is not their job to decide what is best for one part of the state based on the opinions of a few. IF the coastal zone were what it is in the current proposal, this would not be an issue. The fact is, the current proposal is like the direct result of the move by the commission.

The job of the commission is to take into account all of the resources and opinions and data. Commissioner Yakupzack admitted that the opinions of those present in August weighed on his decision. I am all for showing up and having your opinion heard, but the majority had already spoken, and had spoken for several years. The early opening was not preferred.

The bolded part of your quote is what I have an issue with. This suggests that Courville made the move for personal reasons, and not as a Commissioner. Again, IF the coastal zone were in the current proposed alignment, I don't think this would be as big an issue. But clearly, the current proposal is a response to this. The SELA coastal zone hunters and the rice field hunters must not have been happy with the season dates, which again speaks to the Commission going against the hunters and the LDWF recommendation.

I still don't understand what he thinks this will accomplish. Does he think that by hunting pretty much all of November the numbers will be that much better? Yeah, the data shows the first 3 weeks are better. Most hunters seem to agree that no matter where you put that, that is going to be the case. I have not seen anyone assume that by moving the season up a week that weeks 4 through 10 will be any better. And that is all I can assume Courville is assuming. I mean, there is nothing to support that. If there was, why didn't he cite it?

I hope my posts here have not led anyone to believe that I am against moving the dates up. It is not so much the dates being moved up, but the action taken that resulted in that, when it was clear that earlier dates was not what the majority wanted.

For the record, I'm happy for the Southwest Louisiana hunters who hope to have a good season because of this. If anything, I'm more concerned about weather putting a huge damper on this season than what the season dates do. If the weather forecasts are accurate, I suspect a long, cold, nasty, wet winter here, and a warmer winter up north are not going to be favorable for us as the season goes on. Maybe some of you older guys can recall what it was like back in 97-98, because its supposed to be a lot like that year 9at least on our end of the flyway).

Watching the commission meeting right now. A lot of comments regarding the season dates being too early.

A lot of people that don't like SELA being in the East Zone as well. They want the second saturday opener, not the east zone opener.

And by "a lot", I mean of those that commented. 360 total comments.

Had to leave that site. TheDuckSlayer is aweful

Rice farms are going in the east zone, SELA stays in Coastal Zone. Yakupzack only one opposed, on the grounds that he felt the commission should wait to make the decision in April, which would have left the current zones in place in 2016, making the decision for 2017-2020.

Is it over? I just logged into to listen and hear nothing but it say's its still ongoing.

Edit: Never mind, came back on.

Yeah, they had taken a short break. I went to lunch at that point, so I don't know what they decided on with that last item related to funding towards the breeding grounds.

I think Yak's thoughts were in the right place. He felt like there were very hasty decisions being made by everyone involved, and that hunter's opinions may have changed if the season were allowed to run its course and a decision made in April. It seems the only change of heart would have come from rice hunters, but based on what Larry said, it wasn't the rice hunters who were calling for the change in the zones. It was the rice farmers.

I think most people are going to get what the wanted. The only question is if the early season in the coastal becomes the norm rather than the exception. That was something else that Yak pressed--that the commission needs to make a concerted effort to set the season on the Second Saturday in November. Some years it would be earlier, some it would be later, but it would be consistent. Some may not like it one year, but it would come around the next year.

That is the first time I've actually heard Larry speak. I can't imagine waterfowl in Louisiana being in better hands than they are right now. Hearing him talk about how he does not work for the rice farmers, he works for hunters....I don't think you can ask anymore than that. He may not always make decisions that are popular with everyone, but he is trying to do what is best. I like that.

100% going to DU.

As someone who goes to many public meetings for work, these are pretty bad. This was the first one I've listened to.

Attachment 97499



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Haha, yeah, I felt like it was a bit disorganized compared to the CPRA meeting I went to a few weeks back.

It also didn't seem very professional to me that the guy kept referring to Bart as "Commissioner Yak". I understand he has an unusual last name, but this is a formal meeting. Use the guy's whole freakin name! Geez.

Wasn't there some discussion at the last one as to whether it should be split between DU and Delta? What was the swaying factor? Wish I would have stuck it out and listened to that part.

I'm not really educated about this but would like to find out what performance goals they are talking about in relation to receiving funding.

Made me feel good when Larry said that while I was listening