Reminder for Comment on Changes to Waterfowl Zones
 

Just a reminder.... Take 2 minutes to send an email or go to the meeting.

Proposed changes to the waterfowl hunting zones are available for public comment through Nov. 5, 2015. The Department is requesting comments be sent to Larry Reynolds, Waterfowl Program Manager, lreynolds@wlf.la.gov by Oct. 30, 2015, but additional comment can be provided directly to the Commission at the Nov. 5, 2015 meeting in Baton Rouge. Public comment received by Oct. 30, 2015 on the proposed waterfowl hunting zone changes will be summarized and presented to the Commission at their Nov. 5, 2015 meeting.

Waterfowl hunting zones approved by the Commission in November would take effect in the 2016-17 waterfowl hunting season and remain in place for five years. There will be no changes to the current zone alignment for the 2015-16 waterfowl season.

To make a comment, or if you have additional questions or comments, please contact Larry Reynolds at 225-765-0456 or lreynolds@wlf.la.gov.

Duckaholic

Thanks for the reminder

What are the proposed changes? And why? TIA

Link
 

Haha so our opinion counts this go around?? No thanks. I think I'll save my 2 minutes.

I don't hunt unless I am invited so I am not up to date on the reason the zones are zoned the way they are. Anyone want to chime in on the effects of the changes? You would think the zones would follow the typical arrival and departure of the birds.

This is what I've gathered from reading several comments on different forums.

The current proposal is a result of the way the seasons were set this year. Southeast Louisiana hunters and rice farmers were not happy with the early coast season. Southeast Louisiana hunters favored the later dates because they feel like they do better later. Rice farmers want the later dates so that they have time to harvest 2nd crop and get fields ready for hunters.

This same proposal was in the surveys, and got very little support. The surveys also indicated that the majority were satisfied or had no preference in season dates. Combine the two, and its likely that many felt like there was no need to change the zones, assuming the seasons would stay the same.

Because the current proposal appeared in the surveys, I assume there was already a push. From what I understand, there were just as many hunters that did not like the late opening in 2014 as there are those that dislike the early opening this year.

Many in the northeast part of the state are not keen on the new proposal, because they fear the southeast Louisiana hunters will grow tired of the traditionally later open in the east zone, and will push to change it. And with the political sway that comes with having Baton Rouge and New Orleans so close, they fear it wouldn't take much to change the dates. Personally, I think the rice farmers would still be on the side of the northeast LA crowd because of that 2nd crop.

Again, just a synthesis of what I've read. Take it as you will.

Hmm, I've always heard SE La coastal marsh hunters belly-aching that late season hard cold fronts render their ponds dry.

And I believe that is why the NELA guys are concerned. Apparently, SELA doesn't want to open as early as the SWLA guys want to. Only option is east zone, because they sure want out them in west, and they aren't going to completely realign the state.

The old east zone always included SELA, so I don't know why things would be any different now. Unless those guys were part of the push for the coastal zone...

There shouldn't even be a coastal zone. There needs to be an east zone and west zone that worked for years and years. Just so happens u got personal interest on the commision that probably have no clue about duck hunting, making the seasons to fit their duck blind. This is completely out of hand. I wish the next governor would get rid of the commission all together.

Well, first of all, the commission will likely never be done away with. A constitutional amendment established the commission, so it would take another constitutional amendment to to do away with the commission. Since those are voted on by the public, it would take the majority of the public voting the commission away. Of course, this would first require someone pushing for the commission to be done away with. The issue there is, who assumes control over the the decision making? That discussion could be had on a completely different thread, and likely go a long way to no where.

As far as the commission not knowing anything about duck hunting, I think it is the contrary. Yakupzack and Courville definitely know duck hunting--in southwest Louisiana. I would hope Courville would, being a former DU biologist and the current land manager for Miami Corporation. He made a proposal based on the way he interpreted harvest numbers. It may not have been an inaccurate interpretation, but they went against what the public wanted and what LDWF proposed.

I believe the whole inspiration for the coastal zone came from the fact that SWLA and SELA harvest numbers by week were very similar, so it was believed that the two should be managed, as a whole, separate of the rest of the west zone. Forgive my earlier post stating that the SELA folks were in the east zone....it was early when I made that post. I think it makes more sense for the SELA marshes to be east zone. If we have always worked under the theory that half of the state is influenced by the Central flyway, and the other half the Mississippi Flyway, then why is the state not divided into the 2 east-west zones?

If you want to break the coastal parishes off into separate zones, then why not do 4 zones? The feds said we could back in the late 2000s.

Lm@o

Haha I rest my case

OK, so basically no real logic behind any of this. GOTCHA.

I don't understand the limit of 1 Canadian goose. I have been invited to Canadian Goose hunts up north where they fill pickups full of geese, I thought they were overpopulated.

Simple Stuff
 

It's simple, don't hurt yourself thinking and commenting about this here. Just make your opinions known to the commission via the meeting or comments to Larry. Public opinion eventually trumps politics. If you make yourself heard enough, something will happen. If you think your area should benefit from later duck seasons than say so. If you think otherwise, then have a voice.

You can't complain if you don't act.....

This was not intended to be a discussion about politics or the credentials of the commission, my intention was just to send this reminder so that people would know that they were meeting about this issue...plain and simple...

I think that the proposal is a move to make everyone happy although that is nearly impossible. The boundary may need to be adjusted a bit but it's a move in the right direction.... Just my two cents and I sent my thoughts in to the commission.

I agree, except that the hunting public did make its thoughts known, through the surveys, and the commission went against that and went with a minority of voices. No reason to think they wouldn't do the same with this.

One thing they did make clear is you are better off showing up at the Commission Meeting and commenting than doing it through a survey.

It is important for the public to know about these things, and I had forgotten about it, so I appreciate you posting this. I'm the type that is going to hunt ducks whenever the season is open, so it doesn't really matter to me, but for some it does. I will be curious to see if they tell us how many people commented and how many people attend the meeting. Hopefully more people show up and comment than send in their comments. I think that puts a little more pressure on them.

1.) get rid of commission.
2.) let Larry Reynolds make proposals every spring for the upcoming year, give a write up and his recommendations, and let public vote on a couple options. (Season dates, zones, etc..)
3.) all LA residents who bought a license the previous year get to vote.

Just like the survey, the hunters that care enough about these issues will take the time to read proposals, recommendations, and vote. The ones that do not care and do not vote can't complain if this were the case. The hunters who don't get what they want can at least move on knowing that these decisions were made by the public instead of selfish commissioners with power.

Seems reasonable to me. Can't think of a more fair way to solve these problems.

x2

I like it. No one gets any more power that way. The only way you get what you want is if you can somehow convince Larry to make all the proposals the same. lol!

It really is that simple.

Bingo