No consensus for waterfowlers

A 15-member focus group assembled by the Department of Natural Resources met for the first time last week to discuss hot topics facing Minnesota duck hunters.

The DNR is attempting to gauge support among waterfowlers for ideas ranging from whether to open duck season about a week earlier than is now the case -- around Sept. 24 -- to whether shooting should be allowed beginning a half-hour before sunrise on opening day, rather than 9 a.m.

Legislative approval would be needed to make those two changes, and bills in the House and Senate would give the DNR the leeway to do so.

As many as 300 state waterfowlers applied for membership to the focus group, which will hold additional meetings. Those who weren't picked are updated via a special website, where they can post comments.

But if the diverse opinions registered so far on the site are an indication, consensus might be difficult to reach.

Here are samples (names are withheld because they can't be verified):

• "I like the idea of noon closing [of duck hunting]. If [ducks] can't loaf, they'll leave."

• "I completely agree with ... [ending] early goose [hunting] over open water. It comes at too high of an expense when duck season comes around."

• "But I want to see split zones. Just a different opening date in the north than the south. One license statewide. Different dates."

• "An earlier opener would be fine, but I'd lean toward the last weekend in September, rather than setting it as the 24th. I'm a firm believer in a split season, where it makes sense. Clearly it doesn't make sense in Bemidji, but may make great sense in Ortonville. I'd recommend drawing a line through Brainerd and having a straight 60-day season north of that line, while south of the line you could have a five-day closure after the first full week of the season. That would extend the close of the season another five days for those that have decent late-season opportunities further to the south. The opening day start of 9 a.m. is decent compromise. Starting in the dark would cause more conflicts between hunters on the day when most hunters are afield. It would also add more accidental hens to the harvest."

• "The early opener is badly needed. We have been missing out on the blue-wings for many seasons now and anyone who wants a duck to eat rather than haul it to a taxidermist will opt for a blue-wing every time. Wanting a long season to get the bluebills and mallards that never come anymore is a pipe dream. It will not become reality until we get the dams out of our large shallow lakes and let them be healthy again so there is a staging area for the big migrating flocks. The little puddles will not do it and that includes the 'moist soil' notion."

DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr chaired the focus group's first meeting. He's an avid duck hunter and is highly engaged in the topic.

Some conservation leaders say they believe cuts in both bills mean trouble for fish, game and wildlife management and the environment in general. Bad policy ideas are rife in the House bill, they say, and traditional funding sources are supplanted by lottery money and Clean Water, Land and Legacy Act funds. Still, they favor the Senate bill more than its House counterpart. For a comparison of the two, go to revisor.mn.gov/data/revisor/sbs/ls87/hf1010.pdf.