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DUCK HUNTING: Minnesota numbers confirm dismal duck season in ‘04 In light of declining kills, debate centers on new regulations Minnesota’s duck kill hit an eight-year low last fall, dropping 23 percent from 2003 and confirming hunters’ opinions it was one of the worst seasons in recent memory.

The data, released by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, comes as Minnesota Department of Natural Resources officials begin to debate this year’s regulations.

The federal harvest estimates paint a mostly gloomy picture of Minnesota’s 2004 duck season. The overall duck kill of 683,600 was the lowest since 1997, when liberal 60-day seasons and six-duck daily limits were instituted. In the past two years, the duck kill has dropped 28 percent.

By comparison, North Dakota’s duck kill went up 9 percent, from 496,800 to 541,900 ducks, yet the number of hunters in the state declined from 37,100 to 36,900.

In Minnesota, the harvest of mallards, historically the No. 1 bird in hunters’ bags, dropped 41 percent from 2003 to 2004, and last year’s harvest of scaup, also known as bluebills, hit an all-time low in Minnesota at 12,000.

Last year wasn’t the lowest duck kill on record, however. That occurred in 1988, when Minnesota hunters shot 255,000 ducks, but that season was only 30 days long and the daily limit was three ducks.

Minnesota had 30-day seasons from 1988 to 1993, a 40-day season in 1994 and 50-day seasons in 1995 and 1996 before liberal seasons were instituted in 1997. The state’s duck kill was lower in many of those restrictive seasons than last year.

“We’re still shooting a fair number of ducks (compared with those years),” said DNR waterfowl biologist Steve Cordts.

But a key indicator of a season’s success the number of ducks killed per hunter declined significantly in Minnesota, from 10.1 in 2003 to 7.6 in 2004. That happened despite hunters putting in more days afield (a 9 percent increase from 2003).

The bottom line: Minnesotans hunted more but shot fewer ducks than they had in the past eight years.

What’s to blame?

Cordts blamed an unseasonably warm fall, which delayed migration, and a long-term shift in migration patterns to regions west of Minnesota, such as the Dakotas. “If we have more birds breeding in the Dakotas than we had 10 or 15 years ago, both those adults and ducklings are not as likely to migrate through Minnesota,” he said.

But poor habitat for breeding and to attract migrating ducks also is to blame, biologists say. “While weather certainly played a role, I think we still have some severe habitat problems,” said Ray Norrgard, DNR wetlands wildlife program leader.

Meanwhile, DNR officials face a potentially sticky problem as this year’s regulations are formulated.

It’s possible the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could recommend another liberal 60-day season with a six-bird daily bag limit this fall. But a growing number of Minnesota hunters, including a group calling itself the Concerned Duck Hunters Panel, are calling for more restrictive regulations.

When the DNR held a series of meetings in April to discuss habitat issues and regulations with duck hunters, some expressed the need for stricter rules.

If federal officials offer a liberal season, Minnesota DNR officials will have to decide whether to adopt the regulations or institute a “moderate option” of a 45-day season that would still include a six-bird limit but a limit of one hen.

Unless other states follow, Minnesota would go alone in the flyway in adopting restrictive rules.

“We’re looking at our options now,” said Cordts, adding that top DNR officials, not just biologists, are attending internal meetings on the topic. The results of the recent public hearings, still being compiled, will weigh in the decision, he said.

This year’s continental duck forecast is mixed. While pond numbers were up in Canada and the United States, breeding mallard numbers stood at 6.8 million, down 9 percent from 2004, and the total duck breeding population was down 5 percent from the long-term average.

DNR officials should know in several weeks whether the Fish and Wildlife Service will offer a liberal or moderate season. The final regulations will be set in August.

Habitat issue

Work is going slow on a new duck-recovery plan, said Norr- gard, because the threat of a government shutdown delayed key internal meetings. The plan is due to be done in December, and officials still haven’t worked out habitat or waterfowl population goals.

Norrgard warned hunters shouldn’t count on restrictive duck regulations to solve the state’s duck problem.

“I don’t want to see it (restrictive rules) mislead people to think it will make a difference,” he said. “What will make a difference is the amount of grasslands (for nesting) that we have.”

The Mississippi Flyway duck kill dropped 16 percent last year, and the mallard kill was down 11 percent. Other states had dramatic declines. Louisiana’s duck harvest dropped 39 percent, and Iowa’s dropped 25 percent. Missouri’s declined 30 percent.

But some mid-latitude states saw increases. Mississippi, Tennessee and Alabama saw increases of 20 percent, 31 percent and 18 percent, respectively, but duck kills in those states make up a relatively small proportion of the 5.5 million ducks killed in the flyway. Arkansas’ duck kill, the second largest in the flyway, was basically unchanged from 2003.

In the Central Flyway, of which North Dakota is a member, the duck kill was up 6 percent

By Chris Niskanen

St. Paul Pioneer Press