Duck season Arkansas
July 23rd, 2005 by Administrator
Duck season at 60 days, daily limit of six, commissioners say
LITTLE ROCK - Sixty and six - those will be the basics for the upcoming 2005-06 duck hunting season in Arkansas.
It’s not official but count on it, said the agency’s commissioners Thursday at their regular monthly meeting. There will be 60 days of duck hunting with a daily bag limit of six ducks.
The agreement, not an action, came after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service let out the word of the framework for waterfowl hunting in the coming season. The guidelines have to be published in the Federal Register to be official, Brad Carner of the AGFC’s Wildlife Management Division said Thursday at the meeting.
Speculation had been that the season may be trimmed to 45 days and four ducks, but conditions in the breeding grounds of the Canadian prairie provinces and the Dakotas in the United States were somewhat improved this year.
Arkansas will again trim the daily limit on mallard hens to one. The F&WS is again allowing two mallard hens in the four mallards that can be taken each day.
Declining numbers of white-fronted geese, often called specklebellies, will result in a shorter season, the AGFC commissioners said. They have the option of 86 days with one white-fronted goose a day or 72 days with two white-fronteds a day. The commissioners indicated they favored the shorter hunt but with the larger bag limit.
Formal action on the waterfowl seasons will come at the AGFC’s August meeting.
Dates for ducks, coots and mergansers proposed for Arkansas are Nov. 19, Dec. 3, Dec. 16-24 and Dec. 26-Jan. 29. The latter is the latest dates for duck hunting under federal guidelines. A youth hunt will be Dec. 10-11.
The framework for goose hunting is the same as last year except for white-fronted geese. Proposed season for snow, blue and Ross’ geese is Nov. 10-Dec. 9 and Dec. 12-Feb. 5. For Canada geese, the proposed season is Oct. 1-10 in the Northwest Arkansas Canada Goose Zone and Jan. 14-Feb. 5 statewide.
Falconry hunting for ducks is proposed for Dec. 5-18, Dec. 25 and Jan. 30-Feb. 19.
Carner told the commissioners that surveys in the breeding grounds fund an increase of 37 percent in the number of ponds, an increase of 1 percent in numbers of all ducks but a decrease of 9 percent in mallards. Numbers of gadwalls, wigeons, green-winged teal and blue-winged teal are all up, but shovelers and pintails are down.
The commissioners formally set the seasons for early migratory birds:
-Dove, including Eurasian collared dove, Sept. 3-25, Oct. 8-23 and Dec. 19-Jan. 8.
-Teal, Sept. 17-25. The nine-day season is a decrease from last year’s 16 days.
-Rail (Virginia and sora), Sept. 9-Nov. 9.
-Woodcock, Nov. 12-Dec. 26. This is 45 days, an increase from last year’s 30 days.
-Snipe, Nov. 5-Feb. 19.
-Purple gallinule, Sept. 1-Nov. 9.
-Common moorhen, Sept. 1-Nov. 9.
Commissioners also approved a land exchange at Gene Rush Wildlife Management Area in Northwest Arkansas. The agency will get a 90-acre in-holding from Ronnie Ricketts in exchange for 76.5 acres in three scattered tracts, and AGFC will pay Ricketts $16,350 for the 13.5-acre difference
By Joe Mosby
Arkansas News Correspondent