A TRIAL OF A NEW WAY TO MANAGE THE HARVEST OF DUCKS
THE “HUNTER’S CHOICE” BAG LIMIT
Since the Adaptive Harvest Management (AHM) system (Division of Migratory Bird Management - Adaptive Harvest Management of setting hunting regulations for ducks began in 1995, season lengths and bag limits (Liberal, Moderate, or Restrictive AHM regulatory alternatives) have been selected annually based on two principal criteria: the number of Mid-continent mallards and the number of ponds in prairie Canada surveyed during the May Breeding Pair and Habitat Survey. It is largely a mallard driven harvest management strategy, and because Mid-continent mallard and May pond numbers counted in prairie Canada have remained good, the liberal regulatory alternative has been selected each year since 1995. As a result of these liberal season lengths, (74 days in east tier states and 97 days in west tier states of the Central Flyway since 1997) and because the pintail population continues to remain well below its long-term average, and the continental population of canvasbacks is relatively small compared to other duck populations, the prescription of more restrictive regulatory options for these species that are not specifically addressed under AHM has been used. For the past several years, seasons-within-seasons (SWS) or partially closed seasons have been used to limit harvest on canvasbacks and pintails. Several years of experience using shortened 39-day seasons-within-seasons (daily bag limit of 1) for canvasback and pintail within the regular longer 74-day duck hunting season prescribed for mallards, has reduced pintail and canvasback harvest. However, closed seasons and shortened seasons-within-seasons on multiple species of ducks can be more complex and confusing for hunters to understand and can result in regulations compliance and enforcement problems and put hunters at greater risk for inadvertent regulations violations. Some ducks, especially ducks like hen pintails, can be difficult to identify at times even for experienced hunters, and can be confused with similar appearing species on which the hunting season is open.
The Hunter’s Choice Bag Limit concept uses an aggregate or combined bag limit category of multiple duck species in an effort to limit or reduce harvest on those species needing additional protection while maintaining hunting opportunity on more abundant species or stocks of ducks. The bag limit system has two or more categories of ducks based on their population status. One category consists of an aggregated or combined limit of species that are judged to need a reduced level of harvest compared to more abundant species due to low or declining population status (except hen mallards, see #2 below). Duck species with acceptable population status are assigned to one or more other categories allowing for more liberal limits in the overall bag.
· Maintain hunting opportunity on abundant species, especially drake mallards
· Minimize season closures and provide an alternative to seasons-within-seasons
· Reduce complexity of regulations and bag limit changes
· High compliance and enforceability of the regulation
· Limit inadvertent or unintentional regulation violations
· Compatible with both experienced and novice or new hunters
· Encourage waterfowl hunting participation (recruitment & retention)
· Ability to evaluate effects on directing harvest to various species or stocks of ducks
· Influence hunter behavior, including duck ID skills, species selection and ethical behavior
· Encourage hunter’s knowledge, support and ownership in duck harvest management and multiple species management objectives.
· Provide duck hunting regulations that the majority of hunters will prefer
The Hunter’s Choice bag limit has three key elements:
1. An aggregate category. Only one of the species that is listed in this aggregate group could be taken in the daily bag limit. Thus, harvest of all species in this aggregate group would be reduced. The harvest reduction of any given species included in the aggregate limit would be dependent upon a number of factors including a species relative abundance and availability, hunter behavior, including preference for particular species, and willingness and ability to practice selective shooting. Use of an aggregate bag limit system to regulate harvest in lieu of closed or partially closed seasons would reduce regulatory complexity and prevent hunters from committing inadvertent “first shot” violations by shooting a species whose season is closed. Any hunter could shoot the first bird without fear of a regulations violation. However, the decision to shoot the second bird, hopefully tempered by their ability to identify the bird, would be the hunter’s choice.
2. Inclusion of hen mallards in the one bird aggregate category. Hen mallards are one of the most abundant ducks available to hunters in much of the Central Flyway and the rest of the country. By including hen mallards in the aggregate category should have a significant buffering effect on the harvest of the other species of ducks in the aggregate category. The potential harvest buffering effect of hen mallards will be contingent on their availability to hunters in any given area. In coastal areas, and in some other areas, the potential buffering effect will be less than in areas where mallards comprise the majority of harvest opportunity. In addition, including hens in the aggregate category will result in fewer hen mallards in the bag than under current harvest regulations. Increasing the number of hen mallards returning to the breeding grounds can’t hurt mallard production potential.
3. Adjust the total duck bag limit to be the same as the mallard bag limit. This change effectively removes the bonus duck scenario in the Central Flyway where a hunter may have shot a limit of 5 mallards or five of the other abundant species but remains in the field trying to limit out and ends up potentially taking one of the species for which harvest needs to be reduced (e.g., pintail). This change should also influence hunter behavior and how species are selected for inclusion in the bag. Certain species such as drake mallards are more highly valued than other species such as scaup for example. Hunters, especially experienced hunters, will be more inclined to pass on the less desirable species in order to take the more valued and usually more abundant species. Shooting a species other than a mallard will result in the hunter making a sacrifice and forgo shooting a drake mallard, a form of disincentive for many hunters. If the hunter’s choice is to select a pintail or a canvasback in lieu of a mallard, then the result is one less drake mallard in the bag, not a ticket for violating a closed season regulation. In many instances, waterfowl hunting is an opportunity-limited situation with many hunters selecting whatever species is present, unless given sufficient incentive or disincentive to do otherwise.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has granted approval for the Central Flyway to conduct a 3-year trial use of the Hunter’s Choice bag limit comparing it to seasons-within-seasons regulations to limit harvest on pintails and canvasbacks beginning with the 2006-2007 hunting season. The Hunter’s Choice trial study design involves pairing the 10 Central Flyway states based on their similarity of pintail harvest. States from each of the 5 pairs of states were randomly chosen through the flip of a coin to be either a Hunter’s Choice (Treatment) regulations state or as the seasons-within-seasons (Control) regulations state for the duration of the trial. The coin flip resulted in the 5 states of ND, SD, KS, TX and WY being selected to use Hunter’s Choice regulations, while the other 5 Central Flyway states of NE, OK, MT, CO and NM were selected to use seasons-within-seasons regulations for pintails and canvasbacks. Assignment of each state’s duck harvest regulations (Treatment vs. Control) will be established in federal frameworks and will be required for each state without change in regulations assignment for the duration of the trial.
The Hunter’s Choice Bag Limit for the 2006–2007 Duck Season in the Central Flyway States of North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Wyoming and Texas:
The daily bag limit shall be 5 ducks, with species and sex restrictions as follows: scaup, redhead and wood duck – 2; only 1 from the following group: hen mallard, or mottled duck, or pintail, or canvasback. The possession limit shall be twice the daily bag.
Objectives of the Hunter’s Choice Trial are to:
1.) Compare canvasback and pintail harvest using Hunter’s Choice regulations to canvasback and pintail harvest using seasons-within-seasons regulations.
2.) Determine hunter preferences and opinions. Hunter surveys will be conducted pre- and post-Hunter’s Choice trial to determine if duck hunters have a preference for either the Hunter’s Choice or the seasons-within-seasons regulations.
3.) Determine the harvest of hen mallards under Hunter’s Choice regulations.
Central Flyway waterfowl managers are committed to the objective of providing duck hunters with the most hunting opportunity while ensuring the long-term welfare of all populations of Central Flyway duck species. For many Central Flyway duck hunters opportunity equates to season length. The longer the season, the greater the opportunity for them to find time to participate and go hunting when there are ducks available to hunt. However, managers must regulate the harvest of eighteen different species of ducks that are potentially legal game during Central Flyway duck seasons, while providing appropriate hunting opportunity. Each species population is different regarding its size, reproductive potential in any given year, the population trend, and a population’s relative ability to sustain harvest. Some species of ducks like ruddy ducks or goldeneyes are lightly harvested, while others, like mallards, constitute the majority of harvest for most Central Flyway states. Other species like pintail and scaup remain well below their long-term population averages because of problems with habitat, especially breeding habitat, and therefore require special harvest management consideration.
Harvest management of multiple species of ducks within the context of AHM will continue to present a challenge for managers. Balancing hunting opportunity on abundant species against limiting harvest on species requiring greater protection is a difficult task. There are a limited number of alternatives for managing the harvest of multiple species of ducks. Besides Hunter’s Choice, the continued use of seasons within seasons and closed seasons is one obvious option. Use of closed seasons and seasons within seasons will result in increased regulations complexity if this option is required for additional duck species. Another option that has been recommended (http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/mgmt/AHM/taskforce/status report 5 1-21-05 final.pdf see recommendation B, pages 2 and 3) is the reduction in the overall duck season length to provide additional protection for species with less harvest potential than mallards. Increased complexity of regulations with the former and a significant loss of hunting opportunity on species with good population status, especially mallards, in the case of the latter are obvious downsides to these options. However, with any harvest regulation approach, a certain amount of compromise must occur between providing hunting opportunity and increased regulations complexity.
