With the ongoing drought affecting the Dakotas and the rest of the prairie pothole region and overall duck production numbers being down, it can be assumed that some bag limits could be changed a little bit. Maybe one less pintail here, one less scaup there. It makes sense. Unless you’re drawing up the bag limit rules in Nebraska. Nebraska seems to be trying to out-think the room right now (and take South Dakota with them) while drawing up their proposals for this upcoming waterfowl season.
They’ve created a “two-tier” bag limit system, which allows the hunter to either shoot 6 ducks following the species and sex restrictions of the one tier, or shoot 3 ducks without any restriction. If that doesn’t make much sense to you, don’t worry, we’re just as confused by the logic. The picture below describes the proposal and what they’re trying to accomplish.
Back in the ’60s and ’70s, the “point system” was used as a bag limit. Each duck had a different value of points. You were only allowed so many points during the day, and would have to be selective as to what you could or couldn’t shoot keeping your point allotment in mind. For instance, a canvasback was worth 40 points, and you only had 100 points to give. That meant if, for instance, you had already shot a pintail (worth 30 points), and 2 mallards (worth 20 points each), then you were only allowed to shoot that one canvasback for the day, and your hunt was over. With this new proposal from Nebraska, it seems like some of that same train of thought is being brought back into play. However, the main problem we see lies in the fact that you could essentially shoot 3 birds in a day that you otherwise could only shoot one of in other states. For instance, some states only allow you to shoot one pintail. In Nebraska, with the “2nd tier”, you could shoot three drake pintails during your hunt.
One catch is you’ll need to pick which tier you want to play by the rules for, which will determine your daily and possession limits for the entire season, you cannot flip flop. Another thing to keep in mind is the Game and Parks folks are going to want you to send in a wing from some or all harvested ducks throughout the season for management studies, as well as keep a record of your ‘harvests’.
According to the Nebraska Department of Fish and Wildlife, the driving factor behind the change is that “Waterfowl hunter numbers have declined significantly within the past 10 years. Many factors are associated with this including the harvest restrictions for certain species and sexes of ducks, which puts pressure on new or inexperienced hunters to be able to correctly identify waterfowl during the thrill of a hunt. Duck identification can be difficult and could be preventing potential hunters from getting into the sport. To help address the issue, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife approved the two-tier Harvest Information Program system in October 2020. Nebraska and South Dakota will test the new system starting with the 2021 duck season for four years. If a success, the program will be extended beyond 2025 and to additional states” Nebraska Game and Parks – Duck Tier
So there you have it. The overarching idea is to get more hunters involved in the sport, which is a great thing. So before everyone grabs their pitchforks to burn the South Dakota and Nebraska Fish and Game at the stake, at least we know the reasoning.
Unfortunately, the backlash has been somewhat poignant. People have brought up the fact that while this may be in good spirit, it misses the mark. New hunters aren’t avoiding duck hunting because they can’t identify ducks, they’re avoiding duck hunting because of what it takes to go duck hunting and be successful doing so! Boats, decoys, equipment, knowledge, and so on. It’s also been argued that the more experienced hunters will have more ability to shoot birds like canvasbacks, scaup, pintail, and other ducks with restrictions on them at a higher rate when they can kill 3 a day (so long as they don’t exceed the possession limit).
So now the waiting game begins. All will have to wait and see how this plays out in Nebraska and South Dakota, two states that will be hit pretty hard by the current drought conditions in the breeding grounds that feed the central flyway. Will it have a negative effect on the birds? Will it truly bring in new hunters? Will it be implemented in different states in the future? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
For more Split Reed Original Content click here to visit the Content Center
