re: Public waterfowl hearing Jefferson Parish (Updated with notes in OP)

The state has to abide by the Fedral framework, whatever seasons, splits, zones, etc MUST abide by the federal framework proposed by USFWS and agreed upon at national flyway meetings.

Currently that framework doesn't allow for four zones, three is the max. From what little understanding I have I don't get the idea we will get more than three zones anytime soon.

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This allows northern hunters a later season to target mallards and the marsh guys get their early openers.

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you must have missed the part where the SE guys don't want an early opener.

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you must have missed the part where the SE guys don't want an early opener.

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No, three zones like I mentioned accomplish that. Have the north zone, the "west coastal" zone for the early season in the marsh there (where they seem to want to push for an earlier start), and the "east coastal" zone that could be set according to what many of you SE guys seem to want. This seems to best address most of the different habitat areas of the state I would think.

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At the meeting last night Larry Reynolds said they Bossier City meeting was the most heated meeting they have had. It was well attended and the NW part of the state would like the season to open Nov 7 have no split and end first week in January as proposed by the meeting attendees. They have great dislike for a later close, so putting NW and NE together would make NE happy but likely upset the heck out of NW. It seems there is no "easy" fix at this point that will make everyone happy and I suspect the powers that be can't make everyone happy but I would love to see things a bit different than they are now.

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Yeah, being in Shreveport I can see why some feel this way. I hunt east zone and South Arkansas and always have other than a stray hunt around home but many here want to shoot the early grey ducks and teal. The red river holes are notorious for being mostly grey holes and always have been versus the mallard hunting in Arkansas and NE LA. Seems like you could leave the Red River area which is currently in West zone aligned with the proposed "west coastal" grouping and this would still work.

Zones and Splits Options from the USFWS:

1) NO zones with up to 2 splits.

2) Up to 3 zones with split seasons.

3) Up to 4 zones with straight seasons (no splits).

Mr Larry when was the Bossier City meeting?

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open Nov 7 have no split and end first week in January

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I dont get this. I must be the only person in NWLA that is extremely happy about them bringing a true split back this season.

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I must be the only person in NWLA that is extremely happy about them bringing a true split back this season.

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No you aren't, really.

NW LA is a mess right now. There is a vocal group of hunters with blinds on the major reservoirs in that part of the state (Bistineau, Cross, Wallace, Black, etc.) that insist that the season needs to be earlier. Their recommendation at the Bossier City meeting was a 58-day season opening the first Saturday in November and close the first Sunday in January with either no split or a 5-day split.

They absolutely reject the hunter-opinion survey data I've collected in 2012, 2013, and now 2015 that shows a majority of hunters in the West Zone prefer later seasons. They are vocal and argumentative enough that other participants at the meeting e-mailed me afterwards to give me their comments because they were not interested in openly fighting with the "gotta hunt earlier" crowd.

I have mixed feelings because 1) it was this group of hunters that put me on a path to create the new West Zone and a Coastal Zone from the old West Zone, and 2) the harvest data do shows NW LA kills over 50% of it's season kill in the first 3 weeks of the season. In the last 3 years I've been adding a week to the first split to give them more early-season hunting with a 5-day split, but I can't go all one-sided given the hunter-opinion data.

This year, I did the same thing, and kept a 5-day split although the calendar shifting later allowed a 12-day split, which the "gotta hunt earlier" crowd dislikes. But Commission changed my recommended dates taking the last week of the first split and adding it to the second split, which are the traditional dates for that area from the old West Zone days. Even though I wasn't responsible for the change, a couple of them left "we need to do what we can to get rid of you" voice-mails.

I know it is a small minority, but unreasonable hunters thinking only of themselves is the worst part of trying to find a compromise position incorporating both harvest and hunter-opinion data.

Understood.

I am in the "other" crowd as well.

I just remember years ago coming back opening day of 2nd split and it being like a completely new season. I am really looking forward to that this year. The 5 day (weekday) split just does not give anything a chance to rest IMO.

My e-mail is all over the place ......

Lreynolds@wlf.la.gov

Larry, as always thanks for your participation. As for the conflict between SW la and SE La openers, I don't see how we might realistically create a SE zone and SW zone, as some have alluded to. Somewhere there will have to be a dividing line and that area will become the new voice raising hell. Also, to put all of SE La in the current east zone would create conflict as well, as we've seen in the past, with the remaining EZ marshes (lake P area) versus the NE la contingent, as they're on very different migration schedules. I.e. managing Venice and Mer Rouge the same way, no way!

Here's a few scenarios: 1.) If on Nov 7 we have had some decent fronts (like in 2014) to put impressive numbers down, many will applaud the move to Nov 7, as spearheaded by Mr. Courville.

2.)If it's slow, they'll raise all hell that we didn't open on the 14th for CZ. While I'm not a huge fan of the way Mr Courville bucked what's considered a compromise date of Nov 14 for this year, I fully support the fact that he cites the bag checks as his reasoning for doing so. I.e., as Larry has pointed out tirelessly for years, you say you want to hunt later in season, but checking your bag says you're killing most of your ducks early. Just hope it isn't warm and duck-less on Nov 7.

If no SE and SW zones, we're back to where we are now with just a coastal zone and we'll continue to argue over opening days. It's not perfect but its a fairly reasonable compromise. Short of that, as I understand it, we could have up to 4 zones (NW/NE, SW/SE and just break the state into quadrants....possible?? Just would not have as much flexibility with dates?

thanks again Larry