DNR Roundtable notes
January 7, 2012
The DNR held its annual roundtable stakeholder discussions on Friday, Jan. 6 and Saturday, Jan. 7. As always, there was lots of useful discussions and it was nice to see everyone face-to-face.
While much of the discussions focused on timber wolves and the possibility they will be hunted in Minnesota as soon as this fall, as well as on aquatic invasive species, there was some time for waterfowl talk, too.
The DNR reported on this fall’s duck season and said that it wasn’t gangbusters, but it wasn’t particularly poor, either. Final harvest estimates won’t be available for a few months, but one thing is clear: the number of state duck stamps sold this year wasn’t a record low.
Sales were higher than last year, which set the low mark in terms of sales. The increase wasn’t big, but it was a step in the right direction. It seems pretty likely the bevy of changes the DNR made to the duck season this year – including splitting the state into zones, opening a week earlier, and increasing the hen mallard and wood duck bags – helped draw more hunters into the field.
Speaking of wood ducks, the DNR waterfowl research unit in Bemidji plans to conduct some wood duck research within the next couple of years. When the DNR flies its annual waterfowl population survey flights in May, it doesn’t do a very good job of estimating wood duck numbers. The study the agency is talking about would compare wood duck production in wood duck boxes, and wood duck production in natural cavities. The question: Can wood duck boxes be used to adequately monitor wood duck populations?
Stay tuned on that one.
The DNR also reported on the results of a survey of lapsed hunters – people who bought a duck stamp sometime between 2000 and 2004, but not between 2005 and 2009. The full report is available on the DNR website, but suffice it to say, the results were not particularly encouraging.
DNR wildlife research manager Lou Cornicelli said the results, essentially, show that it will be difficult to get most lapsed hunters back into the duck-hunting game.
Hall of Fame
Stay tuned for the announcement of the 2012 class of the Minnesota Waterfowl Hall of Fame. We’ll be releasing the names in the near future.
