The fall duck season will soon be upon us

Wisconsin has 61,000 of the country’s 1.04 million waterfowl hunters living here, making Wisconsin the number three state in the country, in terms of the number of waterfowl hunters. The Wisconsin state waterfowl stamp alone generates over $700,000 at 12 bucks a pop.

The federal waterfowl stamp costs each waterfowl hunter $25. It originated in 1934 and is required by every waterfowl hunter nationwide with 98 cents from every dollar going directly into waterfowl management. The money from the federal waterfowl stamp purchased over 6,000,000 acres of land and created over 300 wildlife refuges nationwide.

Prior to purchasing a single waterfowl stamp, the duck hunter first buys a small game license in Wisconsin for $18. Making the total to hunt ducks for up to 60 days, $55 per hunter each year. No duck hunters, no ducks!

The northern zone for waterfowl in Wisconsin will open this Saturday, thirty minutes before sunrise, or at 0620 hours. The southern and other waterfowl zones in Wisconsin opens a week later. You all know my feelings on this, no sense beating a dead horse.

If you hunt ducks, you pay attention to the season dates and splits. The northern zone runs a straight 60 days. Most years we freeze up prior to the close of our season throughout most of the northern zone.

I’m old enough and have hunted ducks long enough to remember when the season opened at high noon on opening day. I remember when we only had a 30 day season back in the 80’s and early 90’s. Duck numbers were low back then.

We enjoy a sixty day season now with a generous bag limit compared to the 80’s. Back then, if you shot a hen mallard you were done hunting for the day. Today, bag limits allow us to shoot six ducks, four of which can be mallards, but only one hen. There are limits on other species too like wood duck, scaup, canvasback, red heads, etc. Back in the 80’s the feds closed down hunting of canvasbacks. The USFWS 2023 Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey showed a seven percent decline in ducks from 2022, 23% lower than the long-term average. That creates concern for waterfowl biologists and duck hunters. No one wants a return to the highly restrictive bag limits and short season length of the 80’s and no one wants to go back to the low duck numbers of the 80’s. The cause that looks most evident to the reduction in population is the lower than normal precipitation level in much of the prairie pothole regions of the US and Canada. The potholes filled up with spring snow melt but dried up when the late spring and summer rains didn’t come. Like the rest of us old duck hunters, I don’t want to return to the population levels of the 1980’s. Those were dismal years and often we never fired a shot on a whole day of hunting. I don’t plan to hunt on the opener this year. The older I get, the less I enjoy the crowded marshes of opening day. On opening day of duck season, I plan to mentor a couple hunters at an R3 event for grouse. I’ll start hunting ducks this coming Monday.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m guessing the sound of shotguns going off at passing ducks might wake me up and remind me how much I want to hunt ducks. Since Sienna passed, the urge to hunt in the chaos of opening day died. Maybe I need another retriever. If you agree, send my better half a message telling her I need a retriever. Come November when I sit on the marsh all by myself watching the sunrise and the ducks decoying to the spread, I know I made the right choice.

Think of the duck season like a marathon, not a sprint. Getting up at three in the morning, launching the boat, setting the spread, and setting up the blind – all in the dark – takes a toll on anyone.

On the days I hunt the marsh and hear the whistling wings of ducks passing up high in the dark, the calling of drake mallards still on the roost, and the rush of air from a flock settling into the decoys just after shooting opens still takes my breath away. May the wind and sun be at your back Saturday, your aim true, and luck on your side. But please remember, Safe Hunting is No Accident!

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