Another long season, high bag limit approved for 2015 waterfowl hunt

Another long season, high bag limit approved for 2015 waterfowl hunt

(Division of Wildlife Resources)


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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Wildlife Board approved another high bag limit and long duck and goose hunting season for this fall.

Many of the duck and geese populations have been booming in Utah, and as a result, the Wildlife Board approved another 107-day duck and goose hunting season. They also approved a daily bag limit of seven ducks and four Canada geese, according to a Division of Wildlife Resources news release.

However, the number of canvasback, hen mallard, pintail, redhead and scaup ducks in the seven-duck daily bag limit will likely be limited, DWR said. And the season for scaup ducks will likely only run for 86 days.

DWR migratory game bird coordinator Blair Stringham said the bag limits are calculated using guidelines from species management plans and based on how the population is doing. He said the maximum season length that can occur for any migratory waterfowl is 107 days, and the shortest season is zero days.

“When the populations are doing well, we have a 107-day season,” he said. “As the population begins to decline, the season length is reduced to 86 days, then 60 days, then zero days. The bag limit is based on the same type of structured decision-making process.”

Stringham said biologists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are completing their annual survey of the number of duck breeding pairs and ponds on the Canadian prairies and the prairie pothole region of the United States. By August, the DWR will know if the Wildlife Board recommendations fall within the Wildlife Service guidelines.

However, if the length of the season and the bag limits that the Wildlife Service approves are more restrictive than those approved by the Wildlife Board, the DWR will go with the maximum season length and bag limits the Wildlife Service will allow, the news release said.

“Overall, duck and goose populations are doing really well,” Stringham said in the news release. “I think Utah hunters can expect a long season this fall.”

Division of Wildlife Resources

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