Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.Duck hunters, there's no ducking this postseason chore.
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission wants to hear from you on proposed changes to the state's duck-hunting zones.
The changes would affect the entire state and, for the first time, establish zoning in a region of western Nebraska known as the High Plains zone.
For eastern Nebraska hunters, the proposal would mean the end of split seasons in the current Low Plains zones.
Split seasons feature a closed period. For example, the recent Low Plains Early season ran from Oct. 8 to Dec. 18 and then Dec. 23 and 24. Hunting was prohibited during the four-day split between Dec. 18 and 23.
Mark Vrtiska, the Game and Parks waterfowl manager in Lincoln, said hunters will decide if they want a major change that would give duck hunting a new look in Nebraska.
"My inclination is yes, we should do this, but if they don't want this, I need to know," he said.
Vrtiska said that the ultimate benefit will come each year when the commission sets hunting dates in the state's various habitats to match migration patterns and dates.
"You could have four independent season dates in different parts of Nebraska," he said.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service allows states to consider such changes once every five years. That is this year. The federal agency also sweetened the deal by giving states a few more options in creating zones.
The four-zone, no-splits alternative Vrtiska is showing around the state is one of the options. Nebraska has used its current three-zone system since 1981.
Zoning allows states to set duck-hunting seasons independently of each other. The purpose is to provide more equitable distribution of hunting opportunities.
Vrtiska is traveling around the state sharing his proposal with hunters. More than 40 hunters turned out for a meeting at Scheels in Omaha last week. Vrtiska also stopped in Columbus, Lincoln and Ponca.
Vrtiska said the proposed option would give Nebraska greater flexibility in establishing duck seasons across the state in years when drought or other factors dry up the waterfowl population.
When that happens, the Fish and Wildlife Service limits the number of hunting days states are permitted to establish. Nebraska and other states currently are allowed 74 days.
A 39-day season was held as recently as 1993-94.
"The 39-day season will happen again," Vrtiska said, "so the four-zone option will be more important in the future."
Vrtiska said it's inevitable that duck-breeding grounds in the eastern Dakotas and Canadian prairies will go dry when a drought cycle returns. The loss of habitat is critical because farmers are pulling fragile land and wetlands out of the federal Conservation Reserve Program and returning it to crop production to take advantage of strong commodity prices, he said.
"They are draining wetlands bad," Vrtiska said. "And when you drain wetlands, you dry up habitat that's critical for hens and their eggs."
Western North Dakota's oil field boom also is overrunning duck habitat, he said.
"Mother Nature herself will turn in the 39-day season," Vrtiska said. "But I'm telling you, it's looking bleak."
Vrtiska provided examples of a 39-day hunting calendar under the proposed four-zone option:
• Zone 1: Oct. 27 to Dec. 4 (or Oct. 20 to Nov. 27).
• Zone 2: Oct. 13 to Nov. 20 (or Oct. 6 to Nov. 13).
• Zone 3: Nov. 3 to Dec. 11 (or Nov. 10 to Dec. 18).
• Zone 4: Oct. 6 to Nov. 13 (or Oct. 13 to Nov. 20).
Vrtiska's series of meetings continues with stops Monday at Niobrara Lodge in Valentine, 6 p.m.; Tuesday at Yanney Park in Kearney, 6 p.m.; Jan. 23 at the Red Willow Fairgrounds in McCook, 7 p.m.; Jan. 24 at the Gering Civic Center at 7 p.m.; Jan. 25 at the Lake McConaughy Visitor Center near Ogallala, 6 p.m.; and Jan. 30 at the North Platte Holiday Inn Express, 7 p.m.
Vrtiska plans a second round of meetings across the state before Game and Parks commissioners vote on the issue at their March 9 meeting in Lincoln. Changes would be forwarded to the Fish and Wildlife Service for approval before being formally adopted by the commission in July.
Changes would go into effect during next fall's hunting season and would remain in effect until the 2015-16 season.
Duck hunters remain a force in Nebraska. About 13,400 hunters killed 153,700 ducks — an average 11.5 per hunter — during the 2010 season, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Those hunters spent 98,500 hunter days in the field.
This season's last duck blinds shut down Wednesday in western Nebraska.
Now some hunters are hunkering down in meeting rooms across the state to consider the future of their pastime.
* * *
• Map: The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is considering a plan to divide the state into four duck-hunting zones. The zones would allow different seasons in different areas for a more even distribution of hunting opportunities:
Contact the writer:
402-444-1127, david.hendee@owh.com
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
