Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Northwest Edition
AGFC opts to keep spinning duck decoys for now
BY BRYAN HENDRICKS
Posted on Wednesday, August 8, 2007
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has tabled a proposal to ban electronically-powered decoys for duck hunting in Arkansas.
Freddie Black, vice chairman for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, said the commission tabled the proposal because the 14 other states in the Mississippi Flyway Council are unwilling to ban spinning wing decoys. He said it would be unfair to require Arkansas duck hunters to make further sacrifices when other states in the council refuse to address the effects that spinning wing decoys might have on duck migration patterns and harvest patterns.
“That’s the reason we need to pull any further proposed ban,” Black said. “We need to gain momentum in the flyway before we ask our hunters to give anything else up.”
Black said the commission considered banning other types of motion decoys as a tool to pressure other states into banning spinning wing decoys at the council’s annual meeting July 24-29 in Huron, Ohio. The other states chose to keep spinning wing decoys.
Black said an expanded ban in Arkansas would put Arkansas hunters at a disadvantage to hunters in other states.
“If there were no mechanized decoys in the flyway, Arkansas hunters would benefit,” Black said. “What effect mechanical decoys have on migration patterns of ducks in the flyway is something to be concerned about. It’s something to pay attention to and for us to continue to work on, but I don’t think there’s any need to penalize our hunters any further.”
David Goad, assistant director for the AGFC, said the council agreed to petition the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service to study the continental effects of spinning wing decoys on ducks. Goad said only one bit of research has been done on the subject, the Ackerman Report, and it showed kill rates increased when the spinning wing decoy was activated.
“There’s no research that concludes there’s an overall effect on the overall harvest, but there’s something funny going on with waterfowl right now,” Goad said. “They appear to be doing well, but mallards are not increasing percentage-wise as well as other ducks are, and mallards are very prolific. Something’s going on there.
“ The Ackerman Report recommends other research, but there’s no other research going on.”
Goad said it took leadership in the past to ban other tools that allowed overharvest of ducks, and Arkansas is committed to resolving questions about the effect of spinning wing decoys on duck populations.
“How were we ever able to ban baiting and live decoys ?” Goad said. “How did we require guns to be plugged ? Nobody seems to know those answers, but somebody needed to step out there.
“ We want to provide as much hunting opportunity as we can. We’re doing a lot of moist soil work, and we’re providing more habitat and we’re providing more opportunity. But we’re charged to take care of resources, and that’s the bottom line.”
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