Board approves increase in hen mallard limit and earlier opener for north zone in 2020 Wisconsin waterfowl rules
Paul A. Smith, Milwaukee Journal SentinelPublished 2:21 p.m. CT April 4, 2020 | Updated 6:33 p.m. CT April 4, 2020
For the first time in more than four decades, waterfowl hunters in Wisconsin this fall will be able to include two hen mallards in their daily bag limit.
In addition, the north zone duck season will begin Sept. 26, a week earlier than the south and Mississippi zones. And the early teal season will run nine days this year, up from seven.
The changes were among a handful of modifications in the 2020 package of waterfowl hunting regulations approved Wednesday by the Natural Resources Board. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the board voted on the rules via a special teleconference meeting.
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Most of this year's regulations will look familiar to hunters, who once again have a 60-day season with a six-duck daily bag limit. The framework is the most liberal allowed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The daily bag limit can include no more than four mallards (of which two may be hens), three wood ducks, two canvasbacks, two redheads, two black ducks and one pintail.
The scaup bag limit varies from one to two per day in each zone at various times.
The move to allow hunters two hen mallards in their bag arguably represents the year's biggest change. In a regulation intended to protect the breeding population of mallards, hunters in Wisconsin have been restricted to one hen mallard since 1976.
But research conducted in recent years by Drew Fowler, DNR migratory game bird research scientist, and University of Minnesota biologists showed environmental conditions such as precipitation and amount of available habitat, not hunter harvest, were the primary drivers of the duck population.
Minnesota increased its hen mallard bag limit from one to two in 2011. Since then, the survival rate and breeding abundance of hen mallards in the Gopher State remained the same, Fowler said.
The increase in the Wisconsin hen mallard bag limit was supported by all major conservation groups, including the Wisconsin Waterfowl Association, the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation and the Wisconsin Conservation Congress.
With the modification, Wisconsin has joined all other states in the Mississippi Flyway with a two-hen limit.
In other changes, the northern zone duck season will open Sept. 26, while the south and Mississippi River zones will start Oct. 3.
For the last couple years, all three zones opened on the same date. But early freeze-ups have limited opportunities in the north, prompting the move to an earlier start in that zone.
The early teal season will run Sept. 1 to 9 this year; it was seven days in 2019.
Goose hunters will once again have a 92-day regular season, including two splits in the south zone that will push the end date to Jan. 5.
The board also approved a zone change that will take effect for the 2021-25 seasons. Beginning in 2021, the state's waterfowl will be managed in north, south and open water zones.
The open water zone begins 500 feet from shore on the coasts of Lake Michigan and Green Bay.
Beginning in fall 2021, the Mississippi zone – which has been in place for several years – will be absorbed into the south zone.
The season frameworks and bag limits were based on the most current scientific data as well as input the agency received from the public, from conservation and hunting groups and from a waterfowl hunter survey, said Taylor Finger, DNR migratory bird ecologist.
For a full list of the 2020 Wisconsin waterfowl regulations, visit dnr.wi.gov.
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