Workshops planned to discuss duck zones with hunters

Missouri has a chance to revamp duck hunting regulations every five years. The Conservation Department needs to know what hunters want.

JEFFERSON CITY-The Missouri Department of Conservation wants to hear from hunters who have ideas about how duck hunting regulations could be improved. They also want to hear from those who want regulations to stay the same. You can have your say in the matter at any of eight meetings to be held around the state in March.

Because ducks and other waterfowl migrate across state and international boundaries, ultimate responsibility for their management rests in the hands of federal officials. However, state officials help the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gather information about waterfowl population trends, and they get a say in how hunting regulations are set.
Rather than changing waterfowl hunting regulations every year, state and federal officials have agreed to set season dates and hunting zones and leave them in effect for at least five years at a time. This permits effective evaluation of regulations’ effect on waterfowl populations.

So, states get to readjust their duck hunting rules every five years. This year is Missouri’s time to reexamine waterfowl hunting regulations, and the Conservation Department wants to know how hunters feel about the past five years’ experience and what they would like to see for the next five years.

“Missouri has a lot of different places and ways to hunt waterfowl,” said Conservation Department Resource Scientist Dave Graber. “Our regulations have to take into account the preferences of hunters in northwest Missouri, in the Bootheel and everywhere in between. Even in one region of the state, hunters can have very different ideas about season splits and zone boundaries. Finding compromises that meet everyone’s needs is a challenge that we take very seriously.”

To get an accurate idea of how duck hunters in every part of the state feel about waterfowl regulations, the Conservation Department will hold eight public meetings at locations throughout the state. Graber urged everyone with an interest in duck and goose hunting to attend one of the meetings.

“Some hunters are very good about making their desires known without our having to seek them out. That is great, but we also want to know how less outspoken hunters feel. These meetings are their chance to tell us.”

Waterfowl hunting regulation meetings will be held from 7–9 p.m. at the following locations. Details about the meetings are available by calling the numbers listed for each meeting.

-- Columbia, March 13 at the American Legion Post 202, 600 S. Legion Lane (573) 882-8388;
--Jackson, March 15 at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 3305 N. High (also known as Hwy 61 between Jackson and Fruitland) (573) 290-5730;
--Dexter, March 16 at the National Guard Armory, Highway 114 East near the airport, (573) 290-5730;
--Kirkwood, March 23 at the Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center, 11715 Cragwold Rd., (636) 441-4554;
--Springfield, March 28 at the Andy Dalton Shooting Range and Training Center, Green County Farm Rd. 61 (located 2/12 miles south of Hwy. 160 West), (417) 895-6880;
--Lamar, March 29 at Memorial Hall, 1100 Broadway, (417) 884-2526 or (417) 895-6880;
--Blue Springs, March 30 at the Burr Oak Woods Conservation Nature Center, 1401 NW Park Rd., (816) 655-6250.

-Jim Low-

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