There are plenty of Canada geese and ducks out there right now. But the number of hutners pursuing them is in decline.
Bob Frye/Everybody Adventures
Look at trends in waterfowl harvests and you might think that ducks and geese are in trouble.
Not necessarily.
The number of birds being taken year to year is trending downward, it’s true. But that appears to be, more than anything, due to who’s sitting in ducks blinds, or rather isn’t.
The 2015-16 waterfowl season is the latest for which the Pennsylvania Game Commission has harvest numbers. According to commission biologist Jeremy Stempka, it was less than a banner year. Consider:
= Across the Atlantic Flyway as a whole, duck harvests were down. The total harvest was 1.3 million birds. That was a 23 percent decrease from the 15-year, long-term average.
= Across Pennsylvania in particular, the total duck harvest was estimated at 69,400 birds, Stempka said. That was down 51 percent compared to the long-term average.
= The mallard harvest accounted for much of Pennsylvania’s downturn. It was 59 percent below average all on its own. The wood duck and black duck harvests were down, too, though.
= The statewide goose harvest amounted to 74,000 birds. That was down 55 percent, Stempka noted. Of those geese taken, 29 percent were killed in the September season, 71 percent in the regular season.
Most alarming in some circles is that the number of waterfowl hunters declined, too. There were an estimated 19,400 duck hunters in Pennsylvania in 2015-16. Only one state in the Atlantic Flyway – that being North Carolina – had more with 31,700. Still, Pennsylvania’s total reflected a 27 percent decline.
Pennsylvania ranked first in the flyway in terms of goose hunter numbers, with 22,600. Maryland was second with 22,000.
But Pennsylvania’s total was down 40 percent over the long-term average.
It’s hard to say how exact those numbers are in any given year, said Jerry Bish, land manager for the commission at the Pymatuning wildlife management area. But the decline is clearly a trend, he added.
“That should concern us all,” Bish said.
Others are certainly worried.
Recent years were marked by an abundance of ducks and geese, long seasons and liberal bag limits, according to Delta Waterfowl, a nationwide waterfowl hunter’s group. Yet, waterfowl hunter numbers fell precipitously, it added.
In 2015, it noted – in what was a tremendous year for duck populations – there were fewer people hunting ducks than at any time since 1962. The number of hunters, in fact, fell below one million for just the second time in 78 years.
What’s behind that and what can be done to reverse the trend?
Delta Waterfowl tackles that in an article titled “Special Report: Looming Crisis.” It’s available here.
It’s an interesting read for anyone passionate about duck and goose hunting and concerned for its future.
Seasons and bag limits
In the meantime, on Monday, the Game Commission announced the slate of waterfowl seasons for 2017-18. Here are some of the highlights:
Ducks
North Zone: Ducks, sea ducks, coots and mergansers, Oct. 7-Nov. 18, and Dec. 19-Jan. 13.
South Zone: Ducks, sea ducks, coots and mergansers, Oct. 14-21, and Nov. 21-Jan. 20.
Northwest Zone: Ducks, sea ducks, coots and mergansers, Oct. 7-Dec. 9, and Dec. 26-30.
Lake Erie Zone: Ducks, sea ducks, coots and mergansers, Oct. 30-Jan. 6.
Total bag limits: 6 daily, 18 in possession of any species, except for the following restrictions: daily limit may not include more than 4 mallards including 2 hen mallards, 2 scaup, 2 black ducks, 3 wood ducks, 2 redheads, 2 canvasbacks, 1 pintail, 1 mottled duck, 1 fulvous whistling duck, 4 eiders, 4 long-tailed ducks, and 4 scoters. Possession limits are three times the daily limits.
Mergansers
5 daily, 15 in possession (not more than 2 hooded mergansers daily, 6 hooded in possession).
Coots
15 daily, 45 in possession.
Canada geese
Resident Population Goose Zone (RP): All of Pennsylvania except for the Southern James Bay Population and the Atlantic Population zone. Sept. 1-25 (8-goose daily bag limit); and Oct. 28-Nov. 25, Dec. 18-Jan. 20, and Jan. 27-Feb. 24 (5-goose daily bag limit in latter 3 segments).
Southern James Bay Population Zone (SJBP): The area north of I-80 and west of I-79 including in the city of Erie west of Bay Front Parkway to and including the Lake Erie Duck zone (Lake Erie, Presque Isle and the area within 150 yards of Lake Erie Shoreline). Sept. 1-25 (except in a portion of western Crawford County defined under the “Waterfowl season highlights” section in this news release; 1-goose daily bag limit for entire zone); and Oct. 7-Nov. 25 and Dec. 12-Jan. 20 (3-goose daily bag limit in latter 2 segments).
Atlantic Population Zone (AP): The area east of SR 97 from Maryland State Line to the intersection of SR 194, east of SR 194 to intersection of US Route 30, south of US Route 30 to SR 441, east of SR 441 to SR 743, east of SR 743 to intersection of I-81, east of I-81 to intersection of I-80, south of I-80 to New Jersey state line. Sept. 1-25 (8-goose daily bag limit); and Nov. 15-25 and Dec. 16-Jan. 31 (3-goose daily bag limit in latter two segments).
Exception: Areas outside of the controlled goose hunting areas at the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area and State Game Lands 46 in Lebanon-Lancaster counties have a daily limit of one, and a possession limit of three during the regular Canada goose season. Areas inside the goose hunting areas at the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area and State Game Lands 46 have a season limit of one.
