Game and Fish to consider 60 day duck season | Arkansas News

By Joe Mosby

Arkansas News Correspondent

LITTLE ROCK — State wildlife officials Thursday recommended a 60-day duck season with a daily limit of six ducks, of which four could be mallards.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will consider the recommendation by its wildlife management division at the commission’s Aug. 20 meeting, after season guidelines are handed down by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The 60-day, six-ducks-a-day season is the maximum allowed under the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Adaptive Harvest Management Plan that has been in effect since the late 1980s. The maximum has been in effect in Arkansas for the past dozen years. Surveys this summer have shown duck breeding conditions are good in Canada’s prairie regions and in the upper Midwest of the United States.

Two options were given in the proposed duck hunting dates by the wildlife staff. Both have three segments. One is Nov.26-Dec. 6, Dec. 6-24 and Dec. 26-Jan. 31. The other option is Nov. 21-29, Dec. 10-23 and Dec. 26-Jan. 21.

A two-day youth hunt was proposed for Feb. 6-7, but commissioners promptly objected and suggested Dec. 5-6 for the youth hunt. February is too late, too cold, one commissioner said.

The duck season dates also include the hunting of coots and mergansers.

The wildlife staff also proposed changing the daily duck limit for Bayou Meto Wildlife Management Area to three ducks a day, of which two can be hens. Previous limit was one hen a day. Click link below for full story.

via Game and Fish to consider 60 day duck season | Arkansas News.