Just a short note to remind readers of a very special interview beginning on Monday Jan. 26 with The Downeast Duck Hunter. This will be in 2 parts and I am sure you'll find it interesting as it involves hunting sea ducks of the famed and historical Atlantic Flyway. A place where at one time in history it was the
mecca for waterfowling and the birthplace of punt guns and sink boxes. The early days of decoys carvers and call makers. Until then get your gear dried out, your gun cleaned and throw another log on the fire.
In the meantime here's a photo of a couple of Goldeneyes from my last hunt of the season. And there's more to this story than meets the eye. Note the 2 different species of Goldeneyes; Barrows on the right and Common on the left.
Women's Hunting Journal Integrity For The Hunt
5 comments:
Terry,
Did you know that the Barrows Goldeneye is a state protected duck in Maine, but if you happen to take one and report it to the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, then you are given clearance. The argument is that they are not endangered nationwide, but are rare in our state. Sort of like the Canadian Lynx... If you travel just north of the border, they aren't endangered in Canada but since they are rare in Maine they have been the subject of federal and state restrictions towards trapping...
I hope the interview suffices in terms of sharing my world with your reading base...
The Downeast Duck Hunter
DEDH, I had no idea they were protected in your state. Interesting as for being given "clearance" for reporting harvesting them.
As for the interview I am confident that it will more than suffice! I bet I am not the only one out west here that would love to spend a day hunting your Atlantic sea ducks!
Terry, very cool ducks! We have goldeneye down here, but they never fly slowly enough for me to hit them. That said, I'm getting ready to step out for the last day of season down here, so who knows... I'm feeling better - just gotta see how the ducks fly today!
Downeast, that's a very interesting policy you have in Maine. We have the opposite problem in Cali - we're filthy with pintails here, but because they're less common everywhere else, we still get just one a day. In fact, my last hunt was cut short not because the ducks had stopped flying, but because all that was flying was swarms and swarms of pintails.
Happily, we had a U.S. Fish & Wildlife official in the blind with us. She'd never seen live pintails before - just taxidermied specimens - but she got an eyeful that day. We asked her to tell the folks back in the Beltway about it.
Obviously I do not hunt ducks but I do look forward to reading your post.
Norcal, the problem with Pintails is that they continue to lose their habitat(both breeding as well as migratory) and thus the population numbers have declined dramatically. Here is a link with more specifics; http://soundwaves.usgs.gov/2002/11/fieldwork.html
The Barrows Goldeneye is less common in S.W. Oregon as they come from as far north as Russia. Talk about the harbingers of winter! Beautiful birds.
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