AUGUSTA – Dabblers and divers, look out! Young waterfowl hunters can take to waters and wetlands Saturday, Sept. 25, to participate in Maine’s 2004 Youth Waterfowl Hunt.

“This special one-day, kids-only hunt is a great opportunity to introduce young people to waterfowl hunting,” stated spokesman Mark Latti in a Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife press release.

Participants must be 10 to 15 years old, possess a junior hunting license (no stamps are required for junior hunters), and be accompanied by an adult who is at least 18 years old.

The adult must be the parent or guardian, or a parent- or guardian-approved person who either holds a valid Maine hunting license or has successfully completed a hunter safety course.

A junior hunter may kill up to four regular ducks (dabblers and divers).

Shooting hours are from 30 minutes before sunrise to sunset.

Daily limits on ducks, mergansers and coots are the same as during the regular duck season, except that one black duck may be taken.

Special restrictions on some of the more commonly encountered species include:

• The daily limit of four may not include more than one black duck, two wood ducks, or two female mallards (four mallards total).

• In addition to the daily limit of four ducks, two teal – blue-winged or green-winged – may be taken.

• The daily limit on mergansers is five, of which only one may be a hooded merganser.

• Five coots may be taken.

• The daily limit on Canada geese is three.

A waterfowl identification guide may be found on the Internet at www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/tools/duckdist/duckdist.htm.

The 2004 Maine Migratory Game Bird Hunting Scheduleis available on the Internet at www.mefishwildlife.com.

Maine has held a Youth Waterfowl Hunt since 1997.

According to the department, a mail survey conducted this past winter indicates that about 9 percent of waterfowl hunters bring a young person hunting on the special day.