2009 Migratory Game Bird Hunting Season Dates, Daily Bag Limits Finalized

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Advisory Council has set the 2009 Migratory Game Bird Hunting Season dates and daily bag limits during a recent meeting.

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, after meeting with the Waterfowl Council and conducting a public hearing on Aug. 19 at the Augusta Civic Center, recommended to the IF&W Advisory Council that the waterfowl hunting season be a full 60 days, as allowed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and that the sea duck season be 107 days. The IF&W Advisory Council approved the recommendations. The decision to have a full season this year was based on favorable breeding conditions and waterfowl populations.

The southern waterfowl zone will be open for hunting beginning Thursday, Oct. 1, as in past years. The northern waterfowl zone will have an earlier opening day. The duck season (but not the goose season) will open on Monday, Sept. 28, in the northern waterfowl zone. This will allow north zone duck hunters a few more days of duck hunting opportunity that may otherwise be lost due to an early freeze-up of inland waters that hunters in the north zone generally experience in December.

In addition to waterfowl, webless game birds, such as rails and woodcock, falconry and crow hunting seasons also were adopted. A copy of the schedule may be downloaded from http://www.maine.gov/ifw/laws_rules/pdf/migratorybird_2009.pdf .

Species bag limits for the coming season are similar to last year with the following exceptions:

* Scaup will be the full 60-day season with a 2 bird daily bag limit,

* Canvasback will be the full 60 days with a 1 bird daily bag limit,

* Brant will be a 50-day season with a 2 bird daily bag limit,

* Common eider daily bag limit will be reduced from 5 birds per day to 4, all within the 7 bird daily sea duck bag limit.

The common eider bag limit reduction was recommended to address concerns that the eider population is not increasing. Also, annual survival estimates are below that which would lead to a population increase. This recommendation was made following results of several years of eider banding and band recoveries conducted by the Department and its collaborators, the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. These banding activities are in association with long-term monitoring of eider numbers and factors affecting survival (harvest, predation, and disease). The Department believes the common eider bag limit reduction is necessary to achieve the publicly derived goal to increase nesting eider numbers in Maine.