Results of Duck Season Structure Evaluation

New Season Date Formulas for the North and Middle Zones

Two North Zone Boundary Changes

1. Place a greater portion of St. Charles County in the North Zone
2. Return the portions of the Missouri River, Chariton River, and Grand River floodplains east of Miami, Missouri to the North Zone.

Note: These changes will not go into effect until 2021!

The Department thanks you for completing a duck hunter opinion survey earlier this year or for attending a Duck Season Dates and Zone Boundaries Workshop. We understand that everyone seems to be inundated with surveys these days and appreciated that you were willing to take the time to complete the survey we e-mailed you. Simply put, we wouldn’t be able to set season dates to match what hunters want without hearing from hunters like you. We offer a special thanks to those of you who devoted an entire evening to attend a workshop. You gave us a much better understanding of some of the tradeoffs involved with potential changes to season date formulas and zone boundaries.

The paragraphs that follow highlight what we heard from hunters and how we used your input to establish season date formulas and zone boundaries for the 2021-2025 duck seasons. We encourage you to read the Duck Season Structure Evaluation Recommendations and Hunter Input report to learn more about the input we received from hunters and the rationale behind the changes that will take effect in 2021. It also provides more detailed descriptions of the zone changes.

The Need for Compromise

The Department’s primary objective when establishing zone boundaries and season date formulas is to best accommodate hunter preferences. The challenge is that hunters have very diverse preferences based on where they like to hunt, the species they target, and conditions they’re willing to tolerate. Just to give one example, you may recall the question where we asked you to select the nine weeks you preferred the season to be open in the event of a split season. In just the Middle Zone, hunters selected 166 different 9-week combinations! We recognize the season dates and zone boundaries will be less than ideal for everyone. Our intent is to do the best we can to provide potential compromise solutions that will at least somewhat accommodate very diverse hunter preferences.

2021-2025 Duck Season Date Formulas

North Zone

After the workshops, we anticipated that we would likely need to shift the North Zone season date formula back to the last weekend of October. Eighteen out of the 27 small groups focused on the North Zone indicated they wanted the season to open the last weekend in October or earlier. However, when we analyzed the survey results, we discovered only 29% of the 3,217 North Zone respondents wanted the season to open the last Saturday in October. So, we offer a compromise that is slightly earlier than the current season date formula by opening the season the Saturday closest to October 31st beginning in the 2021 season. We’re hopeful this change will accommodate the 40% of hunters who desired a season slightly earlier or the same as it is now and recognize that it will not be early enough for 29% of North Zone hunters and not late enough for 30% of hunters. This change will result in earlier seasons three out of the five years from 2021-2025 and will ensure the season is open during the entire first week of November. It should be noted that from 2011-2016, the first week of November accounted for 13% of the harvest and was the fourth highest harvest week of the season. In contrast, the fourth week of December accounted for 7% of the harvest, the lowest of any week during the season.

Middle Zone

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the evaluation was that Middle Zone hunters did not want the split moved from November to December. Given the fact most ducks had arrived in Missouri by Veterans Day during the past two seasons and that the 3^rd week of November is typically one of the highest harvest weeks of the season, we fully expected that Middle Zone hunters would want the split moved. This was not the case. Of the 3,664 Middle Zone survey respondents, 34% indicated they most preferred a split to occur during the 3^rd week of November. In contrast, only 9% indicated they would prefer a split the first week of December, and the proportion selecting other weeks in December was even lower. Even among nondeer hunters, the third week of November was the week most preferred for a split by a wide margin.

Middle Zone survey respondents were nearly evenly divided about season timing with 48% selecting earlier season date formulas and 52% selecting formulas the same or later than they are now. The new season date formula will only result in different season dates compared to the past in two out five years. The major difference is that it will eliminate the later openers that would have occurred in 2024 and 2025. Workshop participants who hunted at Wappapello Lake, Smithville Lake, Sunshine Lake, and other places with marginal habitat noted that they depend on migration events and early season migrants for their best hunting. Without these early season days, their seasons are extremely limited. This change will prevent having the season closed for nearly half of November while maintaining the November split and January hunting opportunity desired by many.                                                                                             

South Zone

Hunters in the South Zone appeared satisfied with the current South Zone season date formula. At the workshops, South Zone hunters noted the importance of maintaining the traditions associated with hunting over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and the desire to hunt as late as the federal framework allows. When asked about specific season date formulas, 67% of survey respondents and 65% of workshop participants indicated they would like to maintain the current South Zone formula.

Zone Boundary Considerations

Smithville and Wappapello

Based on what we heard at the workshops from hunters near Smithville and Wappapello, we expected that zone changes would be needed to accommodate season date preferences. In the case of Wappapello, workshop participants and survey respondents wanted earlier seasons. Unfortunately, we could not come up with a viable zone adjustment that would not negatively affect a much larger number of nearby hunters. Hunters around Smithville were much more divided in their opinions about season dates than what we expected based on the input we received at the workshops. There was not widespread support for change from hunters in this region.

Dalton Bottoms

Hunters in this region and further west had the most dramatic change in season dates beginning in 2017. This region was moved from the North Zone to the Middle Zone and, at the same time, Middle Zone season dates were moved back 5-12 days. Hunters west of Grand Pass were generally supportive of remaining in the Middle Zone. In contrast, survey respondents and workshop participants who hunt the Missouri River/Grand River/Chariton River Bottoms east of Miami, MO indicated they preferred season dates much more aligned with the North Zone than the Middle Zone. When asked to select the nine weeks they would most prefer for a 60-day season with no splits, 84% indicated they would like the season to open the same time or earlier than the North Zone now does. When given season date formula options that included options with a split season, 64% still preferred season dates the same or earlier than now offered in the North Zone.

St. Charles

Workshop participants from the St. Charles region were overwhelmingly dissatisfied with the current Middle Zone formula with 8 out of 10 small groups recommending season dates earlier than what they have now. They noted that harvest is typically highest in November and that the combined loss of days due to a later start and a November split greatly reduced hunting opportunity during what they perceived as the best time of the year. Harvest data from the USFWS supports their observations. An analysis of USFWS harvest data for this region from 2011-2016 showed that an average of 34% of the annual harvest occurred during the second and third weeks of November. When asked to select the nine weeks they would most prefer for a 60-day season with no splits, 68% indicated they would like the season to open the same time or earlier than the North Zone now does. When given season date formula options that included options with a split season, 45% still preferred season dates the same or earlier than now offered in the North Zone, and only 30% suggested maintaining the current season date formulas.

Final Thoughts

Perhaps the hardest part of setting season dates is knowing that it’s not possible to accommodate what everyone wants. We understand that if you’re a field hunter or hunt big water, the season dates likely are not late enough. On the other hand, if you depend on species other than mallards and enjoy those first fall flights, we recognize the seasons won’t be early enough. So while we recognize it is impossible to achieve the ideal season dates for everyone, we hope the final result of the 2021-2025 season structure review is that we’ve found compromise solutions that will strike a balance among hunters who would have liked earlier or later seasons. If you have any additional questions or comments about the season structure for the 2021-2025 duck seasons, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Andy Raedeke
Waterfowl Biologist
Missouri Department of Conservation
Andrew.raedeke@mdc.mo.gov