End of the Season
Bruce
Thibodeau |
 |
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Well as we know Duck Season in Michigan
is over, except for late season in January. This season seen some
changes, some good, some not so good in the opinion of myself and
others. The season Dates were changed for northern lower Michigan
from coinciding with the UP opener, to opening the same day as the
southern lower.
This was done with some pressure put on the DNR, by hunters, in
response to the bad season in 2001, and the abnormal weather of the
past several years. Many of the hunters in the state were requesting
the DNR make the season to run later, and that we open later. The
reason was stated as they wanted to have a chance at flight ducks (
migrating birds), and not so many of the local birds.
What happened in 2002, Season opened in the UP with great
expectation, everyone was talking duck, there were good numbers of
birds seen, and things looked up. Opener was slow, and there were a
few bright spots throughout season, and the total report form the UP
was great hunting in spots, and lousy in others.
I would have to state that the overall report I have received is
that the UP season was fair to good. They had a normal season in the
Up as the cooler temps and Michigan's Seasons returned to a more
normal pattern as in years past.
The Northern Lower as I mentioned had a later opener. It was hailed
as wonderful by all of those who wanted it to happen, other
including myself were more sceptical. we waited to see what would
happen.
The opener was warm, and the opening weekend seen cool temps hit
right on time. For many the opener was a great hunt, for others it
was not so good. The ducks were here in moderate numbers, and many
of the locals had already begun to fly southwards. The overall
season had good numbers of ducks coming through, they passed in
waves. There were days of no birds in the air, and then the
following couple would see new birds arrive and the hunting was
good.
The overall season for the Northern Lower Michigan, as I heard and
seen was a good to above average. Many of the hunters were happy
with the season as it was set, others including myself would prefer
three openers and three separate closes. the reason is just the
simple fact that the Lower peninsula has two distinct regions and
climates, and the entire lower peninsula can not be treated as one
whole management unit.
The southern Lower Peninsula opened the same day as the northern
lower, and they also had good numbers of ducks, they had many of the
local northern birds in the area, they seemed to start out slow and
progressed through the season in an increasing way. I had good
reports of the marshes along the shorelines as doing very well. and
the overall of what I heard from the south was steady numbers most
of the year, and when the flight birds hit they really had a good to
very good season.
As a whole Michigan seemed to have an average to above average year,
with the Northern Lower being the only one of the three zones to
have had a very different season. The southern Zone made up for the
Northern and Central zones. The Up did better than the Northern
Lower. The late spring seemed to have an effect on the populations,
and the fall as it was did see many ducks in areas they are not so
often found. As an example I myself took golden eyes, Black ducks,
and Lesser scaup off ponds. 2002 season was about the same for
myself as 2001. |
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