Kudos to the California Fish & Game Commission

Last year I wrote this post about how hunting regulations had become too complex and confusing. My point was that complex regulations don’t serve the purpose for which they are written – that is to protect from damaging wildlife population levels. But overly complicated regs can easily lead to accidental harvest and, as we’ve been told for years from the biologists, harvest is compensatory to impacting wildlife populations, not additive. My example for this increased complexity was a comparison of waterfowl regulations between 1957 and 2008.

Well, I don’t know whether this simple little blog had anything to do with it, but the California Fish and Game Commission deserves much credit for taking steps this year to simplify the waterfowl regulations. At least a little bit.

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Knowing that the Fish and Game folks would be setting this years’ waterfowl season and bag limits in early August, a few weeks ago I set out to look up the recommendations coming from the Pacific Flyway Council to the Fish and Game Commission as a preview of what the Commission may likely approve as the regulatory framework for this year. Clear as mud?

As I reviewed the agenda and proposed regulations of the Fish and Game Commission for the August meeting, I was pleasantly surprised to see examples such as the following:

“The existing regulations allow a white-fronted goose daily bag limit of 4 per day… The proposed change would increase the daily bag limit to 6 geese per day… The white-fronted goose population is currently about 600,000 birds and above the population goal of 300,000 birds established in the Flyway Management Plan. The increase in the white-fronted goose daily bag limit is intended to… simplify regulations.

Currently, goose bag limits… allow up to 6 Small Canada geese, 4 Large Canada geese and 4 white-fronted geese. [T]his proposed change would allow a simple regulation of 6 dark geese per day in these two zones.

The existing regulation permits white-fronted goose hunting… to begin on the last Saturday in October whereas the general goose season normally opens on the third Saturday in October. The proposed change would allow hunting of white-fronted geese to begin earlier than the current regulation and would be consistent with the opening date for geese in the Balance of State Zone.”

This was just one of several references to the Commission’s attempts at simplifying regulations. Kudos to the Commission for developing a framework that is both based on the evidence of population levels and simplifies the regs for hunters. We will appreciate these changes in the coming months as we enter the field chasing ducks, geese, or other favorite quarry.

Are Hunting Regs Becoming Too Confusing?

You've all probably been there, sitting in the duck blind in the middle part of the waterfowl season and suddenly, out of nowhere, a small group of White Front Geese (ie. Specks) show up and begin to work your decoys. The following is the typical conversation whispered from within the blind between goose honks:

"What is today's date?"

"I don't know, November 20th I think."

"Are Specks open?"

"I'm not sure. I think they closed on November 10th."

"I thought they opened on November 10th and closed December 31st?"

"Oh, right, I think that's it."

Meanwhile, the Specks are working like magic and they continue their playful dips and dives getting closer to gunning range.

"Are you Sure?!"

"No."

"No! Dang it, get out your reg book."

"I don't have one, do you?"

Specks are now hovering over the decoys at 15 yards getting more and more suspicious of their motionless mates down below.

"NO! Quick, do you have your cell phone? Call Andy over at the sporting goods store and ask him if Specks are open."

"It's 6:30am, Andy ain't there."

"AArrrggg...."

The Specks now tire of toying with our emotions and lazily float off into the horizon. Silence now abounds in the blind. Finally, The Hunting Partner squeaks out, "Found my reg book..."

Now some of you might say that it is our fault for not having thoroughly read and memorized the waterfowl hunting regulations for the current season. But I actually pride myself on having a photographic memory and am a good steward for reading and understanding the rules of the field before stepping foot out of the truck. But these days, it seems as though you need a Ph.D. in multidisciplinary linguistic composition (yes, I did look that up) to understand the comings and goings of the hunting regulations.

I did some quick 'research' on the internet and found two similar hunting regulations - one from the current 2008/09 waterfowl season that were recently set by the US Fish & Wildlife Service; and the same regulations from 1957.

2008/09 Central Flyway Regulations

In Montana, Nebraska, Colorado, Oklahoma, and New Mexico, the daily bag limit would be 6 ducks, with species and sex restrictions as follows: mallard -- five, no more than two of which may be females; redhead, scaup, wood duck -- two; pintail, mottled duck, canvasback -- one. For pintails and canvasbacks, the season length would be 39 days, which may be split according to applicable zones/split duck hunting configurations approved for each state. The possession limit would be twice the daily bag limit. In North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Kansas, and Texas, the daily bag limit would be five ducks, with species and sex restrictions as follows: scaup, redhead and wood duck -- two; only one duck from the following group -- hen mallard, mottled duck, pintail, canvasback. The possession limit would be twice the daily bag.

Contrast this to the 1957 Central Flyway Regulations

The season shall be 75 days, beginning October 1st and ending no later than January 15th. The daily bag limit is 5 with species and sex restrictions as follows: H. Merganser -- one, wood duck -- one. There was also one footnote at the bottom of the table indicating that states choosing a split season would be penalized 10%.

Point made. If I were hunting in any of the states which are articulated in the current regs, I would be extremely nervous about accidental harvest without undertaking a rigorous study of the rules. Even with that, I would keep Andy's phone number on speed dial.

My issue with all this increasing regulatory complexity is that, at least for waterfowl hunting, biologists have been telling us for years that harvest does not negatively impact population levels. Rather, nesting and brooding habitat are the most important factors in determining species success. The current regulatory scheme certainly doesn't support that theory. So why all the complex slicing and dicing by state, species, dates, regions within states, etc., etc.?

When looking at the long term waterfowl population averages, there is further compelling evidence that increasing the detailed breakout of harvest regulations by state and species restriction hasn't necessarily helped increase populations. Pintails are the shining example of this theory. Pintails have been restricted to one for years and still no recovery.

I'm a pretty simple man, hopefully not simple minded, but simple in practice. I enjoy our wildlife resources like most of you and do what I can to help promote and fund their thriving in our wild lands. I play by the rules when I am in the field and trust that the scientists that study wildlife and set those rules have done so with the wildlife's best interest at heart. I just wish that it didn't have to be so dang hard.