Wildlife and Parks Commission to set seasons Aug. 14; 18-year-olds may serve as adult supervisors during youth season
PRATT -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed continuation of liberal hunting frameworks for the upcoming 2008-2009 late waterfowl seasons. Frameworks are much the same as last year, allowing 74 days of duck hunting in the Low Plains Zone and 97 days in the High Plains.

Using these guidelines, the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) will recommend season dates and bag limits to the Kansas Wildlife and Parks Commission at a public meeting Aug. 14 in Hoisington. The meeting will be conducted at the Hoisington Activity Center, 106 N. Main, beginning at 1:30 p.m. for the afternoon session. The public hearing portion, where waterfowl seasons will be heard, will begin at 7 p.m.

KDWP will make the following recommendations for duck seasons:
Bag limits, possession limits, shooting hours

• A daily bag limit of five ducks, which may include no more than two of the following species: scaup, redhead, wood duck. In addition, only one duck from the following species may be included in the daily bag: hen mallard, mottled duck, pintail, canvasback.
• A daily bag limit for coots of 15, and a daily bag limit for mergansers of five, which may include no more than two hooded mergansers. The coot and merganser seasons will run concurrent with the regular duck seasons.
• Possession limit for all species (ducks, coots, and mergansers) will be double the daily bag.
• Shooting hours for all species will be one-half hour before sunrise to sunset.

Duck Season Dates

• High Plains Zone Youth -- Sept. 27-28.
• High Plains Zone (West of U.S. 283) -- first segment, Oct. 4-Dec. 30; second segment, Jan. 17, 2009-Jan. 25, 2009.
• Early Zone Youth -- Oct. 4-5.
• Early Zone -- first segment, Oct. 11-Dec. 7; second segment, Dec. 20-Jan. 4, 2009.
• Late Zone Youth -- Oct. 18-19.
• Late Zone -- first segment, Oct. 25-Dec. 28; second segment, Jan. 17, 2009-Jan. 25, 2009.

(For details on zone boundaries, see the 2008 Kansas Hunting and Furharvesting Regulations Summary, available Sept. 1 at most KDWP offices and license vendors.)

During the youth seasons, youth must be 15 years old or younger and accompanied by an adult, who cannot hunt. Two changes in the recommendations this year are that the supervising adult must be at least 18 years old (rather than 21 years old as in previous years), and the adult does not have to have a hunting license or stamps required of waterfowl hunters.

For Canada geese, KDWP will recommend season segments of Oct. 25-26 and Nov. 5-Feb. 15, 2009, with a daily bag limit of three. For white-fronted geese, the season segment recommendations will be Oct. 25-26; Nov. 5-Jan. 4, 2009; and Feb. 7-15, 2009, with a daily bag limit of two. The light goose season recommendation will be for two segments: Oct. 25-26 and Nov. 5-Feb. 15, 2009, with a daily bag limit of 20.

All waterfowl possession limits will be twice the daily bag limit, except for light geese, which will have no possession limit.

For falconers, federal frameworks allow no extended season in the High Plains Zone. Recommendations are for a Feb. 25-March 10, 2009, season in both the Early and Late zones. Because of the 107-day hunting limit imposed by the federal Migratory Bird Treaty, and the increased length of the September teal season from nine to 16 days, there are seven fewer days left for falconers in the Early and Late zones, and none available in the High Plains Zone.

For more details, visit the KDWP website, www.kdwp.state.ks.us, or phone 620-672-5911.
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