More great news.

Duck numbers up, geese 'robust' as hunting seasons approach
By Mike Stahlberg
The Register-Guard
Published: Tuesday, August 8, 2006
It's August, which means the long drought between major hunting seasons is finally over.

The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission met Friday in Salem to adopt the 2006-07 game bird season regulations, which are set at the last minute to incorporate the results of federal waterfowl surveys in the decision-making process.
The outlook for bird hunters is generally good, according to reports presented to the commission by field biologists.
Most of the adopted seasons and regulations are very similar to last year's - including the maximum 107 days of duck hunting allowed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Mallard numbers in Pacific Flyway states increased 7 percent this year, biologists reported, and "total ducks in Oregon increased 17 percent from 2005."
And 2005 was a decent year for duck hunters. Harvest Information Program surveys indicate 18,700 adult Oregon hunters took home 357,600 ducks - a 39 percent increase over the previous year.


The 2006-07 duck and merganser season in Zone 1 (western Oregon and Columbia basin counties) will run Oct. 14-29 and Nov. 1-Jan. 28, 2007. In Zone 2 (the remainder of eastern Oregon), hunting will be allowed Oct. 7-Dec. 5 and Dec. 8-Jan. 21. A statewide waterfowl youth hunt will be held Sept. 23-24.
One change the commission approved in bird-hunting regulations involves the schedule at Fern Ridge Wildlife Area west of Eugene.

The Fisher Butte Unit, previously open three days each week, will now be open to hunting every day. However, hunting hours there will end at 1 p.m., and a total public access closure will begin at 2 p.m. during the general duck season. The Royal Amazon Unit will be managed on the same schedule.

Also, scheduling of the Western Oregon Fee Pheasant Hunt at Fern Ridge Wildlife Area will be juggled to provide a full month between the end of that hunt and the opening of waterfowl season.

Coupled with recent habitat improvements, the scheduling changes are intended to better attract and distribute waterfowl and improve hunter success, said Brad Bales, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife game bird program manager.

Meanwhile, goose populations remain "robust" throughout the state. But hunting those big birds now involves an even more complex checkerboard of dates and locations, as the commission approved two new goose hunting zones to address depredation problems on private agricultural land.

One is a new south coastal zone for lands in Coos, Curry and Douglas counties west of Highway 101. Hunting there will target Aleutian Canada geese in late February and early March. The second new zone is in Klamath County and allows late February and early March hunting for white-fronted geese.

Including the Northwest Oregon Permit Goose Zone, there are now four different fall goose season frameworks in Western Oregon - each of which has two or more "sessions." That's in addition to the September Canada goose season targeting resident geese.
This year's September goose season will run Sept. 9-19 in the 13 northwest Oregon counties, and Sept. 9-14 in five southwest Oregon counties, plus all of eastern Oregon.
The complicated nature of goose hunting notwithstanding, 11,500 hunters harvested 66,000 geese in 2005, or about one bird per day spent in the field.