Waterfowl season falls prey to scofflaws

Outdoors in Alaska, by Howard Delo

I skipped opening day of the waterfowl season on Labor Day to avoid the crowds of duck hunters. I went to Goose Bay on Sept. 2 and was surprised to see only six other hunters beside myself. Seven hunters in that refuge is the proverbial "drop in the bucket." The birds were few and far between also.

On Wednesday, I went to Palmer Hay Flats and, while there were more birds flying, I only saw three other hunters. However, I did encounter a common theme between the two refuges besides few hunters and fewer birds.

That common theme was the large number of lawbreakers posing as duck hunters on opening day.

At Goose Bay I spoke with an older gentleman and a younger man who had their motorhome parked in the area and had been there since Sunday. When I asked them about hunting on opening day, they both commented that the birds were everywhere and numbered in the thousands. The action was "barrel-melting hot," to use their phrase. There were a lot of hunters, too. When I asked about wildlife enforcement efforts, they both said an officer had been out and had written "a bunch" of citations.

Out at the Hay Flats, I spoke with a man who had camped out in his van since opening morning. When asked about the hunting he, too, said it had been really good on opening day. He also told me how a federal agent had been out in the parking area checking hunters as they returned to their vehicles. He said the enforcement officer wrote 45 citations on opening day.

Several of those citations were for using an unplugged shotgun, i.e. the magazine of the shotgun had not been "plugged" so that it would only hold two shells. A third shell in the chamber met the three-shot limit. Another common violation was using lead shot instead of the nontoxic shot types, like steel, that are readily available. This man told me he had spoken with the officer about the numbers and types of violations.

While not surprised, I was disheartened to hear this. The regulation about limiting the shotgun capacity to no more than three shots without reloading has been around longer than I have. The requirement to use nontoxic shot for waterfowl in Alaska is at least 13 years old and has been discussed in the outdoor press since the early 1980s, when it started being implemented in other parts of the country. None of this stuff is new.

This level of violation gives hunting a bad name among non-hunters and just adds fuel to the anti-hunting fire. Yet, it really isn't hard to learn the rules and hunt legally. Everything one needs to know to hunt waterfowl in Alaska is contained in the Alaska 2003-2004 Migratory Bird Hunting Regulations Summary, available at any license vendor or Fish and Game office.

Like any hunting trip, it's wise to do a little planning ahead of time. That includes getting the proper license and stamps and a copy of the regulations. Then take a few minutes to read the regulations. If nothing else, those few minutes spent reading could save you several hundred dollars in fines, attorney fees, court appearances, lost time from work, loss of your firearm and suspension of your hunting privileges.

Unfortunately, this lawless approach to the hunting season has affected the moose chasers as well. I spoke with a state wildlife enforcement trooper who told me about a half-dozen illegal moose kills so far this season. When I asked about legal harvest, he knew of one.

As hunters it's time to clean up our act or run the risk of losing the privilege of hunting altogether. Nationally, 90 percent of the population, comprised of non-hunters and anti-hunters, is watching how we act in the hunting fields. They are forming judgments and voting accordingly.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist living in Big Lake. Send your comments and ideas to editor@frontiersman.

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