[noodle creek]

Originally Posted by Smalls

Where did I suggest that someone who hunts 4-10 days knows as much as someone that is hunting 40-60 days in the same area? If we are talking about zones, someone that hunts 40-60 days in Cameron Parish doesn't know anymore about Vermilion parish than the guy that hunts 4-10 days in Vermilion Parish.

Now you are introducing an entirely different aspect to this conversation though. Three years ago, I was doing check outs of waterfowl roosting areas. I looked at more land with ducks sitting on it than I bet a lot of hunters do. But, I didn't hunt 40-60 days. Probably more in the range of the 4-10 dayer, because of work and school. Should I have had a greater voice than any other hunter? I saw when the first ducks showed up, and I saw when the last one's left. I guess I should have been on the committee to set the season or something.

I'm sure there are many people that drive up and down Highway 27 in Cameron Parish every day. Probably up and down Highway 14 too. Does that mean they have a better grasp on what the frame work should be in the Coastal Zone, because they are looking at those marshes every day? I bet a lot of them don't even hunt. Slippery slope right there.

If you start giving more voice to a certain group, what do you think is going to happen? As I mentioned before, I know several older, seasoned duck hunters that would very much like to see 30/3 come back, because they think it will thin the competition. Is that what is best for the resource and the sport? Probably not. All it will do is please a few people, and is not at all scientific.

I don't know where you got that I was suggesting that the 4-10 dayer knew as much as the 40-60 dayer. That was not my point at all. My point was, and I wrote it very clearly, most 40-60 dayers are hunting the same area; they aren't hunting across the zone. Are you telling me that what one guy sees in Cameron Parish is the tell-all for the entire coastal zone? There are 40-60 dayers all across the state, we can agree on that, but do you think every 40-60 dayer in the Coastal Zone is going to agree on when the split should be? I seriously doubt that, because the birds show up at different times across the zone, and they leave at different times. I've heard guys in certain parts of the Coastal and Eastern zone say that once you get into January, you might as well hang your gun up.

All I'm saying is, relying on one voice or group of voices more than another is a bad idea. That 4-10 dayer may not hit the conditions you described, but he's still out there.

Everyone better get ready to do a lot more griping in the future with the new method for setting the frame work. At least they could be a little more accurate when they were setting it in August or September. There's going to be some chapped asses when they start setting it with all the other hunting seasons in January or February.

You said "the only difference between a hunter who is afield 4-10 days vs a hunter afield 40-60 days is their observations" or something along those lines. Don't you think 40 extra days afield is a lot more to learn from?

I understand that most people hunt the same area for the most part. All I'm saying is that there are people who hunt more days than not in every area throughout the state, and there are people who hunt just a few days in every area throughout the state. The guys who hunt everyday clearly have a much better understanding of what happens throughout the course of a season compared to someone who isn't even out there.