ENJOYING THE OUTDOORS: DUCK HUNTERS FACE POSSIBILITY OF A FEAST

If duck hunting were food, waterfowlers could have been considered on half rations for the past several years -- but now face the possibility of a comparative feast.

The basis of what is coming is two back-to-back high-success duck reproduction years after almost two decades in which ducks seem to be doomed to hard times forever henceforth.

Reversing a long trend of drought conditions, the Canadian prairies and the northern American pothole regions went wet again with changing weather conditions. The water, combined with set-aside land again available for duck breeding, created excellent habitat.

Ducks have boomed for the past two springs in the comeback habitat and have far exceeded the hopes of many waterfowlers with their populations resurgence. Many species are back to long-term averages. Some are at modern population record levels.

Meanwhile, duck hunters have been mired in a depression of short seasons and stingy bag limits for several years -- but the coming fall and winter may require them to get used to much more generous opportunities. The potential improved options offered may be significant enough that some resist it as being too good -- too much too soon for best welfare of the ducks.

What is offered up and down the flyway under the regulations of the various states will be a regulation option that comes from the Mississippi Flyway Council and approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The council meets July 29-30.

Under a USFWS program of "adaptive harvest management," three primary options are targeted for consideration. From most conservative to most generous, they are: (a) 30-day season and three-bird bag limit; (b) 40-day season and four-bird bag limit; and (c) 50-day season and five-bird bag.

For comparison, last year in all states along the flyway except Mississippi, the regulations were 40 days and three-bird limit. Mississippi chose the option then of 30 days/four birds.

Biologists and flyway representatives expect the generous number of ducks this year to prompt a recommendation for at least a 40-day season and four-bird limit, and very possibly as much as the 50-day, five-bird option.

"Personally, I'm guessing it will be Option C, the 50 days and five birds," said Rocky Pritchert, waterfowl coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources and the state's technical representative on the flyway council. "There's quite a bit of discussion yet to be done, but we're at or above the target levels in duck numbers to go with a liberal option."

"There's been a huge change in duck populations in the last two years," he added. "The overriding factor is that any decisions made by the council and the (USFWS) will be with the best interest of the resource in mind. If the decision is made to offer the most liberal hunting options, hunters should not feel that we're moving too fast. What is offered won't be damaging to the resource."

Pritchert said individual states always have the option of being more conservative, of setting a shorter season and/or tighter bag limits than what the USFWS finally approves. He noted, however, that states regularly accept in full the opportunities the federal agency offers.

Missouri Department of Conservation biologist Jeff Levengood, Missouri's flyway council technical representative, also thinks that the most generous of the three alternative duck season/limit options has a chance to be recommended and approved.

"I'm sure we'll be hunting at least 40 days with the four-duck bag, and maybe even 50 days with five ducks daily," Levengood said.

Levengood said mixing option factors -- offering 50 days with just a four-duck bag or holding at 40 days but increasing to a five-duck limit -- isn't likely.

"The (USFWS) is trying to get away with tinkering with the numbers," he said. "They've found that adding more days has more impact on the harvest, even with a lower bag limit, anyway."

Levengood said the adoption of a 50-day/five-bird option likely would mean an increase from a maximum of three mallards in the daily bag limit to four mallards.

"If it goes liberal, some hunters may think it's too much, but we wouldn't do anything to harm the resources," he said. "There's a lot of discussion and thought that goes into this. This is the most complicated and careful process for setting hunting regulations on any group of species."

With the flyway council and USFWS -- which tend to be conservative -- leaning toward notably richer hunting opportunities, hunters can believe that the duck recovery is genuine and major in scope.

Ducks Unlimited Executive Vice President Matthew Connolly Jr. put it this way:

"This fall's flight will be the largest ever witnessed by many of today's waterfowlers. If this growth trend continues, we are on track to reach a fall flight of 100 million birds -- the goal established by the North American Waterfowl Management Plan."

Steve Vantreese is the outdoors editor of the Paducah (Ky.) Sun