[mudpack]

From the commission meeting in Wichita, it looks like the KDWP is finally being forced to look seriously at the overpressure conditions on waterfowl and waterfowl hunting areas in our state.
I hope they can maintain their focus and choose good steps to address this problem.

I plan to be at the Topeka meeting to encourage them as well as voice my own opinions.

 

[3200 man]

Good sound advice is very important when State Laws are being considered ! I can only offer my 2 cents with
the terrible stupidity that has been shown , here in this state ! With controlling laws to not only prohibit purchasing
ammo (online) but the sale or transfer of ALL guns (hunting or otherwise) so , only criminals pack a piece without
fear of being caught !
Being in a conservative state with good wildlife management is the backbone of this nation ! Managing your
natural resources is a never ending job and even , those of us out of staters , support those efforts !

Thanks for you Time and Efforts !

 

[2500hdon37s]

What are your thoughts on what can be done to limit hunting pressure?

I have come as non-resident to the cheyenne bottoms to hunt on a few occasions, and yeah saturday morning hunting pressure was high to say the least. But afternoons and weekdays were fairly quiet.

I know here in Missouri any of our well managed areas that offer even half way decent hunting are daily draw in and most have a 1pm stop time. Which the allocation of spots by draw and the 1pm stop time definitely helps with pressure but the same old spots are pounded day in and day out. I would hate to see current walk-in areas go to draw to limit pressure as us Missouri guys are jealous of you KS folks having some great walk-in areas.

 

[mudpack]

Ten years ago, middle-of-the-week hunts at Cheyenne Bottoms (my home WMA) were noticeably less pressured than weekends. But, no more.
Since about 2018, every day of the week is heavily pressured. The main reason for this is that 75%-90% of the hunters on the major areas are from out of state (OOS). These hunters come to Kansas areas for five or ten day stays, and for them every day of those 5 or 10 days is a hunt day regardless of what day of the week it is, and they will be on the marsh every morning until they have to return to their home state.

I would not want to see the state artificially limit hunters, either by lottery draws, tighter restrictions on OOS hunters, or by only allowing certain days or certain hours of the day on which we can hunt. I want to continue to see freedom, for resident hunters and non-resident hunters alike, to hunt when and where they want.
For this and several other reasons, I think the best way to reduce the number of hunters on public (and private, as well) lands is for the state of Kansas to reduce the daily bag limit (DBL) of 6 ducks/6 Canada geese to 3/3. If this were to happen, OOS hunters would look at Kansas, then at neighboring states, and decide for themselves....to a large part....to go to another state where the DBL is six or seven. They, of course, could decide to come here to hunt, but Kansas would look a lot less attractive as compared to other waterfowl hunting destinations.

There will be plenty of hunters....mostly resident hunters....who will complain that they shouldn't have to give up anything to reduce hunter pressure. They will oppose this measure. But, any measure taken by KDWP to reduce hunter pressure will affect every one of us in one way or another. If giving up the possibility of an additional three ducks a day is the ONLY thing we'll be giving up, then I say that's a small price to pay to gain back the quality of our Kansas waterfowl hunting.
After all, is the quality of our hunt based soley on the number of ducks we bring out of the marsh, or is it based on other, more intangible, components? Limit hunts are mighty attractive, but a limit is a limit, regardless of the number attached to that limit.