For ducks and geese, 2011 can be said to be a year of promise.
"A lot of things are looking up this year," said Don Kraege, waterfowl section manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Nesting numbers and young-of-the-year production are up for most web-footed avian species. And though these numbers don't by themselves trigger immediate increases in such things as bag limits or hunt days, they will prompt managers to look at such liberalizations in 2012, Kraege said.
Among banner breeding successes, the results of which Northwest Washington hunters are expected to see this fall, are those for snow geese, Kraege said.
Following on the heels of several down years in both numbers of nesting adults as well as gosling survival, Wrangel Island's breeding site counts burgeoned to 71,000 nests this year.
Kraege said expectations are for a southing population full of gray-plumed juveniles that could number as many 150,000 birds, according to reports from Russian Academy of Sciences biologists monitoring the Arctic Ocean nesting grounds.
A large percentage of young gray birds unfamiliar with their winter digs always bodes well for hunters here. Adult-dominated flocks of snow geese are among the most wary of waterfowl aggregations.
In anticipation of the arrival of this year's contingent of Russian-bred snows, hunters will have a full array of quality hunt fields on Fir Island (near Mount Vernon) and Florence Island (in the Stillagaumish River delta at Stanwood). The program, now in its sixth year, is being funded by the department's Private Lands Access initiative.
Two major changes to the quality hunt program will see the drawing-reservation system eliminated in favor of a seven-days-per-week, first-come, first-served system of field use.
Snow goose hunters in goose management area 1 also will not be required to hunt over decoys unless they choose to do so.
Kraege said that duck numbers in most regions of the continent are up including those for northern pintails, a dabbler species of interest here because of the daily bag restrictions.
With nesting sprig-tails reaching five million this spring, managers are now considering a possible modification, if pintail numbers continue to grow, that would allow hunters in 2012 to keep one more sprig each day.
Here's species by species breakdown of the 2011-12 hunt for waterfowl and game birds.
DUCKS
The 2011-12 duck hunt will seem as if it's an instant replay of the past several web-foot seasons.
About three weeks after young hunters get their two-day early exclusive for dabblers, divers and sea ducks, the general season opens Saturday, Oct. 15, for five days.
Following the mandatory Oct. 20-21 closure to account for the youth hunt, duck season resumes Saturday, Oct. 22, to roll continuously through to its Sunday, Jan. 29, closure.
Bag (per day) and possession limits are seven and 14 birds, respectively.
Within both limits the same restrictions by species as last year will apply again this coming season.
Hunters everywhere in the state on any given day of the season may kill and have in their poke no more than two hen mallards, 2 pintails (either sex), three scaup (lesser and greater), one canvasback or two redheads. Further in-bag restrictions cover the diving duck quartet of harlequins (1 per day (also the season limit)), scoters (2 per day), long-taileds (2 per day) and goldeneyes (2 per day).
Scaup will be the only duck species in Washington for which there will not be a 107-day long hunting opportunity. To reduce the overall harvest level for the Puget Sound sojourner, the season for scaup officially opens Nov. 4, three weeks into the main web-foot hunt.
As a requisite to hunt, gunners out after sea-ducks must have a written authorization together with their basic waterfowl hunting documents. A post-season reporting of hunting effort and success also is required.
GEESE
Goose hunts lead off this fall with early September opportunities for so-called resident or non-migratory dark (Canada) geese.
Northwest Washington hunters (in goose management areas 1 and 3) have a six-day stint from Sept. 10-15.
Southwest Washington September honker options are either a six-day opening in goose area 2A (Clark, Cowlitz and Wahkiakum counties) or 15 days in goose area 2B (Pacific County).
September hunts for sedentary honkers in Eastern Washington (goose management areas 4 and 5) were suspended several years ago when the population showed signs of decline. However, surveys this spring found an increase in the number of nesters, so there is a possibility that the September hunt could be renewed in 2012.
For the general season, which starts Saturday, Oct. 15, the season structure will remain largely the same as last year's. Daily and possession limits for dark geese are four and eight birds, respectively.
Northwest Washington hunts for both white and dark geese start the second Saturday in October and will see straight through gunning to season's end for light birds (snows, Rosses and blues), while there will be the usual eight-day November hiatus for dark (Canada) geese.
Hunters of North Puget Sound snow geese (Fraser/Skagit birds in Skagit, Snohomish and Island counties) in addition to their basic license and migratory bird endorsements, must have a state-issued written authorization.
That document functions both as a permission-to-hunt as well as an in-season tally card of individual harvests.
Southwest Washington hunts continue to be governed by conservation constraints designed to reduce impacts to federally listed Dusky and Aleutian Canada goose species. Hunters must take and pass a class in goose identification and conservation before being allowed to take the field in the four-county area. The general season also starts later in this region of the state.
Hunting for honkers east of the Cascades continues to be governed by differential rules for the core Columbia Basin area (goose management area 4), with weekly closed days, and the peripheral or Eastern Washington corner reaches (designated goose management area 5) in which daily goose hunting is allowed.
Brant, though of the goose family, are managed conservatively in Washington. The brief season (usually seven to eight days) for them in Skagit County only takes place if the overwintering population is found to be here in sufficient numbers.
A pre-set 10-day opportunity for Willapa Bay's contingent of brant, together with the tentative Skagit hunt, always takes place in January.
BAND-TAILED PIGEONS
This year's fall set-to for the fleet-winged wild pigeon will be a nine-day opening starting Thursday, Sept. 15. The limits remain two a day with four in possession.
Even with this year's late snow-pack melt out, there will be no lack of berries at higher elevation in Whatcom and Skagit counties in September.
With Western Washington as the focal point for this game bird, the key to hunter success on this mid-month start will be the weather pattern. Sunny and cool evenings will keep the birds here. Wet days with cold nights will encourage their departure.
All band-tailed pigeon hunters, to be street legal, in addition to a valid small game hunting, must have a special written authorization to hunt band-tailed pigeons.
MOURNING DOVES
All of the month of September is set aside for the pursuit mourning doves.
More generous 10 daily and 20 in the larder limits continue to apply this year to the taking of mourning doves.
Though some of these wild doves do congregate in some agricultural areas west of the Cascades, by far the largest numbers are found in the north-south corridor between the Okanogan and lower Yakima valleys.
Pass-shooting hunters focus on flight corridors between water and grain sources.
As with the wild pigeons, when September temperatures drop during the 30-day season, mourning doves tend to move south. The Brewster, Othello and Sunnyside areas are key Central Washington intercept points.
To hunt mourning doves, hunters need only a valid small game license.
A mourning dove lookalike, the Eurasian dove is classified as a deleterious species which may be killed any time of the year, but you'd better know the difference before pulling the trigger.
FOREST GROUSE
Though several of Washington's native forest grouse species have undergone a name change, the rules for hunting them remain the same.
Previously known as blues and spruces, the now sootys and duskys are the higher elevation dwelling forest grouse of the Olympics, Cascades, Selkirk and Blue mountains.
Ruffed grouse, which didn't get a name change, predominate in forest and river-bottom locales below 2,500 feet in most areas of the state except interior sage shrub-steppe habitats.
The daily bag limit is four birds all one species or in aggregate (combination) bag and 12 grouse in possession.
YOUTH HUNTS
Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 24-25, have been set aside for this year's weekend dedicated kids' bird hunting opportunity.
Many, though not all, "huntable" waterfowl and upland bird species are fair game for youngsters these two days.
On the waterfowl side, in order to provide this opportunity, under federal guidelines designed to modulate overall harvest, two days must be deducted from the general duck and goose seasons, hence the scheduled Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 20-21, hiatus.
The duration of other openings for upland game birds are not affected because of the young hunters' option.
PHEASANTS
With the basic structure of ring-necked hunting seasons on both sides of the Cascades remaining the same, perhaps the only major change hunters will see this fall is the extension of the non-toxic shot rule to more state lands on both sides of the Cascades.
Under this rule it's illegal to possess lead shot charged shells or loose lead shot for muzzleloaders, when hunting any upland game bird species as well as band-taileds pigeons and mourning doves.
Some 24 units or areas on Eastern Washington and seven wildlife areas or sub-units in Western Washington where pheasants are released and/or hunted are now governed by the lead shot prohibition.
The 2011 pheasant hunt kicks off in September with the youth opening, followed by the five-day Western Washington senior's (age 65 and older) opportunity.
West of the Cascades, pheasants become fair-game for all licensed hunters Saturday, Oct. 1.
In Eastern Washington, the general pheasant season opens Saturday, Oct. 22.
OTHER UPLAND GAMEBIRDS
Several species of quail and partridge comprise the list of feathered quarry pursued in various venues from Eastern Washington coulees and grain-fields to westside oak forests.
Hunting seasons for northern bobwhite, California (valley) and mountain quail together with chukar and gray or Hungarian partridge (in Eastern Washington) generally coincide with pheasant openings on their respective regions of Washington.
PROTECTED BIRDS
While some might occasionally be fair-game in other states, in Washington avian species such as both North American swans (trumpeter and tundra), the two desert grouse (sage and sharp-tailed), sand-hill cranes and all alpine ptarmigan as well as the entire array of song birds, birds of prey, shore, sea and wading birds are protected and therefore are not legally huntable.
Doug Huddle, the Bellingham Herald's outdoors correspondent, since 1983, has written a weekly hunting and fishing column that appears Fridays. Read and comment on his blog at blogs.bellinghamhrald.com/outdoors.
