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Georgia Waterfowl Regs Announced, Duck Limits Lowered
Mallard limit cut in half to two per day, pintail limit is now one for 2019-2020 Georgia duck season.
DNR Press Release | June 6, 2019
Waterfowl hunters can begin making season plans now that the 2019-2020 migratory bird season hunting dates and regulations were recently approved by the Board of Natural Resources.
“The 2019-2020 waterfowl hunting season has changed compared to previous years,” said Greg Balkcom, state waterfowl biologist for the Wildlife Resources Division.
“The duck hunting season will end on the fixed date of January 31 each year, not the last Sunday in January. The daily bag limit for mallards dropped to two this year, with no more than one hen, and the pintail bag limit dropped to one. These bag limit changes are responsive to population levels for these species,” Balkcom said.
Behind the scenes, the process used to select the waterfowl hunting regulations in the Atlantic Flyway also changed.
“Rather than select regulations based on the status of Eastern mallards, we now look collectively at the status of four species; wood ducks, ring-necked ducks, American green-winged teal, and common goldeneye,” said Balkcom.
Some need-to-know dates and details for waterfowl season are the September Canada goose season (Sept. 7-29) and the September teal season (Sept. 14-29). Canada goose hunting has three additional seasons: Oct. 12-27, Nov. 23–Dec. 1, and Dec. 12 – Jan. 31. Hunting season for ducks is Nov. 23-Dec. 1 and Dec. 12-Jan. 31.
Youth Waterfowl Days are Nov. 16-17, 2019. On these two days, youth age 16 or younger may hunt specific migratory birds, such as ducks, Canada geese and mergansers, as long as they are accompanied by an adult of at least 18 years of age (only the youth may hunt).
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Not impressed. Last banded mallard I killed in middle West Georgia came from VAlders, Wisconsin. I have been hunting ducks in the same place for 38 years. We are seeing and killing more Mallards now than any other time in the past 38 years . The real problem for Georgia is both weather and the amount of food that short stops the ducks. I want to hunt them like everyone else but it makes me laugh that we are going to have a season that goes to the 31st of January but cut the limit in half. When you talk to a biologist , they tell you that a large percentage of the mallards are paired up before then and they don’t want the season to run that long. I have always wanted it to go until the 31st, I even called Macon and had a conversation several years ago about it . The DNR biologist was 100 percent against going to that date. Now that I have paid close attention, the biologist I talked to is correct about the pairing up early . I guess the smart people just threw that decade long stance out the window ?? Reducing the Mallard limit from 4 to 2 in Georgia is not nearly as important as the end date. Our good ‘ol DNR board has done it to save the Mallard? I will abide by the law of the land, but as I said up front . I am not impressed.
Was limit cut by DNR or the Feds?
Good question. I do not know the answer to that. It was not in the article.
It looks to be across the board so probably feds so I guess I should not have been so hard on the Gadnr. .