Legal Ducks to Shoot in Wisconsin

Editor`s note: This month`s Wisconsin Office of Law Enforcement article responds to a question from a Wis. Waterfowl Association member about the Hidden Guns and Waterfowl Hunting Act. Leave these questions Joanne.Haas@wisconsin.gov to Joanne Haas, Public Relations Officer with the Bureau of Law Enforcement, or text her at 608-209-8147.) Several flocks of teal bombed our sites before the legal time of the shooting and other trumpeters and cranes from Canada called from all sides. Unlike other states, you won`t find wildlife management areas per se in Badger State. Wisconsin has many state wildlife preserves, such as Navarino Marsh, Crex Meadows, Powell Marsh, Theresa Marsh, and White River Marsh. These areas do not have drafts or designated blinds. In general, however, hunters only hunt local lakes. The state has thousands, though most are in less populated northern Wisconsin. You`ll find small ponds that are home to the state`s mallards, wood ducks and teals, and larger bodies of water like Lake Winnebago, Lake Poygan, Chequamegon Bay, Green Bay, and Lake Michigan attract diver rafts. Lake Michigan even offers good opportunities for long-tailed ducks, in addition to more common diving duck species such as bluebill, redhead, golden-eyed duck, and buffalo. In addition, Wisconsin`s rich farmland, especially in the southern two-thirds of the state, provides food for migrating mallards and Canada, and also provides great hunting opportunities on the ground. Daily limit (daily catch limit is six ducks of each species) It is illegal to kill or paralyze a wild bird without making all reasonable efforts to recover that bird.

Until all reasonable efforts are made, crippled birds are included in the day bag. Crippled birds should be followed immediately to avoid loss of the bird. Hunters should never harvest wild birds that appear sick. This fall, our HPAI monitoring efforts will prioritize investigations into reports of at least 5 sick or dead waterbirds and waterbirds. Investigations into reports of sick or dead birds of prey or carrion eaters will continue to consider HPAI as the cause. If you observe waterfowl that appear sick, contact the MNR Wildlife Helpline by emailing DNRWildlifeSwitchboard@wisconsin.gov or leaving a voice message for a callback at 608-267-0866. In years when there was less rainfall and lower water levels, the ducks seemed to be more concentrated and we had better things to hunt. For further information: Taylor Finger, MNR Migratory Game Bird EcologistTaylor.Finger@wisconsin.gov or 608-212-7923 Saturday was good for my fellow hunters, who brought a mixed bag of 10 ducks. Badger State may not be as synonymous with waterfowl as Arkansas or Louisiana, but it does offer good hunting. Wisconsin chickens are lucky to have a variety of options.

The Mississippi River gets a huge duck flight, and it`s perhaps the best place in the country to catch a bull`s back. Horicon Marsh is an important stop for thousands of Canada geese each fall, and honking opportunities can be fantastic. We wondered if Sunday would be a rehearsal or if the ducks had been stripped by the pressure on opening day. It is illegal to hunt waterfowl in open water from or using blinds, including boats, canoes, rafts, inventions or similar equipment, except as described below: Note: All live, tamed or captive ducks and geese must be removed and confined in a pen for a period of 10 consecutive days prior to hunting, This considerably reduces the audibility of their calls and completely hides these birds from the eyes of migratory birds: wild waterfowl. It is illegal to ship migratory wild birds unless the packaging states: Maimed birds that fall or move in open water must be tracked immediately. A hunter can shoot crippled birds from a boat propelled by paddles, oars or poles. A shotgun may be unpacked, but should not be loaded or unloaded while in a boat with the engine running and until all forward movements of the engine are completed. The birds flew continuously and provided us with regular shooting opportunities. The sun also seemed to suppress insects. In short, persons who carry a loaded and concealed handgun in accordance with all concealed carrying rules are generally permitted to continue to do so during the duck hunt, provided they do not use or attempt to use the handgun to hunt waterfowl. Wisconsin`s migratory bird hunting regulations prohibit the use of handguns in waterfowl hunting and also require that all shotgun cartridges belonging to a waterfowl hunter be non-toxic.

Loaded handguns that are not used to shoot waterfowl that are legally in possession meet these two fundamental restrictions. Our group of four ended up with four green wings, two wood ducks and two mallards for the morning. It is illegal to take or attempt to take more than daily baggage or the total daily baggage limit. Boating: Make sure you are properly equipped with a boat while hunting. Ask your local MNR office for a brochure on boat regulations or visit dnr.wi.gov and search for «boat» for more information. In the dark, I was reminded how a mosquito rounded 4 feet from your face can make a very good imitation of a mallard duck at 40 meters. By 6 o`clock, we had installed a few dozen lures and installed in makeshift blinds on the grassy edges of the islands. WARDEN WIRE: A free messaging service on your DNR conservation guards is at your disposal! So, after the rainfall forecast, we had reason to hope. Check out these game recipes [PDF] provided by MNR staff. For individuals who are legitimately authorized to carry a hidden weapon in Wisconsin (e.g., CCW license from the WI Department of Justice), a common question is how this permit is compatible with waterfowl hunting regulations. The U.S. Drought Monitor showed normal conditions for Burnett County last week.

But a severe drought was recorded only in the north in Douglas County and a short flight south in St. Croix and Pierce counties. Sunrise was a boring affair, hidden behind clouds of wool. In flood years, we have had less success at Crex, probably because the birds have so much habitat available. I arrived after dark on Saturday just in time for a meal of duck breasts and fresh duck hearts expertly grilled by Kantorowicz. As proof, he and Henning had planned to leave Horicon Marsh the following weekend and make two duck openings over two weekends. The South Zone opened on Saturday. Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was detected in Wisconsin beginning in spring 2022 in domestic poultry and some species of waterfowl and birds of prey. Unlike previous strains of HPAI, this strain has caused waterfowl deaths in the state of Wisconsin.