The Colorado Wildlife Commission has approved a federal framework for upcoming waterfowl seasons that essentially mirror those of a year ago. Season lengths and bag limits won’t change.
Colorado’s return to the status quo conflicts with severe restrictions on canvasback in other parts of the country, along with continuing limitations on pintail, another troubled species.
“We’re among five states being used as a control in a bag-limit experiment,” said Jim Gammonley, Colorado Division of Wildlife waterfowl expert.
Consequently, hunters in the Central Flyway, east of the Continental Divide, may pursue these two species for the first 39 days of the season. Canvasback cannot be hunted in the Pacific Flyway, which will be restricted to an 86-day season for scaup, another declining species. Pacific hunters are allowed one pintail per day throughout the season.
In a change, the commission boosted the daily bag limit for snow geese in the Pacific Flyway to 10, a housekeeping procedure for a region where numbers of white geese are minimal.
DUI watch.
A law change is in effect reducing the legal limit for blood-alcohol content while operating a waterborne vessel to .08 percent. In addition, the law has been expanded to include any vessel powered by motor, paddle and oar. The law for water craft previously applied only to those motorboats and sailboats, with a .10 alcohol limit.
