The process of regulating waterfowl (duck and goose) hunting in the U.S. began during the later half of the 19th century when east-coast hunters noticed that numbers of waterfowl using traditional areas were declining.  Individual states passed legislation to control hunting activities, primarily market hunting, but there was no coordinated effort to manage or control harvests of migratory birds in the U.S. at that time.  In 1916, the U.S. and Canada (represented by Great Britain) signed the Migratory Bird Treaty, which recognized waterfowl as an internationally-shared migratory resource.  The subsequent passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in 1918 gave the Department of the Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) oversight authority to manage and regulate the harvests of migratory birds in the U.S. 

Initially, the federal government took it upon itself to regulate waterfowl hunting.  Many people in state fish and game management agencies, however, were unhappy with their lack of input into the regulations setting process.  To address this concern, the FWS created the Flyway System in 1952 and established 4 Flyway Councils- the Atlantic, Mississippi, Central, and Pacific.  Through these Councils, state conservation agencies have input into international waterfowl management programs.  The Flyway boundaries that were originally laid out, and are still in use today, appeared to define fairly distinct reproductive and migration regions for some of the most heavily harvested species of ducks and geese.  With the passage of time and changes in land use, the Flyway boundaries may be less distinct for some species than they were 50 years ago.  Nevertheless, the present Flyway System is still an excellent vehicle for the cooperative management of North America's waterfowl resources.

Iowa belongs to the Mississippi Flyway, which also includes 13 other states and 3 Canadian provinces.  (Fig. 1) Flyway Councils are composed of state conservation agency directors or their appointees, with each state/province getting one vote on the Council.  Each Flyway Council also has a Technical Section comprised of waterfowl biologists from the states/provinces, as well as experts from universities, private organizations (e.g., Ducks Unlimited, etc.), the FWS and Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS). 

Figure1. States and Provinces of the Mississippi Flyway

Flyway Councils, and their respective Technical Sections, address many waterfowl management issues other than hunting regulations.  For example, the Council’s cooperatively fund and coordinate various waterfowl population surveys, banding programs, research projects, and develop population management principles and policies to guide decision-making processes. 

The process of setting the annual waterfowl hunting regulations at the national level begins with the Technical Sections’ subcommittees reviewing population, habitat, production, banding, and harvest data for the ducks and geese that use their respective Flyway.  Subcommittees are comprised of biologists from states and provinces, as well as the USFWS, CWS, universities, etc., that have an interest or expertise in the species the subcommittee addresses.  The entire Technical Section reviews the subcommittees’ reports and recommendations, but only the official state/provincial representatives may vote on the recommendations to the Council, and only state representatives vote on regulations recommendations to the Council.  The Councils consider the recommendations from the Technical Sections, interject political and social concerns, and then vote on recommendations to the FWS.  The FWS has a committee (Service Regulations Committee (SRC)), consisting of FWS regional directors and the director of the FWS Migratory Bird Management Office (MBMO), that considers the hunting regulations recommendations from the 4 Flyway Councils, as well as those from the MBMO, and formulates hunting season options for each of the 4 Flyways.  The hunting season options, including the season length, bag limits, shooting hours, and earliest and latest dates the season can be open, are then sent to the states for selection.  Hunting season options vary by Flyway. 

The process of setting the waterfowl hunting regulations in Iowa begins in January with the DNR wildlife staff reviewing information from the past season and discussing the outlook for duck and goose production the next spring.  DNR staff make “preliminary” waterfowl hunting season recommendations to the DNR’s Natural Resource Commission (NRC) and the Commission’s actions on these recommendations are then published as “notices of intended action” to change the DNR’s administrative rules.  Although there is very limited information in January on which to base waterfowl season recommendations for the following Fall, Iowa’s administrative rules procedures require a minimum of 110 days for public comment, rules committee review, etc., to implement rule changes.  Meshing this timetable with the DNR’s Natural Resource Commission meetings usually requires additional time that stretches the rule making procedure to 4-5 months. 

The notices of intended action for the waterfowl seasons are the DNR staff’s best guesses at to what the seasons may be like and serve to provide a starting point for public input into the regulations setting process in Iowa.  The final regulations can be substantially different, however, depending upon the recommendations of the Flyway Councils and the season options that are finally approved by the FWS.  The waterfowl population and production data on which those final regulations are based are not available, however, until mid-July.  The Flyway Councils and their respective Technical Sections meet during the last week of July to consider this new information and make final recommendations to the FWS’s Regulations Committee.  The SRC considers these recommendations and approves final regulations options during the first week of August.  By the second week of August, the DNR receives the regulations options for the waterfowl hunting seasons from the FWS.  DNR staff then make final recommendations to the NRC, including season dates, bag limits, etc., within the constraints of the FWS regulations options.  The NRC uses “emergency rules procedures” to get the final waterfowl season regulations established in time for the seasons to open in September.  The complexity of this process, including the constraints imposed on it for public comment and rules review, is largely the reason why waterfowl hunting regulations are not available before September.

Obviously, a state's waterfowl hunting regulations do not lie in the hands of that state alone.  This complex and lengthy regulations setting process, with its requirements for consensus and internal checks and balances, not only provides a forum for data and idea exchange, but also insures a fair and responsible approach to managing shared migratory resources across the continent. 

Over the years, the Flyway Councils and FWS have jointly adopted policies for waterfowl population and harvest management that can also limit hunting season options.  For example, every 5 years, states select one of 4 zone/season options to use to structure their duck hunting seasons for the next 5 years.  In Iowa, the DNR selected the option of 2 zones with a split season in each zone.  Minnesota chose to split their season into 3 segments (no zones) while Missouri chose to divide their state into 3 zones (no season splits).  The 4th option is to have a statewide season with 1 split.  Other rules that constrain seasons choices include: a) regular duck seasons cannot open before the Saturday nearest October 1 (this does not apply to "special seasons" such as the teal season or Iowa’s special September duck season), b) duck production states, such as IA, MN, MI, WI, ND and SD do not have the option to open special teal seasons, c) regular Canada goose seasons cannot open before September 28, d) if Iowa chooses to open the first segment of its duck season on the Saturday nearest September 20, the second segment cannot open before October 10, and the list goes on.  These rules are not necessarily cast in stone, but it takes considerable time and effort to change them.

Setting waterfowl hunting regulations is a balancing act.  Hunters request different season dates, bag limits, shooting hours, etc., depending upon the species they want to pursue and when they want to pursue them.  Hunters appear to want the maximum hunting opportunity they can get.  The DNR’s challenge is to balance these demands with the ability of our waterfowl populations to maintain themselves at healthy levels over the long-term.  This has never been easy and will likely become more difficult in the future.  The only thing waterfowl hunters can count on is that hunting regulations will change and new approaches will be tried.  Hunters must learn to adapt and make the best of situations that may be less than personally optimum. 

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