Dennis Anderson's Duck Congress: Bad for Minnesota Duck Hunting

Dennis Anderson just can't help himself. The Duck Congress, which he introduced a couple of weeks ago, turns out has NOTHING to do with what is best for the Minnesota duck hunter, and has everything to do with Dennis.

Consider the latest from his column last Sunday:

Example: Can we have ducks in Minnesota while the Department of Natural Resources continues to expand over-water goose hunting in the state in September? Debate it all you will. But the answer is no, we can't.

Can we have ducks in Minnesota -- even on opening day -- if we continue to let kids hunt these birds a couple of weeks before the regular season opens? No, we can't -- especially in light of the DNR's expansion of over-water goose hunting.

Can we have ducks in the state if we turn a blind eye to farmers and other landowners who disregard requirements for stream and river buffers, and instead plant crops to water's edge? No, we can't.

Can we have ducks in this state if the state's cities and suburbs aren't required to initiate best water management practices to slow runoff from melting snow and heavy rains, and to keep river and ditch levels from jumping, wiping out the aquatic plants ducks need? No, we can't.

Can we have ducks in this state if we continue to expand hunter opportunity in the face of a declining resource -- by changing opening-day shooting from noon to 9 a.m., from shortening the time during the season that shooting ends at 4 p.m., and by continuing a 60-day season with a six-bird limit? No, we can't.

Can we have ducks in this state if we don't establish refuges to hold them during migration, and/or stop shooting at noon most days of the week, or at least some days -- as some other states do? No, we can't.

Think what you will about these issues, but we can agree on this: What we're doing now isn't working. And absent some independent voices standing up and telling the powers that be -- the DNR, the Legislature and the duck hunting "industry" -- that something has to change, nothing will. That's what the meeting is about. Come if you care. Main Game Fair seminar tent. No whining allowed.

A couple of points:

• 4 of the 6 points he raises above REMOVE hunting opportunities in Minnesota. Sorry, but anything that is so vasty opposed to the legal harvest of game as determined by the flyway council and by the DNR is a huge issue with me
• Anyone find it interesting that he demands no whining, but in the previous 7 paragaphs he does nothing but whine?

You're on the wrong end of this, Dennis, and frankly I hope you fail, and fail gloriously.

For additional information on the Duck Action Congress, click here