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FLORIDA — Duck hunting no-shows will be handled differently this duck hunting season because of the coronavirus safety concerns, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission said in a news release.
Almost half the hunters who draw stormwater treatment area morning-hunt waterfowl permits don’t show up for the hunt, according to the FWC. Because of this, large crowds of hunters gather at the check stations at 5 a.m. — hoping to be drawn during the early morning onsite lotteries.
This year instead of onsite lotteries, FWC will use an online random draw system.
“This change is expected to minimize safety hazards due to overcrowding, improve hunter check-in management and more fairly distribute the no-show hunting opportunities,” said FWC.
Those who want a chance to replace a no-show hunter at a morning stormwater treatment area hunt can apply at GoOutdoorsFlorida.com.
A management area permit is needed to apply. Hunters may select up to 10 hunt choices on their standby opportunity application, which will be available for four waterfowl application periods: September Special Early Duck, and Regular Season A, B and C.
Only one application may be submitted per period. It’s possible that applicants could be awarded as many opportunities as they apply for in Phase I. However, applicants may not be awarded more than one standby opportunity per day.
Any standby opportunities not issued in the Phase 1 drawing will be available first-come, first-served during Phase 2 until all opportunities are issued.
The new no-show issuance process is only for the morning STA waterfowl hunts. The afternoon hunts will continue to issue no-show STA waterfowl opportunities by on-site lotteries, which in many cases aren’t required.
For more information about STA standby hunting opportunities, visit FWC’s website.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is reducing the bag limit on scaup due to a 10 percent population decline between 2018 and 2019, said FWC.
States were allowed to choose from the following options to meet this new bag limit requirement for scaup:
One bird daily for the entire 60-day waterfowl season, or
One bird for 40 days of the season and two birds for 20 days.
The FWC chose the second option and placed the two-bird bag limit on the last 20 days of the duck season to give Florida hunters the most opportunity. Scaup numbers in Florida are at their highest toward the end of the season, according to FWC.
During the 2020-2021 waterfowl season, the bag limit on scaup will be:
One scaup per day from Nov. 21 through 29 and Dec. 12 through Jan. 11.
Two scaup per day from Jan. 12 through Jan. 31; during the Youth Waterfowl Days (Nov. 14 and Feb. 13), and during the new Veterans/Military Waterfowl Hunting Days on Feb. 6 and Feb. 7.
Find 2020-2021 Florida migratory bird hunting season dates and bag limits at MyFWC.com/Hunting.
This article originally appeared on the St. Pete Patch