Pennsylvania Game News - January 2022 - 27

Identifying Waterfowl
Waterfowling requires knowledge
before action.
Namely, hunters need to know
what duck they're looking at before
pulling the trigger.
That's why we included some hints
on how to identify ducks in a story
on waterfowling for beginners in the
September issue of Game News.
Chuck Studholme, a regular
reader of the magazine, saw that
and has another tip to share, one
with a family history. He suggests
waterfowlers consult Ducks at a
Distance. Written by Bob Hines
about 60 years ago, it is, as originally
printed, a shirt-pocket-sized booklet that
shows hunters how to differentiate between
ducks in the air based on a number of factors,
including size, color, wingbeats, flocking
behavior, voice, habitat and more.
Studholme is intimately familiar with
the book because his father, Al Studholme,
helped produce it. The elder Studholme
worked for the Game Commission, as did his
brother, Clinton " Dob " Studholme. Al went on
to join the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, while
Clinton stayed with the Game Commission.
Ducks at a Distance is free for download
from the Fish and Wildlife Service at
www.fws.gov. Type " Ducks at a Distance "
into the search bar.
too late for hunting.
Seasons ahead
Of course, later seasons come with
risk, too. Huck said that if the coming
winter is just cold enough to keep
ducks and geese moving, birds could be
plentiful. But if the late season weather
turns arctic, with lakes freezing over
and creeks and rivers full of floating
ice, ducks and geese could be sparse.
That's the chance hunters are taking.
" But if things don't freeze, the later
seasons are generally better, " Huck
said.
To a point, that is. Running duck and
goose seasons too late - say beyond late
January for ducks or late February for
Canada geese - puts too much pressure
on the breeding birds responsible for
sustaining populations.
Huck said male and female ducks
pair up starting in November. Hunter
harvest naturally breaks some of those
couples up. That stresses females, in
JANUARY 2022
particular, as they're sought out - even
hounded - by single males.
" It becomes like last call at the bar, "
Huck said.
And since some females are lost to
harvest, seasons that go too late potentially
impact reproductive success.
" But we felt like we could make this
change and go a little later and probably
satisfy some hunters' desires without
negatively impacting birds, " Huck said.
The later-running seasons probably
will be around for a while, despite what
this winter's weather brings. Huck said
biologists try not to change season
lengths or opening and closing dates too
frequently because " then you're always
chasing something. "
" You try and let the law of averages
work itself out over three or five years
and you come back and assess, " he said.
So for a while, at least, hunters are
getting the later season closings they've
asked for. The vagaries of Mother Nature
will determine what that brings.
27
http://www.fws.gov
Pennsylvania Game News - January 2022

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