Hopeful hunters turn out for duck blind drawing

courtesy of SJ-R, Prairiestateoutdoors.com

The annual duck blind drawing at the Sanganois State Fish and Wildlife Area near Chandlerville drew a big crowd of hopeful hunters Sunday.

Hunters were hoping to win one of about 70 duck blind locations at the popular public hunting area sandwiched between the Sangamon and Illinois Rivers.

“I think there’s every bit of 1,500 to 1,600 people here,” said Bo Arnold, president of the Friends of Sanganois, a group of waterfowl hunters that support the site and the public hunting opportunity it provides.

“The drawing itself is a social event for outdoorsmen – duck hunters in general,” said site superintendent Doug Jallas. “Everybody loves to come out to socialize.

They get excited about the upcoming hunting season,” he said. “They get to have big cookouts, and it is just a wonderful get-together.”

The Sanganois blind drawing is described in the Friends newsletter as a family reunion of waterfowl hunters.

Similar events are held up and down the Illinois River at state sites open for waterfowl hunting.

Participants gather well in advance of the 2 p.m. start time to cookout, visit vendor displays and visit with fellow hunters and their families.

The weather, as it has been for most of July, was in the 90s.

Waterfowl hunters were undeterred.

“These are duck hunters,” Arnold said. “This is just a warm-up for teal season.”

 

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Waterfowl Season dates and Zones Approved

USFWS Approves IDNR Waterfowl Zones and Dates
Illinois to use new option to implement fourth zone for waterfowl hunting
SPRINGFIELD, IL – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) this week approved for publication in the Federal Register new rules allowing states to add a fourth duck hunting zone or to use three zones with split hunting seasons for the regular duck hunting season. This decision allows the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) to proceed with its proposal for adding a fourth waterfowl hunting zone in the state.

“We are delighted that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has endorsed our long-sought option of adding a fourth zone in Illinois for waterfowl hunting,” said IDNR Director Marc Miller. “We are grateful for the support of hunters and outdoors organizations throughout the state – the advocacy of Governor Pat Quinn, who pressed our case with federal officials – and for the strong case made by waterfowl professionals from Illinois and across the country. The Service has OK’d a sensible and well-reasoned means by which we can provide hunters with good opportunity to enjoy better waterfowl hunting for years to come.”

The recommendations approved include 60-day duck seasons in each of the state’s newly-drawn four waterfowl hunting zones, along with Canada goose hunting seasons of 85 days in the North and Central zones and 66 days in the South Central and South zones for the 2011-12 waterfowl season.

The Illinois seasons for this year are based on a new five-year plan for waterfowl hunting season dates through the 2015 season. If season lengths are changed by federal rule for any species during the 2012-2015 seasons, adjustments will be made by the IDNR. For 2011-12, Illinois will open the regular duck, Canada goose, and snow goose seasons on Oct. 15 in the North Zone, Oct. 22 in the Central Zone, Nov. 12 in the South Central Zone, and Nov. 24 in the South Zone. White-fronted goose seasons open with the duck seasons in the South Central and South zones but have delayed openers in the North and Central zones.

The IDNR five-year plan for waterfowl seasons includes:

• Four waterfowl zones designated as North, Central, South Central and South zones;
• In a revision to the original IDNR zone line proposal, Illinois will retain the existing zone line between the North and Central zones in northeast Illinois for duck hunting, while a new zone line along Interstate 80 will separate the North and Central zones for goose hunting in portions of Cook, Will and Grundy counties (see detailed descriptions below). This change was made at the request of Canada goose hunters in the area who believe they will have more opportunity to hunt field feeding geese from nearby cooling lakes and rivers in January than during October and November. Hunters will need to be aware that duck and goose season will not always be open at the same time in this area of the state. This area will use North Zone duck season dates and Central Zone goose season dates.
• No change in the zone line between the North and Central zones in western Illinois;
• Use of a line similar to the pre-2006 zone line between the Central and South (South Central) zones in southwest Illinois;
• New zone lines to make provisions for the South Central and South zones;
• 60-day ducks seasons in all zones
• 85-day Canada goose seasons in the North and Central Zones and 66-day Canada goose seasons in the South Central and South Zones

 

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Breeding duck population estimates up 11 percent over 2010

By Chris Young courtesy of Prairie State Outdoors

All this wet weather has been good for something.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released its preliminary breeding duck population estimates this week, and the results show overall duck numbers up 11 percent from last year.

Aerial surveys counted 45.6 million birds, up from 40.8 million last year and 35 percent better than the long-term average.

Totals don’t include scoters, eiders, mergansers, long-tailed ducks and wood ducks.

Counts were undertaken in the north-central United States and south-central Canada – the prairie pothole region where most of the continental ducks breed.

The survey also covered boreal forest regions of northern Canada and Alaska, where some species of ducks settle to raise a brood.

Click here to read rest of story

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2011 Spring Newsletter

The 2011 FoS Spring Newsletter is now available by clicking here  FOS NEWSLETTER

The Newsletter contains information on the 7th Annual FoS “State of the Site” Fish Fry, The Presidents Report, Barkhausen Levee Update, as well as New Projects.  Click the link above to read the 2011 Spring Newsletter.

Friends of Sanganois is also now on Facebook

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Barkhausen Refuge levee repairs complete

by: Chris Young SJ-R.com

With repairs to some critical levees completed recently, the refuge may someday return to its potential and shelter tens of thousands of ducks and geese.

“I’d say there are about 3,000,” Jallas says, peering through binoculars at Canada geese, mallards, pintails, gadwall and a few teal. “But there used to be 50,000.”

The Barkhausen Refuge is part of the Sanganois State Fish and Wildlife Area, a popular public waterfowl-hunting area sandwiched between the Sangamon and Illinois rivers that straddles Cass and Mason counties.

Interior of finished Barkhausen Levee

Part of the refuge is open for hunting, while other portions, such as the Barkhausen Refuge, are set aside as rest areas.
Jallas, the site superintendent for the Sanganois, says the Barkhausen Refuge once was one of the top waterfowl rest areas in the state.

Then the Sangamon River crashed the party.

The river breached the Barkhausen Levee in 2002, and it has stood open to the river ever since.

The levee has been broken and fixed multiple times. Since the most recent break in 2002, the breach widened to 180 feet and churning water created a deep hole. Sand and silt poured in.

Before the Sangamon River was channelized and straightened 60 years ago, the river passed through Sanganois, breaking into a braided channel. But those many, narrow channels tended to clog with downed trees and dam up the Sangamon, flooding nearby farm fields.

When the Sangamon smashed through the Barkhausen Levee, it flowed through the site over the old course. With the Sangamon out of control, site personnel had an almost impossible time managing water levels.

With modern rivers channelized and dammed for navigation, wetlands have to be manipulated by means of levees and pumps to mimic historic wet and dry cycles.

Wetlands have to dry out for a time to foster growth of annual plants that provide food for migrating waterfowl. Improperly timed floods can wipe out a whole summer’s growth.

The project to repair the Barkhausen and White’s levees that protect the refuge and the rest of the site cost $2.9 million.
One part of the project was to repair the hole in the BarkhausenHe says the Friends of Sanganois group was vigilant in its effort to get the levee fixed.

Bo Arnold, president of Friends of Sanganois, says the members never gave up.

“It is really a bipartisan project politically, and a bipartisan project with public and private ground hunters coming together,” he says. “Everybody understands Sanganois is in a central location.

“This collaborative effort has worked really well,” Arnold says. “They should take a good hard look at how this worked. It just paid off.”

Jallas says Tim Hickman of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources was instrumental in guiding the process to fruition.
When the Barkhausen Levee was open to the river, the Sangamon often flowed over the site’s roads and punished its interior levees.

“The repairs have already significantly — and I mean significantly — reduced the flooding in the heart of the Sanganois,” Jallas says.

During the past three wet years, water could be found flowing across roads eight months of the year, he says.

“This has literally stopped the Sangamon River from cutting us off from the rest of our site,” Jallas says.

While driving around the Sanganois’ levees Wednesday, Jallas points out features of Illinois bottomland forests that are protected by the levees — features that are all but gone today.

Bottomland hardwoods such as pin oaks still persist at Sanganois.

“This is my favorite spot on the whole Sanganois,” he says, gesturing out the window. “The pin oaks are strung out all through here. You can see hundreds of yards without invasive weeds blocking the view.”

Jallas says he and his staff observed wood ducks walking through the woods devouring acorns this year.

“They looked like a flock of chickens, climbing over each other to get acorns,” he says. “It was something to see.”

The sun lit up the wings of ducks landing near the White’s Levee on Wednesday. Against the backdrop of the timber, they looked from a distance like big snowflakes settling to the ground.

Like the pin oaks, Jallas doesn’t want to see the ducks disappear.

“We’ve lost the flights of ducks, geese and swans that staged here,” he says. “The goal here is to bring them back.”

New pumps paid for with duck stamp dollars

Waterfowl hunters are helping the Sanganois do a better job managing waterfowl habitat, thanks to stamps purchased as part of their hunting license.

Two new Caterpillar diesel engines will power pumps that bring water from the Sangamon River to duck habitat are awaiting installation.

They were purchased with about $200,000 provided by Illinois Duck Stamp funds.

Site superintendent Doug Jallas of the Sanganois State Fish and Wildlife Area says the pumps are sorely needed.

“They will provide water for the Barkhausen and Marion Refuges and public hunting areas like the Baker, walk-in and Low Country units,” Jallas says.

Managing for waterfowl requires wetlands to dry out in summer so plants can grow and produce seeds favored by migrating ducks.

In the fall, managers flood these areas to give ducks access to the food.

“This is how we will get our water to the duck habitat in the fall,” Jallas says of the role the pumps will play.

He says duck stamp dollars are dedicated 100 percent to pay for projects.
“These are very, very well-spent dollars.”

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