Dentry: Duck hunt hopes for the best; messy roads foul stalk for elk

Published November 1, 2006 at midnight

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Local migrations have begun among critters web-footed and hoofed, but there's been no big push yet.

Eastern plains duck hunters, who will celebrate the opening of a long second hunting split Friday, are hoping for a major wave of northland ducks. But they are more likely to find resident and local birds moving down from Colorado's mountain valleys.

On the other hand, deer and elk hunters preparing for Saturday's third rifle season opener would rather their quarry step on the brakes and stay on public land a bit longer, despite all the snow that has fallen at higher elevations.

As usual, Diana, goddess of the hunt, plays second fiddle to Zeus, the heavy in charge of weather. In the mountains, snowfall has muddied roads and prompted some animals to shuffle off to lower elevations - toward private land.

Far to the north, on Canada's prairie, it has been cold, but not cold enough to chase waterfowl our way. However, ducks are said to be staging on larger reservoirs and growing restless.

A Colorado dreamer might wish for a great blizzard to slam Canada and Montana right about now but to avoid our central Rockies, which should stay just cool enough to keep those sloppy forest roads frozen.

But what will be, will be.

DUCK TIPS: "The latest cold front may bring some birds down from North Park," said Jim Gammonley, the Division of Wildlife's senior waterfowl biologist.

But Gammonley said a major duck migration from the northern- tier states and Canada does not appear imminent.

So far this fall, eastern plains duck hunters have enjoyed remarkably good hunting. The brief first split, Sept. 30 to Oct. 8, saw many teal, gadwall, shovelers and wood ducks moving on the plains but not many mallards.

"That's typical of an early season," Gammonley said. "You get a lot of variety, but few mallards."

The coveted mallards, late migrators, will come. It's almost certain they will arrive on the plains sometime during the long second split.

That was the aim of a 2006 season reconfiguration, which, among other things, dropped the traditional three-part season in the Central Flyway and replaced it with a quickie first split for the plains, followed by a longer recess, then a season that will run nonstop from Friday through Jan. 28.

"We had more of a break between splits," Gammonley said. "The birds had a fairly long rest, which I think will be good for hunting."

In the new mountain and foothills zone west of Interstate 25, duck hunting's first split started Sept. 30 and continues through Dec. 3. One group of hunters in North Park said smaller ponds were frozen last weekend, concentrating ducks on streams and larger impoundments.

Their next step will be down east.

RIFLE TIMES: Going to western Colorado for the third combined elk and deer rifle season? Call ahead. And bring the tire chains.

"We've had a lot of snow in the high country," said Ron Velarde, northwest Colorado's regional wildlife manager.

Velarde said deer hunting has been especially good. Mule deer moved down to lower elevations during the second rifle season, which ended Sunday. But hunting was "fairly slow" for elk.

Velarde's take on the upcoming shift, Saturday through Nov. 10: "The elk are moving west, it seems to me."

Which means to lower elevations and, in many cases, toward private lands. The elk migration in progress, however, could be very good for hunters in the next few days.

Problem is, many forest roads are a mess. Mud and ice have prompted closures of some roads on the Uncompahgre Plateau. And roads east of Meeker "are not very maneuverable," Velarde said.

Thus the caution to bring tire chains. Velarde also warns hunters against camping at high elevations, where winter storms might leave them stranded.

Hunters planning to stay in motels near Rifle, Meeker and Craig have other problems. Many motels have no vacancies because of the huge influx of oil and gas drilling workers.

"Hunters should have reserved their rooms early," Velarde said. "There might still be some rooms available in Craig, but call ahead."

dentrye@RockyMountainNews.com

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