Reelfoot hosting juvenile waterfowl hunt

By JOHN BRANNON
Messenger Staff Reporter
For duck hunters, this reminder from Mike Hayes and Jeff Martin: Before you clean and polish and put away your trusty shotgun for another year, turn your head toward Reelfoot Lake.
Hayes, a member of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission, and Martin, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency manager at Reelfoot Lake, have an offer you may find hard to refuse — the Reelfoot Youth Waterfowl Hunt this weekend. In short, take a youngster duck hunting.
“It’s just for kids,” Hayes said. “Saturday and Sunday, and it’s only at Reelfoot Lake.
Here’s the deal, as explained by Martin:
• Participation is open to youngsters up to age 15. “Once they turn 16, they can’t go. It causes them to have to have a federal duck stamp, considering them to be an adult,” Martin said.
• Youths age 13 to 15 must have a junior sportsman’s license. Youths younger than age 13 are not required to have a license.
• All youths must be accompanied by adults of at least age 21. Adults will not hunt but will supervise and be available to take charge.
• Bag limits: Same as regular waterfowl season: four mallards, one pintail, two canvasbacks; not more than total of six. Of four mallards, only two can be hens.
• Hours of shooting: Saturday, 30 minutes before sunrise until 3 p.m.; Sunday, 30 minutes before sunrise to dark.
“We’re going to have a lot of game wardens on the lake to police this thing,” Hayes said. “We’ll have law enforcement both at the ramps and on the lake. We want juveniles to have one of the best hunts they can have.”
In reflecting on the 2007-08 waterfowl season at Reelfoot Lake, Hayes said it was one of the best in years.
Published in The Messenger 2.7.08

Print