Friday, Sept. 24, 2004 | 9:05 a.m.
Barb Henderson is an outdoors enthusiast, freelance writer and producer/host of outdoors radio television programming. Her column appears Friday in the Sun.
It is hard to believe that fall has already arrived.
It won't be long now before magnificent fall colors of yellow, red and orange dot the hillsides with a brilliant glow, changes that will set the stage for a variety of seasons.
No, I am not talking about football season.
It is a time of year when duck hunters get ready to flock to the field early in the morning to huddle down inside a cold, damp duck blind.
Duck hunters eagerly wait for opening day, as they reflect on fond memories of sitting quietly in a blind waiting for waterfowl to make their flight into decoys floating freely on the water, accompanied by their faithful trained retriever dog sitting close by their side.
With anticipation, many of these waterfowlers will practice a variety of calls using a duck call. With practice, hunters should be able to make distinctive sounds that imitate a duck or goose.
It's a unique sound, heard echoing off of water.
Most areas of the state will open for duck hunting on Oct. 9. And if a flock of geese making a honking sound gets your adrenaline flowing, you probably already know that the excitement of goose hunting season will begin one week later in most areas.
Hunting waterfowl might be somewhat difficult this season due to the state's drought conditions.
"Prolonged drought has taken a toll on the state. Several of the more popular duck and goose hunting areas are dry and almost all of the areas have less than optimum water conditions," said Geoff Schneider, NDOW information officer.
"Duck numbers are down somewhat this year on all of the flyways. Here in the southern end of the state the conditions heading into the season are similar to what we had last year. So, one would anticipate fairly similar hunting to what we've had over the past couple of years. Hunting in northwest Nevada will likely be more difficult than last year because of the water problems."
For the most part, even when hunting is slow, being outdoors in a duck blind sure beats sitting at home.
Waterfowl hunters must have both a state and federal 2004 waterfowl hunting stamp attached to their hunting licenses, shotguns must be plugged to have a capacity of no more than three shells and nontoxic shot is required when hunting waterfowl anywhere in Nevada.
You must have a Harvest Information Program (HIP) number before taking to the field. HIP numbers are required for hunting migratory game birds, including dove and waterfowl. They can be obtained by calling (800) WET-LAND, and the HIP number must be written in the designated area located on your Nevada hunting license.
For complete waterfowl hunting seasons and regulations pick up a copy of the 2004 regulations now available at most sporting goods stores, all Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) offices or on NDOW website at: www.ndow.org.
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