Spend time scouting for duck hunting success

Spend time scouting for duck hunting success

Duck season is once again here. The season dates for the north zone in Texas are Nov. 4 to 26 for the first split. The second split of the season begins Dec. 9 and runs through Jan. 28.This long season gives hunters plenty of opportunity to take to the marshes in quest of a full strap of ducks. The limit this year is a very generous five ducks, but it's important to be aware of "which" ducks and how many may be harvested.A "hunters choice" is in effect, allowing hunters to take only ONE duck per day from the list of mallard hen, canvasback, pintail and dusky duck. The five-duck limit may also include two wood ducks, two redheads or two scaup.The daily limit may consist entirely of mallard drakes, gadwalls, widgeon, shovelers or teal. This new "hunters choice" regulation will eliminate the "season within a season" we had last year for species like canvasbacks and pintails; allowing the harvest on only one mallard hen will also give the species a break.With low water levels on most area lakes, duck hunters will have to scout harder than ever to find ducks.

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DCA draws blinds on FoI review

DCA draws blinds on FoI review

The Campaign for Freedom of Information (CFoI) has published details of the DCA's refusal and its own appeal against the decision on its website.

A spokesperson for the campaign told GC News on 1 November 2006: "We don't think they are justified in refusing the request."

Last month the DCA published a review of FoI which claimed the average request cost 254 per hour and took 7.5 hours to process, and proposed that any costing more than 600 could be refused.

The CFoI filed an FoI request for the raw data behind the report, aiming to establish how the DCA came to these figures. The DCA has refused, claiming the information is exempt from FoI as it relates to the formulation of government policy.

In its appeal, the DfoI has emphasised that it asked for factual information and the DCA's analysis, and claimed the department has disregarded its own advice to Whitehall on how to handle requests.

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