Rick wrote:But if one of our agents did get a wild hair to write you over a single questionable bird, he'd most likely be the one in trouble with the magistrate.
Yeah, not that way here. Of course, the DNR has been practically wiped out by the financial mismanagement of the state so the chance of actually running into a warden is practically zero, so it really doesn't matter if you shoot 20 ducks most places that are not run by the state
The reason I only hunt at clubs is because I just don't want to be harassed by the local LEOs. It's not about bird ID. I know guys that every year opening day they spend a good chunk of it being harassed by the LEO. They are legal, at least for now. The state recently decided to disregard the law and let the locals in one area ban hunting in their area. This is Illinois. They redrew the waterfowl zone boundaries for the benefit of some powerful people and screwed all the guys that hunted on the river in that area. The river, where most public duck hunting happens is best at the end of the season, but the rich guys wanted to hunt early on their flooded corn which is froze out by the end. So instead of the simple I-80 line, we now have this convoluted zone that is part of the north duck zone and the central goose zone, after all, the goose hunting doesn't get good until late so they want the best of both for them.
Never vote for anyone from Illinois, Republican or Democrat. This place is fucked. I just stay as far from the gray areas as I can until I can get out of this state.