Click to Enlarge Why are there fish limits? Fish limits protect fish populations and spread out the harvest, giving more anglers a chance to catch fish. Why can't you hunt ducks all year? Ducks need time to nest and raise their young. The length of the fall season depends on breeding success. Click to Enlarge Why do deer hunters wear orange? Firearms deer hunters must wear hunter orange to reduce the chance of someone mistaking a hunter for a deer. Why is there a 3-week spring turkey season? Having the spring turkey season last three week spreads out hunting pressure so that hunters are less likely to interfere with one another.   Rules Rule by Dave Guntli They make hunting and fishing challenging, fun and safe. Have you ever played a sport or a game without rules? It couldn't have been much fun. In fact, something can hardly be a game if it doesn't have rules. We have rules for hunting and fishing, too. We need these rules to manage animal populations. Rules also make it safer for people to hunt and fish, and they allow everyone an equal chance at taking fish and wildlife. A good example is the 3-week spring turkey season. The season is set to coincide with the latter part of the mating season. That way, most of the hens have already been bred when the season starts. Of course, the spring season protects the hens by only allowing hunters to shoot bearded turkeys, which are usually males. Duck hunting seasons are designed to protect duck populations. Duck hunting is allowed only at specific times of the year. The season might last as long as 60 days when duck numbers are high, as they have been. But if for some reason duck numbers drop, we might have to reduce the length of the season. Some kinds of ducks are more plentiful than others. We have more mallards than pintails, for example. That's why our rules last fall said hunters could have four mallards in their bag limit of six ducks, but only one pintail. If the pintail population increased, the rules would change to allow hunters to shoot more of them. You can probably see why it's important to properly identify ducks on the wing. It keeps you out of trouble with the law, and helps to ensure that each species of duck is given the protection it needs to maintain or increase its population. Our liberal rules concerning snow geese are a good example of how we are responding to a situation in which the population of a species is too large. Because there are now so many snow geese that they are damaging the waterfowl breeding grounds, we changed the rules to allow hunters to shoot more of them. Anglers are allowed to catch most types of fish all year, but there are limits to how many of each kind of fish they can keep. For example, the state daily limit is 30 crappie, but only one muskellunge. In some waters, allowing anglers to take 30 crappie doesn't leave enough fish to reproduce and provide fun fishing in the future. That's why you can only keep 15 crappie on many public fishing areas, and large reservoirs. In some places, the limit might be even less. It's a good idea to check fishing regulations published by the Conservation Department every year. You should also check bulletin boards at fishing areas to learn the local rules. Length regulations also protect fish. Fish don't reproduce until they reach a certain age and size. If we let anglers take all the fish before they grow large enough to spawn, it wouldn't be long before we wouldn't have any fish in our lakes and rivers. That's a good reason to release small fish carefully. They have to remain healthy to create more fish. Our rules about safety work to protect you, as well as other people. For example, all hunters have to wear hunter orange during firearms deer season. This reduces the chance that one hunter will mistake another hunter for a deer. Turkey hunters have to use a shotgun because shot pellets don't travel nearly as far as rifle bullets. Also, the pellets in a shotgun can't be any larger than No. 4 because smaller pellets are less dangerous than larger ones. We limit the number of fish or game animals that can be taken to protect the various species, but setting limits also helps make sure that everyone has equal opportunity to reap the rewards of fishing and hunting. Our laws also specify fishing methods. Trout parks, for example, have areas where people can only use flies for fishing. This gives fly-fishers the room and solitude they require to quietly and patiently present their tiny lures to feeding fish. Our laws also ensure “fair chase.” It's not fair or sporting if fish and game have no chance of escaping from anglers and hunters. The reason hunting and fishing are considered sports is that the outcome is uncertain. The laws we have that govern hunting and fishing reflect the sporting tradition. We don't allow baiting turkeys, for example, because that would give hunters unfair advantage. We also don't allow people to use dogs to chase deer. It wouldn't be fair to deer, or to other hunters who don't use dogs. Lots of times our fish and game laws overlap. They might protect a species from overharvest, ensure safety and preserve the spirit of fair chase. A good example would be the law that prohibits shooting from a vehicle or a roadway. It keeps us from unfairly taking animals, taking too many animals and from shooting near people or houses. It's an important responsibility of hunters and anglers to know the rules. Check the Wildlife Code and the summaries of fishing and hunting regulations every year for changes, and check them every time you go to a new place to fish or hunt. It's also a good idea—and your responsibility—to learn local regulations before fishing or hunting public areas. By following the rules you help make sure that hunting and fishing will be around for a long time. Playing by the rules also makes hunting and fishing more fun.