Waterfowl reservations under two systems this year

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Hunters at Eagle Bluffs, Grand Pass and Otter Slough

Conservation Areas will test the new Quick Draw system starting Oct. 29.

JEFFERSON CITY—Duck hunters who plan to hunt at Grand Pass, Eagle Bluffs and Otter Slough conservation areas (CAs) are reminded that the drawing procedure for these areas has changed and will be handled with the experimental Quick Draw system this year.

Quick Draw is an online-only drawing system. Grand Pass CA will be the first area to test the new system, because it is in the North Zone, where duck season opens first. Applications to hunt during the first three days of the 2010 duck season will open at 12:01 a.m. Oct. 22 and close at 3 p.m. Oct. 25. Results will be available after 12:01 a.m. Oct. 26. Successful applicants can receive reservation notices by e-mail or text message if they provide contact information. They also can check the results online.

Eagle Bluffs and Otter Slough CAs are in the Middle Zone, so applications for drawings the first three days of the season at those areas will run from 12:01 a.m. Oct. 29 and close at 3 p.m. Nov. 1. Results will be available after 12:01 a.m. Nov. 2.

After the initial drawing in each zone, Monday drawings will award reservations for the following Friday through Monday. Applications will be open from Monday through Thursday to assign reservations for the following Tuesday through Thursday.

All three areas will assign handicap-accessible blinds through Quick Draw. The trial will not affect youth hunts, which will be handled as in the past.

This year’s limited trial of Quick Draw will enable the Conservation Department to evaluate whether the system achieves its goal of making hunting more convenient and accessible to more hunters. Depending on how well it works, the system could be modified and expanded to other state-managed wetland areas. More information about Quick Draw is available at http://bit.ly/a5wp1q.

If you applied to hunt on any of the Conservation Department’s other managed wetlands through the traditional reservation system, you can visithttp://bit.ly/bCjKgH to learn if you drew a reservation. You need your Conservation ID number, which is printed on hunting and fishing permits, to check your application.

-Jim Low-

Missouri Game Farms