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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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Last chance for online survey on allowing electronic duck decoys in WA

Retail clerk Steffen Gambill holds a
Retail clerk Steffen Gambill holds a "roboduck," while standing near a display of traditional duck decoys in his sporting goods store Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2001, in Seattle. The plastic replica of a hen mallard has a battery-operated spinning flap attached to its back to simulate wing-flapping movement intended to let real ducks know it's safe to land. Duck hunters had been using the electronic and battery-powered birds to lure the real animal into their gun sights until they were ordered to stop earlierthis month in Washington state. (Associated Press)

WATERFOWLING -- Wednesday is the dealine for hunters to let the state know whether they want to head down the slippery slope of allowing electronic decoys for waterfowling.

Several waterfowl hunting guides have petitioned the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to consider allowing electronic decoys for waterfowl hunting starting in 2012.

The agency is approaching this petition by asking hunters (WILD ID requierd to vote) to comment by Nov. 16 in an online survey on this single question:

 
 
This survey is a followup to the first round of hunting proposals presented in late summer. See the results from more than 3,000 respondents to the previous survey on hunting proposals for 2012-14.
 


Rich Landers
Rich Landers joined The Spokesman-Review in 1977. He is the Outdoors editor for the Sports Department writing and photographing stories about hiking, hunting, fishing, boating, conservation, nature and wildlife and related topics.

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