Category: West Virginia

Posted By:
wtrfwlr44
Guest

Muskingham River across the Ohio by Williamstown 11-17-2002 11:17
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Sorry, not a hunting report. I live in Virginia, am from Marietta Ohio. My mom called me this a.m., from Marietta. Said the Muskingham River, in the city, was black with Canada Geese. Figured they are migrators as the city doesn’t hold this many resident geese. This is close to where the Muskingham meets the Ohio. Thought someone down in that neck of the woods might want to know. Good luck too all, with your season. Be safe.

Posted By:
Eric-Gerencir
WFC Sponsor

Southern WV 11-05-2002 14:47
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 50-60 Degrees
Hunted from a canoe(the woodduck stalker) on a lake. Many hardwoods surrounding the lake, so you guessed it…Woodducks! I hate to say it but I shot better left handed than right handed. My buddy would hate to admit it too because he watched me smoke two drakes left handed after he wiffed on the 3 birds that passed on the left side of the boat. But, we bagged 5 canadas that happened to wander in on us around noon. We saw approx. 30 woodducks and 6 geese. We bagged the geese by flushing them out of a cove…Riles bagged two geese with one shot (not bad for someone who had shot a whole box of shells and had nothing to show before that. … LOL!) Total count: 3 Woodducks, 5 Geese, and 1 spouse complaining about cleaning birds in the basement. Have another beer and start planning on the cold weather hunting coming up late November.

Posted By:
vicsands
Guest

Jackson County, WV 10-14-2002 20:01
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 60-65 Degrees
10/12/02. We hunted a freshly cut corn field. We probably saw 300 Canada geese. Our initial set was bad so we rearranged and enough decoyed so that had our limit by 10:30. We also decoyed several ducks at daybreak. We got a drake wood duck along with the geese. Later we saw lots of geese in hay fields as well, but they wanted in cornfield primarily.

Posted By:
Don-Molter
Guest

North Central WV 10-08-2002 21:11
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
It was great to get out into the field again. Missed the entire first part of the three part split season in WV. Last Saturday was back to basics guiding two friends. Resident Geese had a superb breeding season this past summer. Numbers of birds in the air the past two weeks has climbed considerably. We limited out before 9am. Hope this season get back to normal temps. so that the birds will “show-up”. Be safe. DM

Posted By:

08-31-2002 11:43
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OOOOPPPP!!

That should have been www.callwva.com for WV Info.

Posted By:

Greenbrier County 08-31-2002 11:42
Cloudy, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
Just wanted to touch base now that the seasons are out. If you do not have the 2002-2003 seasons yet check them out at www.call.com and navigate to the DNR site. Hip and online lisences are also available.

The season looks Great and keep after them.

If anyone needs DU Dinner dates from around the state please e-mail me at tsenn@ducks.org and I will be happy to get you the right info.

Good Luck and Keep’em Flying!!!!

Posted By:
Dale-Hainer
Guest

Great Lakes Region 08-06-2002 04:30
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
Hey guys, I am adding my Ontario Canada report here for you from the Canada section.

Here’s my rundown for the 2002 Southern Ontario Fall Waterfowl Flight. based on CWS, USFWS, Personal observation.

Reports from every monitoring agency depict a sour situation in the west. Some say pond numbers were the second worst ever recorded. Water tables were low across Canada but late winter/spring rains helped to recharge the northeast. The west remained dry and in particular, Alberta is very hard hit.

Some surveys suggest that Prairie birds flew past the typical ponds of the prairies and nested in the northern Boreal forests where water conditions tend to be more stable. But further to the north cold spring temps can affect and did so in 2002, the production of nests and clutches. Spring break ups and ice conditions were reported to be several weeks late in some areas. The only region that improved its production capabilities over 2001 was Alaska.

Duck counts remain unchanged in Alberta but still down nearly 50%, Birds were down in southern Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the Dakotas but ranged high in the north. Estimates of up to 70% increases in northern Sask, Man, and Ontario give theory to the overflight of the mid prairies to the Boreal forests. Mallard numbers in Wisconsin were cited as being up nearly 130%, but no reason given.

Around the great lakes and into Ontario. Topography consists of rolling farmland, small woodlots, beaver ponds and small streams where water levels can fluctuate with winter snows and spring rains. In my area, around Lake St Clair, marshlands and drainage ditches are prominent and plenty of marsh has been lost in the last few decades due to diking and farming. The loss continues with some smaller projects aimed at reinvesting into wetlands. More on that in another article.

Across the Great Lakes survey area, waterfowl populations were greater than in 2001 but still below long term averages. Mallard estimates increased 20% and may be partly attributable to the “overflight of the Prairies” theory . Ontario is not heralding the higher numbers of mallards as they are likely at the expense of the west. Black ducks continue to slide and did so another 15%. Divers are up almost 60% and are 30% above long term averages. Personal observation that the great lakes never froze over and many divers held tight here all winter. Ring Necked ducks are booming in at 140% increase over last year and buffleheads came up another 20%. Canada Geese (likely giant resident geese) are down 72%. The drop is likely due to the added seasons aimed at reducing the flocks. The geese still remain at 20% above goals.

My prognosis for Southern Ontario this fall…….

Good numbers of waterfowl when the season opens in late September. Mallards and RingNecks to be largest part of the daily bag. After a couple weeks of good hunting, weather will decide if Southern Ontarians continue with quality shooting . Cold weather will move the lake birds around and accessible to near shore hunters. Buffleheads and lesser Bluebills will make the daily bag. As the weather will continue to dominate the fall flight, colder temps and northwest winds in November will be needed to bring down those abundant Mallards et al, that are in northern Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario that overflew the typical nesting grounds.

Giant Canada Geese are still abundant and resident populations appear to be stable around Lake St Clair. They certainly bred more offspring than I culled last fall! Special seasons will be great shooting if hunters do their homework and get access.

Ref: Canadian Wildlife Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service,
http://basshavencanada.com/cgi-bin/basshaven.pl

DH

Posted By:
Don-Molter
Guest

Field 01-23-2002 15:34
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
This past weekend brought a nice number of migrating Geese into the area. Most flocks were high and fairly large in number. We did get some shooting on local and migrating birds, however. My group bagged 8 on Sat., 6 on Sunday, 4 on Monday. While it has been nice seeing birds, the count is WAY down from previous history. The earlier warm weather has changed feeding patterns in our area. This week, the weather is going back up into the mid-50’s. Crazy for this time of year. DM

Posted By:
Tetondog
Guest

Poca 01-18-2002 11:11
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 35-40 Degrees
Saw about 2 dozen green heads at the mouth of the Poca Yesterday. I was on my way to do a little Grouse hunting but if would of had a boat I would of been after the ducks.

Posted By:
Eric-Gerencir
WFC Sponsor

New River 01-13-2002 19:54
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
YUCK! What a difference a year makes! This year has been s…l..o…w. Had some woodducks work over the decoys around 7:30and then nothing else. The birds were flying high and far…far away from the guns. At around 8:45 we decided to go scount around for loafing birds. Jumped a group of buffleheads but, nothing close enough to shoot. There were many groups of Canadas and we managed to bag one. There haven’t been as many mallards circling our blind this year in comparison to years past. Too spread out because of thawing creeks and backwater. Probably saw about 100 ducks althogether and NONE worked the decs. Maybe alittle call shy and decoy shy.?

Posted By:
Don-Molter
Guest

Field 01-12-2002 16:11
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
The snow melted over the past three days due to warmer weather and rain. The Geese are moving fairly well and some migrating birds were seen this morning. My group of four hunters entered the field, set up our decoys and were ready at 7:35. We were limited out (12 geese) at 8:05. It was a great day. Birds working our spread from all directions. I was using my new 360 degree goose chair from Semmler. Wow what a great hunting tool. Being able to rotate fully, keeping your eyes on the birds is just super. Comfortable, too!
WV season in our zone continues to the end of January. DM

Posted By:
cootshoot
Guest

Kanawha 01-11-2002 08:23
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Tuesday Poca area saw 100 or so coming out of J E Amos hot water pond going up river only 2 came in to the deks..
after noon we hit area around Leon and saw 1000s of ducks and geese.. lost 1 mal & 1 blk and 1 goose came home with 4 mal 1 blk 2 geese..

Posted By:
Tetondog
Guest

Backwater of Kanawha 01-04-2002 10:22
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 30-34 Degrees – Ice
Saw about a dozen green heads and managed to bring home 1. I have seen a lot of birds along the Kanawha and Poca rivers, but this is the firs chance I’ve had to hunt. I was only out for about an hour yesterday evening.

Has anyone seen any birds in Greenbottom or McClintic WMA’s?

Posted By:

Greenbrier River 01-03-2002 11:08
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Took a couple of new comers to the sport and they both had a blast. Even though it was cold and we did not see a single bird. But just being out with new people is satisfaction enough. I am sorry to say it was not as rewarding for them. I hope to get them to give it another chance.
All else is well. Farm ponds are frozen and the birds are starting to concentrate in the open water of the rivers.

Good luck to all and above all BE SAFE!!

Posted By:
Don-Molter
Guest

Field 12-30-2001 13:42
Arctic Blast – 10-20 Degrees – Ice
Wow, winter came with a blast from Canada. Can’t say the same about the Geese, however. Local birds are keeping to sheltered areas and until many of the green pastures are frozen, they have no reason to move around very much. No migration to speak of, yet. My son in MD is having a better time of it on the Eastern Shore. DM

Posted By:
huntsem
Guest

ohio river 12-30-2001 08:48
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Anyone here hunt the northern portions of the Ohio river and how’s the duck numbers been there lately?

Posted By:
Eric-Gerencir
WFC Sponsor

? 12-29-2001 10:26
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Where is the cold weather? If you are going to hunt ducks better get to scouting. Woodducks are still around but you have to be set-up early. The shallow marsh areas are frozen, but some of the feeder creeks are still holding water and the birds just are too spread out. We had a couple of groups of woodies work near the decs. but non were brought to hand. Let’s hope for some freezing coditions to restrict some of the water way choices for the birds.

Posted By:
aspenangler
Guest

? 12-13-2001 21:47
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I am looking for a good public place to hunt waterfowl. Just moved here from Colorado and have no idea where to start. If anybody has any good suggestions please email me at aspenangler@hotmail.com. Thanks in advance!! Good shooting!

Posted By:
Don-Molter
Guest

Field 12-08-2001 10:29
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 45-50 Degrees
The third season started off with a wimper on December 7th. With nearly 70 degree weather and a Blue Bird day forecast, most passed up the chance. Today, started with heavy rain and normal than warmer temps. Once the rain slowed, birds (Geese) flew fairly well, although most headed to a area near the neighbor’s barn. Hard to compete with 100-150 live Geese on the ground about 300 yards away. Fortune would smile, however, as a group of three birds came over head. My dozen shells caught their interest and they pitched in with one string of calling. My first ever triple! These were local birds, as the summer like temps haven’t driven Geese south – yet. We were seeing Robins in the horse pastures up to two days ago! Hopefully, we’ll have colder temps in the near future. DM

Posted By:
Sindog
WFC Sponsor

Goose Island 11-29-2001 13:37
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I’ve been following reports on this site for a couple of years and want to commend waterfowler.com for the nice job they do. I was lucky enough to be able to hunt most of the last week of the season and days like Monday and Tuesday truly make for a memorable season. I hunt the river as far south as Lansing and north to Foutain City, specifically looking for places with less pressure always avoiding Brice Prairie. There are lots of hunters out there but there are some places that have fewer hunters than others. Regarding a special zone or late season on the Mississippi one has to remember that during most years the ice fishermen are out in force by Thanksgiving and most of the quiet water is froze up. With all the reports about hunter crowding I don’t know if there is a solution other than to take a young hunter with you and try to teach and explain to them about respect for other hunters and ethics. I think the sport is very cyclical, the hunter crowding you today will be selling his go devil in three years and be replaced by someone else with no common sense because nobody bothered to teach or show them anything. What bothers me more than the crowds is the slob hunters leaving garbage at their blinds especially spent shells, pop,BEER cans, and miscelaneous paper and plastic wrappers. Start picking up the crap left by the slobs and quit giving the “Anti Hunters” more ammunition than they already have. Good luck goose hunters, see you next year and conserve waterfowl – hunt with a trained retriever.

Posted By:
Don-Molter
Guest

Field 08-29-2001 22:01
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
Saturday 9/1 marks the opening of the 2001 Goose Resident Bird season in WV. Several new and important items of interest should be reviewed. First, the new daily bag limit for the early season is 5 Geese per day, per hunter, with a possession limit of 10. This is up from former year limits of only 3 per day. The follow up seasons will return to the 3 per day limit. The second item of interest is the repeal of the Sunday Hunting “Blue Law” in WV. While the new law is quite confusing (if you only knew the whole story) and many Sunday’s are still off limit, the Sunday’s in the early Goose season are open to hunting. This will mark the first legal Sunday hunting in WV since Colonial Days (when we were actually part of VA). Those planning on being afield on Sunday MUST have written permission from the land owner – NO EXCEPTIONS. The fine for not having WRITTEN permission is $1,000 for the first conviction. This is quite unique as many land owners in the state normally don’t bother with written permission and just rely on their word as their bond. Not so from now on. Get it in writing and enjoy your new hunting experience. DM

Posted By:
Eric-Gerencir
WFC Sponsor

zone 2 11-22-2001 17:00
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – 60-65 Degrees
Tomorrow the 23rd of November is the first day of the second season for waterfowling in the mountain state in zone 2!

Posted By:
TOYE
Guest

Mississippi 11-04-2001 19:13
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
NPDAWG,
Tough is an understatement! We’ve been killing a few birds each day but the birds we have here are extremely versed on the “open water” law! There was a lot of competetion this weekend which makes the birds even more wary and then add sunny skies with no wind and you are in for a long day! On the other hand I hear the Walleys are biting.
The Nov. 27th duck season closure is coming on fast. It sure would be nice to have a split in early Oct. for some late season mallard hunting in Dec. Especially this year!

Posted By:
Eric-Gerencir
WFC Sponsor

n/a 11-01-2001 20:50
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
I talked to a gunsmith today and discussed the problems with Steel and shooting performance and knockdown power. He pointed out the problem with steel going through the choke. If you notice on your box of steel shells that it may say 1-1/4 oz. of load. Well if you check a chart that gives the number of steel in that weight vs. the number of lead pellets in the same weight you’ll see the numbers vary greatly. Steel has more pellets. So, you think GREAT more pellets more chance to hit the target. Well, now think about getting all these pellets through the choke when you pull the trigger! Ah, there’s the rub. He suggested to open up the choke more to get all those pellets through without crowding them through. I’ll let everyone know what happens for me on my 11-87.

Posted By:
Eric-Gerencir
WFC Sponsor

River/Marsh 11-01-2001 20:38
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 60-65 Degrees
Well, well, well. Like the dude from Staind sings, “it’s been awhile…”.
There were woodducks. There were teal. There were even a few mallards. But, it was nothing like last year for me. We happened to bag a couple of teal and we happened to bag a single mallard. As always the woodducks seamed to provide the “best shooting” of the first split. The only time you could count on shooting was right before sunset. Up north the majority of the ducks we got were just starting to get their full plumage. So, it was very difficult to pick the males out on 25 yard passing shots and even harder on a bank flush. The birds in the southern area on the lakes seemed to be in full elegant color and it was quite a treat to hold such majestic woodducks! Really not to much to report on in the early season since these birds were all pretty much residents.

Something I would like to address is, STEEL vs. ALTERNATIVE Shot. After shooting the lights out of the clays with lead, switching to steel for ducks left me scratching my head. I haven’t tried anything else other than steel since anything else makes my wallet scream from hunger. But, if the results are cleaner kills and a fuller game bag I’m all willing to give anyone my ear. I’m going to break down this season and begin experimenting. I intend to keep updating this area with my opinions and results.

Posted By:
DUCK EYE
Guest

Pond 10-16-2001 22:46
Cloudy, High Winds – 45-50 Degrees
Nice morning! One woody, 2 Green heads.
We may be seeing the first wave of northern boys. saw lots of GWT if only I could shoot! my dog was happy he went swimming to day.

Posted By:
MOD
Guest

River 10-04-2001 22:08
Cloudy, Heavy Fog – 40-45 Degrees
Finally got to go hunting Wednesday morning for an hour. Saw several Woodies before I had to leave. Need to practice more. The gang said geese arrived after I left. Hope everyone has a good year. Come on cold weather.

Posted By:
jocan
Guest

meadow valley area 09-22-2001 10:22
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 60-65 Degrees
I was out this afternoon scouting, in central WI, and after a week of precip the rain gauge showing over three inches, I had dreams of full flowages brimming with fowl, only to find water flowing over the tops of the boards on control structures of low flowages and a few cranes, makes me wonder why I pay the money for stamps.
Good Luck Gentlemen!!!!!

Posted By:
rharris
Guest

Shenandoah 09-18-2001 09:38
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
Just wanted to send out a reminder that this Saturday and Sunday (9-22 and 9-23) are the designated days for the West Virginia Youth Waterfowl Hunting Days. Take a kid hunting and enjoy the weekend!

Posted By:
Don-Molter
Guest

Field 09-04-2001 21:45
Cloudy, Heavy Fog – 60-65 Degrees
Opening day was foggy and overcast. As luck would have it, the geese decided to use a nearby field were we do not have permission to hunt. We scored 3 birds before we called it quits. The second day of the early season was truly different for us in the Mountain State. For the first time, we could legally hunt on Sunday in WV. Another 3 geese were harvested before they could get to the forbidden field. One band, my first goose of the season taken on Saturday was collected. We saw a tremendous amount of local birds. Obviously, they had a very productive breeding season this spring. This will make for some nice gunning later on. DM

Posted By:
rharris
Guest

Shenandoah River 09-04-2001 13:08
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 65-70 Degrees
Jefferson County Goose Busters were back at it again. With Roger (myself), Mike, David, Art, Peter, Mike II and now the newest and youngest addition Justin (my son)on the River early Saturday morning you would expect lots of downed birds and bird down on the water – unfortunately this was not the case this day. We saw a couple of flights leave in the early morning hours but had nothing come back by noon. We were greeted by the local Game Warden and checked for license, stamps, HIP cards and most importantly flotation life vests. You must have an approved life vest in your boat, canoe or skiff while on any West Virginia waterway – even if you are just walking along. Peter found out the hard way with a piece of paying paper. I had flotation devices and was given a warning that they do not constitute as adequate flotation support. With seven hunters, four dogs, two canoes, two boats and a layout boat we had the river covered from shoreline to shoreline but the geese just did not cooperate. We did get into some doves in the afternoon and 11 year old Justin got five on his first day of real wing shooting. I got seven and Mike Moore got his limit in less than a box of shells – he is now one up on me for the years friendly competition. I had a great day just watching my son grow and learn a sport I enjoy doing. I didn’t even take a gun with me when we where goose hunting so I could just watch and coach him. I didn’t even dove hunt until 3:00 p.m. just so I could enjoy helping and teaching him. He did one beautiful shot in front of Mike and I and it took about 20 minutes to knock the grin off my face. After a round of high fives with everyone the young lad and lab wre back to watching the sky for more birds. There is nothing as much fun as sharing the times in the field with a good friend and your family. Take a kid or spouse hunting with you and share your outdoor pleasures with them. Remember this may be new to them so keep it short and easy going until they also get as excited about the time in the field as you do.