Posted By:
Casey-Huxoll
Field Editor
Boardman area 11-10-2009 11:57
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Well with elk season over i am back in the hunt for waterfowl. had pretty good success this weekend on geese in a private pasture.
The birds seem to be moving in now. I am seeing a good number of ducks cruising the river in the eveneing and have started to see small groups of geese cruising all day long. mainly in the morning and evening though. There are also a couple groups of snows around.
The geese seem to be hitting the disked corn fields in the area right now. so if you can find a field with birds in it and get permission should make for a good hunt. There have also been a few birds hitting the fields at the loacl refuge.
I think the migration is underway and should make for some good shooting in the weeks to come.
Good luck
Posted By:
Casey-Huxoll
Field Editor
Irrigon area refuge 10-19-2009 12:52
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – 50-60 Degrees
WEll hope everyone had a good opener. We hunted the river on sat with pretty good success. The ducks were working pretty good in the morning and wehad a 3 man limmit by noon. mixed bag with mallards, woodies, widgeon and teal. We stuck it out the rest of the day waiting for the geese to return to the river. we finished our goose limmit at about 4:30. ended with 21 ducks and 12 honkers.
On sunday we ended up hunting a small cove off of a slough. the ducks worked alright but you could tell they had been shot ot the day before. We stopped hunting around 1. ended with 19 ducks again a mixed bag.
The ducks flew good at daylight then there would be down time then all of the sudden they would start flying again. made for a pretty good opener.
Now lets just hope we get some weather up north to start pushing some birds down. maybe they will just wait till after elk season.
Well my wife has a refuge pic for this wednesday so hopefully some of the birds will still be around.
Good luck to everyone.
Posted By:
CGIBSON
Guest
Summer lake 10-15-2009 18:40
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 45-50 Degrees
Had one of the best openers this year. Hunted summer lake on sat. got away from the crowds and got a limit of ducks. Slept in sunday killed one right out of camp. New dog did real good had a good time.
Posted By:
Casey-Huxoll
Field Editor
Boardman Area 10-15-2009 10:57
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Well only 2 more days. the addiction starts.
There are a good number of ducks around here as well as geese. Ive seen about 200 snows in the area for the last week. wich tells me the front of the migration is starting.
I was down at the local refuge this morning and did see geese and ducks in most of the fields as well as on the slough. should make for a good opener as usuall.
Looks like it is supposed to warm up abit for the weekend with a chance of rain on Sat.
Good luck to all
Posted By:
Casey-Huxoll
Field Editor
Boardman Area 09-11-2009 09:35
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Well i havent posted in a while been pretty busy. Anyways i was able to get away this weekend and pound on some local Geese for the september season. Sat. we hunted some birds that we had been watching for a couple weeks working the river. we shot a 4 man limmit. We had ducks in the deocys all morning long made the time pass by while we were waiting for the geese to come back from the fields. We also saw a group of Specklbellys flying around.
On sunday i had a video crew come down and it didnt go as well. We were trafficing birds that had been using the neighbors field managed to get 5 for 5 guys.
I am surprised by how many birds that are around right now.
The best thing right now are the doves. There are a bunch of doves around right now and people have been doing pretty good on the public land around boardman and Irrigon. Doves are a good way to get the guns dusted off and get the dogs some much needed work. I am guessin one of my dogs have allready retrieved 45 doves.
Anyways good luck to all the archery hunters and lets all look forward to the regular season. Good to see they will let us shoot Canvasbacks and 2 pineys this year.
[Edited By Casey-Huxoll on 2009-09-11 09:41]
Posted By:
Casey-Huxoll
Field Editor
Boardman 01-26-2009 11:44
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Thats it put your guns down. waterfowl 08-09 season has come to an end here in Boardman.
Finished out the weekend strong with good goose shoots.
Friday, took the wife out(she mostly watches with a gun in her hands) and got my limmit of geese in an orchard grass field. Sat, took out 2 buddies and got 10 in a cover crop wheat field. the geese didnt want to be called at. when you would call the would just turn around and fly off. we just had to let them come on there own.
Sunday. hunted by myself. we got about 4 inches of snow over night so back on went then snow cover. hunted over about 3 dz decoys and got my 4 geese by 930. great way to end the season. finished off the day by making some goose peperoni and jerky.
Finished the season with about the same numbers as i have had the last 3 years. personally 90 geese 38 ducks. had a few more ducks last year. I have only broken the 100 goose mark once and that was 4 years ago got 107. As a group i think we ended somewhere with 300 geese and 120 ducks. will have to look back and make sure that is right.
Well already making plans for next year, new duck decoys, new waders, planning on getting my cases of shells bought with my tax return. I guess my mind just never shuts off the waterfowl part.
Time to get the boat ready and go after some sturgeon and walleye.
Good luck to everyone fishing and drawing those tags this year.
[Edited By Casey-Huxoll on 2009-01-26 11:47]
Posted By:
Kyle B
Guest
Willamette River Junction City area 01-25-2009 17:26
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 40-45 Degrees
The last day we had lots of ducks. Mostly widgeon. We had 4 guys set up in 2 different areas on the same slough. Between all of us we got 22 ducks. Mixed bag of mallards, teal, ringneck and mostly widgeon. The year was fairly good. However during the month of December, it seemed very slow.
Posted By:
Paul-Cantrell
Field Editor
Willamette River Below Harrisburg 01-25-2009 17:02
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 45-50 Degrees
Well we closed out the season with a very nice hunt. Didn’t get as many birds as we hoped but we literally saw thousands of Teal and Widgeon flying. The birds were dive bombing a cut corn field, and nothing was going to stop them from being there. We watched them move in and out of there all day. We ended up getting 2 Drake Teal and a very nice drake Widgeon. Overall the season was up and down for me. Had some great hunts, great experiences and I already can’t wait for next year.
Paul Cantrell
Black Ice Retrievers
Posted By:
Kyle B
Guest
Willamette RIver (Valley) 01-18-2009 13:29
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
We had a great morning. Lots of ducks. mainly mallards. I haven’t been out for a while so it was nice getting a good hunt. We didn’t pull limits but I got 5 and my buddies got 4 and 3. Hopefully the season holds good for the last week.
Posted By:
Casey-Huxoll
Field Editor
McCormick Slough 01-15-2009 09:30
Cloudy, High Winds – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Got out yesterday and hunted McCormcick slough. We had a reservation and ended up i think about 10th pick. got a pretty good blind and had a fun shoot. 10 mallards for 2 of us and plenty of missed oppurtunities.
There wasnt as many ducks around as there was a couple weeks ago but there are still a good number around. pretty steady duck action all morning. Lots of groups of 20+mallards buzzing around.
Still alot of geese in the area. I am seeing bug groups of small canadas. they are balling up and hitting alfalfa and grass fields in big numbers. Also about 1000 snow geese in the area. seem to following these big groups of small canadas.
For the weather. They are calling for an Air stagnation advisory through sunday, so not alot of wind. It has been a little foggy in the morning then clearing by mid morning. temps for the weekend are calling for a low of 32 at night and a high of 38 during the day. Should make for some pretty ducky feeling weather. we will have to see what happens.
Only 2 weekends left i hope everyone gets out there and knock a few more birds out of the sky before it is time to start putting everything back in the garage. Good luck and shoot em with there feet down.(If you can)
