Posted By:
John-Kruse
Field Editor
Stratford 10-25-2009 17:32
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 40-45 Degrees
Took my son and dog up to the Stratford Firing Line above the reserve hoping the geese would be on the lake and that they would fly over when it was time to feed.
Found about a dozen other hunters up there as well hoping for the same outcome. As daylight broke we could see there were probably 12,000 to 15,000 Lesser Canada Geese on the lake, less than usual for this time of year and far less than the 30,000 birds expected this year.
When the birds did get up they unfortunately did not come our way. Nobody on the firing line got any birds this day.
Hopefully more birds will be on the way to this area soon – and hopefully a few will fly over the firing line for the hunters that make the trip here.
If nothing else – the view was great and it was a pleasant way to watch the sun come up!
John Kruse Northwestern Outdoors Radio www.northwesternoutdoors.com
Posted By:
John-Kruse
Field Editor
Potholes Reservoir 10-25-2009 17:25
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Just finished producing my radio show for next weekend. The topic – Fall waterfowl hunting and fishing at Potholes Reservoir.
A link to the Intro portion of the show is below. Enjoy!!
http://www.fishingandhuntingreport.com/audio/18/northwestern-outdoors-duck-hunting-edition-intro
John Kruse Northwestern Outdoors Radio www.northwesternoutdoors.com
Posted By:
John-Kruse
Field Editor
Potholes Reservoir 10-23-2009 10:09
Cloudy, Occassional Rain Showers – 50-60 Degrees
Opening Weekend Report:
Set up Duck Camp about a mile and a half south of the Job Corps Dike in the north end of Potholes Reservoir with my son and best friend for another year of Duck Camp.
Found the place we wanted to get to (on public land) had a large blind built on it – probably a week earlier based on the dying foilage – could have gotten into a *$%*ing match and set up camp there but decided it wasn’t worth the hassle and moved to another spot a couple hundred yards away.
Our new spot turned out to be a teal hole – our group shot 9 birds over two days, 6 of them being green-wing teal. The other spot we wanted to get (with the hunters showing up right at shooting time every morning) appeared to be pretty good, with the hunters probably bagging about 20 birds over 2 days to include a fair amount of mallards.
The late opener and previous cold spell meant some changes. More flocks of teal, less pintail than I saw during the youth hunt, small groups of mallards and a good amount of wigeon.
Two other hunters on opening day gave me a report about a mile south of Crab Creek. They did well – bagging a limit of wigeon and teal.
Coming out on Sunday around 11 AM we saw absolutely no other hunters set up on the water – an indication of fewer hunters this year and probably less success as well for the ones that remained.
Goose numbers (locally) were low but there sure were alot of sandhill cranes cruising around at different elevations. We actually were woken up at 3 AM by a low flying flock that came over our tent!
Fished the next couple of days on Potholes Reservoir. Hunting pressure appeared to be low – based on the amount of shooting heard and the few boats trading back and forth in the dunes.
Fishing – by the way – was slow for walleye and bass but they are out there. We saw the results of the annual WDFW netting survey at Mar Don Result. Crews put out 10 nets for 24 hours in the Reservoir before pulling them and emptying them at Mar Don Resort. The result – 262 walleye – including lots of big, fat ones!
Posted By:
Hugh-Carney
Field Editor
Centra Wa 10-23-2009 09:21
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This coming weekend is expected to mild and I have already seen a reluctancy of the birds to move much. There was a weak cold front that moved through Wed, AM then most areas became very still and temps in the 60’s. This may be what happens this weekend as well.
Cold front is moving through Fri. late in the day followed by high winds overnight possibly extending into the AM. After that Sat should be partly sunny and calm followed on Sun. by possible rain showers and highs in the 50’s.
Not very conducive to duck movement but on the upside the diver numbers are very strong for late October. We have one more week to watch for the Bluebills before we can shoot em. Cans and Red Heads are in some areas so don’t be suprised if they buzz your spread.
Watch the wind.
Posted By:
mike-schireman
Field Editor
Skagit Area 10-21-2009 12:26
Cloudy, Occassional Rain Showers – 50-60 Degrees
Nothing short of a great opener this year in Stanwood. Actually got up and into the field with time to spare…must be getting old. Tons of hunters out but all seemed to respect space and distance. A true mixed bag of Teal, Mallards, and Pintail. There were a few Widgeon but yet to see their full arrival. Day two saw only one other group of hunters out compared to the 20+ boats on opening. It will be interesting to see if the local birds vacate the area this weekend. Also had good reports from hunters farther north. Hope you all had safe and successful openers and continue it this weekend. A little over a week before I make a rare trip to the eastside to hunt at Eagle Lakes.
Watching a bird dog work is one of life’s greatest gifts…so give’m a job!!!!
Posted By:
mike-schireman
Field Editor
???????? 10-16-2009 12:01
Cloudy, Occassional Rain Showers – 50-60 Degrees
Well if your heart isn’t pounding by now then you must not be going hunting this weekend. The weekend we have all been waiting for since the end of last January is here. I will be heading out on the south fork of the Stilly on Saturday and points unknown Sunday. Final preparations will be done tonight since I won’t be able to sleep anyway. Don’t forget to triple check your gear and good luck to everyone wherever you may hunt. Ahhhhh I love the smell of a two stroke outboard and a wet dog in the morning!!!!
Watching a bird dog work is one of life’s greatest gifts…so give’m a job!!!!
Posted By:
John-Kruse
Field Editor
Potholes Reservoir 10-15-2009 22:09
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
DUCK CAMP 2009!
Heading to Duck Camp again for 2009! Two days camping in the dunes in the north end of Potholes Reservoir followed by two nights at Mar Don Resort. No TV’s – No work – Just duck hunting and fishing for four days! Can’t wait!
Weather forecast is highs in the lower 60’s – lows around 40 – for the weekend. Cloudy with an off chance for a shower or two. Could be worse (you know…like the 17 degrees it was in the Basin last weekend).
Good luck to all on Opening Day – I’ll let everyone know how it went in my portion of Potholes Reservoir when I get back!
John Kruse Northwestern Outdoors Radio www.northwesternoutdoors.com
Posted By:
Hugh-Carney
Field Editor
Central Wa. 10-15-2009 10:02
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Bird numbers are pretty good in most spots. Might have even had a recent influx over the last week or so.
Rain in the past few days may lead to patchy fog in valley’s near big water. Shouldn’t be too cold.
good luck.
Posted By:
mike-schireman
Field Editor
Garage 10-07-2009 14:05
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
Great to hear that you got your boy out John!
A few more comments from the west-side. Expect a large showing for Snow geese this year. It is reported that the hatch was huge and that young birds will make up almost 40% of the numbers which should make for some great decoy shooting…just don’t shoot the decoys. Also if you are planning on going after the snow’s make sure you have your harvest report card (as I stated in an earlier report…it is different this year). Also different is the quality hunts. Contact your local WDFG office for details if you entered the drawing. Even if you did not get drawn there are open days to hunt the units…but only if you entered the drawing. 10 days until it is actually a pleasure to get up before 6:00.
Watching a bird dog work is one of life’s greatest gifts…so give’m a job!!!!
Posted By:
John-Kruse
Field Editor
Potholes Reservoir 10-04-2009 11:43
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 60-65 Degrees
A late posting on this year’s youth hunt. I got the opportunity to take my 12 year old son out for his first duck hunt.
Not too crowded out – only two other parties of hunters in the area. Birds were moving pretty well from shooting time until we packed up around 9:30 AM. My son got his fair share of shooting and we got a gadwall in the bag thanks to a nice retrieve from our lab that is almost as old as my son.
The usual suspects were present – teal, wigeon, gadwall and mallards. I saw a few more pintail than usual but only one small group of geese.
We did get a treat of seeing three sandhill cranes fly right over the decoys about 25 yards up – something I’m not used to seeing. Other wildlife included pelicans, herons and lots of egrets.
Duck numbers appeared to be slightly down. This is consistent with a report from WDFW Biologist Rich Finger. His assessment of hunting in the basin (Courtesy of the WDFW Weekender Report):
“Opening weekend of waterfowl hunting in the Columbia Basin should offer good numbers of mallards, teal, wigeon , and gadwall , Finger reported, even though overall duck production in the district was down about 25 percent this year. “That will primarily affect early season hunting,” he said, “since the peak number of migrant waterfowl is usually in December. Regardless, there will be local birds available on the opener, including some wood ducks concentrating in stands of flooded Russian olive trees in the wasteways.”
Finger said hunters using the Winchester Regulated Access Area should be cautious about pintails , which can be abundant there early in the season. Only two of the seven duck daily bag limit can be pintails.”
Less than two weeks to go before the opener. Looking forward to it!!
John Kruse
Northwestern Outdoors Radio
www.northwesternoutdoors.com
