Posted By:
Kwack Wacker
Guest
Yak. valley 12-10-2007 14:00
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
2 of us limmited easily Saturday morning and other hunters in the area did as well, shot all mallards saw alot of pintail. A TON of birds in area and alot of new birds.
Sunday was slower on the shooting part, but there was a ton of “ozone” birds flying actually more than Sat. and saw a good # of pintail. We shot 9. Things were starting to freeze up and I’m sure it’s all frozen today, gona make things tuff again except for the Yak.
Watch those Sunrises and Whack ’em!!
[Edited By Kwack Wacker on 2007-12-10 14:02]
Posted By:
Hugh-Carney
Field Editor
Columbia Basin 12-06-2007 10:57
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Big warm up has changed bird patterns significantly since the weekend. Birds are still around, they have become very wary, maybe wind blown makes them that way. Hard to say that any have moved on but they are patterning differently.
Beginning Thursday night the weather is expected to turn clear and cold through about Mon. Small, open water should refreeze. Temps dipping to the mid teens by Sat. Plan accordingly.
-Hugh
Posted By:
Kwack Wacker
Guest
Yak valley 12-05-2007 13:54
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Warm weather made things interesting, dad and grandfather should have killed limmits yesterday afternoon but they shot horrible (50 rounds)!!!!!
This weekend should be good if the now open water does’nt freeze again.
Posted By:
Kwack Wacker
Guest
Yakima valley 12-03-2007 14:03
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 35-40 Degrees
3 of us shot 13 on Sat., we were in wrong area and friends on Yakima river did very well. Hugh is right there was alot of birds moving on Sat, especially baldpates. Saw and killed more woodies this weekend then any other this year. Hunted the same spot friends did really good at on river Sun. but it’s amazing some times how much a night can affect # of birds, most seemed to have moved out over night. Deccent # of ducks/geese in Valley ya just have to be in a really good spot (open water) although I don’t think thats gona be much of an issue after Wednesday this week, If the Yak comes up so will it’s tributaries (toppenish creek) and that is when we really get in business. The only problem then is too much water, I don’k think that will be the case though because we really don’t have that much snow. Anyways I would rather have too much water than ice out conditions.
Good luck this week it should be good warm winds after a stretch of cold could get em’ movin if ya got water.
Watch those Sunrises and Whack ’em!!
Posted By:
Hugh-Carney
Field Editor
Columbia Basin/Yakima Valley 12-03-2007 13:47
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As expected, the weather played a huge role in the weekend hunt. New birds showed up strong on Sat in the basin and Valley. The guys I checked with that hunted yakima were done with 3 man limits quickly on Sat. The open water in the western basin provided the same result. My party finished our 2 bird Can limit by 8 and had plenty more to fill the bag to 21 by mid morning. Lots of flights all day. Sun weather slowed the process with wind and rain and as it ended up, staying home to watch the Hawks was more enjoyable.
Now the question is what will the birds do with this big warm up? My guess is that they will spread out and find a lot more feed in the wet ground. The Yakima river will rise dramatically and birds will find a million spots to sit. In the basin there is still some ice on small ponds but with temps in the 50’s and 40-60 MPH winds the thickest ice should mostly melt away soon. Winds are expected to die down by tonight (12-3) and highs back to the low 40’s and lows in the low 30’s, cooling off by the weekend.
This seems to happen every year. I saw a guy in a boat blind with decoys about 80 yards away from the boat and the boat out in the middle of the river. Stood out like a soar thumb. I sat and watched for about 20 min. I couldn’t figure out what he was thinking. I couldn’t imagine anything getting close, not even a coot. I guess it goes to show you can’t buy your way to a good hunt. I suppose it kept the birds moving.
-Hugh
Posted By:
crsjhawk
Guest
Yakima Valley Private Land/Umatilla 12-02-2007 21:05
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 35-40 Degrees
Kwacker Wacker. I am guessing you did not do as well as predicted over the weekend. Three of hunted on Friday and got 10 birds. On Saturday I went down to Patterson slough and shot a limit. The other two guys got 5 birds. Today we got two mallards and did not see very many. I think most of birds jumped the hill due to the snow and went to Umatilla. There were a lot of birds there on Saturday, and at least two other groups near me also limited.
Posted By:
Kwack Wacker
Guest
Yakima Valley RES 11-30-2007 13:53
Cloudy, Accumulating Snow – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Limmited Wednesday and Thursday, this weekends gona be good for us as well.
It’s good right now if ya know where to be, althiugh i’ll admitt both days I was on private land.
Posted By:
John-Kruse
Field Editor
South Central Washingotn 11-30-2007 02:14
Cloudy, Snow & Rain Mix – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
My son and I toured several South Central Hunting Locales while getting photographs for my upcoming guide book. Here’s a rundown of what we saw on Saturday:
1. Very good numbers of geese and ducks on Moses Lake – and several goose guides set up in grain fields not far from there.
2. A fair number of mallards and shovelers along with a few geese and swans at the lake next to the McNary NWR Headquarters. In the nearby Burbank Slough hunting area the check station reported most people were not doing too well, though one party managed 16 birds that morning.
3. Went to the Hanford Natl. Monument. Saw a bunch of geese piling into the Columbia near the Vernita Bridge. Saw no birds flying in or out of the Wahluke Ponds in the late afternoon. No duck hunters in the area – mainly muzzleloading deer hunters.
4. Ponds and shallow lakes are freezing up this week as the snow finally begins to fall. Expect increased numbers of Northerns to show in our area – that’s my prediction at any rate.
5. Go COUGS! Awesome Apple Cup this year!
Posted By:
Hugh-Carney
Field Editor
yakima valley 11-29-2007 15:10
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For you trophy hunters… a Barnacle Goose was spotted this past week among Canadian Geese in the Yakima area. Barnacle Geese breed in Greenland and northern Eurasia and winter in Northern Europe and the British Isles. This one seems to be a little lost.
Posted By:
Hugh-Carney
Field Editor
Columbia Basin/Yakima Valley 11-29-2007 12:12
Cloudy, Accumulating Snow – 30-34 Degrees – Ice
6+ inches of snow and growing will certainly change flight patters over the next few days. Temps will stay on the snow/rain border line for a few days. As you could expect, the more heavily traveled roads will be in better shape than the back roads that most of us usually use. I would guess that flights will be occurring more often, however I have seen them fly in masse then quit quickly, then fly again in masse hours later. Scouting is very critical on days like these if you have the time.
The scouting factor is a big plus to using a guide. Some guides do anything for their clients. I was witness to that the other day when scouting a field full of geese in Grant county. There was about 2000 geese in this filed I had permission to hunt. I was looking at it about mid day when a guy from a local prominent guide service drove into the field and lofted the birds. This is why I don’t use guides. They provide a service, but this activity goes on too often and they are financially rewarded for it. It’s maddening for guys that work hard to do it right. I’ll start bringing my video camera and see if I can get some footage of it and see if WDF&W will do anything about it.
To end on a good note…. the mallard numbers look to be growing still. With the expected warm up next week (highs pushing into the 50 by Wed.) the current population should stay for a while.
Drive safe
-Hugh
