Posted By:
John-Kruse
Field Editor
Central Washington 01-04-2008 00:15
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 25-30 Degrees – Ice
SNOW AND COLD MAKES THINGS INTERESTING
Spoke with three local guides as I prepared my weekly radio show (The Great Outdoors – KPQ 560 AM – Wenatchee). Here’s what they had to say about Central Washington Waterfowl Hunting:
Jerrod Gibbons – Okanogan Valley Guide Service – Jerrod reports goose hunting has been good this season but fresh snow is making things more challenging. He recommends looking for uncut grain fields and orchards in Okanogan County. If you find those, you may well find geese feeding in them.
Jeff Zender – The Columbia River Water-Fowler – Jeff says duck hunting is pretty good on the Columbia between Brewster and Wenatchee. He noticed there are fewer redheads and canvasbacks being taken this year, but on the bright side, there does seem to be a healthy population of wigeon available.
Levi Meseberg – Mar Don Duck Taxi – www.ducktaxi.com – Levi says fresh snow and ice has some ducks heading south and others congregating on the open water still available. Goose hunting has been consistently good all season and should stay that way in a couple of fields Levi and his guides favor at this time of year.
I don’t have any reports from McNary or Umatilla NWR but suspect these places might be worth a look given the weather here in Central and NCW Washington. All of these guides are quality ones (Yup – I’ve been out with all of them) but some only have a few openings left for this season so you may want to contact them sooner than later if you want a guided hunt.
Good luck!
John Kruse
http://pacificnorthwestoutdoors.com
Posted By:
John-Kruse
Field Editor
Home 12-25-2007 01:29
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 25-30 Degrees – Ice
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!
I also hope everyone has a great new year and good shooting for the last part of the season. Nice to hear things are going well from the posted reports. Work – and a book I’m writing – have kept me out of the field for a month now. Definitely need to get out again!
JK
http://pacificnorthwestoutdoors.com
Posted By:
mossberg-mudhen
Guest
Brewster 12-22-2007 20:26
Cloudy, Snow Flurries – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Awesome hunting. Lots of birds and a lot of guys out moving them around. Snowed all morning we were able two scratch out two limits and a goose a piece. Mallards, widgeon and lots of divers. My young year old chocolate lab Samson made his first goose retrieve and several duck retrieve. It made my day and he liked the snow. I will be hitting Lake Roosevelt tommorrow.
Call…Decoy…Lead…Pull…Follow through..Retrieve…Clean..Eat!
Posted By:
mossberg-mudhen
Guest
Brewster 12-19-2007 23:16
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – 35-40 Degrees
Great day on the water! Lots of Redheads, and Widgeon. Action all morning. All three of us limited but no geese flying. Dogs enjoyed the retrieves as did I.
Call…Decoy…Lead…Pull…Follow through..Retrieve…Clean..Eat!
Posted By:
Kwack Wacker
Guest
Res. Yakima Valley 12-18-2007 13:39
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
good bird movement Sunday morning, was just not where they wanted to be, seemed to be lot’s of Gads pushing through and the front of the diver push.
We’ve got it all figured out for Sat. morning and I think we will limit as long as the birds don’t get ran out with this cold.
Posted By:
Hugh-Carney
Field Editor
columbia Basin 12-17-2007 13:27
– – –
Well, as it ended up, the snow and ice that were predicted never showed up and the Indian John Hill rest area opened up on Fri. PM. That’s what I get for listening to the news.
The birds were kinda quiet. had to work harder than normal. Sun the flights in the western basin were were very quiet for mid Dec.. I ended up getting a hen and drake Ruddy in the mix. Didn’t think they were around in Dec.
3 or 4 weather systems are expected to move through this week. Possible snow every day. Temps in the mid 20’s getting up to the mid to upper 30’s. Not a lot of melting expected of those frozen ponds. Fresh birds would help.
Leaving for a few weeks. Have a good Christmas. Hope the Hawks are still playing when I get back.
-Hugh
Posted By:
Kwack Wacker
Guest
RES. 12-15-2007 19:52
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
we got 13 today jumpshooting, mallards, wiegeon, teal. shot 7 for 7!
deccent # of birds in valley not where we were at this morning, heard good reports in other spots that I will hunt tommorow.
Posted By:
Kwack Wacker
Guest
Yak valley 12-14-2007 13:55
Cloudy, Heavy Fog – 25-30 Degrees – Ice
the snow tonight is great for our morning program on a private drain ditch!
Good luck this weekend, there is PLENTY of birds on res. and if ya got open water you should be well in business!
[Edited By Kwack Wacker on 2007-12-14 13:55]
Posted By:
Hugh-Carney
Field Editor
Columbia Basin 12-14-2007 12:14
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 30-34 Degrees – Ice
Much small water is frozen throughout E. Wa and with the good number of birds around there should be good opportunity since the birds will have fewer choices. I have seen the pattern of late day flights over the past week to 10 days so for those of you that do the Patrino and leave before it’s over, might be missing the best part of the hunt.
I saw the red plane, like many of you over, the last weekend doing the bird counts, and reading the results of those counts I have to raise an eyebrow. I’m sure they did the best they could with the limitations that were acknowledged in their report, and I know these are only the birds visible at the time of the flight, but I know for a fact that there are far more divers and wigeon in the basin than they saw in their fly over. On Sunday, the plane flew over me in a snowstorm at which time I could hardly see my decoys. It had to be impossible to get an accurate count. What I’m saying is that don’t let low numbers in the area you want to hunt discourage you. The numbers are still strong in the basin.
What may discourage you is the weather forecast for snow and freezing rain for the span beginning Fri. PM and continuing through Tuesday the 18th. Allow extra time for travel and associated delay. For those of you traveling over Snoqualamie Pass, be aware that the Indian John Hill rest stop is closed both directions until Dec. 17th because of water pipe repair. (odd time of year to do this). Be sure to take care of business in North Bend, top of the pass, Cle Elem or Ellensburg.
-Hugh
Posted By:
John-Kruse
Field Editor
Columbia Basin 12-13-2007 11:47
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 25-30 Degrees – Ice
WDFW PROCLAIMS – THE NORTHERNS HAVE ARRIVED!
Here’s some news from the North Central Washington portion of the WDFW Weekender Report published today. This should come as no surprise to those who have been venturing afield lately:
“NORTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON – HUNTING:
“The northerners have arrived,” said Mikal Moore, WDFW waterfowl specialist in Ephrata. Recent winter storms have moved ducks and geese from Canada into the Columbia Basin, providing opportunities for waterfowl hunters.
The last aerial waterfowl survey of the North Basin by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and WDFW was conducted Sunday, Dec. 9. Moore said surveying is usually scheduled during the week to avoid weekend hunters, but weather conditions forced the Sunday flight. Randy Hill, USFWS wildlife biologist, said some hunters may have been initially annoyed by the survey plane’s low passes that day, but bird movements ultimately created additional opportunities for hunters.
The central basin and the lower Columbia River pools were surveyed, but deteriorating weather and potential for fog cut the survey short for Banks Lake and the Columbia River from Grand Coulee to Rock Island. “We feel fortunate to have a partial December survey after being weathered out the last two years,” Hill said. “And the northerners have indeed arrived.” Five survey locations had more than 25,000 mallards, and three others topped 15,000. On the Sunday survey, the ducks were concentrated at reserves and three non-hunting lakes and/or flooded cornfields. Notable was a lack of wigeon, although much of the river was not surveyed, said Hill. “Divers were found mainly on the two Columbia River pools and totals are well below normal because the surveyed area on the river was limited,” he said.
“We still have lots of Canada geese in the area, although the survey doesn’t reflect that,” Hill said. Large flocks were moving to cornfields as the survey was beginning and most geese were missed. As an example, Columbia National Wildlife Refuge has had about 10,000 geese, but only 75 were counted on the survey. “The abundant corn acreage is mostly harvested now but several fields are still standing across the north basin area, so unless we have additional snow or ice to cover corn stubble fields, both ducks and geese should remain in good numbers,” he said.
For all the survey numbers, see http://wdfw.wa.gov/reg/eventopp/events2.htm.
Goose hunters throughout the region, where goose hunting is available only on Saturdays, Sundays and Wednesdays, will get several extra days with the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Dec. 24-25, Dec. 27-28 and Jan. 1, are open to goose hunting in that zone. The season runs through Jan. 27.”
Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas and good hunting!
JK
Http://pacificnorthwestoutdoors.com
