release site bird numbers not adding up.

[Shannon]

I bought a $90 stamp this year to get my dogs some action before we hunted wild birds but I refuse to hunt the Bow site. Thats the worst site I have seen. I know it well since I've hunted deer there for 20 years. I've complained to the State but get the feeling they don't really give a *censored*. Whoever picked that site needs a new job. Pheasant hunting in a clear cut with a postage stamp size field is a joke. I know there aren't a lot of places to choose from but come on! Its the last year they get my money.

[Stilly bay]

you obviously haven't been there since they added the new hip deep mud feature. its the chit.

[Birdguy]

It has been several years since I have hunted release sites but this year my daughter wanted to hunt birds instead of deer so I bought licenses for both kids and myself  . The youth hunt was cancelled as was the first several weekends in our area due to fire danger  . Then the weekends we have made it out there certainly seems to be fewer birds than I remember. Seems we used to get 60 birds three days a week, the volunteers I spoke with two weeks ago said they only release about 40 birds now but still three days a week. The one site is so bad (clear cut) that I will not take my dog back as I am certain I am asking him to hurt himself (impailed on stick or stump) and the other is not much better but it is a little, so I will continue to go there for the kids. IF the kids decide to hunt west side next year I will only go as a dog handler and save my $$ for sure. Release sites could be such an awesome tool for the state to get folks into upland hunting, dog training, and a real love of the sport. It is too bad our state is constantly telling the sportsman to suck it up, the good old days are gone, you will pay lots more for less or you will have none  .
  I still believe that if the state got proactive the volunteer base in our area could put in heck of a release site that would last a long time and be a place that sportsman could take their kids and or dogs for a great time.
   Stilly good luck in your search  , post your findings, thank you.

[Stilly bay]

Release sites could be such an awesome tool for the state to get folks into upland hunting, dog training, and a real love of the sport. It is too bad our state is constantly telling the sportsman to suck it up, the good old days are gone, you will pay lots more for less or you will have none  .
  I still believe that if the state got proactive the volunteer base in our area could put in heck of a release site that would last a long time and be a place that sportsman could take their kids and or dogs for a great time.
 

Lets put our heads together and make it happen! the state seems to just be going through the motions. I wish I knew where to start, hell I got the time.

I tried contacting Pheasants forever about working on the release site situation but so far no one has got back to me, and its been awhile.

[wildweeds]

This is going to carbon date me........................... I can remember vividly hunting wild roosters in western washington.I wasn't gunning but rather tagging along.Newcastles diesease was the  reason for the start of the "Release" program.Old enough to remember not old enough to gun.

[MP123]

you obviously haven't been there since they added the new hip deep mud feature. its the chit.

Yeah, all those clearcuts are flooded now.  It's all one nasty swamp, the birds probably drowned.  It wasn't too bad before it started raining but the area is just too small.  Better than the old Samish Is. site I guess but I doubt they'll use it next year.

[akirkland]

Release sites could be such an awesome tool for the state to get folks into upland hunting, dog training, and a real love of the sport. It is too bad our state is constantly telling the sportsman to suck it up, the good old days are gone, you will pay lots more for less or you will have none  .
  I still believe that if the state got proactive the volunteer base in our area could put in heck of a release site that would last a long time and be a place that sportsman could take their kids and or dogs for a great time.
 

Im all about saving the release sites. Thats first in my opinion. Then build on them. I am more than willing to help any way I can.

Lets put our heads together and make it happen! the state seems to just be going through the motions. I wish I knew where to start, hell I got the time.

I tried contacting Pheasants forever about working on the release site situation but so far no one has got back to me, and its been awhile.

[fethrduster]

maybe they're releasing more birds on other sites where the true elitists go and that deserve special treatment .

but Im a true elitist and I never got that memo...

maybe the volunteers are taking a few to release elsewhere to hunt for themselves,

I think I would prefer to be boned by WDFW than find out a volunteer was doing it.   

OMG.  Too funny. 

[bracer40]

This was my first year back to the Wet side release sites so I could find more action for my young dog. So far, the numbers (of birds & hunters) seem comparable to what I remember 10 & 15 years ago.
What's been very dissappointing is the drop in birds on the East side sites though. Plenty of quail, barely any pheasants. The few we've seen so far struck me as wild birds by the way they flushed and flew.

[singleshot12]

Release sites could be such an awesome tool for the state to get folks into upland hunting, dog training, and a real love of the sport. It is too bad our state is constantly telling the sportsman to suck it up, the good old days are gone, you will pay lots more for less or you will have none  .
  I still believe that if the state got proactive the volunteer base in our area could put in heck of a release site that would last a long time and be a place that sportsman could take their kids and or dogs for a great time.
 

Im all about saving the release sites. Thats first in my opinion. Then build on them. I am more than willing to help any way I can.

Lets put our heads together and make it happen! the state seems to just be going through the motions. I wish I knew where to start, hell I got the time.

I tried contacting Pheasants forever about working on the release site situation but so far no one has got back to me, and its been awhile.

TTT     The Pheasant Release Program is a great thing but WDFW apparently needs help to keep it up and running or other wise we may loose it.

[BurleyDog]

does anyone know what they do with the hens they raise?

I bet if they opened it up for Volunteers they could get quite a few birds raised by retired folks, etc.

[singleshot12]

They release the hens too but keep enough along with a few roosters for egg production for the following year.
Yes we may have to take over some day if we, our kids and our dogs want to hunt pheasant in the future

[rangerGSP]

I hunt the shilapoo (Vancouver Lake ) site in Clark County. it is done by pheasants forever who in previous years have dine a fair job of getting them out onto the release site and some what spread out. However this year they have been releasing them from the road so that half of them fly onto a strip of county land that is no hunting. When they do actually take them out onto the refuge they are literally dumping them in one spot. on three diffrent Saturday morning i have seen groups of thirty plus birds standing where the overgrown fence becomes an area they wont run Thur. I love a covey rise as much as the next upland game bird hunter just not with pheasants. So what ends up happening is the hunters walking the line that day have a slaughter and head back to their vehicles by 8:15. There is a very good gravel road they could drive on to release but i am observing just plain old laziness

[Bullkllr]

 
That is verbatim what I would say about Skookumchuck this year. All/90% of the birds planted in a couple  shall we say "popular" spots, shootout in a crowd, over very quick (and I choose not to participate in the 8:00 footrace/shootout).
I've been doing the release site thing off and on for about 40 years. Still enjoy it. But I would say its getting tougher to find birds in "off" areas or later in the day.

Clearly remember the first day I pheasant hunted on the old release site in a clearcut off Mckenna Hwy.
I shot at 11 different birds with a Stevens single shot!