FIR ISLAND SNOW GOOSE HUNT FIRST YEAR DRAWING IT

[Ray]

I'm not sure I know what I am doing. I just look for birds and when they fly near me I try to take em out 

I like good odds though. Here's an idea of what it can look like sometimes.

[NoBark]

How were you notified?  email, letter or is there a page on their website?

[Jekemi]

For good tasting game birds, especially ducks and geese, always brine your birds, 4 plus hours. Overnight is OK too. Brine consists of 1/2 cup cider vinegar, 1/2 cup salt, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 gallons cold water to cover the birds in a large bucket. Make sure the birds are covered in brine. When brined, take the birds out of the brine, dry well, inside and out. Then roast or braise the birds. You can grill the duck breasts until just pink inside. Braise the rest of the bird.

Braising means to brown the meat, then finish cooking in stock until the meat is tender. When tender, skim the fat, strain the sauce, enrich with a little butter and adjust the seasoning. Pour the sauce over the grilled duck breasts and enjoy.

Brining takes all the muddy taste out of the ducks and geese, although geese usually don't get the muddy taste that ducks get. For more game cooking hints check out my new cookbook. I will make it available to anyone on Hunting Washington electronically for free. Bound copies are $20. the cost covers printing with a few pennies donated to Ducks Unlimited. newcordia@comcast.net

[Ray]

http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/game/water/snow_goose_form.htm

[GOcougsHunter]

So.. I pulled a 10A Nov 17th week.  Anybody know what the 10A field looks like?  There are no maps, yet.  It would be nice to know if there is a ditch or if I need to bring a pop up.  I've only hunted them out of the bay (pass shooting) where we just tried our hardest to look like a stump with no dekes.

Ray,
your dekes, are they rags or full body?  Any suggestions on the effectiveness of rags over full body dekes?

[Ray]

I have rags. Of course a full body deke would probably be ideal for fakin the birds I would guess.. but they are a lot more expensive and take up a lot more space.

[GOcougsHunter]

Thanks,Ray
Yah, my thoughts on buying $3000 worth of full body dekes was scaring me a bit.

Got some rags, home made sillouettes, bleach bottles, some flags, and 3 full body snows.  We'll see how that works...

[GEARHEAD]

Guess i jumped the gun, got info in the mail today, maps to follow.
had a crazy idea. what about laying several large white tarps out, and wave flags, seems stupid i know, but from the air, and far off, wondering if they'd be drawn near. probably throw some socks around the perimeter too. just an idea, don't beat me too bad.

[viper55]

I got the same green card so do I get to hunt snow geese or is this for a back up as it states on the website? I checked the website and was not drawn but got the card.

[boots]

you can still have a snow goose harvest card without being drawn for the Fir Island Quality Hunts.....

[Snowgoose1]

I agree with bigbullballs, the decoy hunting was much better before the quality hunt program.  I used to use around 400 and did fine almost all year long.  Now I have to use 1000 to bring them down early in the season. I use a good portion of rags and mix in hardcores, spinners, flappers and flyers.  I put the better coys in the landing zones and on the outside of the spread and it works until November. The quality hunts are good when they come in, but they don't always come down. The weather is a real key and scouting is a must to know what part of your field to set up on. The eagles can really help sometimes to at least keep them moving off and on all day. I agree that it's worth the wait for the day because you just don't know when they might just move right into the field your in.  I didn't like the south quality hunt fieds last year by Boe rd because I feel it caused the birds to spread out to Mayrsville, Snohomish and even in the flats between Marysville and Everett. I think last year they were decoy shy before mid November. After that it was mostly sneak hunts or pass shooting.  We did decoy some late, but it was rare and usually cripples that came in. Third year in a row and neither my son and I have been drawn.

[BIGBULLBALLS]

Go figure snowgoose1, the locals never draw the fields?  I am not saying you wont shoot any snow geese by setting up decoys, but like you said just cripples and juvies.  When we first ran our big spread we could get the 5000+ bird cyclone into the decoys.  You want to talk about exciting.  I think this program is great for the hunters who have never had an opportunity to hunt snow geese, but the way the state has set it up has really changed the dynamics of hunting on fir island.  Wether over decoys or pass shooting I still kill 50+ geese a year but its a lot more fun to kill them in the decoys.   Just my opinion

[viper55]

I am excited about hunting the snow geese. I have never hunted them before. Any helpful tips would be great.

[fish-on37]

Drew area 16B for mid-january. I dont have a clue either. Never hunted these things before.

[Jekemi]

I know I don't know what I'm doing. I just want to go out geese hunting with someone who has done it before. I'll be glad to contribute to the geese decoys. We got a green card and a white card. The white card outlines the areas we can hunt. I can take two other people with me, or so it says on the white card. It's a little confusing. I'd be happy to take someone along who wants access to the areas allowed on the card if they could assist me with my first snow geese hunt. Thanks.