Release Site Follies

[Bmcox86]

I figure we should start a thread with all the crazy stuff we see at the release site, good and bad.

I'll start with 3 on Saturday morning.

Good,
Wdfw was there ticketing the duck hunters that snuck in early

Bad

Father and son were deer hunting in Stillwater about 930 with rifles, told them that shotguns only and they kept walking in? Who deer hunts on a release site with 30+ other hunters and dogs.

Get back to my truck around 10, see a duck hunter getting his gun out of his truck, point it right at my car with my wife in it and shuck 3 live rounds out of it?
We had words, didn't seem like he knew any laws?

[ctwiggs1]

The rumors alone have kept me away from the sites in the morning.

[AspenBud]

I've always found a line of orange snaking through a wildlife area attempting to hunt pen raised poultry released by the road to be folly. I buy the west side pheasant tag because they are tasty and it's A LOT cheaper than buying five birds on a preserve. But considering I've done nothing but grouse hunt this Fall it's starting to feel like wasted money.   

[Special T]

I hunted the ebey island unit this weekend and me and my buddy each got one. I also got to tag along when they released the birds in the evening. They don't release them  along the road and they spread them around through out the site. Sat evening we release 30 birds on the ebey island unit. one box for each side. I also got a change to talk to the manager. He seems like an enthusiastic guy that wants to do a good job. he is the one who worked with Happy Gilmore on getting Cherry Valley mowed and hopefully stillwater units. There are some challenges to have duel use areas but he seemed receptive to some ideas. I suggested he looked at the Sauvey island area in Portland OR as an example of where the ebey unit could go. If you have suggestions or want to help him out i suggest you give him a call.

[Stilly bay]

Where to start...

A good one was last year, around 8:00 am on saturday some schmuck drove his truck into one of the irrigation ditches while most likely trying to road kill a pheasant. Everyone started hunting and he was begging for help from anyone within earshot, but everyone ignored him.

I once saw a duck hunter jump out of his blind at 7:45 am and throw on a blaze orange vest. He took two steps and ground sluiced a rooster, took off his blaze orange and got back into his duck blind. WTF?

I started with everyone else at 8:00 am once, I wanted to keep an eye on the hunters that were on either side of me as we started, I lost track of the guy on my left so I turned around and there he was taking a crap right out in the open. I guess if you got to go you got to go.

The biggest one that makes me laugh every time is when someone gets butt hurt about having pellets rained on them from across the field. Do the math, you knew what you were getting into when you showed up at circus time. it would be like getting pissed at cigarettes for giving you lung cancer.
Getting blasted by a low shot is a completely different matter not to be taken lightly.

Another time I saw this guy who had a couple liver and white dogs that looked like skinny little pit bulls. He must have been releasing them back to the wild because once he let them out of his truck he never saw them again. I think he said they were English Pointers.

the shenanigans go on and on. The greed and lengths people will go to to kill a nasty pen raised pheasant will always amaze and sadden me.

[merkelman]

Moral of the story. Quit being lazy and go hunt wild birds.

[ctwiggs1]

I'm pretty confident that it's not lazy to not have the finance to get over to the east side every weekend

[Bmcox86]

It's not being lazy, it's a decent way to kill time until the snakes go in the ground

[Stilly bay]

Moral of the story. Quit being lazy and go hunt wild birds.

Its not about being lazy, its about having to drive half a day, having the time, and the gas money just to get into wild birds.

[Bmcox86]

No ones complaining, were just sharing funny stories.

[ctwiggs1]

Try half of one

[CP]

I’ll admit to being lazy, it’s nice to get the dog on a couple of pheasants 10 minutes from the house and get home in time to watch the football game.

[Stilly bay]

Moral of the story. Quit being lazy and go hunt wild birds.

amen. Merkleman has found out .

Im glad its that simple for you. It is not that simple for me or hundreds of other people that buy a WesternWa pheasant permit because work, family, or finances keeps them from traveling to hunt. I guess if it were that simple we wouldn't have release sites to begin with now would we?

and for the record, I am not bitching about release sites, I am bitching about the PEOPLE and the stupid chit they do AT RELEASE SITES. Huge difference.

The release sites themselves are a great resource for hunters that don't have the time or money to just drive across the state and get into wild pheasants - wild pheasants that are being supplemented by pen raised birds because there aren't enough of them.
Its when people get greedy, stupid, and careless that the release sites get a bad name.

[jackelope]

Is it a conversation really worth crapping on people for hunting the release sites? Let me answer that. No. It is not. The release sites are good for numerous reasons from simple to complex Get out and stretch your legs, work and train dogs on days when there's not enough time to drive to e-wa, get the kids out....the list goes on. You guys blasting people for hunting the release sites should back down and quit causing more division among hunters. That's my .02. I live smack in the middle or release site central on east king county. They are a great asset, during season and off season.

[bracer40]

Sheesh, if it were about "getting birds" I'd skip the expense and time and just buy birds @ the store!
Whether I'm after wild birds or box chickens, for me it's all about being in the fields with my dog. Yes the first hour at the release site is a circus, and sometimes I enjoy "being part of the action." More often I enjoy the later times so I can allow my dog to open up his run.
I'm glad I can drop the $ on the west side tag for those days when I don't have the time to head over the mtns. Plus I like knowing there are birds to be found (rarely go birdless on the release sites)