whatcom county gobblers

[strutnrut1984]

so i been scouting 3 flocks here in whatcom county. i been watching them for 4 years now. might hunt them as a backup plan this season. but my main focus will be the sw and ne. i reaaly enjoy watching these birds here. i wish the wdfw could start a stocking program up here i think they would thrive in some areas. good luck to all u tom chasers. hope all have a safe and successful season.     strut

[yelp]

The problem with Whatcom County Release is the organic farmers weren't to thrilled with the idea but the focus should be to release more wild easterns up there..  Also are those easterns you are seeing in your opinion?  If they aren't they wern't brought in by the WDFW.  There are flocks all over this state that are started by someone releasing some gamefarm stock ordered from some catalog...Problem with that is they aren't disease tested like the Easterns that were brought in years ago.  So any potential releases may infect wild disease free stock.  Good luck to you to hope you get a good one..

[strutnrut1984]

 yes yelp all the ones ive seen here are easterns. 2 of the flocks are small 8-10 birds , but the the third one has around 40. i saw 2 hens last summer with 14 poults. ive held off hunting them and still will this year til maybe the end of may if i havnt scored yet. they were going to do a release in acme valley. but some biologist raised hell about it and it got shelved. i, ll be heading down to sw wa to hunt, and ne wa if time permits.

[yelp]

Right on I hope them Easterns start populating Whatcom County...More places to hunt..   Good Luck hope you get a nice one..later. 

[Wacenturion]

yes yelp all the ones ive seen here are easterns. 2 of the flocks are small 8-10 birds , but the the third one has around 40. i saw 2 hens last summer with 14 poults. ive held off hunting them and still will this year til maybe the end of may if i havnt scored yet. they were going to do a release in acme valley. but some biologist raised hell about it and it got shelved. i, ll be heading down to sw wa to hunt, and ne wa if time permits.

Those easterns in all likelyhood came from some expansion and movement north of some of the Easterns released in Snohomish county in the late 90's....can't remember the tree farm/timber company they were released on at the moment.  That is, if indeed, they are wild birds.....the only other possibility is from game farm reared and released stock.....but they would be somewhat relaxed around people.  The small groups sound typical of what easterns do....hope they continue to expand.  Good luck on your hunt.........

oh....and those releases were pulled because of landowner concerns and WDFW getting cold feet because of it.  Good thing though, because Rio's would not have done well...and if they would have been successful...there would have been nuisance problems.  It was ill conceived from the start .........should have been easterns....they don't have nuisance issues.

[Wacenturion]

Just remembered this mornings where those Easterns were released in Snohomish.....it was on the Pilchuck Tree Farm, near Arlington.....which is about 40 miles south as a crow from Acme.....a little less from the Whatcom County line.

[yelp]

40 miles in 10 years???  That is about 52 steps a year...easily done..

[strutnrut1984]

the birds here were out an about this morning, i even found another small flock  3 nice toms and 2 hens, i think they are a breakoff from the bigger flock thats about a mile away.

[Wacenturion]

That's what those easterns do.....little pockets that spread.  How far as a crow flies from the Arlington area? 

[strutnrut1984]

i would say its about 55 miles