waterfowl opener

[vandeman17]

For those of you going out tomorrow for the waterfowl opener, good luck and shoot straight. I have family in town which includes my 11 year old niece and 6 year old nephew. I will be heading out late tonight to try and hold down a spot so that they can join me with my old man in the morning. They have never been on a real hunt of any kind so it should be a fun time!

[Stein]

I can't decide if I want to head out early enough to have a chance at a spot.  I'll probably wait until next week and get a pre-work trip in.  I've gotten to the spots at some pretty crazy times and have never been first.

[AlpineWA]

Question from a new waterfowl hunter in Goose Management Area 3 (King County/Snohomish County). I noticed tomorrow is the opener for geese. I'm also a pheasant hunter and go out to Cherry Valley, Crescent Lake, Stillwater, etc. While I'm out pheasant hunting there, assuming I have my migratory permit and waterfowl stamp can I also hunt geese if they happen to fly over head? Looks like I can take 4 per day. Am I wrong? Do I need something else?

[Stein]

You need small game license, migratory bird permit and federal waterfowl stamp.  Some areas require more (Goose area 2), but that's down south.  You also have to use lead free shot and you can't have lead shot on you at the time you are waterfowl hunting.

[AlpineWA]

Thanks for the reply!

[vandeman17]

I can't decide if I want to head out early enough to have a chance at a spot.  I'll probably wait until next week and get a pre-work trip in.  I've gotten to the spots at some pretty crazy times and have never been first.

I will be out early enough to get this spot. Just bring my sleeping pad and crash out. Want to make sure I get it since the niece and nephew will be along and it’s a good set up for them to sit back behind us and watch.

[Bill W]

For those of you going out tomorrow for the waterfowl opener, good luck and shoot straight. I have family in town which includes my 11 year old niece and 6 year old nephew. I will be heading out late tonight to try and hold down a spot so that they can join me with my old man in the morning. They have never been on a real hunt of any kind so it should be a fun time!

You might find it interesting when you go out to secure a spot.  I was out checking things out this afternoon and one perennial "zoo" only had four vehicles at it.

[vandeman17]

For those of you going out tomorrow for the waterfowl opener, good luck and shoot straight. I have family in town which includes my 11 year old niece and 6 year old nephew. I will be heading out late tonight to try and hold down a spot so that they can join me with my old man in the morning. They have never been on a real hunt of any kind so it should be a fun time!

You might find it interesting when you go out to secure a spot.  I was out checking things out this afternoon and one perennial "zoo" only had four vehicles at it.

I would be good with that. Actually looking forward to a night sleeping under the stars

[92xj]

I hope to melt a .410 barrel in the morning

[Stein]

Go get em guys, looks like the weather will improve by the morning.

[Norman89]

Puddle jumping engaged 

[Capt.Kyle97]

Good luck everyone! This will be the first opener I missed since I started hunting. Cant mount the gun with the arm I broke on Monday 

[Brushcrawler]

How about some opening day success pictures? Lots of geese flying over my deer spot.

[vandeman17]

No pics but had a pretty easy mixed bag limit. Lots of birds, tons of teals and more geese than I have seen on an opener in my life.

[asmith]

Very slow on my end.  Spent the entire day in the blind and ended the day with 2 mallards(one lost, as it did the death dive) and 1 ringneck between my buddy and I.  A lot of geese flying but couldn't bring any within range 

[rainshadow1]

Would have had a different morning if everybody followed the rules and code like you, Van...

My morning started with an altercation after I chose to ignore an empty ground blind in between the two spots I wanted to set up... my wife and I, and my two boys. Other guys walked in an hour later (5AM) and we had words. Leader of that pack was not happy. They cussed their way in and started to set up, demanding that my kids leave.

I ended up texting my boys (we were 70 yards apart,) telling them to be polite but don't budge, and asking them how they felt. They were "uncomfortable." Needed to intervene, so I headed over, talked civilly to one guy, he came over with me to talk to the ringleader, and I kicked it into the right gear, soft answer, facts first, calming things down and working it out. I gave up the good spot to them, and moved the boys out further into the marsh. Ringleader realized his attitude was wrong, and we developed a rapport, he helped my boys get set up good, followed by a good hunt for all parties!

Left at noon with 22 of a 28 bird bag!


David (the pen maker) hauling the meat!

Dducks by Steve Tormala, on Flickr

[fowl smacker]

Slept in to hunt the incoming so didn't hit the water til 8:30.  Apparently a couple groups got out EARLY at the high tide because when I arrived there were a couple boats high and dry.  Paddled the kayak out and sat in a less than ideal location away from the groups I could see.  Tossed out 4 decoys.  Killed a pintail, mallard, and a honker.  Only stayed a couple hours, then packed up and went scouting before digging a limit of razor clams. 

[Henrydog]

6 gadwalls missed a mallard drake.  I waited until 830 to let the deer hunters get to their spots.  Jump shot on a creek.  This is my pups first duck retreive.  Kind of nice to be back in the game.  My old springer loved to hunt but hated water

[vandeman17]

We had a guy show up about 5 minutes after shooting time. I was upset when he stopped in the sage behind us on the edge of the hill thinking he was going to try and set up right next to us. He ended up just sitting back there and would call every little bit. Never fired a shot or even went down to the edge of the water. I am thinking he came in hoping to hunt where we were and decided to just wait until we were done. If so, I appreciated it.

[metlhead]

Some opening day rockets

[YoungFowler]

I was able to get on a few.

[Jakobv]

No pics, but shot 11 yesterday and got a good two man limit in 2.5 hrs, best opening weekend we’ve had in a while, and have seen a lot of geese most of them higher than snot and headed north.... wonder why?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[YoungFowler]

have seen a lot of geese most of them higher than snot and headed north.... wonder why?

Lots of high flying geese eastside too, snows migrating all day.

[Bill W]

have seen a lot of geese most of them higher than snot and headed north.... wonder why?

Lots of high flying geese eastside too, snows migrating all day.

This is the first year that snows weren't open on the opener.  They have a delayed opener so part of the eastside can have a Feb snow season.

[Mfowl]

have seen a lot of geese most of them higher than snot and headed north.... wonder why?

Lots of high flying geese eastside too, snows migrating all day.

This is the first year that snows weren't open on the opener.  They have a delayed opener so part of the eastside can have a Feb snow season.

Snows weren't open last year for the start either. I hate that! They should give us the opening weekend! Then start the spring season closure.