McNary Hunt

[MeepDog]

Hunted the free area yesterday. We were early and were the 10th truck in line to get in. It was rough. Literally thousands of ducks within a quarter mile of the blind but theyre all rafted up. You could have the best decoy spread in the state and you'll never be more convincing than thousands of real ducks. The birds are there, but heavily pressured and they don't have a reason to leave the middle of the river on a bluebird day.

[deerlick]

somebody should go water skiing

[MeepDog]

somebody should go water skiing

The raft of birds is so big that boats end up driving through them. The birds just leap frog over to the other end of the raft and land.

[JBG]

In many cases you have to have wind to move the birds around or a snow/thaw event.  35-55 degrees and partly cloudy with no wind you might as well go golfing.

[metlhead]

Golfing is fun but shooting ducks is satisfying. Those rafyed birds aren't the only birds around. Leave them be, avoid the refuge by a wide margin and find isolated pockets of birds. The Columbia is large. Many mallrds are paired and would rather not hang with the large groups. Wigeon will show up anywhere coots could be and there are always cans, redheads, and bluebills around. A boat is very helpful. Just saying this stagnant weather is the kinda time to avoid the refuges.

[MeepDog]

Golfing is fun dumb but shooting ducks is satisfying. Those rafyed birds aren't the only birds around. Leave them be, avoid the refuge by a wide margin and find isolated pockets of birds. The Columbia is large. Many mallrds are paired and would rather not hang with the large groups. Wigeon will show up anywhere coots could be and there are always cans, redheads, and bluebills around. A boat is very helpful. Just saying this stagnant weather is the kinda time to avoid the refuges.

I've been trying to convince my buddy (who cant swim) that we need to be boating into spots but it's proving tough. It sure seems like a canoe would be a game changer on the small water too. My boat isn't camouflaged or a shallow running Jon boat, but it sure would beat dragging in the decoy cart and being able to reach exactly where you want to hunt without busting brush or wading through the swamp.

[dilleytech]

Hunted the free area yesterday. We were early and were the 10th truck in line to get in. It was rough. Literally thousands of ducks within a quarter mile of the blind but theyre all rafted up. You could have the best decoy spread in the state and you'll never be more convincing than thousands of real ducks. The birds are there, but heavily pressured and they don't have a reason to leave the middle of the river on a bluebird day.

I have found on those days the hunting can still be good. You just get more singles and less flocks. It’s like green heads get tired of the crowds and go check out the other shore. This is where a small good looking spread really pays off. If your not killing any of them your doing something wrong or quitting way to early. Which is really common on the refuges.

[dilleytech]

Golfing is fun dumb but shooting ducks is satisfying. Those rafyed birds aren't the only birds around. Leave them be, avoid the refuge by a wide margin and find isolated pockets of birds. The Columbia is large. Many mallrds are paired and would rather not hang with the large groups. Wigeon will show up anywhere coots could be and there are always cans, redheads, and bluebills around. A boat is very helpful. Just saying this stagnant weather is the kinda time to avoid the refuges.

I've been trying to convince my buddy (who cant swim) that we need to be boating into spots but it's proving tough. It sure seems like a canoe would be a game changer on the small water too. My boat isn't camouflaged or a shallow running Jon boat, but it sure would beat dragging in the decoy cart and being able to reach exactly where you want to hunt without busting brush or wading through the swamp.

Your boat doesn’t have to be a flat John boat to fish shallow water. My 20’ 14 degree bottoms will float in 16” of water no problem. Just gotta know when to turn the motor off and drag. And hope the water doesn’t drop haha.

[brew]

Golfing is fun dumb but shooting ducks is satisfying. Those rafyed birds aren't the only birds around. Leave them be, avoid the refuge by a wide margin and find isolated pockets of birds. The Columbia is large. Many mallrds are paired and would rather not hang with the large groups. Wigeon will show up anywhere coots could be and there are always cans, redheads, and bluebills around. A boat is very helpful. Just saying this stagnant weather is the kinda time to avoid the refuges.

I've been trying to convince my buddy (who cant swim) that we need to be boating into spots but it's proving tough. It sure seems like a canoe would be a game changer on the small water too. My boat isn't camouflaged or a shallow running Jon boat, but it sure would beat dragging in the decoy cart and being able to reach exactly where you want to hunt without busting brush or wading through the swamp.

I don't think taking my buddy, who can't swim, into a canoe with a bunch of waterfowl gear would be an ideal situation 🤔

[hdshot]

Costs money to hunt a refuge? What a joke that'd be. Kinda figrd our duck stamp was still worth something

Duck stamp dollars go to refuge land acquisition. Not refuge maintenance, staffing, etc.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

Hunted waterfowl for about 30 years and the stamp did nothing as advertised while duck numbers continue crashing. Access only gets worse while seasons get better on paper only.

Huh. Says that in 2015 we had a record number of ducks in the USA. Like literally never had more than that. It’s true that numbers have been down since then . But boy oh boy for someone who doesn’t hunt ducks anymore you sure do complain about it a lot. Seriously every post about waterfowl has a comment from you complaining about something. Hunting partners, access, now the stamp. Seriously either get some professional help to deal with your depression or just move on.

Basic math and basic facts shows our sport and gun rights need professional help for sure.  Just do some basic research and think just like how you described waterfowl numbers almost 10 years ago.  Sorry for me keeping up with the present instead of sounding like an old person talking about 2015.  Let me help you it is almost 2024.

lol. You stated you have hunted waterfowl for the last 30 yrs and duck numbers “continue crashing.” That leads one to believe that you are stating that waterfowl numbers have been crashing for the last 30 yrs. Curious how you would know what waterfowl numbers look like when you don’t hunt anymore?? Oh well one more reason for you to stay glued to your couch and leave all this crappy hunting to the rest of us.

You just lack experience.  When I first started hunting some parents would not let their kids hunt ducks because they didn’t want their freezer filled in less than a day.  Why are you being a bully?  I know most hunters support that behavior but doesn’t mean you have to.  Basically yes duck populations have been crashing longer than 30 years and luckily for you it was recognized long ago or you would have nothing to hunt today.  If all people thought like you then why is there conservation?

I'm a casual waterfowler, but I'm still getting ducks when I do go.

Where are you getting your information?

I snipped this from the DU Homepage:
Total populations were estimated at 34.2 million breeding ducks in the traditional survey area, 12 percent lower than 2019’s estimate of 38.9 million and 4 percent below the long-term average (since 1955).

4 percent below the Long Term Average since 1955 doesn't seem like a population crash to me.

Comparing 2016 to the 2023 breeding survey some might wonder how they missed the funeral.

[metlhead]

Tough numbers. I'll take some blame for that. I absolutely hammered the things last year. Doin it again.

[Klickitatsteelie]

Numbers have not affected us. Hunting is tough but we are still finding plenty of success. You can get out and grind or sit at home and bitch. We are wacking them

[mboyle0828]

Numbers have not affected us. Hunting is tough but we are still finding plenty of success. You can get out and grind or sit at home and bitch. We are wacking them

hdshot doesn’t hunt anymore. Just posts on the waterfowl forum. As for me, I’ll be chasing birds this weekend 

Plenty to be had!

[KP-Skagit]

Pretty sure at this point Hdshot is an anti hunter trying to poo poo hunting in any way he can. If he cared about the sport he'd be looking for ways to get more hunters involved and active. Spewing negativity on a public forum isn't how that's done.

 

[bigdub257]

Pretty sure at this point Hdshot is an anti hunter trying to poo poo hunting in any way he can. If he cared about the sport he'd be looking for ways to get more hunters involved and active. Spewing negativity on a public forum isn't how that's done.