Wylie Road-King of the Stupids

[AKBowman]

I think I ran into the absolute King of the Stupids today at the mouth of the Skagit. There was a group of about 4 guys at the west end of the Dike with their decoy spread ON THE DIKE! ...enough said. I was hunting behind them trying to salvage their cripples. 

[h2ofowlr]

That's why most don't hunt it.  Expect that to be the normal occurance every day at that location.  Besides it's name gets mentioned on this forum, so expect a bigger crowd next weekend.   

[AKBowman]

There is no way there could be more people out there than there was yesterday...there literally was not a 300 yard square where there wasnt a set-up. I just sat there with my dekes in my bag and watched the show. At one point there were 4 different groups calling at the same bird...so dumb I would rather not hunt at all.

[Jekemi]

Well, I guess I'm not going to Wylie Rd next weekend.

I was there briefly early Saturday morning at the boat launch. There use to be a road you could walk down to the left of the boat launch. It's gone now, the field is flooded. So the only access you have to the Skagit Preserve off the Wylie road boat launch is via boat. Is it worth the effort; have any of you guys taken out any significant number of ducks?

[ck]

Well, I guess I'm not going to Wylie Rd next weekend.

I was there briefly early Saturday morning at the boat launch. There use to be a road you could walk down to the left of the boat launch. It's gone now, the field is flooded. So the only access you have to the Skagit Preserve off the Wylie road boat launch is via boat. Is it worth the effort; have any of you guys taken out any significant number of ducks?

I haven't been able to hunt on any good windy duck days, but in 2 trips using a small boat in the flooded parts I've shot 1 duck.  It seems like the ducks mostly just fly over it now on their way somewhere else.

[GEARHEAD]

I think the state really screwed it up for all, its obvious that they spen alot of money for the bird watchers, being that they contribute so much more to the state and preservation of wildlife than hunters.(not!) whats funny or maybe actually sad, is that the ducks have no food source, so they are not there anymore, they used to spend the night in those fields by the thousands, now none. the birders are screwed too, even though it was designed for them, nice gravel so that they don't get their shoes muddy and all, lol(no matter what the state may say), they can't get to birds anymore too, when before they could get right up on birds to photo them, now the birds are pushed accross huge ponds.

[h2ofowlr]

Gearhead,
It was actually done for "salmon rehabilitation".  You can thank Gregoir and the indians for that one.  I am sure the bird watchers didn't bargain for this one.  Many people went in to fight this idiot maneuver the state did.  We did get it put on hold then someone in the tribal community donated another some of money to Gregoirs campaign and they fast tracked the project.  It was a nice area.  It will probably silt in at some point.  It screwed the pheasant hunters and many duck hunters.  It was hot the first part of the season, but that is due to all the vegetation still being there.  It will change over time I imagine. 

[CP]

When they first flooded the fields there was still a lot of seeds on the field grass and the ducks had both feed and water so it was hot shooting for a couple of weeks.  But the feed is all gone now and the dry ground vegetation is dead.  The flooded trees are dead too, none of that will grow back.  So it was a one time good deal on the duck shooting, now it is a wasteland.

It might be working for salmon though, I had chum swimming in my decoys there back in Nov. 

[singleshot12]

Watching some of these public areas are pretty hilarious but mostly pathetic.All I can say is there is a ton of wanna-bees this year, with their goofy set ups,chicken squawking calls and their 150 yard sky blasting.It's no wonder the general public has us all labeled as fools.
Most guys I know now just go there for Saturday morning entertainment,they say it's better than staying at home watching cartoons,lol
As far as so-called salmon restoration it's a joke and a big waste of money.But I'm sure the bird watchers are going to be happy when people quit hunting these wdfw public hunting lands which is probably the main intent rather than anything to do with salmon.
Anybody with half a brain knows that nets have the most detrimental effect on salmon.

[h2ofowlr]

One of these days they will figure out that the nets are the quickest way to decimate a salmon run on a river.     But until then, the indians will keep their high price attorney busy chasing dams, culvert pipes and dikes as they will defend there traditional values of there ancestors using monofilament fishing nets.

[head hunter]

Don't forget mercs and aluminum sleds, from the tax gods. Thanx Bolt. may you burn in hell.