New Ebey Island Release Site

[PatoLoco]

Duh! Smith farm is under water and has been for months. The welts/samish/west 90 is all the same place, up in the samish flats near edison. That's spencer island that is just north of ebey, and its intertidal.

[JBR]

Went out there last night (after 4 pm) just to check it out.  It's small compared to the other sites and it's basically one field, a quarter of which is just short grass.  The only real cover is some black berry bushes along a small slough that runs N/S and appears to be the west border of the property. The other side of the slough is a pasture with cows in it.  The huntable area that's not open grass, is waist high grassy bushes that's somewhat difficult to walk through, especially for my young sons 9, 11, and 13.  The 9 year old was done after walking through that stuff for about 100 yrds, as it was chest high for him.  There is no real structure or lanes or things to break it up, so I could see guys wandering through it following theirs running dogs like madmen, not really staying in lines that are predicable.  Frankly it looked like a horrible place to bring young kids to, especially on a busy weekend morning, which is often the only times we'd be able to get them out there due to school.  WDFW said they are releasing birds on Wed afternoons, Sat and Sun afternoons.  We were there on Thursday afternoon with 2 dogs and never saw a thing.  With the cost running close to $150 for 3 kids and only a handful of weekend days to get out there with our schedule, we're skipping the whole west side thing this year and gonna stay east for wild birds.

Good luck out there for those that want to try.  Looks like nothing but a headache to me. 

[MP123]

I haven't been down to check it out yet but it sure looks small on the WDFW info.  A small release site with no real cover means those birds will be pushed out of bounds by 8:05 AM or so    It also looks like cars on Hi. 2 might get a few pellets on the windshield...

[SnowDog]

It also looks like cars on Hi. 2 might get a few pellets on the windshield...

The safety zone is a ways from hwy 2, but if people are taking shots toward the road, right at the edge of the safety zone, they deserve to loose the right to hunt or own a firearm imho. 

Cheers!
SD

[singleshot12]

If wdfw really want the pheasant program to continue they really need to get their chit together and find much more sensible release sites in the North Snohomish and Skagit counties. Most people have givin up because of crouded spots and the loss of two major release sites.

I know that the managers involved in the program are looking for input and help finding future pheasant property and also help developing the land. So if anyone knows of a suitable area with atleast 200 acres of habitat that could be bought or leased please notify John Garret,Russ Link, or Brandon - -.

[cowboytodd]

The first thing to do is get rid of the managers, just look what they have done to Fir island and Skagit county. If the hunters could come together they could lease there own land, purchase there own pheasants, and cut WDFW all together. After all WDFW is not a friend to most land owners and farmers.

[singleshot12]

How do we get rid of the managers?  It would be nice to elect our own commissioners too, but that just isn't the way it is. None of them really seem to give a rats ass out the program and I'm sure they would just rather see it go away,but wouldn't their jobs go away with it?
Seems the only logical thing to do is lease our own land and raise our own pheasants,may be the only way to hunt pheasants on the west side soon.
Flooding The Skagit Headquarters and Leque Island was just plain wrong on their part. Ducks Unlimited and the Tribes supported it but was never suppose to happen.

[PatoLoco]

Things may not be good now as far as management goes, but wait till Garrett retires and they hire some evergreen grad to replace him. That's the next battle to pick folks. Like him or not he advocates for the hunter more than anybody in region 4 dfw.

[Stilly bay]

Flooding The Skagit Headquarters and Leque Island was just plain wrong on their part. Ducks Unlimited and the Tribes supported it but was never suppose to happen.

I heard from a very reliable source that the fight to flood leque was at  standstill because of the watershed threat to camano, and while papers were being sorted and research was being done, the dike at leque just kinda "broke open"  thats why there are those big blue bags there now, its an attempt to keep back the rush of tide water until they figure out what should be done. I imagine if the flooding plans goes through; the highway to camano would need to be raised and erosion would be need to be dealt with.
wether the dike broke on its own or someone took it upon themselves to do it I can't get a clear answer on.

[dragonballs]

I saw a bunch of people hunting that area on oct 3rd and thought it was just a youth hunt. Might have to check it out it would be close and great to let the springer work.

[fisheral87]

They should just convert the entire area into a game reserve.   

[chrisb]

Is this site still open for pheasant?

[MP123]

Is this site still open for pheasant?

Yes, as far as I know.

They did stop releasing at Welts/Samish several weeks ago.

[CP]

Yep, it's open through Nov. 30.

[huntinfool86]

ebey island site is almost under water, wear the chest wader lol