anyone know were all the birds are in the skagit area?

[duckhunter]

we have a feild in bow that usually is a later feild that we hunt and usually limit everyday in december and january and our other buddys duck clubs arent seeing and shooting hardly any there are a few snows around but i think they are all in delta river in canada anyone else have any ideas im going crazy on winter break not being able to shoot some birds 

[singleshot12]

They're on private land with the least amount of pressure.. been a strange year this year, the birds are in one spot one day and gone the next, oh and they have gone as nocturnal as hell too. We need a week or two of freezing temps.

[boots]

We need a week or two of freezing temps.

 

[duckhunter]

yeah most of them need to be pushed down with cold weather i agree i just dont know if we will get it we only have a little bit than a month left our feild has shot like over 180 ducks out of this year with all our buddys and other members of the club and that was with the cold weather im just getting impatient i think 

[Ratdog68]

Did that pineapple express warm things up enough (up north) to delay departure?

[h2ofowlr]

It pushed a lot of birds down, then when it warmed up there was some reverse migration going.  There is quite a few that went back north.  Fraiser delta, NW corner of Wash.  Still birds around, just not in the typical locations where everyone is hunting for them.  Some good cold weather would push them out of some of the fields that there currently sitting in.

[White Tornado]

I have to agree with Singleshot. I has been a very strange year and in the past week the geese have become nocturnal. Last weekend I was scouting snows at night to locate what fields they were using. Does not due much good though because an hour before daylight they are heading back to a safe spot. Went to Fir Island on Sunday and did not see a single snow goose in any of the fields. Lots of ducks are around but also feeding at night and heading out at daylight for the most part. Lets hope for some weather before its all over!!!!!

[saylean]

At the everett crap ponds in Snohomish co.

[Sawbuck]

Seems like there aren't as many around up here in western Whatcom either, they must have went back north.

[singleshot12]

There are still several big rafts of ducks in the bay but they are just sitting there all day holding out and coming in the flooded fields at night. We gotta get a cold snap in January you'd think!

[jackelope]

At the everett crap ponds in Snohomish co.

Holy molly...there was a ton of ducks on them the other day.

[Goldeneye]

There are birds around.  The wind on Saturday pushed a bunch off the big water temporarily.  I made it work nicely if you saw the thread on my first duck hunt of the season.  I was able to get picky because the birds were looking for a place inland and got a limit of greenheads in the process. 

[duckhunter]

yeah we need cold weather they just dont know its time to come down here bc they need weather totally agree with you guys. yeah fir island has had a few geese on the reserve buts that about the only place i have seen them there my buddys has prime land on fir island for snow goose hunting and they have only been in there once or twice he said and i have been busy so havent been able to hunt them yet this year

[dirty24d]

At the everett crap ponds in Snohomish co.

Dude no lie  like 10,000 birds on them ponds           was saying how ducks unlimited needs to have a raffle to hunt the poo ponds!!

[dirty24d]

I told mallardman someone needs to start up an initiative when you buy your license and when you buy your duck stamp that you are given the option to donate to the poo ponds netting fund. If we all chipped in a few bucks maybe over the course of a year or two we could pay for a huge net to be installed over the ponds.  Then everyones a winner, the bird watchers get to see more birds, hunters get more birds, some local compnay gets a contract to install the net, and the waste water ponds stay cleaner!! those birds gotta be dumping 100's of lbs of crap a day into those ponds. they have been  chugged up in there by the thousands everyday!!!!

[Shannon]

I have heard from many people that we will get more birds when it gets cold again. I can't figure this year out myself. A lot of fields I have been hunting for 20+ years have less birds using them than I have ever seen. The counts on the bays are really close to historic averages so I am not thinking there will be waves of ducks coming on the next cold snap. I hope I am wrong. I have had some good shoots but the days I wake up and hear the wind and rain thinking today is going to be a good day end up being so so. I will say I haven't hunted the salt once this year and I know that is part of my problem but by now the fields should be holding more birds than I am seeing. Hopefully I am wrong and a cold snap brings birds out of the wood work.

[Little Dave]

A company that does the bald eagle float trips there reported that the eagles left, figuring the river flushed out a lot of the salmon during the high water.  I'm not sure how displaced eagles affect the other birds, but it could be part of the reason.

[duckhunter]

the people who fly the bays to get an esstimate on about how many birds are here say there are not many at all even on the bays there are some but not near what the last years have been yeah the cold weather will help but it would need to stay cold for like a week straight.

[Shannon]

The report I got had an average year on the bays. Skagit was way down but Samish/Padilla Bays were up enough to make up for it. Where did you get a report that said any different? The one I had was from the state and I think it was done on 12/10. Thats why I am not holding my breath for a cold front to bring in a ton of birds. Maybe the report I got was inaccurate. Good Luck to all anyways. Its still better than work no matter how you look at it.

[mjbskwim]

Well over here in Sequim,we had huge rafts of ducks just before Turkey day.Now there hasn't been enough to get me out of bed in the morning.We saw flocks of a hundred +- around.Now maybe 5-10
Hope more come down soon.

[h2ofowlr]

I wouldn't mind a few more good wind storms and some cooler temps.  That should at least get the birds move a little bit more.

[duckhunter]

yeah this weather feels like summer and its winter duck and goose time and this weather is totall *censored*. im tired of it! wind of some 20 degree temps is wat we need for a week straight. these ducks that came down here in that little snow storm we had went back north or to canada and are just waiting for the cold weather. no cold and windy winter=no good waterfowl hunting.

[D-Rock425]

I haven't hunted much this year but when I have got out its been pretty slow for me.