Nisqually Delta Ducks

[HuntNFish]

2011 is going to be the year for me to begin duck hunting.  I live in Lakewood and have heard good things about duck hunting in the delta area around the refuge or the McAllister creek area.  Anyone hunt there or have any tips.  Plan on using a duck hunting boat to access the area.  Thanks.

[sakoshooter]

I hunt it all the time and have for 25 years.

[HuntNFish]

Sakoshotter,

I read the posts on the Nis Delta RE the issues with the construction of the new refuge trail and duck hunting.  I cant access the WDFW web site at work, but I was hoping to get more tips on the area other than what you posted.  So it sounds like the McAllister creek area is to muddy and doesnt have the habitat / food that the ducks want or need to be drawn to.  Is that what is happening from your observations from hunting down there recently?

[dawei]

2011 is going to be the year for me to begin duck hunting.  I live in Lakewood and have heard good things about duck hunting in the delta area around the refuge or the McAllister creek area.  Anyone hunt there or have any tips.  Plan on using a duck hunting boat to access the area.  Thanks.

I have hunted the Nisqually Delta every year since 1987 - PM sent.

[sakoshooter]

HuntNfish,
McCalister Cr has not changed all that much other than the mile long pier construction project that has been going on 5 days a week during daylight hours. A construction project of this size disturbs a large area and because of this, waterfowl are not using any of the areas, including refuge areas even close to the McCalister side of the refuge. This also means that few waterfowl are using McCalister Cr. Also, if there is any wind, it can get very rough in this area because of the dike removal. High tides now go almost all the way to I-5 which makes this area big water and dangerous if it's windy.
I simply cannot believe the Nisqually Refuge, WDFW, DU, Washington Waterfowl, US Fish & Wildlife Service and everyone else in the know about this project, would allow it to continue during the fall waterfowl migration. This is the time of year that waterfowl need a place to rest but this project doesn't allow for that and no one I've contacted seems to care. Darn frustrating to say the least.

Years ago we were able to hunt the refuge side fo McCalister Cr. Then the WDFW made a trade with the refuge for a tiny piece of the reach(mud flat)in exchange for the refuge side of McCalister Cr. Basically the duck hunter got screwed. We lost room for approx 4 groups of hunters and got room for 1 group off the reach.
There's still a lot of room to hunt out there but because of the dike removal on both sides of the refuge, the waterfowl habitat has been lost. For the sake of salmon recovery, the waterfowl and waterfowl hunter lost huge.

A couple of weeks ago, while duck hunting Nisqually on a clear, duckless day, I changed my location from McCalister Cr to Nisqually Rr mid day. Sunny and nothing flying so I did some walking around picking up shotgun shells along the Nisqually. My dog kept sticking his head in the grass smelling something. I checked it out after a few times and was surprised at what I found. To my astonishment, many of the depressions in the salt grass flats held dead salmon fry. Hundreds of them. Probably thousands or more as I only looked into a few depressions. It appeared that the fry/smolt swam into the salt grass flat areas and got trapped with the receeding tide. I was told by the Refuge and WDFW that these areas would be great for the salmon smolt. Doesn't look like it to me.

[sakoshooter]

Hunted Nisqually today. 1 Mallard, 1 Goldeneye and 2 Bufflehead. I've passed on the latter two all year but the dog needs some real work. Nothing flying anywhere.

[singleshot12]

It's like that every where this year!  worst year Ive seen in 35+ years of hunting waterfowl 

[sakoshooter]

Since I had plenty of stand-by time, I picked up about 50 or more of a previous duck hunters empty 3.5" Win hulls. I really don't understand the littering but what I really don't get is the fact that those guys that shot all those shells probably had $1,000.00 worth of camouflage on and hid in a portable blind from the looks of the spot. All this with 50+ shiny red empty shotgun shells scattered all around them.
The littering makes them a$$e$. Duck hunting while sitting in a pile of bright red hulls makes them dumb a$$e$.

[elkspert]

My buddy went out to grays Harbor this morning and nothing moving. Only a few ducks around the refuge. I was in the field the last two days from Monte to Oakville, not many bird at all. We have a couple fields to goose hunt but there is not many birds in them. Looks like we will be doing some steelheading this weekend.

[sakoshooter]

I think the ducks are sneaking south after dark when we're sleepin.