Overlap of Pheasant and Goose/Public Land

[pianoman9701]

During the last couple of weeks of Westside pheasant at the release sites, there's a conflict because goose starts. Goose hunters go out at 4 AM to set up their spreads and when shooting starts, here come pheasant hunters, who have every much a right to be there as the goose guys, walking around the spreads in their hunter orange and with dogs running. I've seen this create very many arguments, some quite heated.

Although I'm usually against asking WDFW to restrict hunting any more than they already have, I wonder if during these two weeks if it might be a good idea to have goose hunting on one of the weekend days, and pheasant on the other. Again, this is only for a couple of weeks when they overlap. Does anyone else have thoughts on this if it affects you?

[Fishnclifff]

Been happenin for yearss.
The worst is the pheasant guys comin out at waterfowl shooting time and standin in the fields to reserve their spot.
Shilapoo, Stanwood, all have the same problem. Stanwood shut down, but we had guys in orange and dogs walk right through the decoys.

[CP]

Yep.  Pheasant hunters get pissed at the waterfowlers for tramping through the fields before hunting hours and scaring all the pheasants.  Waterfowlers get pissed at the pheasant hunters for tramping around in blaze orange and walking through their sets.  Bad scene but we usually work it out.  I’ve only seen one fist fight.

[pianoman9701]

So, what do you guys think about alternating days for those few short weeks?

[singleshot12]

So, what do you guys think about alternating days for those few short weeks?

That would be a good one to write in and comment to the commission or directors 

With the majority of the pheasant hunters only hunting 3 days a week and mostly between 8:00am to 10:00am duck hunters really don't and shouldn't have a reason to bitch tho. I think it's only a small percentage that have an axe to grind and are A-holes. They need to live with it and get over it! WDFW Public hunting grounds aren't for just ducks and geese.

[Heartsblood]

Last year at Cherry Valley I was walking back to my truck pert near 10amish, and some guy starts yelling at me about blaze orange. "You gotta be wearin' blaze orange out here!" He shouted. He even called the gamies. I was long gone by then, but being a newish  duck hunter, I wanted to be sure so I called the wdfw. Gal asks me if i was out at Cherry Valley. I say "yep". She says, "Yeah we got a call and sent someone out there. They're educating the gentlman who called in. You enjoy your hunting now."

Felt sorta good to know I'd read my regs correctly. Plus, I'd taken two birds that morning, and that woulda really bummed me out if I'd done something uncool. Turns out it wasn't me.

I dunno. I think we all can work it out. People need to be less uptight. Besides, the pheasant guys get there right about when a lull in the action starts anyweys. And likes been said, it's only for a coupla weeks. My buck fiddy and then some.

[singleshot12]

He must have been convinced you were pheasant hunting and not duck hunting, but yeah people are weird sometimes.

[pianoman9701]

So, what do you guys think about alternating days for those few short weeks?

That would be a good one to write in and comment to the commission or directors 

With the majority of the pheasant hunters only hunting 3 days a week and mostly between 8:00am to 10:00am duck hunters really don't and shouldn't have a reason to bitch tho. I think it's only a small percentage that have an axe to grind and are A-holes. They need to live with it and get over it! WDFW Public hunting grounds aren't for just ducks and geese.

And they're not just for pheasants, either. I don't know where you hunt, but near Vancouver Lake and at Schillapoo, the pheasant hunters hunt all day long. That's why I'm asking and precisely why I made the statement that all have a right to be there. I wanted to get a consensus before writing the commission. As far as living with it and getting over it are concerned, why isn't that your attitude toward pheasant hunters? This is the reason I'm asking this question.

[CP]

I hunt both pheasants and waterfowl and I would not support alternating the days for each.  If I’m out beating the bushes for pheasants and a duck flies by I like to shoot it.

[Heartsblood]

Nice!

I almost shot a coupla pheasants last year until I realized that I needed to pay another hunnerd bucks to do it. Had quite a few pop up in my path last season.

I guess to clarify my answer, I wouldn't really be in favor or splitting it up either. I like to have as many opportunities open as possible -  work schedules only allowing for certain times as it is.

[singleshot12]

So, what do you guys think about alternating days for those few short weeks?

That would be a good one to write in and comment to the commission or directors 

With the majority of the pheasant hunters only hunting 3 days a week and mostly between 8:00am to 10:00am duck hunters really don't and shouldn't have a reason to bitch tho. I think it's only a small percentage that have an axe to grind and are A-holes. They need to live with it and get over it! WDFW Public hunting grounds aren't for just ducks and geese.

And they're not just for pheasants, either. I don't know where you hunt, but near Vancouver Lake and at Schillapoo, the pheasant hunters hunt all day long. That's why I'm asking and precisely why I made the statement that all have a right to be there. I wanted to get a consensus before writing the commission. As far as living with it and getting over it are concerned, why isn't that your attitude toward pheasant hunters? This is the reason I'm asking this question.

I duck hunt too but not around pheasant release sites. From talking with managers and others the ones doing most of the complaining are the duck hunters. Duck hunters(that only hunt ducks) hunting on pheasant release sites need to live with it just as much as pheasant hunters live with them. Like I said it's probably only about 10% of duck hunters that complain and want the whole area to themselves. Most of the ducks are out in the bay anyways. I hunt Skagit and Whatcom.
I hope something is resolved before loosing one or the other.

[pianoman9701]

So, what do you guys think about alternating days for those few short weeks?

That would be a good one to write in and comment to the commission or directors 

With the majority of the pheasant hunters only hunting 3 days a week and mostly between 8:00am to 10:00am duck hunters really don't and shouldn't have a reason to bitch tho. I think it's only a small percentage that have an axe to grind and are A-holes. They need to live with it and get over it! WDFW Public hunting grounds aren't for just ducks and geese.

And they're not just for pheasants, either. I don't know where you hunt, but near Vancouver Lake and at Schillapoo, the pheasant hunters hunt all day long. That's why I'm asking and precisely why I made the statement that all have a right to be there. I wanted to get a consensus before writing the commission. As far as living with it and getting over it are concerned, why isn't that your attitude toward pheasant hunters? This is the reason I'm asking this question.

I duck hunt too but not around pheasant release sites. From talking with managers and others the ones doing most of the complaining are the duck hunters. Duck hunters(that only hunt ducks) hunting on pheasant release sites need to live with it just as much as pheasant hunters live with them. Like I said it's probably only about 10% of duck hunters that complain and want the whole area to themselves. Most of the ducks are out in the bay anyways. I hunt Skagit and Whatcom.
I hope something is resolved before loosing one or the other.

But, as you can tell from the title of the thread, this is about goose and pheasant hunters here in SW WA. Duck hunters don't come into the picture at all in this situation.

[pianoman9701]

Nice!

I almost shot a coupla pheasants last year until I realized that I needed to pay another hunnerd bucks to do it. Had quite a few pop up in my path last season.

I guess to clarify my answer, I wouldn't really be in favor or splitting it up either. I like to have as many opportunities open as possible -  work schedules only allowing for certain times as it is.

Understood. Thanks. I was looking for that opinion, hopefully from more of us down here in this area.

[pianoman9701]

Nice!

I almost shot a coupla pheasants last year until I realized that I needed to pay another hunnerd bucks to do it. Had quite a few pop up in my path last season.

I guess to clarify my answer, I wouldn't really be in favor or splitting it up either. I like to have as many opportunities open as possible -  work schedules only allowing for certain times as it is.

Great, that's what I was looking for. I won't suggest alternating.

[ICEMAN]

How about requesting the alternating time frame, plus extending the season for both to accomodate the change?

[h2ofowlr]

Unfortunately the WDFW has created this problem.  I have ran into the same issues.  The best way to solve this would be to open west side pheasant Sept. 1st.  They are pen birds anyways.  Duck hunting doesn't start until the Oct. 15 time frame.  Typically many of these sites that have been mentioned don't have water in them until Nov.  Last year was different as some of the spots had water before Oct. 15.  It's only going to get worse as they seem to release them in the waterfowl spots, but they keep trying to breach all of these locations for salmon restoration.  All the duck / pheasant release sites seem to be in wetland locations as well.
It's a good debate, since they jacked the cost up to $90 to hunt west side pheasant.  At the rate things are going it's going to be an east side game only if the state doesn't slow down on salmon restoration and dike removal.  Tell the state to quite allowing netting of the river and no more dike will need to be removed.

[singleshot12]

 

WDFW is supposably searching for suitable farm land for (pheasant only release sites to help stop the duck and pheasant conflicts. They are also seeking help in finding such farm land to lease and use on a rotating basis,planting cover and seed similar to the quality hunt fields for waterfowl. A lot of people want to see the pheasant program continue and grow.

[singleshot12]

only if the state doesn't slow down on salmon restoration and dike removal.  Tell the state to quite allowing netting of the river and no more dike will need to be removed.

I guess they'll find out after the fact when a large number of hunters quit hunting due to loss of walk-in access to these public lands and all the native kings and steelhead are finally netted to exstinction.
What makes me wonder is most of these salmon restoration projects are taking place on WDFW public walk in lands and prior to the dikes being removed these public hunting areas have been under scrutiny by the anti-hunting community, bird watchers, Audubon etc. .. Somethings fishy and it ain't salmon 

[singleshot12]

How about requesting the alternating time frame, plus extending the season for both to accomodate the change?

Sounds good to me

[singleshot12]

[But, as you can tell from the title of the thread, this is about goose and pheasant hunters here in SW WA. Duck hunters don't come into the picture at all in this situation.
[/quote]

Yes but it's relatively the same sort of problems on the whole west side (when it comes to where waterfowlers and pheasant hunting is overlaped) It takes the same sort of answers and solutions to correct it...

[goosegunner]

 I also hunt shilapoo and the van lake area a little bit and would not support it. I know exactly what your talking about and have expierienced it first hand but it has never ruined a hunt for me. plus if it's a slow day i like getting up taking a walk and finding the pheasnats that all those guys raced right by trying to beat the other guys out there. Anymore i don't even really start hunting down there until after the pheasant season anyway.

[Stilly bay]

there are MANY places you can hunt early goose, public or private land. there are very few places you can hunt pheasants on the west side and every year there are less.

If I was half way serious about my goose hunting I sure as hell wouldn't do it at a pheasant release site.  if anything goose hunters are a hinderance to the pheasant hunters who have an allotted time and area to hunt in.  pheasant hunters can only hunt the morning of one day of the weekend already.

Im tired of hearing  duck hunters piss and moan about the west side pheasant hunters. these guys are paying big bucks to do what they enjoy doing even if their schedule and finances won't allow them to do it on the east side. alot of these pheasant hunters are kids and vets with limited resources.

if you check the designated pheasant release site numbers versus the public and private land available for water fowl hunters you will soon see you are complaining about a needle in a haystack. if you don't like the pheasant hunters messing with your ducks just find another spot, simple as that.

[pianoman9701]

there are MANY places you can hunt early goose, public or private land. there are very few places you can hunt pheasants on the west side and every year there are less.

If I was half way serious about my goose hunting I sure as hell wouldn't do it at a pheasant release site.  if anything goose hunters are a hinderance to the pheasant hunters who have an allotted time and area to hunt in.  pheasant hunters can only hunt the morning of one day of the weekend already.

Im tired of hearing  duck hunters piss and moan about the west side pheasant hunters. these guys are paying big bucks to do what they enjoy doing even if their schedule and finances won't allow them to do it on the east side. alot of these pheasant hunters are kids and vets with limited resources.

if you check the designated pheasant release site numbers versus the public and private land available for water fowl hunters you will soon see you are complaining about a needle in a haystack. if you don't like the pheasant hunters messing with your ducks just find another spot, simple as that.

Well, I'm not a duck hunter and I wasn't pissing and moaning about pheasant hunters. Re-read my post before you get your blood pressure going.

This regards goose and pheasant hunters in the Vancouver, Ridgefield, Woodland areas. As I read the regulations, pheasant hunters in western WA release areas get to hunt any day during the season - 2 months from Oct 1-Nov 30th. That inlcudes both weekend days. Third I'm talking about the Vancouver area where all of the public land is both goose and pheasant. Without paying for huge leases, there isn't any other land to hunt here. It's very limited space.

I've seen many very heated altercations between both because one trains his dog for years and sets up his blind up to 4 hours before hunting time to attract geese and the other, after years of training his dogs, can't avoid these blinds if he wants to do his own hunting. Both have a right to be there. I was only attempting to see if others here had the same experiences and what they thought about alternating days for the two or three weekends from Nov 12th to the 27th which overlap. But nowhere was I pissing and moaning about one or the other, and said nothing about duck hunters.

[Stilly bay]

first off I have perfect blood pressure, how dare you insinuate otherwise you goose hunter!  I probably should have put some emotives in my first post.

unless they have changed it, when you buy a pheasant permit you pick which weekend morning you would like to hunt ( so you get first pick of the dumbfounded birds) this cuts the hunter traffic in half for the busiest most crowded part of the day. if everyone only had one morning to go out on the weekends it would be pure bedlam.

having already read this thread and what you had to say (earlier when you stated you were a goose hunter and NOT a duck hunter) I stand by my statement that I am tired of duck hunters pissing and moaning about pheasant hunters. it was a tangent that always pops up in my head when threads or conversations like this get rolling and no offense was intended towards you personally.

I DO agree with you one hundred percent that is a real cluster EFF between the camo guys and the orange guys and there really has to be a better way, but for the time being  the pheasant hunters are stuck in their area (where the state releases the pheasants) and duck OR goose hunters have the ability to follow the birds.

maybe there is no other public land down that way, and maybe there isn't one single slice of private land that would grant you access with out doling out some cash. but once again if I really wanted a quality DUCK OR GOOSE hunt I wouldn't do it on a pheasant release site during pheasant season on a weekend, it just don't make sense. further more It would be a shame to whittle away more of what little the west side pheasant hunters have left......
that being said the whole thing will probably be over and done with in a few years anyway.

and last, if you want to make the trip, I will take you goose hunting anytime you like, and it won't be in a pheasant release site

[ORCA_SIX]

One thing that I do is carry an orange vest with me sometimes when I am duck hunting in pheasant areas. I throw it on on the way out and I usually pick up a bird or two. 

Most of the time, I go duck hunting in the morning and then pack up and hit the release sites usually after 10 or 11 and have less traffic and good luck with all the birds people miss. One of the reasons I always just buy steel and carry that.

I understand the dilemma between waterfowlers and upland guys but there is not much to be done if there is only so much land accommodation. Personally, I would not want to see anything taken away from the Pheasant release program. Pretty expensive tag and it is already crowded enough.

Is there no farms you can talk to down that way and see if you can do some field hunting? I rarely go out on the water anymore for goose, field hunting is so much nicer and easier. 

[pianoman9701]

first off I have perfect blood pressure, how dare you insinuate otherwise you goose hunter!  I probably should have put some emotives in my first post.

unless they have changed it, when you buy a pheasant permit you pick which weekend morning you would like to hunt ( so you get first pick of the dumbfounded birds) this cuts the hunter traffic in half for the busiest most crowded part of the day. if everyone only had one morning to go out on the weekends it would be pure bedlam.

having already read this thread and what you had to say (earlier when you stated you were a goose hunter and NOT a duck hunter) I stand by my statement that I am tired of duck hunters pissing and moaning about pheasant hunters. it was a tangent that always pops up in my head when threads or conversations like this get rolling and no offense was intended towards you personally.

I DO agree with you one hundred percent that is a real cluster EFF between the camo guys and the orange guys and there really has to be a better way, but for the time being  the pheasant hunters are stuck in their area (where the state releases the pheasants) and duck OR goose hunters have the ability to follow the birds.

maybe there is no other public land down that way, and maybe there isn't one single slice of private land that would grant you access with out doling out some cash. but once again if I really wanted a quality DUCK OR GOOSE hunt I wouldn't do it on a pheasant release site during pheasant season on a weekend, it just don't make sense. further more It would be a shame to whittle away more of what little the west side pheasant hunters have left......
that being said the whole thing will probably be over and done with in a few years anyway.

and last, if you want to make the trip, I will take you goose hunting anytime you like, and it won't be in a pheasant release site

Yes, there are few enough opportunities to hunt anything and my suggestion whittling away at available dates has garnered that same response - never ask WDFW to take anything away. They will!

. I didn't know about having to choose one day or another when you buy the pheasant tag. That seems petty, you know unlike other restrictions.

It's not a big bone of contention for me. I'm a MH, so I get to goose hunt on private land for a month between Feb and Mar, and all of the months of Dec and Jan. I just see the guys fighting out in the field and it bothers me that one hunter is pitted against the others.

Thanks for your thoughtful reply, Orca. Do go get your BP checked. It's the silent killer, you know.

[singleshot12]

This really is a good debate. I think DU would like to see The Pheasant Program phase out and disappear since most of the release sites are located in marshy duck habitat. Well that needs to change and more suitable fields need to be bought or leased and secured by by WDFW .  The Pheasant Program is self-supporting and could grow dispurse and separate the waterfowl and pheasant hunter thus creating a safe and enjoyable hunt for both parties. It would be a real winner for WDFW if they made the move.

Pianoman we see your point in your area, but this thread is a good one to express or try to resolve simiiar problems on the whole west side. Nobody is intentionally hijacking it, but I think you know that now  .

[singleshot12]

I really think we need PF (Pheasants Forever) to get more involved and match DU in help and support if we want the Pheasant Program to flourish and continue on the West side. Especially since East side has few birds now and is getting harder to hunt.

[Stilly bay]

I just see the guys fighting out in the field and it bothers me that one hunter is pitted against the others.

 Do go get your BP checked. It's the silent killer, you know.

if you eliminate one party there will just be in fighting. the goose hunters will duke it out about sky busting and overcalling and the pheasant hunters will shoot each other's dogs. erase one problem so they can focus on the next


I will have my BP checked as soon as goose season gets here and some pheasant hunter runs his dog through my decoys.

[pianoman9701]

I just see the guys fighting out in the field and it bothers me that one hunter is pitted against the others.

 Do go get your BP checked. It's the silent killer, you know.

if you eliminate one party there will just be in fighting. the goose hunters will duke it out about sky busting and overcalling and the pheasant hunters will shoot each other's dogs. erase one problem so they can focus on the next


I will have my BP checked as soon as goose season gets here and some pheasant hunter runs his dog through my decoys.

Lol. Knock 'em down!