Toppenish

[coastie]

Hello All,
    Thanks for letting me join in here.

I will be heading past the Toppenish Wildlife area next week and was thinking of stopping in for some ducks.  My buddies have only hunting the Robbins Unit which will not be open when I am there.  I was wondering if any of the other units of the area which are open 7 days a week are any good for ducks.   Or I guess I am just looking to see which ones are probably not a good choice for just one day of hunting.

Thanks

[GregFowler23]

Only other unit open 7 days a week close to Robbins is Pumphouse unit. Right now lately, its been a hit an miss season, one day ducks are here next day there gone. Which day are you passing through?

[boneaddict]

I saw these down there last night.   Surprised me.  I have never shot any down there before.

[270Shooter]

It will probably mostly frozen if not completely frozen. And there aren't any birds on the reserve either.

[GregFowler23]

Northern shovlers are always down here. Shoot them all the time.

[boneaddict]

Cool Greg.....  I never see them up here, so was excited to see them. 

It will probably mostly frozen if not completely frozen. And there aren't any birds on the reserve either

Yeah right.   25% frozen and somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 birds on the reserve.  Don't shoot the big white ones.

[GregFowler23]

Bone, dont tell me you were the one who shot the swans a couple weeks ago?

[270Shooter]

Cool Greg.....  I never see them up here, so was excited to see them. 

It will probably mostly frozen if not completely frozen. And there aren't any birds on the reserve either

Yeah right.   25% frozen and somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 birds on the reserve.  Don't shoot the big white ones.

What day were you down there? because I was there on monday scouting it and it was 75% froze or more. And about 100 birds on the reserve off of 97  . Didn't look at the upper reserve but i doubt there was much up there either.

[boneaddict]

I was there Monday afternoon.   There were thousands of birds on the reserve.  Probably 50 Swans alone.  Lots of ice free water.  No more than a 1/3 was frozen.    No Greg, didn't shoot any swans. 

[270Shooter]

I was there Monday afternoon.   There were thousands of birds on the reserve.  Probably 50 Swans alone.  Lots of ice free water.  No more than a 1/3 was frozen.    No Greg, didn't shoot any swans.

Hmmm well i dont know, maybe they all went out to feed when I was down there, but I cant imagine them going to feed in around 2:30 when its 40 degrees out. There were about 500-600 mallards in the flooded cornfield on the east side of 97, but thats a gun club.

[boneaddict]

We kicked a ton when we stopped by the creek to look at the swans.   The air was full of ducks for a bit.  Probably made the pumphouse boys happy.   I told my daughter we just got a bunch of ducks killed.   You might have come by right after that.  I think I took a pic or two of some of the swans.   I'll post em.   I didn;t take much.  I was more scouting than anything seeing what breeds were about.   

[coastie]

Thanks for the info guys.   

Gregg, I think i will be past there on Monday next week.  But nothing for sure yet.

[Madison]

the huntable parts of the refuge that have water are locked up solid.  Saturday there was a little open water, sunday frozen, and monday it was solid. I wouldnt waste my time there until the weather changes.

[boneaddict]

[boneaddict]

Last pond up 97

[GregFowler23]

Nice pics, an as of late this afternoon, looked much like that. But there is some ice not sure how much in the hunting area but we limited at the house on sunday, saw quite a bit of birds flying.

[270Shooter]

Nice pics, an as of late this afternoon, looked much like that. But there is some ice not sure how much in the hunting area but we limited at the house on sunday, saw quite a bit of birds flying.

How's the past month been for you guys greg?

[GregFowler23]

Real up an down, this has been a really weird season. One day we go out dont see but a handful of birds for most of the day. Next day we go theres all kinds flying. One day things freeze up, few days later ducks are back an things start to move again. Just real strange, the past week has been starting to heat up again though. Seeing quite a bit of birds moving consistently and have shot some good amounts of birds the past week as well. But overall its been a real down season for us. Hopefully we end on a good note these last couple weeks. Hows your season gone 270?

[270Shooter]

Let's see, October started out red hot with limits of mallards for pretty much the first 2 weeks straight, with a few teal or widgeon mixed in. November was good too did a lot of jump shooting and would get our limits everyday, mostly mallards and teal. We also shot the hell out of the bootlips a few times over decoys around thanksgiving. Everthing froze and the first part of december was still pretty good, not a lot of ducks, but enough to scratch out our 2 limits, mostly jump shooting. Went to the columbia 5 times and we limited everytime, got our limits of redheads the last 3 trips, including a lot of greater scaup, and a couple of canvasbacks. But since then it has been really pretty slow for us. My buddy has had some good mallard shoots on some land that i dont have access too, but other than that its been pretty much dead. I have 4 bands this year though so thats been pretty cool  .

I dont think we've had any significant mallard migration yet, and thats what we really need, but I have my doubts of whether it will happen this year with this warm winter we've had. Hopefully it gets better but I'm not holding my breath.

[coastie]

thanks for the info guys.  my schedule changed and I ended up passing by this weekend and late in the night.   hunted near the tri cities with 8 ducks for the group saturday.