Hunting Washington Forum
Other Hunting => Waterfowl => Topic started by: lovetogrouse on October 13, 2023, 12:39:06 PM
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Anyone hunting McNary this weekend?
I'll be hunting there next weekend with a buddy who's a newer hunter and I'd love to know how active the birds are.
Thanks!
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Opening day sounds like good draws get good hunts from past history. Local birds should be good for locals but big question this year will be northern flock. The breeding survey from spring does not look good on paper for the east side. Good luck!
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Opener shoots pretty good for most blinds per report cards for ducks. Geese will be tough to decoy.
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Yeah, that sounds pretty normal. Last year is was 70 and sunny on the opener and it was one of the biggest let downs I've experienced, lol.
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Yeah, that sounds pretty normal. Last year is was 70 and sunny on the opener and it was one of the biggest let downs I've experienced, lol.
Getting to be a lot more of those days in the blind for us general public hunters and gets more more frustrating knowing all that money spent is gone never to return as if it was a slot machine.
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Yeah, the weather was pretty much worse than I could have imagined. Sunny and windless. Also seemed like there were only local birds there. On the bright side, at least we got my buddy his first bird.
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Sounds good, hope it gets better but not a waste either.
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How much do they charge per hunter these days?
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$14 for day.
$96 for a season pass.
Then there's discounts for disabled and people with federal land passes I believe.
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Outside this morning for a spell at my place N of Tri-Cities, saw a couple of flocks flying. First I've noticed this fall. Frost next 8 days possible.
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Costs money to hunt a refuge? What a joke that'd be. Kinda figrd our duck stamp was still worth something
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Costs money to hunt a refuge? What a joke that'd be. Kinda figrd our duck stamp was still worth something
You have to have that stamp for them to take your money if that’s worth something? 😂
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I don't hunt refuges but I do visit them in the spring. Stamp has always been the ticket for admittance. To pay extra seems very wrong.
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In their defense, you can hunt a large portion of the refuge, particularly next to the Columbia. It's just the inner ponds that require a lottery. The nice thing about that is it prevents the area from becoming a zoo.
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Outside this morning for a spell at my place N of Tri-Cities, saw a couple of flocks flying. First I've noticed this fall. Frost next 8 days possible.
Good to hear. It seemed like there were only local birds down there last weekend. Nothing compared to the flocks of snow geese I've seen in earlier years.
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I don't hunt refuges but I do visit them in the spring. Stamp has always been the ticket for admittance. To pay extra seems very wrong.
I believe this is the only refuge in WA that does lottery reservations (and allows nonrez opportunity), builds and maintains blinds, pays staff to conduct checkin/checkout, and pays farmers to plant and allow(some) crops to remain standing all for $10/ person/hunt day. That's quite a bit of juice for the squeeze if you think about it and I happily pay it everytime I go.
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I don't hunt refuges but I do visit them in the spring. Stamp has always been the ticket for admittance. To pay extra seems very wrong.
I believe this is the only refuge in WA that does lottery reservations (and allows nonrez opportunity), builds and maintains blinds, pays staff to conduct checkin/checkout, and pays farmers to plant and allow(some) crops to remain standing all for $10/ person/hunt day. That's quite a bit of juice for the squeeze if you think about it and I happily pay it everytime I go.
Don't you have to apply and pay at Ridgefield as well?
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Costs money to hunt a refuge? What a joke that'd be. Kinda figrd our duck stamp was still worth something
Duck stamp dollars go to refuge land acquisition. Not refuge maintenance, staffing, etc.
Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
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Costs money to hunt a refuge? What a joke that'd be. Kinda figrd our duck stamp was still worth something
Duck stamp dollars go to refuge land acquisition. Not refuge maintenance, staffing, etc.
Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
Hunted waterfowl for about 30 years and the stamp did nothing as advertised while duck numbers continue crashing. Access only gets worse while seasons get better on paper only.
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Costs money to hunt a refuge? What a joke that'd be. Kinda figrd our duck stamp was still worth something
Duck stamp dollars go to refuge land acquisition. Not refuge maintenance, staffing, etc.
Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
Hunted waterfowl for about 30 years and the stamp did nothing as advertised while duck numbers continue crashing. Access only gets worse while seasons get better on paper only.
Huh. Says that in 2015 we had a record number of ducks in the USA. Like literally never had more than that. It’s true that numbers have been down since then . But boy oh boy for someone who doesn’t hunt ducks anymore you sure do complain about it a lot. Seriously every post about waterfowl has a comment from you complaining about something. Hunting partners, access, now the stamp. Seriously either get some professional help to deal with your depression or just move on.
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I don't hunt refuges but I do visit them in the spring. Stamp has always been the ticket for admittance. To pay extra seems very wrong.
I believe this is the only refuge in WA that does lottery reservations (and allows nonrez opportunity), builds and maintains blinds, pays staff to conduct checkin/checkout, and pays farmers to plant and allow(some) crops to remain standing all for $10/ person/hunt day. That's quite a bit of juice for the squeeze if you think about it and I happily pay it everytime I go.
Don't you have to apply and pay at Ridgefield as well?
Yes
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Costs money to hunt a refuge? What a joke that'd be. Kinda figrd our duck stamp was still worth something
Duck stamp dollars go to refuge land acquisition. Not refuge maintenance, staffing, etc.
Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
Hunted waterfowl for about 30 years and the stamp did nothing as advertised while duck numbers continue crashing. Access only gets worse while seasons get better on paper only.
Huh. Says that in 2015 we had a record number of ducks in the USA. Like literally never had more than that. It’s true that numbers have been down since then . But boy oh boy for someone who doesn’t hunt ducks anymore you sure do complain about it a lot. Seriously every post about waterfowl has a comment from you complaining about something. Hunting partners, access, now the stamp. Seriously either get some professional help to deal with your depression or just move on.
Basic math and basic facts shows our sport and gun rights need professional help for sure. Just do some basic research and think just like how you described waterfowl numbers almost 10 years ago. Sorry for me keeping up with the present instead of sounding like an old person talking about 2015. Let me help you it is almost 2024.
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Any recent reports? Wish they would update their website
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They only update results monthly.
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Costs money to hunt a refuge? What a joke that'd be. Kinda figrd our duck stamp was still worth something
Duck stamp dollars go to refuge land acquisition. Not refuge maintenance, staffing, etc.
Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
Hunted waterfowl for about 30 years and the stamp did nothing as advertised while duck numbers continue crashing. Access only gets worse while seasons get better on paper only.
Huh. Says that in 2015 we had a record number of ducks in the USA. Like literally never had more than that. It’s true that numbers have been down since then . But boy oh boy for someone who doesn’t hunt ducks anymore you sure do complain about it a lot. Seriously every post about waterfowl has a comment from you complaining about something. Hunting partners, access, now the stamp. Seriously either get some professional help to deal with your depression or just move on.
Basic math and basic facts shows our sport and gun rights need professional help for sure. Just do some basic research and think just like how you described waterfowl numbers almost 10 years ago. Sorry for me keeping up with the present instead of sounding like an old person talking about 2015. Let me help you it is almost 2024.
lol. You stated you have hunted waterfowl for the last 30 yrs and duck numbers “continue crashing.” That leads one to believe that you are stating that waterfowl numbers have been crashing for the last 30 yrs. Curious how you would know what waterfowl numbers look like when you don’t hunt anymore?? Oh well one more reason for you to stay glued to your couch and leave all this crappy hunting to the rest of us.
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Hunting has been pretty bad. Not many ducks at all. Wife and I hunted Saturday the 23rd and shot a limit. When we checked out I looked at the log and we were the first blind to limit in 3 weeks. The guy at the check station said 5 blinds checked out before us and only shot 4 ducks for the 5 blinds. It’s been an average of .8-1.8 ducks per person per day lately. We worked hard and played our cards right but definitely not many ducks down there. Regardless get out and grind, let the birds work and get them in the decoys.
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Refuges do a great part in the conservation of many species but shouldn't be used as a guage by which we measure total bird numbers in a given area. Permanent blinds do better after large weather events but will go stale quickly.
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I knew along time ago not to report my kills at McNary. Internet scouters ruined actual harvest.
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Costs money to hunt a refuge? What a joke that'd be. Kinda figrd our duck stamp was still worth something
Duck stamp dollars go to refuge land acquisition. Not refuge maintenance, staffing, etc.
Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
Hunted waterfowl for about 30 years and the stamp did nothing as advertised while duck numbers continue crashing. Access only gets worse while seasons get better on paper only.
Huh. Says that in 2015 we had a record number of ducks in the USA. Like literally never had more than that. It’s true that numbers have been down since then . But boy oh boy for someone who doesn’t hunt ducks anymore you sure do complain about it a lot. Seriously every post about waterfowl has a comment from you complaining about something. Hunting partners, access, now the stamp. Seriously either get some professional help to deal with your depression or just move on.
Basic math and basic facts shows our sport and gun rights need professional help for sure. Just do some basic research and think just like how you described waterfowl numbers almost 10 years ago. Sorry for me keeping up with the present instead of sounding like an old person talking about 2015. Let me help you it is almost 2024.
lol. You stated you have hunted waterfowl for the last 30 yrs and duck numbers “continue crashing.” That leads one to believe that you are stating that waterfowl numbers have been crashing for the last 30 yrs. Curious how you would know what waterfowl numbers look like when you don’t hunt anymore?? Oh well one more reason for you to stay glued to your couch and leave all this crappy hunting to the rest of us.
You just lack experience. When I first started hunting some parents would not let their kids hunt ducks because they didn’t want their freezer filled in less than a day. Why are you being a bully? I know most hunters support that behavior but doesn’t mean you have to. Basically yes duck populations have been crashing longer than 30 years and luckily for you it was recognized long ago or you would have nothing to hunt today. If all people thought like you then why is there conservation?
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Costs money to hunt a refuge? What a joke that'd be. Kinda figrd our duck stamp was still worth something
Duck stamp dollars go to refuge land acquisition. Not refuge maintenance, staffing, etc.
Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
Hunted waterfowl for about 30 years and the stamp did nothing as advertised while duck numbers continue crashing. Access only gets worse while seasons get better on paper only.
Huh. Says that in 2015 we had a record number of ducks in the USA. Like literally never had more than that. It’s true that numbers have been down since then . But boy oh boy for someone who doesn’t hunt ducks anymore you sure do complain about it a lot. Seriously every post about waterfowl has a comment from you complaining about something. Hunting partners, access, now the stamp. Seriously either get some professional help to deal with your depression or just move on.
Basic math and basic facts shows our sport and gun rights need professional help for sure. Just do some basic research and think just like how you described waterfowl numbers almost 10 years ago. Sorry for me keeping up with the present instead of sounding like an old person talking about 2015. Let me help you it is almost 2024.
lol. You stated you have hunted waterfowl for the last 30 yrs and duck numbers “continue crashing.” That leads one to believe that you are stating that waterfowl numbers have been crashing for the last 30 yrs. Curious how you would know what waterfowl numbers look like when you don’t hunt anymore?? Oh well one more reason for you to stay glued to your couch and leave all this crappy hunting to the rest of us.
You just lack experience. When I first started hunting some parents would not let their kids hunt ducks because they didn’t want their freezer filled in less than a day. Why are you being a bully? I know most hunters support that behavior but doesn’t mean you have to. Basically yes duck populations have been crashing longer than 30 years and luckily for you it was recognized long ago or you would have nothing to hunt today. If all people thought like you then why is there conservation?
I'm a casual waterfowler, but I'm still getting ducks when I do go.
Where are you getting your information?
I snipped this from the DU Homepage:
Total populations were estimated at 34.2 million breeding ducks in the traditional survey area, 12 percent lower than 2019’s estimate of 38.9 million and 4 percent below the long-term average (since 1955).
4 percent below the Long Term Average since 1955 doesn't seem like a population crash to me.
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Hunted the free area yesterday. We were early and were the 10th truck in line to get in. It was rough. Literally thousands of ducks within a quarter mile of the blind but theyre all rafted up. You could have the best decoy spread in the state and you'll never be more convincing than thousands of real ducks. The birds are there, but heavily pressured and they don't have a reason to leave the middle of the river on a bluebird day.
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somebody should go water skiing
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somebody should go water skiing
The raft of birds is so big that boats end up driving through them. The birds just leap frog over to the other end of the raft and land.
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In many cases you have to have wind to move the birds around or a snow/thaw event. 35-55 degrees and partly cloudy with no wind you might as well go golfing.
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Golfing is fun but shooting ducks is satisfying. Those rafyed birds aren't the only birds around. Leave them be, avoid the refuge by a wide margin and find isolated pockets of birds. The Columbia is large. Many mallrds are paired and would rather not hang with the large groups. Wigeon will show up anywhere coots could be and there are always cans, redheads, and bluebills around. A boat is very helpful. Just saying this stagnant weather is the kinda time to avoid the refuges.
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Golfing is fun dumb but shooting ducks is satisfying. Those rafyed birds aren't the only birds around. Leave them be, avoid the refuge by a wide margin and find isolated pockets of birds. The Columbia is large. Many mallrds are paired and would rather not hang with the large groups. Wigeon will show up anywhere coots could be and there are always cans, redheads, and bluebills around. A boat is very helpful. Just saying this stagnant weather is the kinda time to avoid the refuges.
I've been trying to convince my buddy (who cant swim) that we need to be boating into spots but it's proving tough. It sure seems like a canoe would be a game changer on the small water too. My boat isn't camouflaged or a shallow running Jon boat, but it sure would beat dragging in the decoy cart and being able to reach exactly where you want to hunt without busting brush or wading through the swamp.
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Hunted the free area yesterday. We were early and were the 10th truck in line to get in. It was rough. Literally thousands of ducks within a quarter mile of the blind but theyre all rafted up. You could have the best decoy spread in the state and you'll never be more convincing than thousands of real ducks. The birds are there, but heavily pressured and they don't have a reason to leave the middle of the river on a bluebird day.
I have found on those days the hunting can still be good. You just get more singles and less flocks. It’s like green heads get tired of the crowds and go check out the other shore. This is where a small good looking spread really pays off. If your not killing any of them your doing something wrong or quitting way to early. Which is really common on the refuges.
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Golfing is fun dumb but shooting ducks is satisfying. Those rafyed birds aren't the only birds around. Leave them be, avoid the refuge by a wide margin and find isolated pockets of birds. The Columbia is large. Many mallrds are paired and would rather not hang with the large groups. Wigeon will show up anywhere coots could be and there are always cans, redheads, and bluebills around. A boat is very helpful. Just saying this stagnant weather is the kinda time to avoid the refuges.
I've been trying to convince my buddy (who cant swim) that we need to be boating into spots but it's proving tough. It sure seems like a canoe would be a game changer on the small water too. My boat isn't camouflaged or a shallow running Jon boat, but it sure would beat dragging in the decoy cart and being able to reach exactly where you want to hunt without busting brush or wading through the swamp.
Your boat doesn’t have to be a flat John boat to fish shallow water. My 20’ 14 degree bottoms will float in 16” of water no problem. Just gotta know when to turn the motor off and drag. And hope the water doesn’t drop haha.
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Golfing is fun dumb but shooting ducks is satisfying. Those rafyed birds aren't the only birds around. Leave them be, avoid the refuge by a wide margin and find isolated pockets of birds. The Columbia is large. Many mallrds are paired and would rather not hang with the large groups. Wigeon will show up anywhere coots could be and there are always cans, redheads, and bluebills around. A boat is very helpful. Just saying this stagnant weather is the kinda time to avoid the refuges.
I've been trying to convince my buddy (who cant swim) that we need to be boating into spots but it's proving tough. It sure seems like a canoe would be a game changer on the small water too. My boat isn't camouflaged or a shallow running Jon boat, but it sure would beat dragging in the decoy cart and being able to reach exactly where you want to hunt without busting brush or wading through the swamp.
I don't think taking my buddy, who can't swim, into a canoe with a bunch of waterfowl gear would be an ideal situation 🤔
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Costs money to hunt a refuge? What a joke that'd be. Kinda figrd our duck stamp was still worth something
Duck stamp dollars go to refuge land acquisition. Not refuge maintenance, staffing, etc.
Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
Hunted waterfowl for about 30 years and the stamp did nothing as advertised while duck numbers continue crashing. Access only gets worse while seasons get better on paper only.
Huh. Says that in 2015 we had a record number of ducks in the USA. Like literally never had more than that. It’s true that numbers have been down since then . But boy oh boy for someone who doesn’t hunt ducks anymore you sure do complain about it a lot. Seriously every post about waterfowl has a comment from you complaining about something. Hunting partners, access, now the stamp. Seriously either get some professional help to deal with your depression or just move on.
Basic math and basic facts shows our sport and gun rights need professional help for sure. Just do some basic research and think just like how you described waterfowl numbers almost 10 years ago. Sorry for me keeping up with the present instead of sounding like an old person talking about 2015. Let me help you it is almost 2024.
lol. You stated you have hunted waterfowl for the last 30 yrs and duck numbers “continue crashing.” That leads one to believe that you are stating that waterfowl numbers have been crashing for the last 30 yrs. Curious how you would know what waterfowl numbers look like when you don’t hunt anymore?? Oh well one more reason for you to stay glued to your couch and leave all this crappy hunting to the rest of us.
You just lack experience. When I first started hunting some parents would not let their kids hunt ducks because they didn’t want their freezer filled in less than a day. Why are you being a bully? I know most hunters support that behavior but doesn’t mean you have to. Basically yes duck populations have been crashing longer than 30 years and luckily for you it was recognized long ago or you would have nothing to hunt today. If all people thought like you then why is there conservation?
I'm a casual waterfowler, but I'm still getting ducks when I do go.
Where are you getting your information?
I snipped this from the DU Homepage:
Total populations were estimated at 34.2 million breeding ducks in the traditional survey area, 12 percent lower than 2019’s estimate of 38.9 million and 4 percent below the long-term average (since 1955).
4 percent below the Long Term Average since 1955 doesn't seem like a population crash to me.
Comparing 2016 to the 2023 breeding survey some might wonder how they missed the funeral.
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Tough numbers. I'll take some blame for that. I absolutely hammered the things last year. Doin it again.
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Numbers have not affected us. Hunting is tough but we are still finding plenty of success. You can get out and grind or sit at home and bitch. We are wacking them
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Numbers have not affected us. Hunting is tough but we are still finding plenty of success. You can get out and grind or sit at home and bitch. We are wacking them
hdshot doesn’t hunt anymore. Just posts on the waterfowl forum. As for me, I’ll be chasing birds this weekend 8)
Plenty to be had!
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Pretty sure at this point Hdshot is an anti hunter trying to poo poo hunting in any way he can. If he cared about the sport he'd be looking for ways to get more hunters involved and active. Spewing negativity on a public forum isn't how that's done.
:twocents:
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Pretty sure at this point Hdshot is an anti hunter trying to poo poo hunting in any way he can. If he cared about the sport he'd be looking for ways to get more hunters involved and active. Spewing negativity on a public forum isn't how that's done.
:twocents:
:yeah:
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Costs money to hunt a refuge? What a joke that'd be. Kinda figrd our duck stamp was still worth something
Duck stamp dollars go to refuge land acquisition. Not refuge maintenance, staffing, etc.
Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
Hunted waterfowl for about 30 years and the stamp did nothing as advertised while duck numbers continue crashing. Access only gets worse while seasons get better on paper only.
Huh. Says that in 2015 we had a record number of ducks in the USA. Like literally never had more than that. It’s true that numbers have been down since then . But boy oh boy for someone who doesn’t hunt ducks anymore you sure do complain about it a lot. Seriously every post about waterfowl has a comment from you complaining about something. Hunting partners, access, now the stamp. Seriously either get some professional help to deal with your depression or just move on.
Basic math and basic facts shows our sport and gun rights need professional help for sure. Just do some basic research and think just like how you described waterfowl numbers almost 10 years ago. Sorry for me keeping up with the present instead of sounding like an old person talking about 2015. Let me help you it is almost 2024.
lol. You stated you have hunted waterfowl for the last 30 yrs and duck numbers “continue crashing.” That leads one to believe that you are stating that waterfowl numbers have been crashing for the last 30 yrs. Curious how you would know what waterfowl numbers look like when you don’t hunt anymore?? Oh well one more reason for you to stay glued to your couch and leave all this crappy hunting to the rest of us.
You just lack experience. When I first started hunting some parents would not let their kids hunt ducks because they didn’t want their freezer filled in less than a day. Why are you being a bully? I know most hunters support that behavior but doesn’t mean you have to. Basically yes duck populations have been crashing longer than 30 years and luckily for you it was recognized long ago or you would have nothing to hunt today. If all people thought like you then why is there conservation?
I'm a casual waterfowler, but I'm still getting ducks when I do go.
Where are you getting your information?
I snipped this from the DU Homepage:
Total populations were estimated at 34.2 million breeding ducks in the traditional survey area, 12 percent lower than 2019’s estimate of 38.9 million and 4 percent below the long-term average (since 1955).
4 percent below the Long Term Average since 1955 doesn't seem like a population crash to me.
Comparing 2016 to the 2023 breeding survey some might wonder how they missed the funeral.
Yes, we all know that duck numbers fluctuate pretty good from year to year.
That's why comparing just 1 year to another doesn't tell you much.
That's also exactly why I posted the Long Term Average (LTA), so that you could see that duck numbers really aren't plummetting - they are fluctuating.
I'm really not sure why you can't find ducks.
There are plenty.
I'd limit out more if I was a better shot.
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"Id limit out more if I was a better shot"
:chuckle: :chuckle: :chuckle: you and me both
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Pretty sure at this point Hdshot is an anti hunter trying to poo poo hunting in any way he can. If he cared about the sport he'd be looking for ways to get more hunters involved and active. Spewing negativity on a public forum isn't how that's done.
:twocents:
Unfortunately our past generation left us kicking rocks on the passenger pigeon. 3-5 billion passenger pigeons gone forever because of habitat loss. You don’t want to be like that guy.
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Costs money to hunt a refuge? What a joke that'd be. Kinda figrd our duck stamp was still worth something
Duck stamp dollars go to refuge land acquisition. Not refuge maintenance, staffing, etc.
Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
Hunted waterfowl for about 30 years and the stamp did nothing as advertised while duck numbers continue crashing. Access only gets worse while seasons get better on paper only.
Huh. Says that in 2015 we had a record number of ducks in the USA. Like literally never had more than that. It’s true that numbers have been down since then . But boy oh boy for someone who doesn’t hunt ducks anymore you sure do complain about it a lot. Seriously every post about waterfowl has a comment from you complaining about something. Hunting partners, access, now the stamp. Seriously either get some professional help to deal with your depression or just move on.
Basic math and basic facts shows our sport and gun rights need professional help for sure. Just do some basic research and think just like how you described waterfowl numbers almost 10 years ago. Sorry for me keeping up with the present instead of sounding like an old person talking about 2015. Let me help you it is almost 2024.
lol. You stated you have hunted waterfowl for the last 30 yrs and duck numbers “continue crashing.” That leads one to believe that you are stating that waterfowl numbers have been crashing for the last 30 yrs. Curious how you would know what waterfowl numbers look like when you don’t hunt anymore?? Oh well one more reason for you to stay glued to your couch and leave all this crappy hunting to the rest of us.
You just lack experience. When I first started hunting some parents would not let their kids hunt ducks because they didn’t want their freezer filled in less than a day. Why are you being a bully? I know most hunters support that behavior but doesn’t mean you have to. Basically yes duck populations have been crashing longer than 30 years and luckily for you it was recognized long ago or you would have nothing to hunt today. If all people thought like you then why is there conservation?
I'm a casual waterfowler, but I'm still getting ducks when I do go.
Where are you getting your information?
I snipped this from the DU Homepage:
Total populations were estimated at 34.2 million breeding ducks in the traditional survey area, 12 percent lower than 2019’s estimate of 38.9 million and 4 percent below the long-term average (since 1955).
4 percent below the Long Term Average since 1955 doesn't seem like a population crash to me.
Comparing 2016 to the 2023 breeding survey some might wonder how they missed the funeral.
Yes, we all know that duck numbers fluctuate pretty good from year to year.
That's why comparing just 1 year to another doesn't tell you much.
That's also exactly why I posted the Long Term Average (LTA), so that you could see that duck numbers really aren't plummetting - they are fluctuating.
I'm really not sure why you can't find ducks.
There are plenty.
I'd limit out more if I was a better shot.
Why can’t you set the bar around the 2016 time? Those populations didn’t disappear overnight and the king of ducks mallards have been reduced almost 50% over that time period. If i said everything is ok then it would feel like I lied. My experience is problems only get worse left alone.
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Hdshot,
You can set the bar wherever you want.
The fact is that there are plenty of ducks out there if you're willing to put in a little work.
You seem to complain on every waterfowl thread.
Maybe try to go chase some ducks.
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Hdshot,
You can set the bar wherever you want.
The fact is that there are plenty of ducks out there if you're willing to put in a little work.
You seem to complain on every waterfowl thread.
Maybe try to go chase some ducks.
Reality is real and most agree but don’t like it because they only want to deflect with buzz words and snake oil with no facts. Those surveys are real information for real waterfowl hunters, not to give me an excuse to complain, sorry.
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Hdshot,
You can set the bar wherever you want.
The fact is that there are plenty of ducks out there if you're willing to put in a little work.
You seem to complain on every waterfowl thread.
Maybe try to go chase some ducks.
Reality is real and most agree but don’t like it because they only want to deflect with buzz words and snake oil with no facts. Those surveys are real information for real waterfowl hunters, not to give me an excuse to complain, sorry.
Well, I can certainly understand why you don't hunt.
If I had your attitude, I wouldn't hunt either.
I hope you find something you can enjoy. Seriously.
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Duck numbers have always fluctuated, and dramatically. Just gotta have some perspective...
https://www.ducks.org/hunting/duck-hunting-stories/how-good-were-the-good-old-days (https://www.ducks.org/hunting/duck-hunting-stories/how-good-were-the-good-old-days)
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Someone that truly loves waterfowl and loves to hunt hunts on the good years and bad and respects them all the same. Quit complaining and go hunt and enjoy the birds and the challenge/struggles they bring.
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:yeah: also the king of ducks isn't the Mallard it's the canvasback. Those birds are so fricken cool.
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Don't get me wrong, the last couple years have been hard on waterfowl. Avian flu hammered them last year and I read that a late freeze severely hurt nesting this year. Its evidenced in the Skagit snow geese where there are virtually no juveniles.
That said, everything is cyclical and nature tends to check populations in its own way. And I very much do not agree with the application of macrodata, in this case nationwide numbers, being used to represent trends on a local level.
I don't know how many times a nonhunter has told me that deer numbers are out of control because they read some article about whitetails in the eastern US.
Oh and passenger pigeons? Really? As if that correlates AT ALL to waterfowl.
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Those numbers show pintail #s are down. Not in the pacific flyway from what I see.
There are reasons to despair about duck hunting:
1. loss of public access and the rise in leased property. (not alot of free private permission these days.)
2. Crowded areas due to #1.
3. Weather seems to hit later and later every year. ( for instance take now its January, the season closes in ~3 weeks and its just now getting cold.)
I don't think the actual #of ducks in the pacific flyway is making hunts unsuccessful. Its a combo of the reasons above.
That isn't to say I don't worry about Avian Influenza, nesting issues, and the populations of ducks as a whole going down, I do.
I have never thought by the end of January that I hadn't seen as many ducks as I usually do in a year.
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Those numbers show pintail #s are down. Not in the pacific flyway from what I see.
There are reasons to despair about duck hunting:
1. loss of public access and the rise in leased property. (not alot of free private permission these days.)
2. Crowded areas due to #1.
3. Weather seems to hit later and later every year. ( for instance take now its January, the season closes in ~3 weeks and its just now getting cold.)
I don't think the actual #of ducks in the pacific flyway is making hunts unsuccessful. Its a combo of the reasons above.
That isn't to say I don't worry about Avian Influenza, nesting issues, and the populations of ducks as a whole going down, I do.
I have never thought by the end of January that I hadn't seen as many ducks as I usually do in a year.
I don’t know about despair. Concern might be a better choice of word. I think we can all agree that there are issues with Waterfowl. However I don’t agree with going into every thread and bitching a moaning on and on about these things. It’s gotten so old and repetitive from the one member who cry’s on every thread. He has been offered to be taken hunting, given multiple other options, been shown that it can still be fun and yet keeps crying. I think we all understand why his old hunting buddy doesn’t hunt with him anymore. I wouldn’t want to sit in a blind and listen to someone complain all morning either.
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Those numbers show pintail #s are down. Not in the pacific flyway from what I see.
There are reasons to despair about duck hunting:
1. loss of public access and the rise in leased property. (not alot of free private permission these days.)
2. Crowded areas due to #1.
3. Weather seems to hit later and later every year. ( for instance take now its January, the season closes in ~3 weeks and its just now getting cold.)
I don't think the actual #of ducks in the pacific flyway is making hunts unsuccessful. Its a combo of the reasons above.
That isn't to say I don't worry about Avian Influenza, nesting issues, and the populations of ducks as a whole going down, I do.
I have never thought by the end of January that I hadn't seen as many ducks as I usually do in a year.
I don’t know about despair. Concern might be a better choice of word. I think we can all agree that there are issues with Waterfowl. However I don’t agree with going into every thread and bitching a moaning on and on about these things. It’s gotten so old and repetitive from the one member who cry’s on every thread. He has been offered to be taken hunting, given multiple other options, been shown that it can still be fun and yet keeps crying. I think we all understand why his old hunting buddy doesn’t hunt with him anymore. I wouldn’t want to sit in a blind and listen to someone complain all morning either.
We can say "Concern"
Clearly there is more going on here than just duck talk that I'm not savvy to.
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Those numbers show pintail #s are down. Not in the pacific flyway from what I see.
There are reasons to despair about duck hunting:
1. loss of public access and the rise in leased property. (not alot of free private permission these days.)
2. Crowded areas due to #1.
3. Weather seems to hit later and later every year. ( for instance take now its January, the season closes in ~3 weeks and its just now getting cold.)
I don't think the actual #of ducks in the pacific flyway is making hunts unsuccessful. Its a combo of the reasons above.
That isn't to say I don't worry about Avian Influenza, nesting issues, and the populations of ducks as a whole going down, I do.
I have never thought by the end of January that I hadn't seen as many ducks as I usually do in a year.
I don’t know about despair. Concern might be a better choice of word. I think we can all agree that there are issues with Waterfowl. However I don’t agree with going into every thread and bitching a moaning on and on about these things. It’s gotten so old and repetitive from the one member who cry’s on every thread. He has been offered to be taken hunting, given multiple other options, been shown that it can still be fun and yet keeps crying. I think we all understand why his old hunting buddy doesn’t hunt with him anymore. I wouldn’t want to sit in a blind and listen to someone complain all morning either.
We can say "Concern"
Clearly there is more going on here than just duck talk that I'm not savvy to.
I will agree that this years weather is completely out of wack. It’s been so warm on the westside. I still see some ducks but it seems like it’s been a trickle and not big pushes with lots of numbers. To be fair I haven’t gotten out as much the last couple weeks cause of holidays birthdays and sickness in my household.
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Those numbers show pintail #s are down. Not in the pacific flyway from what I see.
There are reasons to despair about duck hunting:
1. loss of public access and the rise in leased property. (not alot of free private permission these days.)
2. Crowded areas due to #1.
3. Weather seems to hit later and later every year. ( for instance take now its January, the season closes in ~3 weeks and its just now getting cold.)
I don't think the actual #of ducks in the pacific flyway is making hunts unsuccessful. Its a combo of the reasons above.
That isn't to say I don't worry about Avian Influenza, nesting issues, and the populations of ducks as a whole going down, I do.
I have never thought by the end of January that I hadn't seen as many ducks as I usually do in a year.
I don’t know about despair. Concern might be a better choice of word. I think we can all agree that there are issues with Waterfowl. However I don’t agree with going into every thread and bitching a moaning on and on about these things. It’s gotten so old and repetitive from the one member who cry’s on every thread. He has been offered to be taken hunting, given multiple other options, been shown that it can still be fun and yet keeps crying. I think we all understand why his old hunting buddy doesn’t hunt with him anymore. I wouldn’t want to sit in a blind and listen to someone complain all morning either.
If you’re talking about me? Have not gotten one invite as expected and not my intention either. Some made soft talk invites out of season only to make possible good reading for new people looking to start waterfowl hunting but nothing else from what I got which is fine with me.
Just sharing what the messenger is trying to tell us such as Delta and Du which is not good and don’t like it either but it’s a real world.
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Don't get me wrong, the last couple years have been hard on waterfowl. Avian flu hammered them last year and I read that a late freeze severely hurt nesting this year. Its evidenced in the Skagit snow geese where there are virtually no juveniles.
That said, everything is cyclical and nature tends to check populations in its own way. And I very much do not agree with the application of macrodata, in this case nationwide numbers, being used to represent trends on a local level.
I don't know how many times a nonhunter has told me that deer numbers are out of control because they read some article about whitetails in the eastern US.
Oh and passenger pigeons? Really? As if that correlates AT ALL to waterfowl.
The passenger pigeon is or was migratory like waterfowl. Doves even correlates with migratory bird seasons and regulations.
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:yeah: also the king of ducks isn't the Mallard it's the canvasback. Those birds are so fricken cool.
Canvasbacks are cool but the king of ducks made the first duck stamp ever. It was probably a lick and stick and might have been that way when I started.
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Couple interesting videos on the passenger. Never heard of squabbing for food before.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Uky2pgwyZk4&t=4s&pp=ygUQcGFzc2VuZ2VyIHBpZ2Vvbg%3D%3D
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kxBFbiD4gSg&pp=ygUacGFzc2VuZ2VyIHBpZ2VvbiBtaW5uaXNvdGE%3D
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This has been my first season hunting McNary. Obviously we have not had any real winter weather yet, so I am curious with this cold snap setting in earlier than I would have liked will the slough be frozen over for tomorrow morning?
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This has been my first season hunting McNary. Obviously we have not had any real winter weather yet, so I am curious with this cold snap setting in earlier than I would have liked will the slough be frozen over for tomorrow morning?
There will be some open spots but unfortunately the whole tri cities will be lined up to hunt there this weekend. Tuesday could have been the best conditions with a smaller crowd possibly but unfortunately they are closed that day. Good luck because trying to get 30 years of waterfowling restarted again but looking like I will have to keep the gun cold for another year at least with no license, no hunt partner, and no locations for a decent hunt or two.
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All im hearing from you is no, no and more no. Go grab your gun and shoot some birds. Do you need a hunting partner for that? Borrow a dog if you don't have 1. And maybe stay off the huntwa forum with your GD negativity. Getting old, actually its really old...
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All im hearing from you is no, no and more no. Go grab your gun and shoot some birds. Do you need a hunting partner for that? Borrow a dog if you don't have 1. And maybe stay off the huntwa forum with your GD negativity. Getting old, actually its really old...
Agreed :yeah:
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It is a purpose troll. Just treat it like bad advertising and ingnore it.
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Definitely old. Some people do nothing but b**ch. there will be some open water and where ice is should be easy enough to break. Should be great hunting this weekend with a good northern push of birds. Good luck, get out and have some fun that’s what it’s all about.
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All im hearing from you is no, no and more no. Go grab your gun and shoot some birds. Do you need a hunting partner for that? Borrow a dog if you don't have 1. And maybe stay off the huntwa forum with your GD negativity. Getting old, actually its really old...
Sounds you believe people don’t have freedom of speech to share true life experiences, just like my former hunting partner. If you want to talk about negativity just read your post please, thank you.