Hunting Washington Forum
Other Hunting => Waterfowl => Topic started by: CP on November 02, 2009, 12:44:29 PM
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I’ve been hunting a piece of very public land for ducks so far this season. I’ve had several encounters with the other hunters and those encounters have been mostly, and surprisingly, positive. Most folks are respectful, courteous and ethical hunters. My only complaint is the incessant and unproductive calling that goes on. Every duck on the horizon is greeted with choruses of:
http://www.ducks.org/media/hunting/duck%20calling/_audio/greeting_call.wav (http://www.ducks.org/media/hunting/duck%20calling/_audio/greeting_call.wav)
too loud, too long, too much, often the wrong species. I’ve always been a student of minimal calling; just enough to get their attention, then shut up and let the decoys work. The birds are getting “call educated” and are spooked by the calling more than they are attracted by the calling.
Sorry for rant, guess I’m just venting.
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I was at the Samish unit trying to hunt pheasants one last time on Friday in the middle of the day. There was way to many duck hunters to pheasant hunt. I made it about 200 yards into the field and realized every pond had a hunter on it with a few in the open barley also. I couldn't believe the skybusting and the constant calling. One guy just kept on calling and I looked around the entire area and I couldn't see a single duck in sight. There were guys on the dike blasting away. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. It makes me very happy I have some private property I can hunt on.
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I was at the Samish unit trying to hunt pheasants one last time on Friday in the middle of the day. There was way to many duck hunters to pheasant hunt. I made it about 200 yards into the field and realized every pond had a hunter on it with a few in the open barley also. I couldn't believe the skybusting and the constant calling. One guy just kept on calling and I looked around the entire area and I couldn't see a single duck in sight. There were guys on the dike blasting away. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. It makes me very happy I have some private property I can hunt on.
That situation can go both ways. I've been out there hunting ducks, to have multiple pheasant hunters walk right in front of our setup when it's obvious there aren't pheasants in the field. One guy said 'must be a bird in here, my dog never gets birdie if there isn't. did you see a bird in here?' to which i replied 'yeah, we jumped about 5000 ducks out of here at o'dark-thirty before you were even out of bed. maybe your dog smells them' He didn't seem to think that was a possibility.
To the OP, i agree with how annoying guys are with their long cadence competition style hail calls. I've never heard a duck in my life make a sound like that. Ever.
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I duck hunt more than I pheasant hunt so I know how it goes. I was there mid-day on a weekday on a sunny, no wind, warm day so I thought the duck hunters would be few and far between. I gave up after a few hundred yards and enjoyed the non stop over calling. I thought I was a bad caller until I heard some of those guys. :) Releasing pheasants on that unit should stop after duck season starts. They need to come up with another plan. Putting hunters against hunters is not a good plan.
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It used to be the same way at the Fir Island release site, but now that area is a little screwed up, no more pheasant release and a low tide duck shoot.