Willamette River Ducks

Hookset · 11-17-2001, 08:35 AM

Does anyone here hunt the Willamette river for ducks? The only public duck hunting readily available in my area (southern valley) is the Willamette. From what I read here, sounds like the Columbia has some birds and a little early for the valley.

Used to take my old boat on the river, just not the new one, a little to big for getting into tight places plus I hate to scratch the boat up. I don't miss the competition (leave at midnight)for the quality locations, but I do miss the bird hunting.

Any southern valley duck hunters here?

Gregg

MoJet Driver · 11-17-2001, 08:55 AM

Hookset,

Flathead is supposed to be and I emphasize "supposed" to be scouting that sort of thing out this weekend. I'm going to stuff him with an old turkey carcass next weekend if he hasn't done his homework.

There's a couple of launches between Corvallis and Harrisburg that I am aware of.

Yoo hoo, Flathead, you better be out there looking, NOW two of us want to know.

Hookset · 11-17-2001, 10:43 PM

Yes, have hunted the area between Corvallis and Harisburg before, launching at Peoria. I live a few miles from Buena Vista and often have duck hunted from there in the past. I was hoping to find some IFishers who hunt this area for ducks.

Hope Flathead does his homework, otherwise he might be the Thanksgiving Turkey. Now wouldn't that be a fowl tasting bird. :tongue:

Gregg

MoJet Driver · 11-18-2001, 08:55 AM

Ah Bueno Veesta! I have put in at that ramp before on the quest for springers. Nice challenge for those who don't back up a trailer very well.

Flathead and I generally goose hunt on private land but this year we decided to look into some dux too. My feeling is that if this rain keeps as consistent as it is forecasted, quite a bit of sheet water is going to build up in the fields and will hold the dux there. Might have to do some door knocking for permission.

One other thing that doesn't seem to get too much attention here in the Northwest, is doing a float trip down the river for birds. Unfortunately, between me and the Flathead we only have a 12' boat for the drift and NOT too much freeboard. I'm still skeptical about running my sled through unfamiliar territory.

Oh well, the Flathead still has some time to redeem himself... and I'm patient (sort of).

Dave

Flathead · 11-18-2001, 04:47 PM

Ok, here's the scoop. The river is fairly low still. There are ducks in the side channels and still water. The big trick seems to be having enough hunters on the river to keep the birds moving around. From what I could tell navigation shouldn't be to bad as all the gravel bars and tree stumps are pretty visible and I have seen both jets and props launch and coming in at the Peoria ramp. Harrisburg ramp seems to be pretty much a sled and jet show. Hookset is right about one thing though, I wouldn't take a boat in that was to big and couldn't get around in tight places without getting scratched up.

Geese are using the gravel bars pretty much all day and they seem to be mostly Great Basins on the river.

The main channel is pretty well defined right now with the low river conditions. However, if we get as much rain as they are calling for this week the river conditions could change fairly rapidly. For the better? Probably.

As far as sheet water on the fields, I wouldn't count on it to soon. This country is still extremely dry and every rain we've had so far has been soaked up like a sponge.

The river is probably the best bet for ducks right now in the south valley, unless you have some access to private ponds next to the river or one of the refuges or can aford one of the private clubs.

I didn't hunt this weekend because of the persistent fog we had. But, if we get some real weather next weekend the river will be the place to be.

Another person to check with is Thick'n'Thin. I know he hunts the river from the Coburg area to Harrisburg. In fact I think he hunted it last weekend. Birdhunter is another one who might know the river to, since he spends a fair amount of time in Corvallis

birdhunter · 11-18-2001, 06:09 PM

Sorry. Can't help you on that portion. I know some spots around Canby, but the Buena Vista area is still foreign to me. Wouldn't mind learning it some time, so if you need another gun ever..... :grin:

Flathead · 11-18-2001, 06:46 PM

Hey Birdhunter, I've heard that the Canby area can be pretty hot for ducks and geese. Especially when the river comes up. MoJet and I have some private ground east of the Corvallis airport that is great for geese. We'll get something together with you to do some geese down here this year. Saturdays are usually the best day. MoJet usually does a few one day trips down here during the season.

birdhunter · 11-19-2001, 02:38 PM

Flathead,

Thank you very much for the offer. I don't know if I'll be able to shoot any of the big birds, but I'd love to come along. I do all my goose hunting east of I-5 or south of Eugene, so I haven't had to pass the test yet. Will take it for next season at any rate. Thanks.

MoJet Driver · 11-23-2001, 09:22 AM

Flathead just called and said the river came up a bunch. He said it's up 4 feet but then again he also told his wife (before they were married) that... well never mind that... but anyway, the question is: Is this a bad thing?

birdhunter · 11-23-2001, 02:13 PM

Depends. Just drifting, the ducks aren't going to be in their regular spots. If the river is flooding over into fields or timber, than you have some serious potential. I just got back from a quick hunt on the Clackamas this morning. The river had flooded into a field and we got 4 fat mallards jump shooting. I'm sure calling w/ dekes would have been even better. If you know some spots where the ducks like to hang out when the river is moving, I'd try them. Good luck.

Flathead · 11-23-2001, 06:16 PM

The river is up quite a bit, and is still rising as of this afternoon. But, its got a ways to go before it spills its banks. There's quite a bit of junk coming down, trees, limbs, stumps etc...

Think the boys and I will do the goose field hunt thing instead.

willametteriveroutlaw · 11-26-2001, 10:02 PM

I spent all last year hunting the wilamatte river in the salem area. There are numerous place to hunt around here with lots of good launches. The boat I used last year is out of commission.. I will trade My knowledge for a ride.. last year I got 73 ducks and 36 geese within 20 miles of salem. Also anyone who wants to hunt geese during the week let me know I have acess to a fair amout of private land in the aera as well and can always use an extra caller.

Thick-N-Thin · 11-27-2001, 08:30 PM

So how is the hunting been the last week on or near the Willamette? I did hunt two weeks ago and it was pretty poor. That was right before the rain set in. Hunting between Harrisburg and Coburg.

Hey Mojet.... Back in August I ran my jet sled (21ft Maxxum)from the Harrisburg boat ramp to I-5 just North if Eugene. It was pretty low but no problems. With the water level now, there shouldn't be any problem other than any new logs and I don't think that's a problem yet. There are several good spots south of Harrisburg.

I haven't ventured North to Peoria yet. I would like to check that area out. Does anyone here know that portion of the river? Does it have some good areas with some back waters?

Salmonator · 11-27-2001, 10:05 PM

Gregg, a decent spot a few miles above buena vista is the mouth of Blackdog slough. I've killed a lot of birds there including many flyway ducks (teal, bufflehead, shoveler, ring-neck duck ect..). I used to hunt out of my old camo'd sled here but it would be easy to park your boat upstream and tie it to the trees and walk back to hunt.
I used to run the river above the Peoria boat ramp and hunt the meat hole and american can slough but after a few runs up the river at 2am in pea-soup fog to get a decent spot I figured I got lucky too many times and gave it up. I would suggest that anyone who has never run this section of river before do it in broad daylight before trying it in low light.

Flathead · 11-28-2001, 09:10 PM

Thick n Thin, MoJet and I decided to hunt Sloppy Island last weekend and not the river because of the rising water and the junk coming down. But we're still interested in scouting out the section above Peoria and finding some good hunting locations.

Beer Waggin · 11-29-2001, 10:04 AM

I was out last Sunday and was impressed with the amount of birds that were in the valley. Usually we have to take second and third choice spots because the hunting pressure is so great. Sunday we almost had the river to ourselves. I only saw two other boats on the way back to the ramp at about 10:30. We set up at the point on Blackdog. Had bunches of birds coming in, but luck wasn't on our side. Almost everything stayed to far away to get shots off. Even had two sets of ducks land on the backside of our decoy's.
We lost our wonderful caller to cancer last year, so I'm doing my best at learning to call. Turned a few ducks around, but they still didn't get in close.
I actually live in Hillsboro, but store the duck boat in Albany because that's where I like to hunt.
Gregg where are you at? My boat is up on the hill in North Albany, about 10 minutes to Buena Vista.

Salmonator · 12-01-2001, 06:35 PM

I was referring to Hookset Gregg. James, I can understand you not wanting to be referred to as Gregg. I would be upset too... :grin:

Thick-N-Thin · 12-01-2001, 11:59 PM

Hey....You guys calling me Greg or did I just read that wrong :smile: James Here

willametteriveroutlaw · 12-04-2001, 04:49 PM

I ended up scouting on sunday insted of the goose hunting because of high water. There are a fair # of birds in the valley right now, but there really spread out. When and if the water falls and the fields dry out a bit the hunting should be good-excellent. Right now though all of the reports I have been getting are that the ducks are in the flooded cornfields and sheet water. Not much on the river. But all of the little sloughs near private land are filled right now and you can get back into some really good spots. I saw most of the birds up in the newberg-saint paul area on sunday.