Valley Ducks FYI

bigshark · 12-15-2001, 03:21 PM

In the cartoon the dog asks " which way did they go?" over and over. Today I think I know how he felt. Where are those valley ducks? Checked out the Baskett Slough Refuge and there were a few, but darn few for this time of year. Scouted the
sheet water out toward Perrydale and then out past Independence....nothing! Maybe they are in
California with those "fastlane" yuppie ducks. I
don't know. Today was perfect weather, wet...windy
....and low visibilty......only geese....no ducks.......hunted til noon and had one group of four spoony drakes come in.....other than that we didn't even see any flying.
So if your going tomarrow I hope its not down in that area. I'm going back to the island.

Meridian · 12-16-2001, 05:18 AM

I was out on the Island Saturday. Just not that good. There were ducks flying but not working the decoys very well. I was only there for the evening hunt. We got six or eight birds for 6 guns. I will give it a try this evening again.

Tilla · 12-17-2001, 09:02 AM

If you look real carefully off Hwy 30 west of the SI bridge in the Malarky bottoms you'll see a pretty ducky site. A newly rain flooded pond held several thousand ducks next door to our place on Sat. No one was hunting it. Mostly Teal but they swarmed like bees all morning. Couldn't get a single bird to turn. :depressed:

MoJet Driver · 12-17-2001, 12:57 PM

Boardman blew the big one too.

Lots of mallards flying at first light. The problem was they had been feeding all night and were headed back to roost areas in the no hunting zones.

Not much in the way of geese either, at least not like it has been in years past. I wonder if the 60 degree weather on Sunday had anything to do with it.

Looks like I'll have better chances of hanging up the shotgun and head out steelhead fishing.

Flathead · 12-17-2001, 01:17 PM

Ducks are definently slow in the south valley also. Plenty of sheet water but no birds. I did scratch down a limit of geese on Saturday, on some new ground I just got access to. 3 great basins, 1 cackler. It seems to be a repeat of last year, great goose hunting, terrible duck hunting. Hmm, I wonder how the duck clubs in the south valley are doing.

Thick-N-Thin · 12-17-2001, 08:04 PM

Slow here at the end of the valley too! The report from this morning at Fernridge was that very few ducks were flying, but the cacklers were thick. Hmmm wondering if this is going to keep up?

Jim · 12-17-2001, 10:30 PM

Pins, Widgeon and Teal all showed up Sunday morning in the Chehalis Valley!! FINALLY!!

Jim

birdhunter · 12-17-2001, 11:34 PM

Duck hunting has been really slow on the East side as well. I got one mallard Friday on a spot that had been really kicking them out. Saw 7 fly by yesterday, but no takers. Pretty slow. The fields are all nicely flooded, but no takers. The storm definately blew out most of our birds. I was on the Deschutes on Saturday checking out spots from Redmond to the Dalles. Some really good jump shooting just outside of Warm Springs on some cattle ponds. Lots and lots of ducks over there. Some birds are on the river, but mostly geese. If you have land over there, a trip might be worthwhile. Good luck.

[ 12-17-2001: Message edited by: birdhunter ]</p>

XXL · 12-18-2001, 06:33 AM

Hello All,
Just got signed up, ready to start telling lies and denying accusations. I envy you guys on the west side who still have liquid water. I'ts all pretty much froze up over here in the Grande Ronde Valley. A few ducks and Geese around, but unless we get a good thaw in the next few weeks I won't be putting any dekes out. Beautiful sunrise this morning on a clear cold day. Ladd Marsh open tomorrow, maybe get some pass shooting in after work. You all have a good Holiday.
XXL

bigshark · 12-18-2001, 10:02 AM

Hi XXL, glad you are on the board. With your valley water frozen-up, whats the closest open water? Would it be the Snake and is there much
action on it? If your valley thaws out, where will the birds come back from?

Get Bit · 12-18-2001, 03:41 PM

Hey Jim,
Thats great new!!! Shoot'em up and send'em our way !!!

Get Bit

Jim · 12-18-2001, 05:03 PM

Doin my best bit! Mostly pins though...I told them all to go away...you can have them pesky critters........

Jim

Get Bit · 12-18-2001, 08:54 PM

Jim,
One big Bull Sprig is better then none !!

Get Bit

XXL · 12-19-2001, 06:35 AM

Bigshark,
Ladd Marsh will sometimes have some open water along with Hot Lake. Until it gets really cold, both the Grande Ronde River and Catherine Cr will also have open water. I don't hunt the Snake as I am currently sans boat and it is about 100 miles one way to gain access. Very meager flights this time of year for us. I've often felt the season should be opened and closed earlier over here so we'd have more hunting time while there is still open water.
ODFW is working on a big project at Ladd Marsh installing head gates, building dikes and preparing habitat. They plan to pipe "sanitized" sewage treatment plant water into the complex for nesting and habitat improvement. Waterfowl hunting may improve in the next year or two...hope so. Thanks for the welcome, good hunting.
XXL