SRD Waterfowl Report

skahorse · 10-20-2003, 07:02 AM

One word: DEAD. Not the birds, the action. I went out to the Sandy River Delta this weekend(Sat & Sun) with a buddy of mine and there was very little to shoot at.

Saturday: we underestimated the hike in, and didn't get our dekes out, and blind setup until about 7:30. We heard quite a few gunshots, but couldn't see much going on. Saturday was by far the better of the 2 days, even though it was sunny and warm. We had a lone greenhead come through, and we called him in. He was heading for the deke spread, and I took the shot, missing horribly. I guess you could call it "Duck Fever"

seeing as it was the first duck I've ever shot at. That night we decided to go shoot some clays, and practice some more before the next morning. That was about all of the action for Saturday. We saw several small groups of Ducks (3-6 birds) but none were interested. We saw tons of high flying geese, but I have no idea of how to get there attention. So, we went home empty handed.

Sunday: Now, looking at the weather forecast(rain, and cloudy) Saturday night we thought for sure the action had to be better the next morning. Boy were we wrong! We didn't see one duck the whole morning. Not one. The closest we got to any action was 4 geese flying into another guys deke spread about 100 yds from us. From our vantage point it looked like the geese were walking in this guys decoys. But he wasn't doing anything. Just sitting there. The geese were there for about 10 minutes, with nothing going on. They finally headed back out towards the middle of the water, and out of range. After another 10 minutes of just sitting there, they took off... Right towards us, just a little out of range though. We took shots anyways, just because we were bored, but it was pointless.

Later we found out that our depth perception was off a litte. It looked like the geese were right in front of him, but they were actually about 15yds towards us, away from him(I would have still took that shot). So he was trying to get them a little closer. I looked at his spread when I was over talking to him, and he just had one big clump of decoys in front of him. Now, I don't know much about waterfowling, but I do know that you want to make 2 groups of birds, one to the left and one to the right, so that the birds will have a landing strip right in the middle.(I read this in Sept. Field and Stream And this was the problem with this guys geese, they landed outside of the dekes, and therefore outside of his range. Never getting closer. After another hour of sitting around staring at seagulls and sparrows we decided to leave empty handed.

2 days, no birds, not what I envisioned for my first waterfowl hunt. I still had fun though, and it was nice just to get out. On the plus side of it, I took my 10 week old Choc. Lab with us on Sunday. I found out he's not gunshy at all. He also got a chance to romp around in the water(his first). He hiked in and out(to the hunting spot), the whole way. This is the most walking I've seen him do at once. We also took him Saturday afternoon to shoot clays, and every clay we shot he would stare at it as it falled to the ground. You could tell he wanted to go after it, but he was just a little scared. He doesn't like straying away from me more than 20 - 30 feet. But he's getting better.

Next week we are thinking Sauvies Island... Did anyone else have any luck this weekend?

--Skahorse

Flatfish · 10-20-2003, 07:29 AM

Sounds like a good time was had by all

While a lot of folks do not agree, taking pup to the hunt is fine at this young age. It is pup's job to hunt. Might as well learn the job when he/she is young.

Is goose season even open( I shoot ducks a lot. I shoot geese when invited)? I am not 100% sure of the seasons.

Wait til pup sees a duck fall! Will know his job then :smile: After the first duck, stop hunting and play with pup ( using the duck) for a while. Once the dog gets the game, and his part in it, the rest is easy. Fling the bird in the air, have your buddy shoot( standing away from you a bit- 10-15 yards or so) and have the dog stay until you release. You will probably have to hold pup from bolting. But there aint no training like the real deal. And it only costs you one duck.

Pics of the pup are due every Thursday by 10 am sharp. [img]graemlins/program.gif[/img]

Sounds fun.

Mark and the waiting for water dog.

Swamp Puppy · 10-20-2003, 07:41 AM

Ska - i've been out to Sauvies 3 times since the opener. it has been pretty slow out there, but if you happen to find yourself in the spot where the birds are working that day you'll get some action. the only problem is..it is anyone's guess as to where that will be. if nothing else, you should get the opportunity to swat a bird or two at the very least. i'l be going out there tomorrow and i'll give you a fresh update on how it is looking. you can check the ODFW site for bird counts...i would take those current averages with a grain of salt though. they had a very small number of hunters shoot a bunch of birds last wednesday and really bumped the numbers up. prior to that it was around 0.8-0.9 birds per hunter.

[ 10-20-2003, 08:44 AM: Message edited by: Mossberg_3.5 ]

Lured In · 10-20-2003, 08:13 AM

Skahorse...congrats on what sounds like a fun first hunt. Yes that walk into there is a long one.

A couple thoughts for you, if you don't mind. Getting pumped over an inbound bird is part of the fun. Try to keep a cool hand (and barrel) until you are certain the bird is in range. We've all been there.

A handy trick is to pace off no more than 35-40 steps from you blind to the farthest decoy. (it will end up being about 30 yards as most of us don't have a 3 foot stride.) As the birds cross over your farthest deke, you will know they are in range.

As the year progresses, you will start to see birds skirting the outside of your decoys. By keeping your decoys in closer, you can often fools the birds into coming closer to the guns. (This can also backfire, like anything else in waterfowling.)

Keep in mind, use the wind and your spread to make the ducks come in close. If you have a crossing wind (ex: left to right), set your decoys upwind of you in a arch. Place more decoys closer to the beach/blind side of the arch. Ducks will generally key in on the larger section of the decoys.

Two groups of decoys works well, especially with the wind at your back or slightly crossing off your back. If this is the case, try to keep the opening just off to the side of the blind, so incoming birds are not looking right into the blind.

Much of this you will learn with experience, and that is half the fun of waterfowling. :grin:

One caution for you, though. Pass shooting geese is an art most (myself included) do not have the ability to do reliably. It takes large loads, tight chokes and an awesome lead. Pass shooting geese (or ducks) that you don't kill, only educates the birds to decoys/calls/blinds, etc. Also, given what you described, had you crippled the goose, you may not have been able to retrieve it (or your new pup

) Restraint and being conservative in your shot selection will result in more birds in your bag, less educated birds and fewer unretrievable cripples.

Not trying to get on you, as we have all been in your shoes. I am just trying to help you make a fun and successful entry into waterfowling. :smile:

Steelhead Hound · 10-20-2003, 08:23 AM

went out on the sandy delta friday and got 9 ducks and 3 geese for my buddy and I.

Chromaflage · 10-20-2003, 08:35 AM

Ska - I've hunted the SRD quite a bit. I've found that on nice days with no wind, setting up in big water areas with LOTS of decoys is the ticket. This kind of makes for a long trek in there on foot. The reason that other guy had a small spread was probably because he did not wnt to mule in a bunch of weight.

For stormier days, I'll find some pocket water near the main river - some place where the birds might like to find cover and roost for a bit.

I've also found that when there is competition and shooting out there, that can be a good thing - keeps the birds moving.

ORS

skahorse · 10-20-2003, 10:16 AM

Flatfish:
Goose season is open outside of the NW Permit Zone, which SRD is. I defintely plan on letting him(pup) play with the duck, though I am little hesitant as too how much... At home, with his toys, he tends to like to shake things violently. Also, he doesn't like to give back the fetch toy. He struts around with it. It's probably too early to try and break him of these things, and I don't want him to associate duck time with keep away. Any advice? And I have been slacking on the pics, I'll take some today/tommorrow and get them up here before they are late :shocked: :grin: .

Mossberg:
I look forward to the update. I'm not sure if I want to go out there(SI) or not. I don't like the idea of not being able to shoot a goose. Also, I've never been out there, so I want to learn just one spot and figure it out, rather than keep trying different places. But, my buddy thinks thats were we need to go to get good chances at the ducks.

Lured In:
Thanks for the advice on the decoy setup. I knew the 2 group set worked for wind behind you situations. But I wasn't sure about the side winds(which is what we encountered both days). One question about that, should the blind be on the inside of the arc? or outside? About the pass shooting, I knew we didn't have a chance, and afterwards I kicked myself because of the firing. If there were any birds nearby, they weren't anymore... However, if I did get one, I was ready to dive in myself and get it :shocked: . We were getting anxious for birds, and pup wouldn't get it, the geese were probably twice his size.

ORS:
Thanks for the advice(today, and previous). You're the man.

--Skahorse

Chromaflage · 10-20-2003, 10:52 AM

Ska - you have mail.

ors

10-20-2003, 02:18 PM

We usualy used a hook pattern with a nice opening infront of the blind. We also had over 100 decoys and two or more callers. Not too many ducks down here in the Klamath Basin yet either.

steelhead22 · 10-20-2003, 05:48 PM

I'm with Keta on the "hook" pattern, but I think I'm going to give your's a shot Lured In. That one looks like a keeper, and one that could work with a smaller number of decoys. Hopefully I'll be givin' it a shot this Thursday at Sauvie's. Will report back.

Lured In · 10-20-2003, 07:31 PM

Keta and ST22....I am a big fan of the hook also, but I prefer it for times when you can't avoid having the wind in your face.

I put the "bend" in the hook as far from the blind as possible with the 'shank' running back to the blind. Again though I load up the area closest to where I want the birds to key.

My diagram didn't come through very well. It should actually have a bit more curve in it. More like an arch with a 'wide' side.

Flatfish · 10-20-2003, 07:32 PM

If the dog swims, let him do a short fetch. Meet pup in water deep enough to make him swim. Take the duck out of his mouth and say "Give" or "Drop" or whatever command you use for "lemme have that". With pup swimming, tug of war is easy to avoid.

I think you can break the hardmouth issues later with nails or barbed wire.

But for now, just let pup learn his job. There is time to polish him up later.

Oh yeah, and shoot them geese when they are close.

As far as getting tingles when there are birds working, jeez that's part of the whole thing. I like the tingles too much. Always want them to drop into the dekes feet first. we even pass 20 yard gimmies for the tingles.

Let em get close enough, and shoot em in the face.

Mark and the not so politically correct and happy about it dog.

Lured In · 10-20-2003, 11:11 PM

I will try and give you an example. (*) are decoys and the (______) is the beach. (The dashes are the only way I could get the spacing right. but they would represent the water or field). (X) is the landing zone.

wind direction
<---------

---------------*
---------------**
----------------**
-----------------***
------------X----****
----------------******
---------------********
---------------**********
----------------********
------------------****
________________________
//Blind//

In this example the birds will land into the wind from the left. Ideally, the birds will try to sit in the pocket just outside of the widest point in the spread. You can also leave pockets in the group for birds that want to sit down in the dekes. Decoys shy ducks will often avoid flying over other birds so by moving the the spread upwind you put 'the zone' right in front of the blind. You can also put a few dekes close to the blind and off to the left of it to resemble a flock that just landed and is swimming in.

You can also slant this when the wind is slightly angling off your shoulder.

[ 10-20-2003, 12:13 PM: Message edited by: Lured In ]

skahorse · 10-21-2003, 05:59 AM

Lured In:
Thanks for the diagram! I'll give it a shot if we get the same side wind we had last weekend.

Flatfish:
Nails and Barbed wire? :shocked: :whazzup: I guess I haven't heard that technique before... You'll have to explain that to me sometime. He didn't swim when I took him on sunday, but I plan on taking him out to Hagg lake today or tommorrow with his nice new bumber, and some duck scent. I'll get him swimming [img]graemlins/eek13.gif[/img] :grin: .

ORS:
Looks like we are heading out to SRD again this weekend, if you want to join us PM Me.

Thanks everyone for all of the help!

--Skahorse

Flatfish · 10-21-2003, 07:24 AM

Hopefully pup is not hardmouthing birds. But if he is, you take a dummy and wrab it in barbed wire. Toss it out and let the dog do a regular fetch. He will bleed on the first day( the first fetch). The second day he may bleed. By then end of the week, no more hardmouth.

If you use the foam/canvas dummies, use some finish nails instead of barbed wire.Poke 'em thry so pup has to carry soft, or he gets a zowie.

I would not do this until pup thinks fetching is the greatest thing in the world. Probably a year old or more. Maybe one of the dog dudes here will have a better idea as to when. When pup is young, he will not be a perfectly trained gun dog. If pup hardmouth's birds for a season( as long as he thinks birds are the greatest thing ( bext to you) ever, you have it made.

After pup shows he knows not to eat the dummies, defrost a whole duck from the freezer( this is another fine example of why an outdoorsperson should have a bait freezer. Whole dead ducks and bags full of old shad do not mix well with Ribeyes and elk steaks)wrap it with barbed wire and do a fetch with it. The smell of a real bird excites them more than plastic or canvas. But once he tries to munch a real bird and bleeds, no more munched birds.

This tip comes from friends and gun dog mags. If one of the local dog hotshots wants to interject a better way, it would be wise to listen. A gun dog guru I am not. But I do try to educate myself as to how.

Mark and the midnight feather express.

[ 10-21-2003, 08:24 AM: Message edited by: Flatfish ]