Medford duck hunting

[Jeremy]

I will be duck hunting in Medford monday morning at Denman Wildlife Area is anybody familiar with the area and have any tips, This will be my first duck hunt but i am going with a friend who has been there a couple of times, we will be on foot and may have a limited number of decoys but no dog? thanks for the tips. I am going down there for work so i cant go too far away.

[ 10-23-2003, 10:39 AM: Message edited by: Jeremy ]

Drive 1 hr east and hunt Shoalwater Bay on Klamath Lake.

[Lured In]

Keta while I would agree with you about the oppty at Kfalls, its more like 2 hours drive time depending on where in the valley you leave from.

Jeremy I have hunted Denman a couple dozen times and I would say don't get your hopes up. As you may know there are 3 units there. The Hall Tract usually has the best "habitat" but I have rarely heard much shooting from there. I usually hunt the Military Slough Unit which is borded by the Rogue, Little Butte Creek and Industrial property. This particular unit is gated and requires obtaining a key from ODFW in Central Point. (If you don't have a key you are looking at a mile hike in.) The gate is off Agate Road on the river side. Once through the gate, follow the road down to where it dead ends at the Rogue. You can hunt the river or the larger pond closest to the road if there is any water in it. Looking east, you will see a large hill side. At the base of it there are several ponds back in the cattails and trees that usually have ducks on them first thing in the morning. We usually set up on one of the islands on the main pond or in the SW corner against the dike. Weather is everything there. There are several large farm ponds in the area (private), including a huge one right across the river. When the wind blows, they will sometimes fly over to Denman.

It is usually a morning shoot with VERY sporadic action. There used to be tons of woodies that roosted in those ponds that always seemed to fly out just before shooting time. Same with the local mallards. During the morning you can expect a few pairs and single mallards to come in off the river, but they generally don't decoy very well.

I have been the only one there at times, and left because it was too crowded other times. It never seems to fail that someone comes bopping down the road right at shooting time and wants to set up. This usually gets the birds up and ends the day for everyone before it even began. [img]graemlins/1zhelp.gif[/img]

If you get the chance to scout it the evening before that will help you see where the ducks are going into. They generally fly back to roost shortly after shooting time ends.

Good luck.

LI,
Medford to KF 70 miles, 1hr 15 min. Shoalwatter Bay is 15 or 20 miles west of town at the base of Doak Mt.

[ 10-23-2003, 09:08 PM: Message edited by: Keta ]

[Erich_870]

Keta, your right about the 1hr 15 min. I'd like to know more about Shaolwater bay. I have been hunting the Wood River lately becuase I don't know what road to take to get to Shoalwater bay. How do you hunt it? I have a kayak and bike.

Erich

[Erich_870]

Let me refraze that, I'm not dubm :grin: I don't know what road to take off of 140 to get to it, all the maps I have don't show a road.

Erich,

Email me and I'll give you my phone number.

There are two ways to Shoalwatter Bay. One is at the top of Doak Mt. and is a bit hard to describe. The other one is at the bottom of Doak Mt, on the west side. Turn right like you were going into Rock Creek Ranch and keep on the main road. The bay will be on the left.

There is another marsh north of 140 on the west side of Howard Bay, about 1/2 miles off of the road, that you could paddle to.

[ 10-23-2003, 09:14 PM: Message edited by: Keta ]

[Lured In]

Whoa...! Keta...notice I said depending on where in the valley he was coming from. My folks live just outside of Shady cover and we have to weave our way down to HWY 140(?) to get over there. Not trying to pick a fight, my bad.

Now can anyone else offer some info on Denman?

LI,
I didn't take it that way and hope you didn't think I was getting down on you. If you go through Butte Falls it will cut some time off the trip. We can get to Lost Creek in about 1-1/2 hrs.

PS:
Check out some of my posts. You will know if I'm getting on your case :grin:

[ 10-24-2003, 09:00 AM: Message edited by: Keta ]

[Bubzilla]

notice I said depending on where in the valley he was coming from. My folks live just outside of Shady cover and we have to weave our way down to HWY 140(?) to get over there.

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helv">If you'll head up the Rogue on Hwy 62, take a right on Crowfoot Rd, followed by a left on the Butte Falls-Fish Lake Rd., and then a left onto 140 you can get to Shoalwater Bay from Shady Cove in a touch over an hour without having to drive like an Earnhardt. Of course, if you drive like a little ol' lady makin' her way to get her hair done, it could take three hours too.

Even in the dead of winter, though, the trip to the Rogue from Klamath via the route I described seldom takes over an hour and a half.

As far as Denman goes, weather has been bluebird in the extreme. Not much indicating a change in the near future, either. Quite a few Mallards on and around the Rogue still, but I think the weather, or more specifically the lack thereof, will be a major factor. Might want to leave the gun at home and plan on doing some steelheading. The "fly only" season is still on, and the fishing has been great.

[ 10-24-2003, 11:34 AM: Message edited by: Bubzilla ]

[Special K]

Keta - I have been meaning to get down to the upper lake and explore a bit. Not looking for you secrets, but out of curiousity, are you shooting puddlers or divers on Shoalwater Bay? I have looked at that and Hanks Marsh as starting points (I have a boat) to explore. Any little tidbits would help.
thanks
Special K

I haven't hunted ducks for over 25 years (about the time the pintail population crashed). There are lots of divers out in the open bay. Resident malards and teal in the weeds now. Later on the gadwall and northern malards as well as lots of spoonbill will be there. Lost River and the Klamath downriver of Miller Island usualy is hot later in the season.