Pintail question

[trouttroller]

I've hunted the Willamette river in Yamhill county for years and have never once shot nor even got one close enough to shoot, a Pintail.
They must be a mostly Pond waterfowl. Has anyone seen one on a the a river? Just wondering.

There aren't near as many pintail as there were in the past.

[1pump]

I've seen a lot of them on the CR. Weird thing is that I've shot far more of them on open water than in the fields, and they're supposed to be a field-loving bird.
And like Keta says, their numbers are way down.

[billc_sbio]

It seems like (even though their overall numbers are down) that in the past month there've been plenty of them out around Sauvie Is and probably Vancouver Lake also.

Pintails generally like large, open, expanses of shallow water.

If you're ever down in the Klamath Basin area around the season opener, stop on Hwy 161 (Stateline Rd.) along the Lower Klamath NWR at a place called White Lake, which is a roadside viewing turnoff, and you'll see THOUSANDS of drake Sprig sitting along shallow island shorelines, in what is a protected area of that NWR.

There's one small pothole, close to Scappoose Flats, that I've hunted...a Mallard honeyhole, that the Sprig often pour into! I've never figured out why they like this cramped spot that would usually never get a second look by a Pintail, but they do.

[Chromaflage]

we hunt ponds on a private farm near the Salem area, about 500 yards off the Willy. Late in the Season (Jan) we see so many pinnies that it becomes very frustrating. And they decoy and respond to mallard calls...

ORS

[ICHTHYDEMON]

I've shot all but one of my Pintails over saltwater marshes. The other was in the O'sullivan Resevoir in E. Wa. I guess it qualifies as a large body of water (23,000 acres).

In the late 50's through the mid 70's large flocks of pintail could be found in the Nuss Lake/Lost River area in the Klamath Basin. Many times they outnumbered the mallards. Lots of them around the Lower Lake and Tule Lake area to, like billc mentioned. There are still quite a few along Stateline Road. Last year I was coming back from steelhead fishing in Grants Pass and Howard Bay on Upper Klamath Lake had a large flock of pintail, on the Geary Canal end. There were also more canvasbacks on the bay than I've seen since the 60's, must have been close to 1000 of them.

I saw a pair of harlequin ducks on Howard Bay this afternoon on the way back home from cutting our Christmas tree, I don’t think I’ve ever seen them on the lake.

[billc_sbio]

Hehe, I live out on the southeast side of Hillsboro...not that far from Jackson Bottoms and all...

Back before the Pintail "dilemna" (I remember when they'd let you shoot 2 MORE ducks providing the extras WERE Pintails!), I sometimes would wake up to the sound of duck hunters shooting on local farmlands that had some blinds and were "clubs" (along Hwy 219). But those ducks were mainly Sprig!

When the limit on Sprig got dropped back to 1 bird, guess what happened to all those "clubs"?!!

[Capin' Dan]

There are tons of them on the lower river. In this area the numbers are strong I would say way above average. It is the central flyway and east coast that is haveing the issues with numnbers. Pacific flyway numbers are healthy. I have shot very little of them over fields of course I do not hunt many fields.

[Wang]

I have happend upon a few in the river over the years but 99% of the ones Ive taken have been in flooded field situations.

[DriftR]

Used to hunt ducks hard in the Willamette Valley. Open fields around the Willametter River always held Pintails. I still remember one hunt. We were picking up our decoys,it was past shooting time. We looked up and the sky was just covered with pintails doing their swirl in. Thousands of them just did the big funnel drop. It was one of those moments when you just take it all in. Never have seen that again with as many birds all at once. Just amazing to see.
I spotted some pintails the other day out by Buena Vista Ferry South of Salem. Don't see them around like I used to however. I think the farmers have gone to grass seed growers and have filled up most of the little potholes that those pintails liked to use.

[Wreckless]

Hunting the Gaston / Wapato area for the last 20 years or so ther used to be steady waves of Pintails ALL DAY. Now we're lucky to see a few now & then. Personally I don't shoot 'em any more. I will WHEN they come back, but for now I just watch 'em stretch their long necks and try to figure out why the decoys don't whistle back!!

[billc_sbio]

"Once upon a time" :grin: I used to (every opportunity I got) try to hunt at Lower Klamath NWR...I'd take my little boat out and "hide" in the flooded tumbleweeds...put out a couple of dozen ALL DRAKE Pintail decoys...

Waaay over against Sheepy Ridge, on a closed area, about every 10 minutes I'd see THOUSANDS of ducks and geese get up, mill around, and sit back down. When I saw that, I'd "get ready". About 2-3 min. later here would come a few small flocks of Pinnies...making their "corkscrew", criss-crossing approach and right INTO my decoys! The BEST Sprig shooting I've ever seen!

Imagine, proudly exiting the field, loading my boat and gear with a Limit of SEVEN Bull Sprig! :tongue:


http://community.webshots.com/photo/...9639vjaCsShOIi

[ 12-09-2003, 10:11 PM: Message edited by: billc_sbio ]

Hey Bill,
You look as ugly and fuzzy as I did back then. We probably shot at each other accross the border too. I sure miss the big flocks of pintail. Did you hunt specks too?

[billc_sbio]

Keta,

ABSOLUTELY! Mostly over at Tulelalke. :grin:

BTW, I've "worked" on my ugliness since then...I'm MUCH uglier now! :smile:

Yes ugly does improve with age :smile:

[Lured In]

Bill that's a great album. m Thanks for sharing.