Hunting Reports Week 12/27 - 1/2/2004

Rauly · 12-27-2003, 05:58 AM

Not many tags left to fill but I know some of you guys have them. Lets here whats up and maybe kick BOE in the rear to get the Cat Hunt going.

Rauly

The Overfishin Condition · 12-27-2003, 10:01 PM

Went out in the snow to look for grouse, or maybe coyotes. Also wanted a chance to try out the new digital camera in the field. Cut quite a bit of coyote track, but nothing screaming fresh, and saw three deer(one buck) and probably a total of a dozen + elk, which we caught glimpses of, and some little clearer looks. Here's a shot of two elk that we kicked off a power line (darn near stepped on them) then they crossed the back across the powerline about 50 yards off. So this is 50 yards through pretty heavy snow using optical and digital zoom, I think it worked pretty well all things considering.

Fishfaced · 12-28-2003, 12:27 PM

Nice photos HH. I got a little Christmas cash and am looking for a digital camera. What are you using, do you have any advice for my new purchase? I hunt and fish of course and looking to use outdoors. 4 to 5 hundred $ mark. am I in the neighborhood?

ANDYCOHO · 12-28-2003, 01:06 PM

Just got back from the Westside...

Drew Chips 155 & 153 :whazzup: But I brought the boat and decided to stick it out and see if there was any "Boat Only" Blinds left.

Ended up being the last chip called, but we were still able to get a blind on Steelman. Ended up with 1 Mallard, 1 Teal and 3 Widgeon. Not too bad considering Mud #2 only had 2 birds when they checked out :tongue:

Not many birds flying, we only had singles come in no pairs or flocks....

The Overfishin Condition · 12-28-2003, 05:06 PM

Fishfaced- the camera I was using was an Olympus D-560, seems like a real nice camera, but probably not optimum for outdoor use. I bought a carry-case for it that is all weather, has some padding, and a sewn in waterproof cover, so even in the snow and rain yesterday the camera stayed dry and cozy. I think cannon makes an all weather outdoors camera. I didn't research the cameras much, dad just picked it out. It was about 250 I think. I'll look up that other camera for you if I get a chance. Hope that helps, TOC.

nitrobass · 12-28-2003, 05:24 PM

Hunted south of Finley today and smoked the ducks, limits for 6 people. Lots of wigeon in the area, also teal and a small number of mallards. Pintails were also around in big numbers and the drakes are starting to look really good.

Rauly · 12-28-2003, 07:26 PM

Went out with Get Bit for the last 1 1/2 hours of legal light and got 1 Drake Pintail 2 Drake Woodys. Cold and pouring rain. Finaly some duck weather.

Rauly

Fishfaced · 12-29-2003, 05:38 PM

Wind out of the north @10+, Low clouds, Snow, 34 degrees.Sounds like the duck sinaro we have been waiting for for about 5yrs now. WRONG. Saw two ducks all day. No BS. Not untill I went around to the east side at the view point next the kenels, walked up and saw lots and lots of ducks on the big lake. I am so frustrated. When I started hunting the Sauvie Island (this is my 4th year) I really thought I'd see some world class duck hunting. Mostly seen a bunch of smart ducks that lift off 10 minn + Shooting and come back 15 minn after. The refuge is really doing its job. Hey, anybody got any cheese,cause I am whineing!!!!

birdhunter · 12-30-2003, 09:28 AM

Went out this weeekend around the South Cascades. Trouble getting anywhere as most of the roads were closed by snow or by windfall. You'd saw 3 or 4 trees, go around the corner and there would be 3 or 4 more trees. Managed to bust up 6 coveys of mt. quail, but only got 2 birds. Never even saw a grouse - very depressing. Jumped a pond and picked up 3 ringnecks. Just driving around there seemed to be quite a few ducks (mostly wigeon) in the Umpqua Valley. Saw a couple really nice bucks and found a big 4x5 dead. Kicking myself for not making it down to a friends ranch earlier this fall. Riding horses checking fence on Saturday, jumped 6 rooster pheasant. Anyhow, that's the report.

Lured In · 12-31-2003, 09:36 AM

Hunted Sauvie's Eastside yesterday. Pretty slow to begin with, but things cut loose from about 1230 - 230pm. We were competing with another spread about 200 yards away. The birds looked both spreads over, making several passes on the edge of shootable range, but seemed to bug out rather than committing to either of us. The other guys were running two spinners, which seemed to get the birds attention, but they still didn't fully commit. We set up a 3 rig jerk string that helped us a bit in competing with the spinners.

Ended up with 4 birds for 2 guns (one pin, one widgeon and two teal.). We missed a chip shot on a pair of widgeon at 20 yards and a few other gimmies, so the results should have been better.

After 230, somebody turned off the duck switch and virtually nothing was flying. [img]graemlins/1zhelp.gif[/img]

BTW...there was a fair bit of ice, even in the tidal units. Some places it was 30 yards to the edge of the ice.

Buck50 · 12-31-2003, 11:09 PM

AndyCoho,
You drew about as well as my son and I! We pulled 151 & 191 eeech!
We ended up on the eastside in Johnson #7, what a bust. Only one bird even came by for a look. We did hear a fair amount of shooting from Johnson 1-4. Of course that doesn't mean anything, after all we are talking about SI!
With luck maybe this weather will bring us some new birds...

Spooney · 01-01-2004, 07:40 PM

I have been snowed-in for three days. Power up here keeps going off so I am staying close to home. 1,056 feet above sea level and we have 20" of snow on the ground on top of three inches of ice. I am going to Sauvie Island to hunt the east side on the 5th.
I havn't heard any shooting from the McMinnville Duck clubs.
Quail and grouse are eating my bird feed.