[curt gibson]

Central part of Oregon was pretty average !! Had my third highest duck count in the last 22 seasons !! Hunted once a week except the holiday weeks !

 

[JeffP_Or]

Ultimately, this season was definitely hit-or-miss for me; looking back though, I tried a number of different 'things' in reaction to some changes I faced at the limited areas I hunt. Most didn't work too well and I burned that time trying; a couple did though so the playbook got a few new pages.

Private was mostly another bust; the island outperformed it again. Looking at the numbers, although it felt a lot slower for me, that was a misconception and partially due to an earlier start - I skipped elk season this year and used the time to start watching ducks earlier. Similar number of days in the field, similar number of birds - they just came 'differently' so it felt really slow being drawn out over a longer period.

I ended up not hunting after January 17 - somewhat out of frustration but in reality as an excuse. I was glad to see the end come to this one - GOOD RIDDANCE, I thought. Yesterday? All I could do was start thinking about next year and how to improve or change or scheme and started the list of 'stuff' I need to improve, replace, do or buy.

Basic observations on bird numbers: fewer teal, average pintail, average to more mallard, fewer wigeon. Most everything else was familiar looking.

Glad those who got out this last week after the cold and were able to find birds finished strong - that would have been a real boost! Congrats!

Right now, got to get out to the duck huts and get the bedding changed out to hopefully see some woodrows or even hoodies return to nest. sigh nine months......

 

[Flatfish]

It's the little things I miss after Black Monday.

I took the boat keys out of my pocket. Been there since October. It's easier to carry them than remember them....which I have failed to do often enough that I simply have them on me all season long.

I carry a lighter for the times when I need to start a heater (Or more importantly, start a fire.....which means something bad has happened. And I need heat NOW).

The non stop puttering in the garage is almost over. Gotta fix up a few decoy weights.

The recycling bin will no longer carry beyond repair decoys, spent hand warmers and empty shells....I mean shell boxes.

It takes a few days to get everything put away and cleaned up. The blind and decoys and everything for the boat is a full day.

The wood calls are no longer drying on my desk(They got a Goldilocks zone of moisture when they sound best. Too dry and too wet is a problem. When they are right, nothing sounds sweeter).

No more burlap or camo hanging in the garage drying.

No hourly checks of the weather station on the desk. Or river heights. Or forecasts from Yukon to Sacramento. Or wind forecasts. Or harvest reports.

I'll throw the bird regs off the front seat of the pickup, off my desk, and out of the boat (Mostly opened up to the legal light page).

The never ending runs for staples (Pepperoni sticks, hand warmers, trail mix, coffee etc) are done.

Even though it was a slow season for me, I'll miss the chaos of it. Having the distraction in the background of daily life is one of the reasons the 107 days matters so much to me.

 

[raised2hunt]

😭😭😭 I'm a new and terrible duck hunter, but I miss it already. It's probably a good thing it's over so I can focus on being productive around the house again. I'm convinced that completed to-do lists and home projects are overrated. True satisfaction is getting a Greenhead to circle and drop into your decoys so you can blow the easy shot. Despite the miss, it's still satisfying to have your setup and horrible calling work for the first time!

I'm eating my last fresh mallard breast for lunch today and there will be some tears. Maybe next year I'll find a good spot, learn how to call, learn how to hide, learn how to set a decoy spread, learn how to shoot, train my dog to retrieve..... Wow, I've got a lot of work to do. So much for those home projects.

 

[CKthumper]

After a most frustrating season at Club CK, it finally came together. After seeing good numbers sitting on the lake Tues and Wed afternoon, I decide to hunt Thurs. A constant swirl of pins and enough mallards to warrant the effort to stay out. It took some convincing, but I got the aging brother, (with whom I was sitting 55 yrs ago when I shot my first two ducks), to come out to the lake. This makes about 70 yrs that he has hunted our farm at least once per year. I got four, he got three.

I made a solo hunt the last day, mostly as a ritual, a final visit to one of my happy places. My goal was to get a final pin and green head, and I brought (what I thought was) enough shells to accomplish that. A drake teal lit in the dekes. "If another one does that, I'll take him." One does. Whiff whiff. "Huh..." A couple pin drakes come around. "You just made a bad decision" I say to one of them. Blam, down he goes. Blam blam as he swims for the brush across the lake. I walk around the lake and spot him in the brush. Blam, close the deal on the last pin of the season.

THREE shells left... No problem. I will wait for a slam dunk shot at my final mallard. Over the next hour five or six pairs spike in without a circle, landing just out of good jump shooting range. (Along with about 200 pins)."Maybe I don't need one more. Maybe I'll just tell them to come again next year, and bring the family". Another pair comes in. The old fire flares up. "F that! I want one more!". A few more pairs elude me. Finally, for the first time all season, I have multiple mallard drakes in range at the same time. Adrenalin surges, thinking stops, and I take a shot at one that is plenty close but at a bad angle. Whiff. Pull the trigger again. Nothing. The gun didn't cycle. "&^^^%".

TWO shells left.... Not wanting to risk winging one and not being able to finish him off, I call it a day, and a season.

Somewhere out there is a mallard drake that will never know how lucky he is to be alive. And the wait for "Next year" begins.

 

[andymac32]

It's not so simple as "Too Warm" (Or whatever excuse you wanna pick).

Salt Lake had a ton of water added into it in the last few years. Which pretty much always helps ducks. This is a vast piece of water that supports astounding numbers of ducks. Add in better food, and the birds will find it. They have been stopping there for thousands of years. They will find it.

California got a ton of water the last few years. So much so, that they went from planting 80,000 acres of rice (Pretty much the best crop for ducks calorie wise) to 500,000 acres. Plus a bunch of wetlands that were previously dry (Read "Plants grew there in huge volume" Which is duck food) flooded. The volume of habitat and food available there is hard to comprehend unless you have flown over the region over the last few years.

S OR/NO CAL have lost a ton of important wetland acres. Klamath is well documented over last 30 years. As is Tule. These waters used to support MILLIONS of birds. Which are now going elsewhere. If you take away the places they have gone for a a thousand years, they are gonna bail eventually. We have also lost a ton of water from Summer Lake CA/OR/Nevada border. All of which used to be loaded with birds.

Add in a warm and very importantly dry (If snow buried feed, ducks will hang out for a few days waiting for a melt. But past that, they gotta migrate to food) winter. I have seen several times when E OR/WA/ID got widespread snow, and a few days later, the West side gets a ton of fresh ducks. Never happened this year.

IMO, a lot of the birds stopped their initial migration in Canada. And stayed there, as warm weather didn't force them to move any farther South. Why so many birds short stopped this year is a mystery to me. But I would bet with good confidence we will begin to hear crazy good hunting reports from areas that traditionally peter out in before Xmas. It's well known that ducks love to hang out at the freeze line (So long as food doesn't get buried in snow....which it usually does at some point).

The thing that shocked me most was the lack of wigeon. They predicted a 55% population increase on them. Which makes for a ton of yearling (Easy to fool into decoys) birds. The lower river usually holds a bunch of wigeon. And it did this year.....but it sure as hell didn't see 50% more than were there last year (Or previous seasons). I can only speculate that they stopped short, and never came this far south. Someone had a helluva year on those yearlings. But it wasn't me.

Considering how reliable my usual spots have been for the last 30 years, and how slow they have been all season, all I can say is this year is an anomaly. I fully expect next year, we will go back to seeing our regular amount of traffic in areas we always have. The last 10 years have been great for me. Even though numbers on paper are declining.

If we see a 3 bird limit on pins next year, I would be astonished if my average doesn't go up. I pass on more pins than teal...or spoons....or divers (Save lower river).

Lots to look forward to.

A spot we hunt on the lower Columbia, has been primarily a widgeon show the last 5 years I’d say. Days where we could shoot 100 if it were legal. We hunted it last Sunday, killed 3 widgeon, saw maybe 20. But could’ve killed easily 30 drake pintail. If not more, flock after flock of 5-20 just hovering in the decoys. In my 25 years of duck hunting I’ve never seen pintail like that.

 

[marshman]

Season was a little slower than normal for me, for sure less bird numbers. Until the last day of the season I was not sure why. This cold that is upon us finally brought good numbers of birds - particularly Geese. Much too warm for the majority of the season, and too dry too, fighting water levels also (field sheet water was lacking first half).
All that being said it was a great year to spend time with my buddy.

 

[JeffP_Or]

Went out to the property yesterday afternoon and cleaned and refilled the nest boxes - they had been under water at some point so a good thing to do. Looks like maybe two of them had birds but hard to tell after being flooded. Did not appear to have a bunch of starlings like the first year - a good thing.

Water is low for sure, the control has held a good amount though for some habitat and nesting and normal ducky behavior. There were about 1k birds spread throughout the couple of acres standing water and neighboring pond - even split ringers and pintail. Maybe a couple dozen mallards and similar teal. Pintails were in small groups and/or paired like the mallards. They all sure looked great sitting out in the sun!

No geese anywhere - sitting, flying, or otherwise.

 

[Liquiddeath]

I work along the river. I would say this year has been average to good. There’s always folks every year that say the hunting has been bad this year. I’m guessing those people aren’t adapting.

 

[met'lhead matt]

Need snow up north to cover the food and force them to work down the flyways, that was not the case this year, two weeks ago Alberta was still holding mass amounts of birds

 

[Flatfish]

I work along the river. I would say this year has been average to good. There’s always folks every year that say the hunting has been bad this year. I’m guessing those people aren’t adapting.

Maybe, the bird numbers are better where you work.

ODFW has harvest stats for Sauvie. Numbers were poor (Bird guy from ODFW admitted as much in D.U. in late season harvest update in January). Lowest in decades.

Maybe the birds went to where you work along the river?

 

[Liquiddeath]

Maybe, the bird numbers are better where you work.

ODFW has harvest stats for Sauvie. Numbers were poor (Bird guy from ODFW admitted as much in D.U. in late season harvest update in January). Lowest in decades.

Maybe the birds went to where you work along the river?

Certainly. Along a different stretch of river anyway. Birds numbers were really good.

 

[BudW]

Heard today the pintail limit is going to 3 this next season and the northwest dark goose limit is going to 2, hope the last part is not right..

 

[Liquiddeath]

Heard today the pintail limit is going to 3 this next season and the northwest dark goose limit is going to 2, hope the last part is not right..

Pintail are too small to get excited about. Hate to see the goose limit drop..

 

[joeer77]

Saw this today. Dumb dumbs.

https://www.oregon.gov/osp/Docs/FWNewsletter_202412.pdf

 

[the-next-one]

🔼 One more for the "other birds" category!

 

[Wheeler@nehalem]

Saw this today. Dumb dumbs.

View attachment 1056492

https://www.oregon.gov/osp/Docs/FWNewsletter_202412.pdf

The wildlife units on sauvies are closed for taking of dark geese inexcusable, sounds like OSP felt the same.

 

[garyk]

The wildlife units on sauvies are closed for taking of dark geese inexcusable, sounds like OSP felt the same.

A WIN for the OSP anti-poaching TIP line. It was other hunters on Mud Lake who saw the blatant violation and made the phone call.