Could be in for another fowl season for duck hunting

Waterfowl hunters in Southwest Washington, and all across the state, are looking ahead to the upcoming fall waterfowl hunting, and wondering if it will be as big a bust as last year. The lack of any real winter weather allowed the northern ducks to stay up in British Columbia and Alaska until the last weeks of the season. Even then the migration was paltry. Zack Breitenstein, the manager of the state-run Shillapoo Wildlife Area, reported that there was no lack of wet marshes, but there were few to no ducks and geese to utilize the good conditions. “From what I saw and heard, the bird numbers were pretty low until late,” Breitenstein said. “We had a lot of water but no birds.” Breitenstein reported that he believes the warm weather all winter definitely kept the birds up north. “That was my feeling on it,” he said. “Also, there was so much water everywhere, and none of it really froze that much, so the ducks were really spread out.” He said hunters targeting geese did all right, but even those numbers were way down. “I heard of some decent success for geese. I heard some people got some more snow geese than usual. We have had an uptick in snow geese over the years. “We tried to do a few different things to draw (birds) in, but the neighboring land owner, the Columbia Land Trust does not allow hunting. The geese all got smart and went over there.” He also noted that the smaller, cackling Canada goose numbers were way down. Where he would usually see thousands of the smaller geese, he was seeing flocks only in the hundreds. Bob Taylor, a board member of the Washington Waterfowl Association, also had a down year last season. “Last year it was pretty slow in general,” said Taylor. “You could get birds if you did a ton of scouting, and they were often not in the places where we have often hunted them.” Taylor hunts a private lease near the Lake River, and he reported spending many a day with little to no action. “I have a blind on Green Lake,” he said, “which has the reputation as the best lake in Clark County for waterfowl. Normally the guys that have blinds on Green Lake go out at first light and are back by 10 with a limit.” “That was not the case this past year. There were a lot of times that I just stared at empty water.” At the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge hunters did well while the resident waterfowl were around, scoring 2.8 birds per hunter during the first week. Then the resident birds bailed. That harvest figure started to drop quickly, and over the next few weeks the success rate dropped below one bird per hunter at times. The hunting finally got better in late January, right before the season ended, when hunters scored 2.6 birds per hunter. Taylor did some research concerning the hunting in British Columbia, and found that those northern hunters did very well. It all added up to a lot of disappointed hunters in Washington. Heading into this season, long term forecasts are pointing to another week winter, a result of the strong El Niño conditions expected to hold firm through the winter. It also needs to get a lot wetter if there will be good conditions to hold the birds if they arrive in better numbers. However, conditions right now are very dry. “We need a little more winter, and hopefully we will have a lot of moisture, too,” Breitenstein said. “It’s really dry now.” Managers can pump water into the marshes, but the Columbia River is the source of that water, and right now it is really low. “Until the river comes up, we can’t pump any water in. I have heard the Columbia is the lowest it has been since 1938,” Breitenstein said. “We are at the mercy of the river. Unless it comes up, we can’t flood the fields, and those bottom fields won’t flood until the water table comes up. If it doesn’t really dump rain, we may not be able to flood our fields.” However, he said there is no need to panic unless the rains don’t develop as they usually do in the later part of the fall. “I am not too worried until it gets to November, and it does not kick in,” he added. If conditions improve, and the weather turns cold, hunters at both Shillapoo and Ridgefield will see a wide variety of birds, including mallards, widgeon, pintails, teal, and in the late season, northern shovelers. The refuges and wildlife areas also get a mix of geese, with most of them being Canada geese. There are a number of different subspecies, including the protected Dusky Canada goose. These birds have struggled since the Alaska earthquake of 1964, when the delta where the duskies breed rose over 6 feet, drying out the habitat. Those birds are the reason that hunters in the Northwest Goose Permit Zone must prove they can identify the different subspecies of Canada goose through training and a test. There are special hours when shooting is allowed, and hunters must avoid killing any Duskies, which are completely closed to harvest. The most numerous of the subspecies in southwest Washington are the cackling Canada geese. Most hunters avoid taking any of the larger geese to avoid mistakenly shooting a Duskie. There are increasing numbers of snow geese now wintering in southwest Washington, and those birds are drawing some dedicated snow goose hunters. These waterfowlers put out huge decoy sets to lure the birds. However, like the Canadas, these geese spend most of their time on the Columbia Land Trust property adjacent to the wildlife area, and they only rarely move off the private land. This has caused some tension between the land trust and the wildlife area. Many snow goose hunters are moving and shooting too close to the border. This has caused the state to receive complaints. Breitenstein warns hunters that if this problem persists, they may have to push the buffer zone further back. He implores hunters to please observe and obey the sign postings along the border areas so moving that line will not be necessary. He also warned that there is currently little water on the wildlife area. The area includes Vancouver Lake, which has water, and the Buckmire Slough, which can be difficult to hunt. There are also some wet areas on the south unit. Still, Taylor said most duck and goose hunters are optimists, and they always believe the coming season will be a good one. If conditions improve, and we get some real winter, that optimism could prove right. The Ridgefield refuge will hold two special hunts this season. There will be a youth hunt held on the refuge on Oct. 1, which hunters must make reservations for, and a veteran’s hunt held on Nov. 11, also by reservation only. More resources For more information about the Northwest Goose Permit Zone, check the WDFW webpage at: https://www.eregulations.com/washington/hunting/game-bird/western-washington-goose-management-areas For information on hunting at the Ridgefield NWR, go online to the refuge hunting webpage at: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/ridgefield/visit-us/activities/hunting

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