2021 Waterfowl Thread

the spank said:
Had a field full of big honkers lined up for this morning. Got set up and wouldn't you know it, just as the birds started flying the farmers hired hand showed up to start turning dried out sloughs over to more cropland for the upcoming spring. We managed to get a few after he headed to the far end of the quarter discouraging birds from landing short but by then most had flown on by to seek food elsewhere. It was still a great morning though and we watched Snow Geese migrating through on high for an hour non-stop at first light. Quite a show....
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I'm in Calgary and haven't seen sign of a big migration, at least not yet. All the warm weather doesn't seem to have triggered the migration. Cold weather hits Calgary tomorrow and I expect to see tons of birds in the air.
 
the spank said:
Had a field full of big honkers lined up for this morning. Got set up and wouldn't you know it, just as the birds started flying the farmers hired hand showed up to start turning dried out sloughs over to more cropland for the upcoming spring. We managed to get a few after he headed to the far end of the quarter discouraging birds from landing short but by then most had flown on by to seek food elsewhere. It was still a great morning though and we watched Snow Geese migrating through on high for an hour non-stop at first light. Quite a show....
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Damn Farmers lol.
The day before opening here, our neighbour worked up a target field with more than a thousand lessers, 40 snows and a pile of ducks,
Needless to say birds were everywhere and nowhere in particular for opening day.
He had the weather window to get the work done, so it got done. Completely understandable.
We have days where our own farming gets in the way of hunting too.
 
DFarmer said:
Damn Farmers lol.
The day before opening here, our neighbour worked up a target field with more than a thousand lessers, 40 snows and a pile of ducks,
Needless to say birds were everywhere and nowhere in particular for opening day.
He had the weather window to get the work done, so it got done. Completely understandable.
We have days where our own farming gets in the way of hunting too.
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Things are getting tricky here in Ontario due to weather. Beans came off a week ago but no birds landing yet, which is strange as they usually land as soon as the field allows. Some guys are trying corn but it's still pretty wet. The guys that rent my farm land will likely start at corn next week, right when deer season starts. Whadya gonna go?
 
This is the first year for both the wife and myself hunting waterfowl, geese in particular. We have been out a couple times and had some geese come close, but have yet to put one in the freezer. She likes to take pictures and scare the relatives... here's one. I'm starting to understand why people are so devoted to hunting Waterfowl. It's a far more social and exciting type of hunting than my usual bowhunting for deer. IMG-20211024-WA0012.jpg
 

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Is anyone seeing any ducks in southern Ontario? Few times I’ve been out so far really quiet. No high fliers. No groups going back and forth. Just a few 2-3 duck fliers winging along. Talk about a really weird year.
 
I've seen mostly 3 or 4 flying at a time, saw one group flying with about 15 or so. I have seen almost entirely geese and doves, today I saw Snow geese fly over for the first time this year.
 
Well that's it for this season. There is still lots of birds around even though we have lost a lot the past week but the colder overnight minus temps and just above zero daytime temps are freezing what little water there is with this years drought. Birds are massing in large numbers on remaining waters and flying out to feed en-masse making hunting difficult with the added pressure and arriving all together at once. Couple that with the opening of deer and moose rifle season in our zone and it was time to pull the plug on the birds. The past few hunts were tough though we managed birds all but one hunt the past two weeks. We hunted 12 of the past 13 days since I arrived home from turnaround. I took my wife out saturday for her final waterfowl hunt of the season and it turned out to be the most amazing hunt of the past week with HUGE flocks numbering as many as 1000 birds circling us over and over and waiting until birds would break out of the mass to descend into the decoys. We managed to shoot 15 of our 16 allowed dark geese and the wife was on fire outgunning me on the first three flocks in on us. She was folding birds shot after shot clean as a whistle!! She was pretty stoked outgunning her hubby!
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It's been awesome but now I'm stoked to get after the deer and try to help find a moose for her to fill her tag. Hopefully we can post some pics of a tagged moose or deer in the coming month of the rifle season...the waterfowl gear is put away and the deer gear is ready to go! :rockOn:
 
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skokie said:
This is the first year for both the wife and myself hunting waterfowl, geese in particular. We have been out a couple times and had some geese come close, but have yet to put one in the freezer. She likes to take pictures and scare the relatives... here's one. I'm starting to understand why people are so devoted to hunting Waterfowl. It's a far more social and exciting type of hunting than my usual bowhunting for deer. View attachment 534606
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that is a great photo. a shame your relatives are scared as you look wonderful people and the robinsons will welcome in theirs. enjoy the good time together nothing is more important to cherish those days.
 
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last wednesday ,partner and I had 30 snows in one hour hiding in a ditch.never seen it like this out west.Then took GSP out to chase pheasant in afternoon.good thing about our seasons they last 4 months
 
the spank said:
Well that's it for this season. There is still lots of birds around even though we have lost a lot the past week but the colder overnight minus temps and just above zero daytime temps are freezing what little water there is with this years drought. Birds are massing in large numbers on remaining waters and flying out to feed en-masse making hunting difficult with the added pressure and arriving all together at once. Couple that with the opening of deer and moose rifle season in our zone and it was time to pull the plug on the birds. The past few hunts were tough though we managed birds all but one hunt the past two weeks. We hunted 12 of the past 13 days since I arrived home from turnaround. I took my wife out saturday for her final waterfowl hunt of the season and it turned out to be the most amazing hunt of the past week with HUGE flocks numbering as many as 1000 birds circling us over and over and waiting until birds would break out of the mass to descend into the decoys. We managed to shoot 15 of our 16 allowed dark geese and the wife was on fire outgunning me on the first three flocks in on us. She was folding birds shot after shot clean as a whistle!! She was pretty stoked outgunning her hubby!
clear.png
It's been awesome but now I'm stoked to get after the deer and try to help find a moose for her to fill her tag. Hopefully we can post some pics of a tagged moose or deer in the coming month of the rifle season...the waterfowl gear is put away and the deer gear is ready to go! :rockOn:
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Thanks Spank, for sharing your adventures and pictures with the rest of us. Good luck on your deer and moose hunts.
 
Finally got my neighbor out for birds yesterday.

We ended up with a limit of mallards, 5 snows and 3 smaller Canadas. All in about 2 and a half hours. We set up for the ducks, but just jumped the snows, and pass shot the Canadas when they left the field.

If only I could figure out how to get my pictures from my phone to the internet.

Another neighbor was lying in his goose set up and a bear came right down the corn row to him. He talked to it at 20 feet or it would have come right onto him.
Personally, I would have put a load of bbb into his noggin and canceled a bear tag.
 
DFarmer said:
Finally got my neighbor out for birds yesterday.

We ended up with a limit of mallards, 5 snows and 3 smaller Canadas. All in about 2 and a half hours. We set up for the ducks, but just jumped the snows, and pass shot the Canadas when they left the field.

Great job!!

If only I could figure out how to get my pictures from my phone to the internet.

You can with a paid CGN membership.....

Another neighbor was lying in his goose set up and a bear came right down the corn row to him. He talked to it at 20 feet or it would have come right onto him.
Personally, I would have put a load of bbb into his noggin and canceled a bear tag.

Had coyotes come into the decoys and have had hawks dive out of nowhere and grab a decoy but never a bear...a buddy had that happen once, snuck in from behind him in standing silage corn and stood 7 feet from him checking him out. Wasn't even concerned about his Lab. Just stood there staring at them. It took a few attempts to get it to leave! I'm with you, tag it!!
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Pretty cool day afield, those are the ones you never forget!!
 
DFarmer;[URL="tel:18424072" said:
18424072[/URL]]Looks great. We are stacking up for sausage later. We managed a limit of snows yesterday (5 each) and one small canada.
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Great job! I'm curious why your Snow limit is so low? Every other province and state has very liberal limits in hopes of bringing their numbers down. Our limit in AB is 50 per day with no possession limit.
 
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