About 2" of snow in Wpg, bye bye waterfowl

Grouse Man

Grouse Man

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Last evening we got about 2" of snow here in town. This morning the geese were flying to the local breakfast places, but I've got a feeling they're taking the next wind South. Looks like waterfowling days are numbered here. Didn't get out ONCE for geese this year, and only a handful for ducks. I may try this weekend one last time, but I'm going to be shifting to grouse hunting in the snow VERY soon (and it is my favourite condition for hunting grouse, btw) :) I doubt that this snow will last from this point on, but I think the ducks & geese are taking it as their cue to head south. Heads up Yankees, they're coming!
 
Grouse Man said:
Last evening we got about 2" of snow here in town. This morning the geese were flying to the local breakfast places, but I've got a feeling they're taking the next wind South. Looks like waterfowling days are numbered here. Didn't get out ONCE for geese this year, and only a handful for ducks. I may try this weekend one last time, but I'm going to be shifting to grouse hunting in the snow VERY soon (and it is my favourite condition for hunting grouse, btw) :) I doubt that this snow will last from this point on, but I think the ducks & geese are taking it as their cue to head south. Heads up Yankees, they're coming!
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Lot's of good duck hunting yet. I never hunt ducks until after thanksgiving, third and fouth week of this month being my favorite. This will just get them moving and as the smaller wetlands become ice covered ducks will be concentrated on larger wetlands. Local birds will go south as well as early migrants though.

Interesting studies I read by waterfowl biologists such as Kennedy,Sowls, Hochbaum, etc...re:banding studies. Mallards and pintail banded in October in the Dakotas were often shot a week later back in Manitoba as they had again moved north to take advantage of plentiful food.

Ducks are very mobile and yes should it just stay cold then things might be over in a week...as was the case in 2002 when marshes froze hard third week of Oct. Was said to be the coldest October on record.
 
Grouse Man said:
Last evening we got about 2" of snow here in town. This morning the geese were flying to the local breakfast places, but I've got a feeling they're taking the next wind South. Looks like waterfowling days are numbered here. Didn't get out ONCE for geese this year, and only a handful for ducks. I may try this weekend one last time, but I'm going to be shifting to grouse hunting in the snow VERY soon (and it is my favourite condition for hunting grouse, btw) :) I doubt that this snow will last from this point on, but I think the ducks & geese are taking it as their cue to head south. Heads up Yankees, they're coming!
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Waterfowl won't be going any where real soon unless the big water freezes hard, then you can find them roosting in river systems. FS
 
Those birds aren't going anywhere anytime soon. The best duck hunts I've had were when it was snowing. Local ducks and geese move to the river once their ponds are froze over, but that shouldn't be for a while yet. Great waterfowl hunting till at least Christmas, the northern birds aren't even moving yet.
 
Silverado said:
There is great goose hunting in Southern AB right till Christmas...
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Not this year unless it heats up right quick. I went out this Morning for a couple of hours. My favorite spots are froze solid with the exception of one lake, and it was 50% frozen. I checked a couple canals, some are froze, some aren't. All I saw was two small flocks of geese flying into a field, and two more small flocks already in a couple of fields. On the open water there were coots, but I saw nothing else and I'm conviced those ones grow gills and dive under right before it freezes solid. Their there the instant the ice melts so it was no surprise seeing them. I also saw a big flight of swans, but I don't usually see any of them until November. Pheasant opens next week so my shotgun will still get some use but I have no field hunting gear so I think my waterfowl season is done. It's a shame too because I promised to go with the guy I took this morning and he just bought all his licenses last night and a box of shells. I kind of felt bad for him.
 
pharaoh2 said:
Pheasant opens next week so my shotgun will still get some use but I have no field hunting gear so I think my waterfowl season is done. It's a shame too because I promised to go with the guy I took this morning and he just bought all his licenses last night and a box of shells. I kind of felt bad for him.
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Don't worry, I was out yesterday and there were plenty of geese and ducks in the fields. The big reservoirs (Ridge, St. Mary, etc.) are still ice free, and as long as the medium/small waters open up we should be okay. 15C tomorrow and Friday, so there is hope yet!

Pheasants tomorrow! Yeehaa!
 
With the amount of crop sitting in swaths and still uncut out there there is so much feed I doubt the birds will be leaving soon. They were out everywhere tonight. Problem is they'll all be too fat to fly soon because of all the high quality feed they have right now:D
 
Grouse Man said:
They're still here, you guys were right.
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Was out for a duck shoot with my pal yesteday morning. Two limits of canvasback before 9AM...and a couple mistake bluebills to boot. Fabulous hunt. Soooo...they are still here:D. Seriously I can't believe how green everything is and how cold it is. Half inch of ice pushing the duck boat in to the big water yesterday:eek:
 
We covered a lot of territory today in search of birds, two inches of snow in the fields and all the potholes frozen over. Man this is brutal, if it's not ice, it's mud.
 
my .02 cents

We had an awful summer, ... an awful fall (weather was hot as hell,..) and the fall weather didn't happen, we went straight to the snow and #### weather...

There are lots of geese moving and lots of mallards, but time is getting short fast...

I was in Northern allberta two days ago, and my buddies geese from that morning were in heavey heavy plumage/feathers...

This has been one of the wost hunting years for me, weather wise, since I have been at it...

I live for brsik fall days, a little frost in the morning, no snow... and up to about 10 or 12 degrees by lunch,... this year it hasn't happened..
 
We hunt geese around Edmonton and they're still here in great numbers. The pea field we plan to shoot on Sunday morning north of the city had at least 3,000 on it when I drove past on my way home last night. The only thing this weather has done here so far seems to have bunched them up into larger groups, which means we need to set out a few dozen more decoys to compete with the larger flocks. I believe there's still a few more weeks of goose hunting here, especially with the warmer weather they're now forecasting to the end of October and lots of good feeding areas available. This has been one of our best goose seasons yet.
 
shelldrake82 said:
We hunt geese around Edmonton and they're still here in great numbers. The pea field we plan to shoot on Sunday morning north of the city had at least 3,000 on it when I drove past on my way home last night. The only thing this weather has done here so far seems to have bunched them up into larger groups, which means we need to set out a few dozen more decoys to compete with the larger flocks. I believe there's still a few more weeks of goose hunting here, especially with the warmer weather they're now forecasting to the end of October and lots of good feeding areas available. This has been one of our best goose seasons yet.
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I'll be heading to the Westlock area on the 25th, and plan to start
"The Great Alberta Bird Safari" from there!:D
I've seen big flocks of northerns there right into November when we were hunting white tails.
Cat
 
Our ducks have all left except for a few mallards and divers on the big lakes. Greater Canadas are still nearly all here, but concentrated on the little open water left. ALL the small sloughs and shallow marshes are frozen solid, earliest in my lifetime I'm sure. I saw only one flock of snows left around here on a 30 KM scouting trip yesterday. Last week I had about 10,000 snows feeding within 1/2 mile of my house, all gone now.
 
Longwalker said:
Our ducks have all left except for a few mallards and divers on the big lakes. Greater Canadas are still nearly all here, but concentrated on the little open water left. ALL the small sloughs and shallow marshes are frozen solid, earliest in my lifetime I'm sure. I saw only one flock of snows left around here on a 30 KM scouting trip yesterday. Last week I had about 10,000 snows feeding within 1/2 mile of my house, all gone now.
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where in sask-a-bush are you located
 
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