Electric snow goose calls

[Crazy_Farmer]

I thought it'd be a good idea to see just where the masses are on this issue with a poll. Whether you're for or against it.

[PGK]

No thanks.

[Gateholio]

As I said on the other thread, I think it's a great idea. Probably get a few more hunters out and it will help control the population, so it's win/win:-D

[Gunner]

I think it would be a noisy PI the A for any other hunters in the marsh.If you know what you're doing,and have the right equipment,it's no big deal to shoot your limit of 10 snows now.How many do you need,and how fast do you have to shoot them to have a "quality" hunting experience? Gunner

[HuntNHookSports]

Yes. And a 20 bird limit.

[Gunner]

I get a big laugh out of the fact that most of the people supporting Ecallers don't even hunt the area in question.Why should their opinions hold any weight at all? Gunner

[longshot]

I think it would be a noisy PI the A for any other hunters in the marsh.If you know what you're doing,and have the right equipment,it's no big deal to shoot your limit of 10 snows now.How many do you need,and how fast do you have to shoot them to have a "quality" hunting experience? Gunner

I think you're dead on. Well said.

Longshot

[Gateholio]

I get a big laugh out of the fact that most of the people supporting Ecallers don't even hunt the area in question.Why should their opinions hold any weight at all? Gunner

You mean BC?:lol:

The people that made the proposal hunt in "the area in question" don't they?:cool:

[Gunner]

The area in question is Region 2,where all the snow geese in BC winter!

[ROEBUCK]

we live in 2008 soon to b 2009, whats the differance between a set of decoys electrical or not ,or ecallers or traditional calls the trouble with a lot of hunters is there afraid of change!

[ROEBUCK]

so does that mean that all hunters from outside region 2 dont have a say? because theres lots of region 2 hunters who have a say in what goes on in other regions, Its all one province with equal opertunities

The area in question is Region 2,where all the snow geese in BC winter!

[fowl language]

gunner, this purposal came from interviewing about all the snow goose hunters i know and i know quite a few.kelly says that the geese are feeding further in the fieds to the east so doesnt this solve the problems at hand by spreading the area out.the resolution came from our gun club.if you would have hunted snows this year you know how difficult it was to make them finish to the deeks,unless they were starving in the upper marsh,i just want to get the record straight....fowl

[Gunner]

Hi Dale,I know how tough it was before the freeze,but that's not a suprise,because of bad weather on Wrangel there was no flight of young birds and they've always been the majority of the birds that we have shot,the adults are always alot tougher! Gunner

[fowl language]

murray heres hoping for a better hatch for next year.up to the freeze up the harvest was about 20 to 25% of normal.these figures are from what the biologists gathered. my info was about the same from those that i talked to.it would have been a good time to lessen the flock but you know what its like with big flocks and how difficult they are to decoy. god i tried all the tricks i know and only one worked because it was ideal conditions only.....fowl

[branthunter]

murray heres hoping for a better hatch for next year.up to the freeze up the harvest was about 20 to 25% of normal.these figures are from what the biologists gathered. my info was about the same from those that i talked to.it would have been a good time to lessen the flock but you know what its like with big flocks and how difficult they are to decoy. god i tried all the tricks i know and only one worked because it was ideal conditions only.....fowl

Maybe it's all those rookie mistakes you're still making Dale.:twisted:

[fowl language]

it must be bob,maybe you could steer me in the right path....fowl

[f350ps]

You girls try and get along and be nice!! K

[Freshtracks]

My 2 cents .... btw I voted NO.

Isn't the whole art of waterfowling, the ablity to try and make the birds come to you?

Calling has been and will be the biggest challenge most watrfowlers will have to master to become effective in their sport. Sure there are days when pass shooting, depending on wind conditions, will fill your limits. But the true art of waterfowling is picking the right locale, setting out decoys and being able to interest moving birds to come within decoy range. Calling plays a big part in that, especially if birds are wary.

What challenge is there to E calling? You'd have more success setting up mass decoy sets, than E calling.

What advantage does E calling employ? Sorry, I might of missed any points of debate in another thread. :redface:

If I missed it and the arguement is to allow more harvesting of birds. Hogwash!! Open up previous, (ie: Sturgeon Banks) now closed, hunting areas and the birds will get harvested.

[Crazy_Farmer]

What I cant seem to understand is the fact that where e-callers are currently being used are in areas where the snows are migrating. All the birds are in the area but migrating either south or north so its always new birds in the area sask, the dakotas come to mind aswell as fall in alberta now.

Where as here, sure some of the birds will move between the skagit and fraser populations or even early on keep heading down to cali. But they winter here. They dont all leave and migrate through. So do you not think the birds are going to get really educated really fast with a couple guys using e-callers. Sure maybe next year there'll be a good number of juvies in the area, they'll decoy great but to me once you educate the large mature birds to know that the sound = death well they'll wise up real quick hearing it everyday.

And size comes into it aswell. The prairies are a huge area to hunt in. The marshes and the fields arent that big, we're not talking sections of land but acre chunks here. And last two days ago, I saw about 5 other boats out there, each boat had either 2-3 guys, so it must be not that hurting for hunter numbers when it was the day after new years eve and everyone else must of been hung over :mrgreen:

[branthunter]

we live in 2008 soon to b 2009, whats the differance between a set of decoys electrical or not ,or ecallers or traditional calls the trouble with a lot of hunters is there afraid of change!

Another, and in my view much bigger and more significant, problem with some hunters is that, without considering or being aware of all the ramifications, they become proponents of change in areas where they have little or no experience and about which they know very little or, worse, nothing. How much snow goose hunting on the Fraser R. delta have you done?

[climbingshuksan]

Totally opposed! Think about it. A group of newly attracted hunters to the front come in from behind and set within 100 yards. Enticed by huge limits and possibly the ease of calling in flocks like the champion callers they are not, they wait. They see a flock high heading to the refuge. They turn their electronic voices up as loud as they will go. The birds drop, still out of range, they shoot. Nothing falls. Anxiously I see a flock coming out of Steveston. I call once, wait for a reply, they return the call, I repeat one more high shrill squawk. They are convinced. They come. Then the chorus begins behind me, a blast of technology, like cellphones. The loudspeakers track the birds dropping down, they look, turn by the championship voices from the Mid-West. I sit there with my son watching as the flock swings their way, my call hanging from my lips. I'm hooped or "corked" as a fisherman would say. What do we do? What else, pick-up and leave. There's three of them, we'd have to wait for 30-birds to be shot. They will be there the full day.

It's all nonsense. Why take such a tremendous sport and turn it into any more of a circus than has with the limit of 10 geese? When ever has the front been so littered with dead and dying geese? Those are not white plastic bottles floating out there, they are geese.

Give new hunters something to aspire to, make them learn how to shoot, set decoys, call, build a layout boat, don't coddle them. I'd argue they would be more thrilled with 5-birds taken in fair chase then 10 slaughtered by Bubba the Pied Piper of the deep south.

[Archive]

Give new hunters something to aspire to, make them learn how to shoot, set decoys, call, build a layout boat, don't coddle them.So did you make your son learn how to make his own split cane rod, tie his own flys and master roll casting before you let him just catch a fish?
Maybe take him out after he 1st builds his own boat too, then he might appreciate going fishing with dad.

don't coddle them

[f350ps]

murray heres hoping for a better hatch for next year.up to the freeze up the harvest was about 20 to 25% of normal.these figures are from what the biologists gathered. my info was about the same from those that i talked to.it would have been a good time to lessen the flock but you know what its like with big flocks and how difficult they are to decoy. god i tried all the tricks i know and only one worked because it was ideal conditions only.....fowl
It's pretty obvious that this whole ECaller proposal is self serving!! Here we got a huge problem with too many geese and then ya got Dale hoping for a great hatch for next year. So what is it Dale, a problem getting them to decoy or what? And as far as MarshHawk goes, when was the last time you saw the outside marsh? Have fun with your proposal cause that's all it is and will remain just a proposal. Kelly

[Marsh Hawk]

Kelly

That was a cheap shot so here's one for you.

When was the last time you got involved in a hunting related issue when it didn't involve hunting. I've spent countless hours fighting for "our" hunting rights in Delta. When was the last time that you got involved instead of just making comments from the sidelines?

Mark

[branthunter]

So did you make your son learn how to make his own split cane rod, tie his own flys and master roll casting before you let him just catch a fish?
Maybe take him out after he 1st builds his own boat too, then he might appreciate going fishing with dad.

This kind of sarcastic cheap shotting contributes nothing to the discussion and demeans the author who wrote it. Any kid would be lucky to have "climbing" for a Dad. I got my son as fully involved in all aspects of the sport as his age from year to year would allow.

[longshot]

This is what i think. i am 15 hunting on v.i. PRETEND I am shooting in a area that some special year, it gets hit with snow goose full migrations. So i go buy my 12 dollar snow goose call and google how to call snow geese. I am now ok at it and we're going to go out and hunt them the next day. We get to our spot and set up my 3 'painted white' canada goose decoys and hide well. 150 yards away are others skybustin' with an e-caller sticking out like a sore thumb.

Now you can decide. How do you think i would feel after i am engaged with hunting and made decoys, learned to barely call, all excited, then watched guys with an e-caller steal all the geese as they were coming into my 3 homemade decoys. Not everyone can afford a CHEAT call.

100%...NO!

Longshot jr.

[f350ps]

A hunting related issue that didn't involve hunting??? Ya, you win Mark? Gee, I didn't think you had such thin skin, musta hit on something eh? So in yer mind this ecaller is for the betterment of all us lucky hunters that hunt in Delta. Well don't speak for me please, ever! I'm done with this now, thanks. K

[Gateholio]

This is what i think. i am 15 hunting on v.i. PRETEND I am shooting in a area that some special year, it gets hit with snow goose full migrations. So i go buy my 12 dollar snow goose call and google how to call snow geese. I am now ok at it and we're going to go out and hunt them the next day. We get to our spot and set up my 3 'painted white' canada goose decoys and hide well. 150 yards away are others skybustin' with an e-caller sticking out like a sore thumb.

Now you can decide. How do you think i would feel after i am engaged with hunting and made decoys, learned to barely call, all excited, then watched guys with an e-caller steal all the geese as they were coming into my 3 homemade decoys. Not everyone can afford a CHEAT call.

100%...NO!

Longshot jr.

So you are angry that someone has more success than you?:confused:

Some guys with crappy old guns and beat up boots are pretty successful hunters, you know...:wink:

[Gateholio]

This kind of sarcastic cheap shotting contributes nothing to the discussion and demeans the author who wrote it. Any kid would be lucky to have "climbing" for a Dad. I got my son as fully involved in all aspects of the sport as his age from year to year would allow.

That is great for people that get to learn for thier fathers.

An increasing amount of prospective hunters DON'T have mentors. Another tool in the tool box could help them out.

[Archive]

Any kid would be lucky to have "climbing" for a Dad. I got my son as fully involved in all aspects of the sport as his age from year to year would allow.I didn't have a dad like either of you. Your kids are fortunate.

I first started duck hunting by sitting out in the foreshore in a pair of waders from Army and Navy. I would go by myself every weekend and watch the ducks fly by, then I'd fall into a marsh hole in the dark on the way back in.
*Some guys could call them in it seemed, so I bought a call.
*Then I watched the ducks flock else where, so I bought decoys.
*There were more flocks flying on the outer edge than inside (less ppl too) so I bought a canoe.

Only after I had invested my time (scouting) and money (equipment) did I start to get waterfowl. I'm not scared of an E-caller accelerating someone else's learning curve, I'd hope it would.

[branthunter]

I didn't have a dad like either of you. Your kids are fortunate.

I first started duck hunting by sitting out in the foreshore in a pair of waders from Army and Navy. I would go by myself every weekend and watch the ducks fly by, then I'd fall into a marsh hole in the dark on the way back in.
*Some guys could call them in it seemed, so I bought a call.
*Then I watched the ducks flock else where, so I bought decoys.
*There were more flocks flying on the outer edge than inside (less ppl too) so I bought a canoe.

Only after I had invested my time (scouting) and money (equipment) did I start to get waterfowl. I'm not scared of an E-caller accelerating someone else's learning curve, I'd hope it would.


Like I said elsewhere, it won't ---it will slow it down, all the while screwing up the marsh for the others , rookie and veteran alike.

[branthunter]

That is great for people that get to learn for thier fathers.

An increasing amount of prospective hunters DON'T have mentors. Another tool in the tool box could help them out.

Or hurt them by distracting them from learning what they really need to know.... meanwhile alienating them from the very people they could get some real learning from.

[Gateholio]

Well, that may be a concern, may not be. Liek I said, E-callers for predators don't negate the ned to set up properly, and you learn that quickly when you have a yote come in and then bust you and high tail it.:smile:

I guess at this point we will just have to see how the chips fall...I dont' have much more I can add...Other than even if it is adopted by BCWF doesn't mean that the regs will change, or may not change for some time.

[Gunner]

Well, that may be a concern, may not be. Liek I said, E-callers for predators don't negate the ned to set up properly, and you learn that quickly when you have a yote come in and then bust you and high tail it.:smile:

I guess at this point we will just have to see how the chips fall...I dont' have much more I can add...Other than even if it is adopted by BCWF doesn't mean that the regs will change, or may not change for some time.Everyone has different thoughts on this subject(every subject)!That's OK,that's what makes the world go round.If we all thought the same way the world would be a poorer place.Support what you believe in,there aren't really rights or wrongs,just our own opinions!.......Gunner

[fowl language]

kelly id like to know how you figure this is self serving.i own over 1000 snow goose decoys and when i get off my but i get my share.i was hoping to serve 2 purposes when i introduced this purposal.a..to help beginning or intermiadiate hunters bring in more geese .with this i can offer a number of people that feel like yourself aboiut the purity of the hunt but also i can offer info from a number of guides and really good goose hunters from the praires that will tell you they would rather have an ecaller than more decoys. secondly on a year such as this with such a poor hatch i felt it would be a good oppurtuniy to reduce the pacific flyway flock, so disease doesnt wipe them out.i felt that this is a win win situation,apparantly not.im sorry this has ceated hard feeling by some,maybe some people will get involved and fight this if they feel that strongly rather than bring about personal slights. having said that ,i am still going to carry forward with this and i hope to see all of the opposition at the fed.convention.this resolution has been passed regionally already....dale vidulich region2 bcwf vp.

[Gunner]

See you in Fernie Dale! Gunner

[longshot]

So you are angry that someone has more success than you?:confused:

Some guys with crappy old guns and beat up boots are pretty successful hunters, you know...:wink:

That guy is how i hunt. With any gun, any age gear. But i won't with an e-caller. To me its not right and is along the same lines as bait. PLUS IT'S ELECTRONIC! Mojo's and all that should be banned too.

[BoomBoom]

interesting topic.

having spent many memorable days in the late 70's,80's and early 90's hunting the Brunswick, Westam, Fraser etc... areas, I can understand everone's concern about allowing ecallers in these areas.

I believe, this would truly reduce the "hunting experience" in these very concentrated areas. These areas concentrate waterfowl and consequently hunters as well. I think most of us that are in this game for more reasons other than to "fill our limit" would have to agree that ecallers in the Fraser estuary would take away from the experience. It would be annoying to have spent my "apprenticing" time honing my calling skills, to have some ecaller set up 100-200 yrds away and draw more birds. Tough to compete with the real sounds of geese no matter how good of a caller one is.

If one object is to reduce the overpopulation of snow geese on this flyway, what about the possibility of allowing more than 3 shots in a gun?
This has been accomplished back east for snow goose hunting. Probably impossible for the fall season due to other spps open seasons, but what about spring? This may maintain a quality hunting experience in the Fraser estuary without changing the quality of the hunt for others in the vicinity.

I am not suggesting an outright ban on ecallers, but knowing this location, and its concentration of birds and hunters, I would not support it in region 2.


Boom...

PS. I chuckle at the CWS snow goose flyway mapping in thru central BC, a spinoff from lack of data and an extrapolation from other migratory bird fly ways. :smile: