Pitt Marsh advice

[longshotz]

Having seen some postings re: Pitt Marsh here is some advice to the Pitt Marsh hunters asking.
Having hunted the marsh off and on for about 20 years I can say without a doubt that the best thing you can do for yourself is to get a dog and/or a boat before you head out there.
The dikes are illegal to shoot from and you must be standing in water to shoot "from" them.
Each dike is bordered by a water way up to 14 feet deep and 5-25 yards across. I know this as I snorkel the marsh in the summer to determine depths for wading and setting decoys.
Given the number of spent shells I see on the dikes, the number of hunters I see shooting from the dikes and the dead and wounded birds my dog recovers illustrates the need for a dog/boat.
There are a few, very few, places where you can walk to a spot, albeit a looooooong walk.
The closed areas of the marsh are often being used by hunters, A BIG no no!
Read the regs. people!!!
I have run into anti-shooting/hunter types on the dikes in both on and off season when walking my dogs and they think I am not a hunter and I hear them talk.
Make no mistake here; they are well informed of the regulations and the violations that occur, the unrecovered birds and the spent shell hulls that litter the dike during hunting season.
If they have their way you will be adding the marsh to the growing list of closed areas in the Fraser Valley.
Bottom line here fellow hunters is this:
-get a dog and/or a boat to hunt the marsh properly or find someone who does (I know this is easier said than done, but nonetheless true)
-clean up your spent shell hulls
-don;t shoot unless you can recover the bird.THIS IS A BIGGIE!!! (IE. don't shoot from the dike)
-read the regs thoroughly to know the closed areas
-mind your ethics
Do these and there is less we as hunters have to worry about in terms of the marsh being closed.
Go and enjoy!

[Dano]

I agree!
You have to shoot from inside the boundries and be able to recover your birds by either dog or boat.
If you are not an experienced shooter, a boat isn't enough. Just last sunday, I dropped a couple birds in the long grass, I marked them well and had to take the dog out into the area as she hadn't seen them go down (and she's no trials dog so I have to occaisionally get her close by....). We found the birds but I almost stepped on the one when Maddy pulled it out of the grass. The other was holding tight and we worked the area 5 minutes until she was able to track it down, it was 5 yards from me and it only moved when Maddy was within a couple feet of it. Never would have recovered either bird without a dog....
And another example, dropped a bird that fell about 30 yars out in the slough, it was a swimmer. Fired at it on the water to finish it off but it made it to the far shore (they often make it, shooting birds on the water isn't as successful as you would think!). Maddy tracked it down after a few minutes but again it would have been lost without a dog.
Hunting fields is probably the best way to hunt without a dog or big water shooting (lake, river etc.) if you have a boat. You will have more success retrieving your birds these ways.
Dan

[Marc]

The Pitt is a hard place to hunt even with a dog. On Saturday I was up there with IanF. We knocked down a Widgeon and had the dog look for it. Ian got a glance of the bird and sent me in the direction with the dog. I was in there with him and I saw the duck sitting tight in the grass. The dog almost stepped on the duck making him flintch when the dogs back leg was no more then 6 inches from the duck. I couldn't believe how a little rain, water and grass could mess up a dogs ability to smell something so close to him. The dog after a bit of leading found the bird and retrieved it.

We had a pair of widgeon come into the decoys and we popped both of them. One fell dead in the water the second somewhat recovered and tried to lift off the water where we swatted it until it made it to the grass. The dog had no problems finding and retrieving the first one on the water, the second one pretty much did the same thing as the other duck in the grass, but this time when the dog got on to it's scent it dove and held bottom. Only problem was the duck must have grabbed some loose grass as about 10 seconds later it's ass was out of the water and the dog grabbed a hold of the duck.

The Pitt is a nice marsh to hunt but probably one of the more tough areas to hunt even with a dog as 95% of the vegetation is in water. This was Marshall's first duck hunt of the season over water and in the Pitt, he didn't do to bad but it was harder then I though it would have been for the dog to get on the birds. I'd hate to see what it would be like trying to find birds in the grass without a dog.

[Dano]

Marc,
Good to see you on saturday. Thanks for stopping by! :D
The Pitt grass is extra thick this year, on the plus side the water is low so most birds hold rather than swim off in the thick grass (which makes it hard for the dog to scent them. Our usual water level is 4 to 8 inches higher, sometimes much higher if we have heavy rains and not enough time for the water system to stabilize. The water vegitiation is also thicker this year. If you get off the narrow trenches in some sloughs you will foul the prop and it can be a lot of work tilting it up and out of the water numerous times to keep it clear.
Hope you had a good shoot though, we had lots of widgeon around but we passed on a lot of good shots waiting for mallards (we ended up with 3 and a few widgeon as well...). Sunday was a different story though:D.
Let me know in advance next time you are over here!
Dan

[heyblast]

The Pitt is hard to hunt without a dog and impossible without a boat, you can not wade in it. I've hunted the last two seasons without a dog, with success, but I pass up alot of shots and I mean a lot. There is so much flooded grass a wounded bird can disappear in seconds, making it hard even with a dog, without it's close shots over open water or don't shoot. Period.