Snows,Cacklers and Mallards

[field marshal]

Have a good buddy going in for shoulder surgery this Fri.
He wanted to get out for his only crack at the birds this season.
Left at 6am. to have plenty of time for setup!! Yeah right, Mr. brilliant forgot to load the decoys:cry:. Needless to say we missed some chances at early mallards. Had Specks landing around me still setting the blocks. Shooting time arrives we dump 5 mallards right off the rattle. Then I hear Cacklers!! No more ducks don't shoot ducks!! I holler! Give them a few "toots" And they swing over. Holy shit a white is with them. Then a flock of giants decides to stool right in !! No, No, I say!! Len is starting to come unravelled! What the hell are we allowed to take a crack at he says:confused:
Wait , wait I whisper. After at least 10 bloody circles, they pitch in, we stand up, I smoke the snow! Then I drop the tiniest Cackler I've ever seen. Len draws a blank so then I take a razzing for being too damn choosey. He settles down and ends up with a big goose limit:-D
We take 9 mallards and 8 geese. Left the Widgeon and Sprigs alone.
Going to be hard to concentrate on Mowitch this weekend. Good shooting all.
Field Marshal.

http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/Len_with_Cackler_and_Mallard.jpg

http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/3_geese1.jpg

[Marc]

Nice going guys, I can't believe the variety of birds we're seeing on the Island this fall. I missed out last weekend but will probably be doing a two dayer this weekend.:mrgreen:

[Crazy_Farmer]

Great looking hunt! Nice to see you guys getting into anything other then big ol' honkers on the island. 2lb geese are always rewarding to decoy in.

Maybe one day you'll get a speck season for all those migrating specks. When I asked the Bio about that he said how the island and the fraser valley dont winter any specks so no season.....well I couldnt really understand that logic becuase whats the difference from upcountry where you can shoot migrating birds. They dont winter birds up north but they have seasons for them all.

Another thing I've heard for the fraser valley anyways is we used to have a good population of specks years ago that got hunted out and they are trying to get the population up here. I know in the past 2-3 years more and more have been showing up with cacklers and snows.

[lorneparker1]

Great shoot Tony!! Who carried the decoys? :P
Looks like I dont have to worry about you anymore! :D

[field marshal]

Lorne, why do you think all the guys who come with me are great big guys?:mrgreen:
C.F. the stories I was given by the biologists was this;
No open seasons for Specks on the coast was because a rare subspecies of Greater Whitefronts is called the Tule goose which migrates thru here and cannot sustain any hunting pressure???:confused: Sounds like the bird watcher groups are setting policy? I know they did just that with Bandtail Pigeons.:twisted:
Cheers Field Marshal.

[Crazy_Farmer]

I can understand that but then what about all the speck seasons down the coast in Wa/Or, even in a bunch of areas and migration routes they still have a speck season even if there is Tules present.

Late season Speck/Snow hunts in Klamath falls OR were reduced to 1 speck, then 2 after a few years becuase of a concern of Tules migrating back up. But they still had a season, same goes for certain counties in Cali. And even in their wintering valley they just delay the opening date, lower the bag limit and have a shorter season.

So they still get a season but if thats the reasoning we dont?? Why not just in our regs just like the prairies do for non-residents shooting specks. 5 canadas, specks included in your limit but no more then say 2 of your 5 can be specks. They can keep the harvest number down like that.

[Duck Buster]

Great job Tony, It is really nice when things work out. Can't wait to get into them this weekend.

[naes]

Way to go Tony :-D

[nano]

Nice shooting guys!

[kyleklassen]

looks like a great day

[Piledriver]

Mr. Field Marshall, Sir, if you don't curtail these stories and stunning photos we Pittmeadownians will also be migrating south across The Fraser next Saturday!
Great shooting (with both) scatterguns and camera! I'm extremely envious.

[kyleklassen]

whats on the other side of the fraser?

[Piledriver]

I see loads of geese over here on the cold side of The Fraser but my blind is built a little off their usual flyways. They do pass over periodically but I've not yet felt the desire to attempt a "Skybuster" shot. I'm sticking to ducks till late Nov. My new Lab pup is only 70 lbs soaking wet and may get a little shy if he gets beaten up by an angry Western Canada! "Cheers from The North Side."

[835]

This was Tuesday?!?!?!
Damn! I need to retire!

[sneg]

nice pics. good going. i m afraid to take camera to field since i soaked all my docs,cell and camera last year when had a swim with all gear in Fraser.

[MB_Boy]

Hey guys,

Quick question for you......although I have done a ton of waterfowling...it was always back in MB. We had the full gammet of ducks, Canadas, snows and blues..........WTF is a "cackler"? :???: :wink: :oops:

[Marc]

It's a sub species of Canada goose the size of a mallard that cackles instead of honking

[mklaver]

Hey guys,

Quick question for you......although I have done a ton of waterfowling...it was always back in MB. We had the full gammet of ducks, Canadas, snows and blues..........WTF is a "cackler"? :???: :wink: :oops:


Thank you for asking - I was stumped on this too.....:-D

[Angus]

A handy reference that I've used lately, especially when I saw a goose in the park that I didn't recognize (it turned out to be a White-fronted goose).

http://www.ducks.org/hunting/waterfowlgallery.aspx

[Crazy_Farmer]

I got this booklet from a friend in Oregon but it's available in PDF online. All about the 7 subspecies of Canada and cackling geese.

http://www.dfw.state.or.us/resources/hunting/waterfowl/goose-permits/WillametteLColGooseGuide_081707.pdf

[d6dan]

It's a sub species of Canada goose the size of a mallard that cackles instead of honking

So, does it taste like a goose or duck?..:?

[Crazy_Farmer]

Tastes like every other goose I've shot. :wink: