Depressing!

I can't believe the seson is over already. Granted it wasn't the best season, but I feel like we should still be hunting right now. I'm lost...not sure what to do now.

come to long island with me on sunday!

David "swampy" L. wrote:come to long island with me on sunday!

Love to but I have a 4-day trip starts Sunday. How is it that their season is still open and we're closed? I swear this state screws us. We should still have an open season right now.

They're first split is 4 days in late Nov. then Dec 5 to Jan 29. NY has Sunday hunting so they're season goes pretty quick.

Looks like this is going to be the first year in a long long time that I'm not going to make it out there.

I hate going through these withdraws too.

Yeah, forget about that Sunday hunting in Jersey. That just makes the season shorter! Hell, I'd give up Mondays too just to make the season longer.

I thought your Canada Goose season went till February 15? You can still go for something.

i went to the refuge this afternoon to see how many snow geese were using it and there was literaly thousands of pintails and gadwalls
using it a little late Unbelivable!!!!!!!!!!

Capt. John wrote:I thought your Canada Goose season went till February 15? You can still go for something.

Only in a few selected areas but it is open.

k Pontari wrote:i went to the refuge this afternoon to see how many snow geese were using it and there was literaly thousands of pintails and gadwalls
using it a little late Unbelivable!!!!!!!!!!

Yup, They're alive and well.

Boat is cleaned off and engine is fogged, time to get in shape for tuna fishing in Hatteras this March.

The lull between duck season and bass fishing is always the toughest time of the year...

Capt. John wrote:I thought your Canada Goose season went till February 15? You can still go for something.

Yeah we have the special winter season, but honestly its not much fun shooting sky carp anymore. Snow Geese I would go and I just may end up going anyway. Are there snows on the Forsythe??

One of the biggest reasons I love the "retriever games"....it creates a nice bridge from the "off season" to the "season"....Start training with some purpose in march carry that right on through...run some HT's in May June & July...and before you know it, its sept goose!


I'll be chasing some winter zone birds this Sat...first time in a few years. Or chasing some snows...One of my fields is LOADED...to bad I don't have Snow goose dekes anymore

David "swampy" L. wrote:One of the biggest reasons I love the "retriever games"....it creates a nice bridge from the "off season" to the "season"....Start training with some purpose in march carry that right on through...run some HT's in May June & July...and before you know it, its sept goose!


I'll be chasing some winter zone birds this Sat...first time in a few years. Or chasing some snows...One of my fields is LOADED...to bad I don't have Snow goose dekes anymore

I'm looking forward to the retriever stuff...but its still depressing to not be sitting in the estuary for puddlers!

I have a few doz snow decoys and I have access to a shit load of silo socks. If you got the x field let me know, but I've never had luck in the fields. The bay is a different story.

I live in the special season zone not much flying but we hunted in Pemberton an our fields are loaded with snows..... lol dont have to drive far at all

John Mulcahy III wrote:I live in the special season zone not much flying but we hunted in Pemberton an our fields are loaded with snows..... lol dont have to drive far at all

I have about 7 fields in Chesterfield John and as far as I know, the snows haven't hit them "yet", but they are in the area. The problem is you need at least 1,000 decoys to gun them in the fields up here. Plus they are all in one big flock, so you basically put out 1,000 decoys and get one shot!

So I actually have a couple of methods for getting these guys. The first is to pattern the snows and find the x field. Once I find that I either get permission or hopefully already have permission and then the very next morning I go sit in the field in the area that they were working the morning before. I don't put out any decoys, just use either a layout blind or in some cases I'll just hide in whatever cover is nearby. Then you just wait for the flock to come and wait for nearly all of them to land and then blast. I did this a couple of times last year and each time I shot a few birds but the first time I did it I got really lucky. They were using a sod farm and I literally sat right next to the big tire on the watering system. The flock came and landed all around me. I waited until they were all on the ground and then unleashed some fury. I shot 22 snows that day single handedly! LOL!

The other method is to employ a few guys. Find a field with snows. One guy will walk the field while the others are on the opposite end lying in wait. The guy walking pushes the flock right over the heads of the guys laying down. I did this last year and had my father inlaw walk the field behind his house where about 5-600 snows were. I was in a hedgerow at the other end of the field. When they flushed, they flew about 20 feet overhead. With my plug out and 5 shots in the gun, I dropped 5 birds.

Would I prefer to decoy them? Absolutely. But I've been that route before and it is frustrating. On the bay front you can setup between flocks with a few dozen shell decoys and shoot the flocks trading back and forth. That works well. But inland, its a different story. I just try to do my part during the conservation season. Last year I shot about 30 snows all together up here using my methods. They make a good stew! But most importantly, my sod farmer was so happy to get them out of his fields he literally called me everyday to let me know where they were.

thats awsome i dont live far from chesterfield at all maybe 15 to 20 minutes we have loads of snow here already .... an i have a private lake behind my house i have permission to goose hunt on which hold birds becuz no one hunts it .... lol i love birds that decoy an not even hit a call haha

Know that feeling it seems like only a couple weeks ago Was just waiting for the early goose season. Oh well where I work at I look at the Hudson River every mornign and thinking no ice stripers will be in the river early

Rick

I have about 7 fields in Chesterfield John and as far as I know, the snows haven't hit them "yet", but they are in the area.

I was at the in-laws house yesterday and saw a flock of about 2k snows in the sod all balled up in the air..looked about the same size as the flock that was here this time last year...they seem to bounce all around and love the horse farm pond and the sod pond...good luck out there! Its a shame that I saw about 3k canadas there a few days back and the season is closed now...

Gonna be a long 7 months till the next duck season. Paint dekes, mods to boat, find new places to ambush ducks.

Ryan M. wrote:

I have about 7 fields in Chesterfield John and as far as I know, the snows haven't hit them "yet", but they are in the area.

I was at the in-laws house yesterday and saw a flock of about 2k snows in the sod all balled up in the air..looked about the same size as the flock that was here this time last year...they seem to bounce all around and love the horse farm pond and the sod pond...good luck out there! Its a shame that I saw about 3k canadas there a few days back and the season is closed now...

Funny you mention that. I just got a call from Carmen this morning about snows on his sod farm. Guess there's gonna be a snow storm wednesday.