looking for a duck blind in SAC area.....

[RACKMASTER]

pm me if anyone knows...
up to $2000.
lost my choice!!
jack

 

[d13r]

I've got one I could ship to you. Would that work?

JB

 

[eelgrass]

I built one last year for under $50.

Eel

 

[Califelkslayer]

$2000.00 for a hole or whole tank???????

 

[RACKMASTER]

a seat, (single seat in a pit with others).....I found 1 is in a good spot and its 2500! (will shoot any weather!
the others are the same crappy ones that did not fill last year or shoot like crap..I am no hen killer.... all those boot lips I let fly to the grasslands!
we may get another sprig this year and a dark goose!
I don't like shooting field maggots (snows) but will!
jack

 

[CAelknuts]

We may get another sprig, but don't hold your breath. CWA is working hard to make it happen, but there is a lot of resistance at the flyway council level, and Federal level to allowing California another sprig. That said, chances are probably better this year than they've been for quite a few years, so let's hope it happens.

We're highly likely to get more geese, as the Commision has just published new proposals that indicate they want to go to a goose limit of 8. Specks and Aleutians are way above objective, so they want to allow a heavier harvest of those. White geese will be 6 if the proposed changes go into effect. Brant going up from 2 to 4, which is great for those of us who like to hunt those little sea geese. Expect poor early season mallard shooting this year. We had an excellent hatch in 2006, but last year was poor with the drought, and this year wasn't much better if even as good. It's going to be a tough early season if you normally shoot mallards.

I'm on CWA's regulations and traditions commitee, and we normally meet in July to hear the biologists talk about production and populations, and then come up with CWA's position as a recommendation for the board of directors to adopt, which they then take to the F&G commission. I'll try to post an update after we meet, which is usually in mid_july.

 

[Califelkslayer]

Any more Hanks??? Where I live, honkers are the only reliable geese. I haven't bought stamps for 3 years cause its either get up @ 2:00 AM, drive 1.5 hours, fight with others and kill 2 geese OR

leave the house @ 6:00 AM, drive an hour, chase chukar all day. Shoot many more times and have very tired, happy dogs.

PS, I did buy a 3 day hunt in Alberta for the girlfriend and I. 8 dark limit, 8 duck limit, 20 snow goose limit. Going early so the darks are dumb and less snows. Maybe I'll get the bug again.

 

[eelgrass]

"Brant going up from 2 to 4, which is great for those of us who like to hunt those little sea geese."

That would be fantastic! It would make the effort more worth while.

Eel

 

[Trophymossback]

In spite of what CWA will tell you, they have no say in the seasons or bag limit. They testify before the DFG as does DU, but the decisions are made at a federal level. Migratory waterfowl are managed by the Federal Government and a whole bunch of Federal Treaties. DU is a National Organization with an Office in Washington DC. Who do you think has the influence?

TM

 

[CAelknuts]

CWA's regulations commmitte meets tomorrow morning and I'll report back on what we vote out to CWA's board of directors. We'll come up with our recommendation for CWA's board, which is usually accepted and recommended by CWA to the Fish and Game Commission. Trophymossback, in California the Fish and Game Commission sets the seasons and bag limits, within the framework that the Fish and Wildlife Service allows. The F&WS framework is adopted each year at a meeting of the four flyway councils, which occurs early in the summer. I hate to disappoint you, but we meet with Fish and Game's waterfowl coordinator, as well as biologists who provide data for our recommendations. Not all years, but some, the chairman of the Fish and Game Commission has sat in on our meetings to hear what we come up with, and why. That's not to say that we're setting the seasons, we're only coming up with recommendation for CWA's position, but the seasons and bag limits are set here in CA, not by the Feds.

Expect a liberal season again, with a likely reduction in mallards, no canvasbacks or only one, it is pretty certain that we're only getting 1 pintail again this year and geese are gonna go up.

My son is really stoked to see the Brant limit going up, as he's moving to San Luis Obispo in two weeks for college. He's only 20 minutes from Morro Bay.

I'll try to report back after our meeting tomorrow.

 

[CAelknuts]

CWA's regulations committe voted yesterday to support the DFG's waterfowl recommendations across the board. Without going into the entire framework, mainly because I can't remember every detail, the proposal to the F&G Commission will be for a 100 day season with a 7 bird limit, 7 mallards, 1 hen, 1 pintail, NO canvasbacks, 2 scaup, 2 redheads. The best news, if you like to hunt geese, was a liberalization of the goose bag limits. In most areas, you'll be able to take 8 geese total, comprised of up to 6 white geese, 4 specklebellies, 4 large canadas and up to 6 small canada geese (mainly Aleutians). The northeast zone differs in that you'll still only be able to have 2 honkers there. One disappointment was that they're going to keep Brant at only two per day. The framework would have allowed for more, but there were significant predation problems documented on nesting grounds this year from foxes, so they decided that moderation would probably serve the resource better overall, and for the long term. Both brant zones will have a 30 day season.

The season in the northeast will open on October 11th and run through January 18th, with the youth weekend hunt being held two weeks before. The season for most of the state will open on October 18th and run to January 25th, with the youth weekend being the weekend after the end. There were some deviations that I don't recall for the Southern San Joaquin Valley and Colorado River zone, but that doesn't affect a lot of people relative to the other zones.

The commission still has to meet to adopt these recommendations, but they're expected to largely go with the proposals as submitted. There was some speculation that the commission may prefer slightly more restrictive season dates or limits, but with the Service's liberal framework under AHM, it's unlikely that they'll deviate much from the proposal, if at all. The worst news was that for California raised mallards, the estimate is for a population 23% under last year's production, and 20% under the long term average. Balancing that to some degree was expected strong production in Oregon and up the west coast into Alaska.

The final regulations should be adopted shortly, but this will give everyone an idea of what to expect.