Warm Weather Blues - Bird Hunting Tactics
Warm weather giving you the blues this hunting season? Well now is the time to change up your thinking and your tactics.
Bird Hunting Tactics, Location, Weather, and More
Most hunters get into the mindset that they need certain things to be successful in the field. These can be things such as; tactics, location, weather, and more. Some of my most memorable hunts are those hunts where I first discovered a new spot, a new tactic, or hunted with new people.
Currently, most of the Pacific Northwest is “plagued” by a warm weather cycle that is playing with the minds of bird hunters. However, I feel hunters shouldn’t give up. Instead, they simply just need to change their tactics and change how they approach their day.
Growing up in eastern Washington, my father took me bird hunting every weekend behind his champion English Setters. Watching these dogs work birds had been a part of my life that I was so used to, that it seemed like the only way to hunt birds. During my teenage years (once I got a car) I, of course, rebelled and started hunting waterfowl.
Recently I hooked up with an old friend, Ben Holten, from North Flight Waterfowl, to do a fun central Washington bird hunt. Our goal was to chase pheasants and possibly locate some mallards. Ben had let me know that the goose hunting hadn’t been the best, with the mild weather, and that the ducks were spread out because the sloughs and ponds were not yet frozen. I was excited to get out behind a good dog and walk through the sage, CRP, and cattails just like when I was a kid.
Ben had some tactics to get us away from the crowds, and this proved to be extremely helpful in locating birds. As soon as we stepped out of the car, I was filled with emotion and excitement. Childhood memories of walking through eastern Washington tugged at my heart. I felt overwhelmed. Birds were flying everywhere; ducks, geese, and snow geese, pheasants cackling, quail whistling. I was literally spinning in circles thinking to myself, “let’s go find where the ducks are landing…” However, I decided to stay the course and chase roosters.
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As we started walking Panzer, our giant female wirehair, she started to get birdy near a pond in some cattails. As the rooster popped, Ben and I shot simultaneously, dropping the bird into the pond. I turned to look at Ben with a smile on my face and immediately saw thousands of ducks in the air. The ponds directly behind us were absolutely loaded. Birds were circling and landing right back into the ponds they took off from. Ben then said, “I am not used to this. Normally, I don’t even think about duck hunting back here because all the ponds are frozen…” Once the rooster was retrieved, we circled over to the ponds to watch multiple groups pile in without hesitation. After some deliberation, we put a sneak on the ponds and dropped a few mallard drakes, more water retrieves for Panzer, who would whine as she approached the downed birds.
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For the remainder of the hunt, we flushed and killed several more roosters and mallards. That morning, I was brought back to my childhood and it really made me think about my dad, my friends, and my family. Upon returning to the trucks, we enjoyed fresh cooked roosters and mallards accompanied by the only thing to dip them in, Sriracha Mayo. We then said our goodbyes and I was headed down the road back to Sandpoint. I called my dad, the second I got into the truck, told him the story and thanked him for taking me hunting as a kid.
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I observed and learned a few things after this hunt. Working in the hunting industry I am constantly tapped into local hunters’ hunts, weather conditions, and tactics, to name a few. The warm weather seems to have every bird hunter down in a slump. Stories of, ‘oh, it’s still too warm in Calgary… the birds haven’t pushed down yet’ and, ‘the birds are too spread out to have a good hunt…’ I say those are just excuses. Put in your legwork, get out there and scout, find new spots, try new tactics, and most importantly, make memories with friends in the process. The birds are here, and they are in some really cool spots, so get out there and make the most of it!
