Hello,
Been lurking the forum for a while, just started bird hunting last year and am absolutely hooked. I live in Missoula and have been hunting mostly Kelly Island, 9pipes in the Flathead and Lee Metcalf down in Stevensville. Had a pretty good season so far getting better with my decoy layouts and my calling. I'm trying to expand my options since it's pretty crowded around here, the problem is I have zero connections with other bird hunters. Family and friends never really got into it and finding new areas close to Missoula has yielded pretty poor results. Even so just searching around with my trusty black lab is my favorite thing in the world.
The people I do talk to are pretty tight lipped about their areas, which I totally understand. I'm thinking about wandering out to Warm Springs this weekend. I've heard whispers that this is a decent area around the DU ponds and I always see a ton of birds flying when I drive the highway. I'm curious if anybody can tell me if that would be a waste of time? I have a suspicion the ponds might be frozen up with the cold snap coming through and have no idea if this is even a good place to hunt. I'd like to not waste a good hunting saturday driving out there. I'm not asking for the exact GPS coordinates of the optimal blind location I prefer to scout myself! Just wondering if one of you fine gentlemen can tell me anything about the area out of the kindness of your heart.
Thanks! Good luck this week!
Been lurking the forum for a while, just started bird hunting last year and am absolutely hooked. I live in Missoula and have been hunting mostly Kelly Island, 9pipes in the Flathead and Lee Metcalf down in Stevensville. Had a pretty good season so far getting better with my decoy layouts and my calling. I'm trying to expand my options since it's pretty crowded around here, the problem is I have zero connections with other bird hunters. Family and friends never really got into it and finding new areas close to Missoula has yielded pretty poor results. Even so just searching around with my trusty black lab is my favorite thing in the world.
The people I do talk to are pretty tight lipped about their areas, which I totally understand. I'm thinking about wandering out to Warm Springs this weekend. I've heard whispers that this is a decent area around the DU ponds and I always see a ton of birds flying when I drive the highway. I'm curious if anybody can tell me if that would be a waste of time? I have a suspicion the ponds might be frozen up with the cold snap coming through and have no idea if this is even a good place to hunt. I'd like to not waste a good hunting saturday driving out there. I'm not asking for the exact GPS coordinates of the optimal blind location I prefer to scout myself! Just wondering if one of you fine gentlemen can tell me anything about the area out of the kindness of your heart.
Thanks! Good luck this week!