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quality hunts

2K views 17 replies 11 participants last post by  h2ofowlr 
#1 ·
This program still alive? Can't find much info on the WDFW site. Looks like they closed at least a few of the better ones in Skagit Co.
 
#5 ·
kcidkcus said:
At least the state has a sense of humor about their "quality hunts" :hammer:
I don't know. They seem to be just like most non-game-managed lands. Hit or miss. I have hunted a few of them over the years that were lights out shooting on occasion. The locations change a little bit and a few of them were very nice. Quality doesn't necessarily mean "limits every time". It means less competition for the blind, perhaps a shorter walk, the opportunity to field hunt without knocking on a million doors, no hunters busting through your spread at shooting light, a decent blind to hunt out of, a reduced amount of skybusting from that location, that many less spots inaccessible to hunters, that many less places the ducks have to avoid pressure.

All in all I think its a good program that will only get better.
 
#6 ·
Shade said:
kcidkcus said:
At least the state has a sense of humor about their "quality hunts" :hammer:
I don't know. They seem to be just like most non-game-managed lands. Hit or miss. I have hunted a few of them over the years that were lights out shooting on occasion. The locations change a little bit and a few of them were very nice. Quality doesn't necessarily mean "limits every time". It means less competition for the blind, perhaps a shorter walk, the opportunity to field hunt without knocking on a million doors, no hunters busting through your spread at shooting light, a decent blind to hunt out of, a reduced amount of skybusting from that location, that many less spots inaccessible to hunters, that many less places the ducks have to avoid pressure.

All in all I think its a good program that will only get better.
Really? That doesn't sound all that bad. I personally have never hunted at one. But I have heard about them and some guys claim they are a nightmare lol Guess I wouldn't know unless I tried sometime. We don't have many of those in NE WA
 
#7 ·
Yeah. If you happened to only hunt them on off days, or didn't scout them beforehand to see what you were working with, I can easily see a few bad experiences could turn a sour taste. But like I said, they are hit or miss on birds. The best one can do to improve their hunts on them (and this is true for any spot, so it's not like a big secret or anything) is to scout them the day/night before. Find out if there is any birds on it, is there any feed left, is there enough water for a loafing spot. And then of course get there early enough to secure it. I have found that these QH units only add to my scouting. I will go to an area and scout everything huntable. If I find birds on a WDFW unit... Guess where I am the next day. Birds on a QH? I'll hunt that instead. Occasionally I won't find any birds... So I will either get my butt up earlier in the AM and try the ear method, or get out on the sound where I know I will at least have a good shot at divers and sea ducks. Rarely I will shrug my shoulders and flip a coin to see where I should hunt. But when I do... I don't have any great expectations. If all I end up with at the end of a hunt is memory of a sunrise and game of fetch with the dog.... it was still better than being at work or watching football.
 
#8 ·
Shade said:
kcidkcus said:
At least the state has a sense of humor about their "quality hunts" :hammer:
I don't know. They seem to be just like most non-game-managed lands. Hit or miss. I have hunted a few of them over the years that were lights out shooting on occasion. The locations change a little bit and a few of them were very nice. Quality doesn't necessarily mean "limits every time". It means less competition for the blind, perhaps a shorter walk, the opportunity to field hunt without knocking on a million doors, no hunters busting through your spread at shooting light, a decent blind to hunt out of, a reduced amount of skybusting from that location, that many less spots inaccessible to hunters, that many less places the ducks have to avoid pressure.

All in all I think its a good program that will only get better.
I use them quite often up here and have spent some time talking to the guys who work on them for the state. They actually care about the blinds, placement, and whether birds are working the areas. I have found that early to mid season they are pretty good, but as the birds get edumacated with the areas, they get tougher to draw in. But they are that way everywhere. I wouldn't mind seeing them given rotating rest days just to keep the birds guessing.
 
#9 ·
skagitduckwacker said:
I wouldn't mind seeing them given rotating rest days just to keep the birds guessing.
Definitely. Or even a 12:00pm or 1:00pm cut off time to allow birds to rest/feed in the afternoon. Maybe a schedule like geese in area 4.... Only huntable on weekends, Wednesdays, holidays, and all week the final week of the season. I think rest days on a schedule will be more feasible when the state is able to pick up more land owners willing to participate in the program. With about double the 2012 number of units, they could have two different rotating schedules allowing hunting every day of the season on QH units and still allow rest time.

Some day, when I am president....
 
#10 ·
Just a quick heads up on the Q-Hunts.

Yes the program is still up and running. They are building blinds as fast as they can at the moment. Still also getting contract signed and all of that with some of the land owners.

The program is changing some of the lands this year and we will be seeing a few more locations than we did last year (Skagit county) anyways... The good thing for eveyone is that the only ducks in Skagit county go to the quality hunt sites so ONLY HUNT THEM!!! NO BIRDS ANYWHERE ELSE!!!! DON'T EVEN BOTHER LOOKING!!! :thumbsup:

The real question that I have not seen any work done on is the snow goose sites. Lots of rumors floating around on that one. Will be intresting to see what happens for those things.

We will be having the Quality Hunt people at the November meeting (planning anyways) for the NW chapter WWA @ the conway fire house. WIll put something out later on that.
 
#12 ·
somethinsmellsfishy said:
I was at the sept meeting of WWA in Conway and the speaker ( guy that helps run the quality hunt program said that there may NOT be a snow goose program this year!.)

Sorry cannot remember his name, some from Skagit county may know whom I am talking about.

Fishy
Chris or Brad?

This could be a good thing. Maybe it would thin out some of the people that run around chasing them. Many of them were pushed off the island, so we shot most of our snows in other locations in the valley. I think I only hunted them maybe 10 times on the island. The other spots we hunted them, was like the old days when it was fun. :thumbsup:
 
#13 ·
h2ofowlr said:
somethinsmellsfishy said:
I was at the sept meeting of WWA in Conway and the speaker ( guy that helps run the quality hunt program said that there may NOT be a snow goose program this year!.)

Sorry cannot remember his name, some from Skagit county may know whom I am talking about.

Fishy
Chris or Brad?

This could be a good thing. Maybe it would thin out some of the people that run around chasing them. Many of them were pushed off the island, so we shot most of our snows in other locations in the valley. I think I only hunted them maybe 10 times on the island. The other spots we hunted them, was like the old days when it was fun. :thumbsup:
I see your point, but will be bummed if the program goes, living down in Bonney Lake doesn't allow me to pattern birds as easily. With the QH program I at least had a spot to throw out my spread and run some traffic, which resulted in a few birds at least on my hunts, which worked for me. I'll have to see if I can convince some property owners to grant permission.
 
#14 ·
Brad was at the Conway meeting. Great guy. Its nice to see him as fired up about the lands as we as hunters are. I also was allowed to give a quick calling seminar which was a ton of fun. Looking forward to working with wwa more in the future
 
#16 ·
Usually the Qaulity fields are not open at the beginning of the season. The past few years has mostly been because fields were not harvested yet. The duck fields usually are open quite later when the migration gets going. The Snowgoose ones hardly ever were ready at the first weekend. With all the talk about qulaity yes or no I wish we could get an offical word from someone at the game department. I live close, but there are a lot of nice people who I have met in the past years that travel a long way to at least give it a try. I'm guessing this makes it a little hard to plan for those folks.
 
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