Like a bull sprig coming out of the fog and whistling past in the blink of an eye, the state’s new Waterfowl Quality Hunt Program in northwest Washington sort of sneaked up on area duck hunters this year. The program, loosely patterned after the popular quality snow goose hunt on the Skagit delta, w
as expanded for 2010-11 from a successful pilot project last winter, but never publicized.
“That’s not because we wanted to keep it low-key or anything,” said state Fish and Wildlife Department biologist and program monitor Brandon Roozen. “With budget cuts and the economic situation we’ve been stretched pretty thin, and I just didn’t have the time to contact all the people I wanted to.”
The program brings together hunters and landowners friendly to hunting in a controlled situation on 40 sites in Whatcom, Skagit and north Snohomish counties. Each site is either an established blind or a marked-field area, available without reservation on a first-come-first-served basis to a maximum of three hunters each, and with no special permit requirement. Each site is marked with WQHP signs and offers a list of rules at its parking area.
So with hunters racing to be the first at the choice locations each morning, the imagination conjures up visions of armed confrontations in the dark and the mud and the rain, along the lines of a Tom Clancy thriller.
Hasn’t happened, Roozen said.
“If there’s a vehicle already there, folks just move along,” he said. “We’ve generally been pleased with how well hunters have been observing the rules. And, of course, that’s the key to keeping the landowners happy, the program operating and perhaps expanding into other species and venues, such as big game.”
While this has been a poor waterfowl season so far, the quality program sites have been producing birds. And, according to Roozen, there seems to be relative hunting equality. That is, no breakdown list of “good” sites and “poor” sites circulating along the grapevine.
“We have a wide range of opportunity,” Roozen said. “Each site seems to have its good and poor periods, depending on weather conditions and other factors. And that points up the importance of doing your homework. Get out and scout to see what habitat the birds are using, their flight patterns, and so forth, so you know what sites are likely to be productive under what conditions.”
A list of sites, with full rules and driving directions, is available on the state website, wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/wqhp/. Roughly three-quarters of the sites involve an established blind. The most common type is built of brush and chicken wire on T-posts, with a wooden base. Some have seating, but most do not.
BRANT OPENING
The state has decided brant numbers in Skagit County are high enough to allow an eight-day hunt, Jan. 15, 16, 19, 22, 23, 26, 29 and 30, with a bag limit of two geese per day. The hunting season was contingent on a population of at least 6,000 birds, and an aerial survey early this week counted 8,519 on Fidalgo, Padilla and Samish bays. An additional 6,877 brant were counted in Whatcom County, according to state waterfowl manager Don Kraege in Olympia.
That’s a good count, Kraege said, particularly when compared to last winter’s total of just over 6,000 birds, but well under the count of 16,200 — the most in 14 years — in 2009.
To participate in the Skagit County brant season, hunters must have written authorization and a harvest record card from the state. For more information, see the agency’s Migratory Waterfowl and Upland Game Seasons hunting pamphlet.
RAZOR CLAM DIG SUCCESSFUL
The popular New Year’s Eve razor clam dig on the coastal beaches was moderately successful this year, said state clam manager Dan Ayres in Montesano. He said Monday that, while the data hadn’t been processed, he thought the large crowd was close to the usual number — somewhere in the 20,000 range — and traffic backed up badly in Aberdeen.
“I took my family out Friday,” Ayres said. “It was cold and digging was a mixed bag. We got our clams OK, but some folks were struggling. The surf came up a little on Saturday, so results were even more mixed, but it laid back down and Sunday evening showed probably the best success rates of the weekend.”
Considering the surf was a little higher than optimum, the dig pretty much lived up to expectations, Ayres said.
ICE FISHING
Mike Meseberg at MarDon Resort on Potholes Reservoir in Grant County said the ice cover on the big lake was not thick enough yet for safe ice fishing, but that there were “probably some other, smaller lakes in the area where folks were already fishing.”
Long Lake, eight miles below the reservoir, would be one such, Meseberg said. It’s a popular perch-fishing site on those winters cold enough to offer safe (at least four inches of hard, clear ice) conditions.
The MarDon tackle shop rents and sells ice augurs, and stocks a full range of ice fishing gear, including Swedish Pimple jigs. Call the shop for current conditions at 1-800-416-2736.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
