engineerbrian
JMB fan club
Who else went out for early resident geese today?
2019 - 2020 waterfowl hunting thread.
- Thread starter engineerbrian
- Start date
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fabsroman
Ultimate Member
Saw two groups fly by this afternoon while dove hunting. They were honking and looking for somewhere to land. If we had decoys in the pond, we would have stood a pretty good chance of getting them in.
Once upon a time, I really liked resident season. After cleaning 10+ birds several times in the heat, I have less of an affection for it. Might get back into it as the kids get older.
Did you have any luck today?
engineerbrian
JMB fan club
Archeryrob
Undecided on a great many things
Congrats, Couldn't make it out. Woke up to leave and read the text that my buddy with the permission had to run his daughter in for an emergency appendectomy. Told him "Family first, the birds will always be there." Went and trimmed some shooting lanes for Late September deer hunting.
We seem to do better goose hunting after deer bow opens and they other guys quit filling the fields and the birds settle down. The first week is generally a mess trying to decoy them and dove hunters flooding the fields changes all their patterns by day two.
We seem to do better goose hunting after deer bow opens and they other guys quit filling the fields and the birds settle down. The first week is generally a mess trying to decoy them and dove hunters flooding the fields changes all their patterns by day two.
TrappedinMD
Active Member
I was out at indian springs but by the time birds showed up there were a mess of people in canoes and kayaks, then went to the fields for doves but there were tons of people there as well.
I don't hunt early resident because of the reasons noted above. In years past we were out in t shirts a shorts,... still sweating our ballz off. I like to hunt in the cold, colder and rainier the better honestly. I don't mind walking and setting dekes in the mud, don't mind sitting still in the rain and cold either.
I'm a ~20F to ~50*F with light wind type of hunter, anything other than that and begin to think about what else I should be doing.
I'm a ~20F to ~50*F with light wind type of hunter, anything other than that and begin to think about what else I should be doing.
fabsroman
Ultimate Member
I was dove hunting yesterday in Columbia shorts, my OBX t-shirt I just bought a couple weeks ago, and some Tevas. That is my type of hunting when it is 80 degrees out. Might have to start wearing camo though now that the birds are somewhat educated.
LimaVictor
Ultimate Member
fabsroman
Ultimate Member
Great job for you and your son. Looks like you guys had a great time.
italian redneck
FUBAR
Got one 10 minutes after shooting light then when quiet for awhile, about 9:30 had a flock of 20 decoy perfect and were able to get 3 more down..was a good morning hunt
fabsroman
Ultimate Member
An Italian Redneck? Parli Italiano?
italian redneck
FUBAR
no i do not, family stopped teaching the kids Italian after my mom aunt and uncle. i got the short end of the stick and didn't get to learn..i plan to once i get enough free time tho
jtb81100
Ultimate Member
Can anybody explain the thought process behind having such a restrictive limit on canadian geese and a huge limit on light geese? Canadian geese are everywhere in western howard county and light geese are almost non-existant. I'm 37 and I've never seen anything BUT canadian geese on our farm and pond and only rarely anywhere else in the area.
First thing (not being smart, just helping you out). Canada Geese (non-possessive). When you hunt in Canada they call them "Dark" Geese and Light Geese. Here we (generally) call them Canada and "Snows".
Now then.
When you see Canadas, you'll generally see flocks with a few to several familial units, usually 20 to 150 birds in a flock moving around from roosting to feeding. Snows are (generally) an entirely different bird, flocks range from a few hundred to several THOUSAND.... literally. They are generally only found in the major flyways, for instance, on the Eastern Shore they tend to stay EAST. We hunt Earleville, MD hardly ever see snows, move over and south 10-15 miles and the fields might be loaded with them.
We also saw quite a few swans the last few years which used to be rare.
Now then.
When you see Canadas, you'll generally see flocks with a few to several familial units, usually 20 to 150 birds in a flock moving around from roosting to feeding. Snows are (generally) an entirely different bird, flocks range from a few hundred to several THOUSAND.... literally. They are generally only found in the major flyways, for instance, on the Eastern Shore they tend to stay EAST. We hunt Earleville, MD hardly ever see snows, move over and south 10-15 miles and the fields might be loaded with them.
We also saw quite a few swans the last few years which used to be rare.
Devonian
Ultimate Member
- Apr 15, 2008
- 1,199
It’s because DNR sets limits based on the entire state not just what’s on your farm...
94hokie
Active Member
Snow Geese are over-populating their breeding grounds in Canada and if the population is not kept in check they could destroy them by over-feeding up there in the spring due to the fact that they are root eaters. They tend to stay over on the Eastern Shore, but you can see huge flocks of them over there. The Canada Goose limit is based on the population of migratory Canadas that come from the Ungava Peninsula in Canada. That population has been hurt badly by late thaws in Canada in several of the past ten years, the worst being two springs ago when basically the whole population was unable to nest due to snow on the ground up there until late May, early June. This group is not all of the geese we see here in Maryland, but it is a large part of it and it drives the limit on Canada Geese.
The answer to the question about the "Conservation" (ridicilous name) Season for Light Geese,.... it's 100% about the amount of destruction they cause on farms. 1-2K birds can land just before sunrise and wipe out a literally acres of crop. They have a different beak/mouth, a Canada has serrated sections that "cut" foliage as they eat, a snow goose YANKS the entire plant out of the ground root and all (depending on crop/ground conditions).
It isn't unusual at all for farmers to go out back and "flock shoot" snows in an effort to get them up and moving to mitigate damage.
All of this being said... most hunters kill snows just to kill. They are a tuff bird, tough to kill, tough and depending on what they've been eating they said to be disgusting aside from maybe jerky or something like that.
I don't hunt anything I can't/won't eat. Nothing personal against people who chose to, just my preference in life. No "conservation" hunting for me, I'm not killing a bunch of birds to just throw them in a ditch somewhere.
It isn't unusual at all for farmers to go out back and "flock shoot" snows in an effort to get them up and moving to mitigate damage.
All of this being said... most hunters kill snows just to kill. They are a tuff bird, tough to kill, tough and depending on what they've been eating they said to be disgusting aside from maybe jerky or something like that.
I don't hunt anything I can't/won't eat. Nothing personal against people who chose to, just my preference in life. No "conservation" hunting for me, I'm not killing a bunch of birds to just throw them in a ditch somewhere.
jtb81100
Ultimate Member
The point wasn't they should base it on what is on my farm, the point was it is unusual for a species that seems nearly non-existant in an area to have almost no bag limit while a species that seems over-populated has a very restrictive limit.
Thanks to the two of you who actually had educated responses.
fabsroman
Ultimate Member
To add a little to this, the migratory birds come through Howard County. A lot of them come though Howard County and they are what we mostly see around here in the late season. When you see birds flying around a mile up, they are usually migratory. Then, some of the banded birds I have killed in HoCo prove that they are coming from Canada, because that is where they were banded.
You also need to take a look at the early resident season in September, where they allow us to kill 8 birds a day. 8 birds is a ton of birds. However, the early season takes place before the migratory birds start coming down here.
Then, for the late season, you need to realize that there is a "migratory season" that encompasses certain counties in the state and then there is a "late season" that encompasses other areas of the state. The limit for "late season" is 5 a day, and includes MoCo, Frederick, Washington, Carroll, and a couple other counties. Believe that Frederick, Washington, and Carroll might be limited to certain areas within those counties
So, if the migratory population was not coming into Howard, we would also have a 5 bird limit. However, since the migratory population does come into Howard and there is absolutely no way to tell whether a bird is a resident or a migrator, the limit is 1 for Howard County in the late season.
http://www.eregulations.com/maryland/hunting/migratory-game-bird-seasons-limits/
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