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Waterfowlers find joy in foul weather
The hopes of Mid-Columbia waterfowlers often ride the currents of the next major weather system.
Being adept at forecasting the weather - and also having the opportunity to hunt when ducky weather hits - is unquestionably a key to waterfowling success.
Matt Monda, a biologist with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife in Ephrata, said this week's cold front - which brought wet snow to the north half of the Columbia Basin and cold, rainy weather in the Tri-Cities - is welcome news to waterfowlers.
"We really haven't had any weather to move ducks and geese into our area in any large numbers. Although we have plenty of waterfowl to the north of us, they won't leave where they are until severe weather pushes them out," he said.
Until recently, waterfowl counts in the Basin - especially mallards - were among the lowest on record for this time of the year.
However, with a dramatic change in the weather, northern-bred ducks have arrived in the north half of the Basin.
Monda said a strong weather system, such as the one that blew through Wednesday, can move hundreds of thousands of birds into the region, literally overnight.
"I'll tell you one thing: I'm going hunting this weekend," he added.
However, even with an influx of northerns, hunting often can be short-lived when the birds figure out where the hunters are.
"Once birds get into a pattern that avoids heavily hunted areas, only abrupt changes in the weather - such as wind, rain, snow or freezing temperatures - can provide continued success because it forces birds to fly more often to feed and find shelter," Monda said.
And as waterfowlers know only too well, mild weather the past few seasons has hurt hunting, despite record bird populations in our region and across the nation.
Another key to optimum waterfowl hunting is the availability of feed. And for mallards, grain corn tops the list.
"The north half of the Basin offers plenty of forage for waterfowl," Monda said. "So, when they do start arriving here in large numbers, there will be plenty for them eat, which hopefully, will keep them around for a while."
Monda said that until the state can do its next aerial survey - perhaps next week - it's impossible to gauge how many birds have moved into the region, but it no doubt will exceed the 60,000 birds observed in mid-October.
However, hunters' success is based on more than the weather.
"(Ducks and geese) can pick a field clean in a day or two, then move to another," Monda said. "I'd recommend scouting your potential hunting area the day before going out.
"Overall, I'm encouraged by the weather and the fact that we have plenty of birds in the Flyway," he added.
Closer to home, U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials report improved hunting success on the McNary and Umatilla refuges, including McNary National Wildlife Refuge in Burbank, as new birds move into the neighborhood.
Also, the Fish and Wildlife Service has flooded the large millet field on the north side of the Walla Walla River on the agency's Wallula Unit.
As waterfowl begin their annual migration, hunters are reminded they can report federal migratory bird bands by calling a new, 24-hour toll-free number: 1-800-327-BAND.
Dave Meseberg at Mar Don Resort on Potholes Reservoir, used his cell phone from his blind during a late October hunt to report a banded mallard and learned that the bird was banded Aug. 20 in Alberta, Canada.
Meseberg, who along with his brother, Mike, operate Meseberg Brothers Duck Taxi Service - a guided and non-guided hunting service - said if hunters do not report the bands they recover, then the effort to track the movement, life span, survival rate and population growth of migratory birds is wasted.
For more information on bird banding, the government has a nifty Web site at www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl that's worth a gander.
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