Waterfowl Season 2024

[CBintheNorth]

Was up watching the sunrise the other morning and had flashbacks of laying in the goose patch on a cool morning and watching the sun come up, while having my sip of coffee interrupted by the distant honking of geese.
Gave me goose bumps.

Who else is chomping at the bit to get out there?

[Ruger.308]

Me and my 10 year old. He can't wait as he got hooked big time last year. Never complained once with the 4am wake up calls. I'm looking forward to trying Goose jerky this season.

[catnthehat]

They are staging here now and getting ready to go, so am I!
Cat

[jungleboy]

Originally Posted by Ruger.308

Me and my 10 year old. He can't wait as he got hooked big time last year. Never complained once with the 4am wake up calls. I'm looking forward to trying Goose jerky this season.

Lol made goose jerky one time many years ago. Soooo delicious but… honestly the gas that it caused would knock a buzzard of a rotting corpse

[Curtsyneil]

Originally Posted by jungleboy

Lol made goose jerky one time many years ago. Soooo delicious but… honestly the gas that it caused would knock a buzzard of a rotting corpse

Lol to funny but yup wild game is high in protein and will make you smell funny but the jerky is so so good. Elk is bad for that also !!

[Stuntcarpenter]

I can’t wait to get going. Kids have been asked when they get to eat ducks

I did a snow goose last as jerky. It made great jerky

[Big Grey Wolf]

Geese were flying over house this morning west of Edmonton.

[CBintheNorth]

Had the kids packing their hunting packs and practicing their calls today.
8 days to go!

[GraylingGuy]

This post gave me goose bumps.
I'm itching. Never get many days to go, but hoping I can add one or two more with the kids.
In the mean time, I've been window shopping for a replacement for the trusty ole Express!

[CBintheNorth]

Gettin closer!!!

Heading out for a scout tomorrow. Everyone I've talked to is saying that there aren't that many fields down, and even fewer birds. I would have thought locals would have started grouping up by now?
Oh well, guess I'll see for myself tomorrow.

[fordtruckin]

Honestly some of the most fun hunting I’ve ever had was goose hunting in mid January with a couple buddies in Montana. Cant wait for the trip this season.

[CBintheNorth]

Well, I'm happy to report that my acquaintances are not liars.
I really wish they were. Lol
Saw only a few fields combined and one of those was peas. It held every bird in the area, and that's not many.
Of course that guy doesn't allow hunting.

Talking to the farmers, everything is 3-4 weeks late. I saw several pea fields still standing, which is rare this time of year.
Looks like the birds up north already knew that, as other than a few cranes and locals, there's not much around.

Oh well, Sunday looks like a chicken/clay pigeon day for the boys.
Maybe next week...

[CBintheNorth]

Well last minute we found a field and the landowner gave us the nod.
Just finished packing up everything and getting the kids to bed. Tomorrow's going to be a great day.

Good luck to everyone headed out!

[Stuntcarpenter]

Went out for a little solo duck hunt this morning near horseshoe lake
Successful with 5 ducks

[CBintheNorth]

Odd morning for us.
Birds were really hoppy this morning. Jumping everywhere, and seldom to us. Didn't want to land where they were yesterday at all. Acting like snows.
Quite aggravating for me, but the kids had fun, and that's all I cared about.
Another buddy, hunting hundreds of kilometers away, said the birds were acting the same with him.

After a very hot morning we ended up with 4 geese, one duck, and a lot of laughs.

[GraylingGuy]

Awesome! Spent the weekend in the city. Saw a few more fields coming off, but most are still standing.

[Stuntcarpenter]

Originally Posted by CBintheNorth

Odd morning for us.
Birds were really hoppy this morning. Jumping everywhere, and seldom to us. Didn't want to land where they were yesterday at all. Acting like snows.
Quite aggravating for me, but the kids had fun, and that's all I cared about.
Another buddy, hunting hundreds of kilometers away, said the birds were acting the same with him.

After a very hot morning we ended up with 4 geese, one duck, and a lot of laughs.

I noticed that also. Land and then get up and circle a few time to land again 50ft away

[pitw]

Had a lone goose flying around the house honking pitifully while looking for it's mate.
Have fun guys.

[3blade]

Lots of combines rolling north of Edmonton today. Not many birds on the small water, figure it’ll take a bit to move em down.

Only shot one duck before which was eating alfalfa. Do they taste better after getting on grain for a bit? I’d like to shoot a few just to try em.

[CBintheNorth]

Originally Posted by 3blade

Lots of combines rolling north of Edmonton today. Not many birds on the small water, figure it’ll take a bit to move em down.

Only shot one duck before which was eating alfalfa. Do they taste better after getting on grain for a bit? I’d like to shoot a few just to try em.

Yes.
By the time they get there plumage back, they're fat is thick and yellow. They're much better then.
I season the breasts heavily and vacuum pack with a dollop of butter. Sous vide at 132° for a couple hours and then sear on the grill no more than a minute per side. Medium rare is best. I think I like them more than specks.
Pintails and mallards, anyway. Haven't shot many other kinds.

[tikka250]

Well since nobody else has posted first weekend success il throw a pic of our morning. 6 people on a very duck heavy green feed field that was cut a while ago. lots of geese in the area but they didn't want to play the game this time.


PXL_20240901_142515270.MP by brad harder, on Flickr

[Smokinyotes]

Nicely done

[GraylingGuy]

Can’t post any success because I haven’t been out yet.
Though I can say I saw some big flocks on the move yesterday NW of Edmonton. Some included a few snows.

[Smokinyotes]

I’ve noticed the last few weeks on the local lakes there doesn’t seem to be as many ducks as there were a month ago. I think it’s a combination of the young being able to fly and probably starting to go into stubble fields or they can’t stand the smell of the blue green algae infested waters.

[CBintheNorth]

Here's a pic from opening morning.

[CBintheNorth]

Went for a drive tonight and wow, what a difference a few days makes. Sunday morning there was hardly anything around.
Must have had a couple cold nights up north because today, birds everywhere.
It's GO time boys and girls!

[32-40win]

I've been a bit discouraged in my local area for a while this year, too dry, no birds other than one roost, haven't bothered with a lot of extra scouting til this last week. We had one batch of rain, week or more of hot weather, another batch of rain, few storms in the area just to the north over the last month, another storm last nite, supposed to rain today, and finally enough to have some water in one of the big roosts, just in time for the larger batches of birds to use it, and enough for them to hold here for a while again.
A 7" dump and a 4" dump in microbursts and hail in a 10mi x10mi area, and probably 5" in normal rain over the last month in the general area has filled a bunch of decent roost ponds, even some stuff that has been dry for about 5 yrs has water showing now. Hearing of birds where there weren't any last year, have to investigate that today
Have a shoot lined up for Sat with the landowner's son, probably 10-12k birds there, haven't seen big strings like this had in quite a while, was a beautiful thing to watch last nite. Seems like this season has some decent possibilities again, snows shud arrive over the next couple of wks, and there will be roost water for them.
Only did one shoot so far this year, was fun, but, nothing too special, hopefully that will change.