Shooting the Roost

[Drewski Canuck]

Every year we have the annual "should I shoot the roost" thread.

The comments from the Guiding Community is that you should sit and take pictures on the pond / lake / dugout while the permission for the fields is of course tied up by the Guides.

Then there is the hunter crowd who soon start complaining that they have no access and have no option but shoot the roost.

Then there is the crowd who sits on the fence because they want to keep the birds in the area but have never done a water shoot.

Anyways, this site is a bit slow, and I am bored at the Office.

Forgive me for pumping up the posting numbers, but it is time for the annual thread.

Lets face it, this is a very dry year out east and south so there will be few roosts to hold the birds. With the poor crops, not alot of birds will hang out once they get to the Red Deer area or south.

Drewski

[Dick284]

Never seem to have trouble getting permission, so have no burning desire to “shoot the roost”

In the areas I frequent we get asked if we are outfitters so much we are thinking of a magnet sign for the truck that says we aren’t outfitters. Seems the outfitters are “persona non gratis” in parts of the province.

[catnthehat]

Setting up a proper water shoot is really quite something, and not all bodies of water are "roosts" which is contrary to what many tell me- and those people when questioned, have never shot anything but fields and have never shot anywhere but Alberta
Cat

[Drewski Canuck]

Yes, the bird outfitters out around Buffalo Lake, and Bittern Lake seem to have burned a few bridges with the locals on asking for permission.

I know of a sewage treatment pond near a small town in the Camrose area that is a so called "roost". Outfitters get upset if anyone does pass shooting on the returning birds to the point of trying to "teach" any offending hunter on why they should not pass shoot there.

Drewski

[Smoky buck]

Not every duck species feeds in fields for starters

[whitetail Junkie]

Originally Posted by Drewski Canuck

Yes, the bird outfitters out around Buffalo Lake, and Bittern Lake seem to have burned a few bridges with the locals on asking for permission.

I know of a sewage treatment pond near a small town in the Camrose area that is a so called "roost". Outfitters get upset if anyone does pass shooting on the returning birds to the point of trying to "teach" any offending hunter on why they should not pass shoot there.

Drewski

Makes me wonder just how many birds guys shoot in the fields that were bobbing around in Turd water lagoons all summer...hahaha

[tikka250]

Loaf ponds, drinking ponds, staging ponds are all places to hunt water that aren't an actual "roost" I have hunted some awesome staging ponds for ducks before that came from roost water to the hunted pond

[3blade]

I am going to start hunting upland with 220 swift, and post my longest pheasant head shot.

Then I’m going to sneak up on the biggest water roost and put a single arrow through a mallard hen, and celebrate with a rain dance.

Then I’m going to cook both well done on a pine fire and eat them with ketchup.

Bird snobs are my favorite

[Bulletproof]

Pretty important to leave water alone in my area this year!

Pretty much all the roosts from a few years ago are dried up… luckily a few sloughs are still holding some water. Bird numbers are low but so are hunter numbers… and I haven’t seen the guides for a couple years either…

[sjemac]

I hunt water exclusively. I hunt small corners of large bodies of water so that the birds simply move a mile or so down the lake and sit in there. When Canvasbacks start decoying into fields I might consider switching up.

[scruffy]

I hunted a roost in the evening Monday. It had been hammered that morning for cranes and ducks and geese. Nothing came back. Go figure.

On my first safari long ago the PH said that they never hunt waterholes for big game. Because, of course, the game has to drink. Easy to say and hard to live by.

Oh, well. Life goes on. Especially for the sandhill cranes that I wanted to bring home to Alberta with me.

[32-40win]

In the loal stuff I've looked at over the last 3-4 wks, only saw maybe 15k birds total, there are some dugouts and nearly dried up ponds around, nothing much using them, most are empty. Only 3 worthwhile roosts in the area, and that's about a 40mi x 30mi zone. Other than that, many areas that shouldn't be, are devoid of birds. Buddy had a shoot a few days back nearer to Calgary, further than I wanted to go for one shoot. Roosts in use, are probably big enough that the birds won't leave, but, that's also possibly questionable, not all that big of water. They're not even flying any distance to feed, all three can feed next to the water. Longest flight I've noticed is maybe 3-4mi, most are less than 1mi.

[IL Bar]

Originally Posted by Drewski Canuck

Yes, the bird outfitters out around Buffalo Lake, and Bittern Lake seem to have burned a few bridges with the locals on asking for permission.

I know of a sewage treatment pond near a small town in the Camrose area that is a so called "roost". Outfitters get upset if anyone does pass shooting on the returning birds to the point of trying to "teach" any offending hunter on why they should not pass shoot there.

Drewski

Yeah that’s putting it politely that they’ve burned a few bridges. There are very few people I can trust giving permission anymore. And it’s more than one outfit that’s done the damage. You come to my place looking for permission and I’m not a pleasant guy there’s good reason for it