OREGON AFIELD
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ast season marked one of the worst in modern day memory for waterfowl hunters in our western valleys. Fair weather and plentiful food kept many birds up north all winter, with the exception being the coast. Early last October I was crabbing along a few places of the central coast, and was amazed with the number of mallards in the tidal waters. Fellow hunters reported some of the best puddle duck and early diver duck hunting they could recall, from the season opener through November. As winter progressed, more ducks made their way down the coastline. While the valleys saw virtually no wigeons, parts of the coast were inundated with them, along with a solid number of green-winged teal. Mallards, ringneck ducks and buffleheads were plentiful.
Photo by the author
Coast ducks can be a hit
The Oregon coast has abundant wigeons, mallards, ringnecks and buffleheads right now. By late December a variety of divers, including an impressive number of canvasbacks, were pouring into places along the coast. “This is the best I’ve seen in years,” shared Josh Farnsworth, of Farnsworth Guide Service (541-206-7163), who spends a lot of time guiding hunters along the central Oregon coast. “The number of canvasbacks really caught the attention of hunters, and scaup along with ringnecks, bufflehead and ruddy ducks, were very consistent additions to a daily
limit of divers.” “Last season a lot of divers were rafting up on some of the waters we hunted, and a key to consistent success was being mobile,” continues Farnsworth. “Having your diver decoys on a string that you can pull up and quickly move goes a long way in helping secure limits. Often the wind changes direction on the coast multiple times a day, and being able to re-set the decoys is important for attracting birds on the wing.” —–Scott Haugen
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or a baby steelhead, from the moment they hatch out of the gravel, they are on the menu, and one of the most murderous predators is the merganser, that sharp-beaked gobbler of guppies, that executioner of alevins, that pummeler of parr, that finisher of fingerlings, that assaulter of smolts. I had always wondered how many baby steelhead and salmon mergansers eat, but never thought to ask an expert until I talked to Jim Skaar, the manager at the Trask River fish hatchery. Skaar said a merganser can eat between half-a-pound and a pound-anda-half of small fish per bird per day. It takes up to 900 baby steelhead to make up the daily requirement of grub for one merganser! On a December day we slid a driftboat into a river on the Oregon Coast. Yes, we had fishing rods, but they were mostly for show. Our shotguns would see the most action this day, because there were very few fish in the river. Part of the problem? The merganser. And part of the solution?
That was us. Think about how many times we see mergansers. In spring, summer, winter and fall, they are there, on gravel bars, in back waters. And think how many times we duck hunters pass up the shot on a merganser, hoping to take another mallard to fill out a limit. Perhaps in the interest of steelhead conservation, we should shoot more fish eaters. Skaar thinks so. He started hunting mergansers a couple of years ago. Fishing guide David Johnson started hunting them about the same time. Now they pass up mallards to get more mergansers. Mergansers are fast flyers, and they will challenge your shooting skills. It is a fish predator we can do something about. Mergansers are managed with ducks in the migratory game bird regulations with a daily limit of seven birds and three limits in possession. Check the regulations on local waters prior to the hunt. Find a great recipe for mergansers on Page 34. —Gary Lewis
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Samuel Pike
Don’t duck out on mergansers
Mergansers need to be hunted for the benefit of our fish, and they can be tasty fare.
OREGON HUNTER, November/December 2019