doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Not so glorious 12-th and down bird numbers.

Reports of poor numbers of birds for the 12-th, the traditional start of the hunting season in GB makes me think about poor bird numbers in my past and perhaps future. I watched as quail numbers twice went from hanging on, in decent numbers, to almost zero anywhere I went. I�ve seen ducks and geese numbers change so drastically that most of my hunting friends quit hunting them, never to return. Sad really. A few of them did turn to Turkeys and deer whose numbers seem to be ever increasing. Snow geese as well seem to be ever increasing.

It�s not just birds who have numbers have declined. I have seen one type of fish after another go from plentiful to almost zero and a few back. Oysters go from trillions and trillions to just a few, in spots. Most declines were decades before we ever heard about global warming or climate change. Back then we were concerned about global cooling and a possible mini ice age. Yeah, funny now isn�t it.

Some of us went to shooting clay targets as a way to keep shooting. But tricky as a clay target can be, it does not hold a candle to a Black Duck, who makes endless passes just out of range, or the sounds of teal buzzing your decoys just before daylight. I miss the morning knowing I would see 20 coveys. Many of my sharpest hunting memories are the ones when the birds won. Perhaps we all will live long enough to see just a few make it back so they can win a few more times.

True that...Geo

I�m sitting in an airport on the way to Inverness as I write. The red grouse population volatility doesn�t look good. While this year might be a bust, I hope that next year the stocks rebound.

The northern economy In the rural areas, depends on the visiting wing shots and the tourism industry. I�d hate to be making all of those refunds the outfitters are making these days.

Greg,
I hope that your shoot turns out well in spite of the forecast of the birds. See you when you return, hopefully with some great pictures and stories. Let us know how that new pair of guns performs!
Karl

Where Where is "GB"?

As for declining bird or other numbers get used to it. Been going on for quite a while now and it's going to get worse, much worse.

Why everyone knows that GB refers to Green Bay. And the glorious 12th obviously refers to Aaron Rodgers jersey number. So put on your cheese head hat and just go hunting in Wisconsin before Trump and Putin, global warming, or lead shot makes all the little birdies there extinct.

Ky needs to use some of that lube on his brain....

I would assume GB in this thread is Great Britain.

I do see posts mentioning "Glorious 12th", "Red Grouse", & "Inverness"........

Yesterday afternoon about 4:00 I rode out to the Sunflower/Corn field I'm planning to shoot opening day Saturday after next. Clean strips have been harrowed, but the corn's still standing. We'll take a silage cutter into the corn next week and throw the cuttings into the clear strips. Sunflowers are ready. I saw four birds. Uh Oh!...Geo

Geo, the fields over where Floyd lives have always held a bunch of birds this time of the year. Two years ago, there over 1500 birds in the fields. Last year, 500. He's only seen a handful this year. Reason? A few years ago, a nearby landowner clearcut 1200 acres of pines which were prime nesting and roosting areas. Last winter, a corporate landowner nearby, cleared about a 1000 acres of trees to prepare old ricefields for wetlands mitigation. This area is about 2 miles from the dove fields. These fields are the nearest food aplenty sources to the where the birds nested and roosted when they had the trees to do so. It's going to be interesting to see what happens in a couple of weeks. Gil