Anybody going over to the island? I decided to take the dogs and am camping. Weather looks clear but warm. I am thinking a lot of crops may still be standing. Anybody know?
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Anybody going over to the island? I decided to take the dogs and am camping. Weather looks clear but warm. I am thinking a lot of crops may still be standing. Anybody know?
Don't know about the crops, but I'm on the 12:15 boat for the next 3 weeks
We are in the for 3rd hunt. Have not heard any updates on the crops
I have a buddy going over this week for the 1st hunt and I will get an update from him
I would guess that atleast half of the beans are off. Should not be a problem.
Well, I am back from the Island. This was my third trip over and each experience has been different. First time was camping with my Father. Was a good time, but I found the chaos a bit off-putting as well as the actions of some slob-hunters. Second time I went with a small group of four. We rented a nice cottage and had a great time. Less pressure from other hunters and nice digs. This time I camped again and went alone and brought my two dogs. It was a little warm, but the hunter pressure in my area was down and I got in some of the best hunting Pelee has to offer. I opted to shoot (at) only roosters and passed on all the hens. My dogs did great on the birds, which tended to try to sneak away rather than hold. The dogs adjusted and got the birds up for some good shots.
https://i.imgur.com/cwTbnxM.jpg?1
The old 16 ga model 12 Winchester was all I needed, and I never felt under-gunned.
https://i.imgur.com/5Y6bvUc.jpg?1
The birds were outstanding. All were healthy, had long beautiful tails, and flew fantastic. I produced birds on every run we did. The MNR checked me three times and were very friendly and helpful. They said many hunters were having to work to find birds. I guess I was lucky.
https://i.imgur.com/hdzYZyk.jpg?1
As a bonus, I got to meet some new friends who were also camping but had no dogs. I was able to take them out and get them a few birds and show them the "dog side" of upland hunting. I also reconnected with some VDD folks from Michigan and had a great visit. On top of all that, there was the delicious bounty...
https://i.imgur.com/x7c1fZn.jpg?1
All in all, the first hunt 2017 was awesome.
Sounds great. I chose not to go this year because my dog is new and I want to work on her obedience this year but I think next year is a go. I also experienced quite a bit of slob hunters on my first trip.
Great report and sounds like the dogs worked well.
Some questions for you
Where do you camp on the island? and do they have facilities' (water, bathroom) for your use?
What type of vest is that on picnic table (I am looking for a good light upland vest) and do you recommend it
You were stopped 3 times by the CO? in the same day? by the same CO? I also heard from a friend that he was stopped 3 times as well, twice while they were working birds.
Are they checking birds and license, guns? I like to see the CO's out, but if they are stopping you a couple times a day and asking the same questions it seems excessive to me.
Looks awesome. Would love to try that someday.Quote:
Originally Posted by chocolateman
Sent from my LG-H812 using Tapatalk
There a municipal campground called the "East Park campground" on the island. Sites don't have electric but they have a washroom and showers etc.
The vest is a "badlands" upland vest. Not cheap but I LOVE it. Fits like a back pack and has a waterbladder compartment. I've had it for years and it holds up.
The CO who was checking me seemed more bored than anything. Only did the license thing the first time and each time he drove over to my site when I was cleaning birds. When I hit the limit on the second morning, he actually suggested that I eat a couple birds so I could keep hunting. So I did....possession is 10 so I never exceeded that. Shot 12 total.
dilly nice dogs and great gun!
Great report dilly! Can you comment on the crops? Our group is heading down for the clean up hunt
Beans are coming off. Trucks going both ways on the ferry. I heard they are about half harvested but can't substantiate it as I never left the immediate area of the camp. I did get some good action along the edges.
Nice hunt Dilly, Nice Pics! Need your pipe and fedora in there somewhere.....;)
That doesn't sound quite right. Are you sure the Pelee permit allows you to kill more than 10 birds on a main hunt? I thought it was 10 on a main hunt and 5 on a cleanup?Quote:
Originally Posted by dilly
You're not the first person to ask that Terry. I always thought it was 10 as well and I quit at that number even after having some for supper on Thursday night. The CO double checked and said the possession was 10 and you may not exceed possession, but you can eat birds when you are there and subtract from your possession. I suppose it is similar to a shore lunch situation with fish.Quote:
Originally Posted by terrym
One other thing he did stress is that you may not party hunt or share in a total group limit. I was not permitted to even assist others in hunting with my dogs while I was at my limit.
Great post Dilly, nice pics!
Limit is 10 and No party hunting
I was on the 2nd hunt
Getting birds was no problem providing you have a somewhat agressive style of hunting.
The territory is limited,you can't make the island bigger,and people seem to be everywhere.Their definitely seemed to be more hunters out this year than last.I called the office and they confirmed thier were more licenses issued this yr ,approx 25% more.
Thanks for reporting on the 2nd hunt CW. I was wondering how it went.
Congrats and great looking dogs.
Anybody here do the late hunt or clean up 1? Just wondering how things went. Love to see some pictures.
Clean up hunt was great! Thursday boat didn't run so island wasn't packed with hunters. Birds flushed hard and high all day. Friday and Saturday was a different story. Just seemed to keep running into large groups of guys. We shot 3 woodcock out of 4 which was a nice surprise. We had the best shooting in hedge rows vs the grass areas. we might do the second clean up hunt next year to avoid the larger groups. The office did sell over 90 licenses. Sorry no pics they are all on my brothers phone.
After missing a year I returned to Pelee for third regular and second clean up hunts. We had much less success on both hunts compared to prior years. Wondering if others have noticed a similar decline, or did just as well or better.
We know birds were placed more to the north and west of the island than before. We shifted accordingly but without much improvement. We also understand only approximately 14,000 birds were put out this year whereas 21,000 were released annually before - could this be the biggest issue?
Some hunters we met did ok with setters/pointers. We used flushers and wonder if they were moving too quickly.
Anyway would welcome feedback from anyone who hunted the Island this season.
I had a great experience as you can see from my earlier posts. I thought the first hunt had less hunter pressure than I’ve seen in the past.
I was down for the second hunt and it was great! Was down last week for the 2nd clean up and it was tough to say the least. Not sure what the deal was but definitely far fewer birds on the clean up than in previous years. Five guys 3 dogs only put up a dozen birds. We only hunted Friday because ferry didn't sail until Thursday afternoon and had to cut it short cause they weren't sure the Jiman was going to sail Saturday. Needless to say it was probably the worst clean up that we've done. Could be that the first clean up had a bigger group of hunters than normal. Pelee is fun but that ferry is frustrating.