Pacific Black Brant Hunt Humboldt Bay

[MikeE]

First wishing all a Very Happy Thanksgiving Day with Friends and Family.
After closing my last post and finalizing my purchase of my new little single Scull Duck Boat I headed to Humboldt Bay where I grew up and hunted these fine little Sea Geese.
Some know some do not just li8ke the Scull boats I wrote about in my last post.
Of the waterfowl these little guys about the size of a large corn feed Mallard or Cackling goose they are the best eating waterfowl of their species. They like ducks and Geese are dark meat but not the same simply because they are a bird that eats eel grass as their main diet and will eat some aquatic sea lettuce and very few other things.
These little guys winter in Baja Mexico where they are hunted in my opinion a little too hard even though the population is doing extremely well. With the limit in Mexico of 6 birds a day is great but with a little hand out to the guide a continue of shooting continues.
Here in the States along the pacific Fly way we sportsman are regulated to 2 birds a day with a possession limit of 6 birds. This limit runs from the Alaskan Peninsula of Izembek AK to the California, Mexico Border. Before staging in Izembek national wildlife refuge and the highest concentration of eel grass along the pacific flyway these birds come as far as Russia to find their way to Mexico where they winter
Back in the day when I was a young man in the early 60's these birds were very sought after and Humboldt Bay was and old timer Mecca. With numbers of blinds along the south spit which is a roadway between the ocean and Humboldt Bay. Also, there were many stilt Blinds out in the bay that extended 10 to 15 ft above the bay and surrounded by Brant decoys.
The Brant would stage in the ocean and then come to the bay where they could feed and fill their craws with eel grass which according to the Dept of wildlife is very high in nutrients and why these guys can fill up and get fat to continue their journey in a very short time.
This is why these birds can leave Izembek Refuge 1 day and be in Baja Mexico in 80 hours on a direct flight which Most do. The few hundreds that stop in very few places like Humbold Bay and why these birds are so sought after and why I for one have missed hunting these little sea geese for a few years.
Huge flocks of anywhere from a few to hundred enter the bays along the Pacific Flyway. But! Only very few Bays have the Eel grass in the bays or estuaries. After leaving Alaska.
There are 2 main breeds of Brant the Pacific Black and the American brant and the only difference is the pacific of coarse fly the Pacific fly way while the American Brant fly the easter flyway along the east coastal bays. I wish I knew more about that flyway and their numbers.
On the pacific these little guys after leaving Russia headed to Izembek National refuge and the Alusican peninsula where they will all stage and feed on eel Grass fatten up for their 80-hr. flight to from Izembek AK to Baja Mexico with the exception of a few thousand that stop off in local bays and estuaries.
In our 3 days of hunting, we were very fortunate to have killed 12 of these fine eating little guys along the pacific flyway and Humboldt County.
I hope all enjoy this little fantasy of the pacific Black Brant which many know nothing about and if they ever have the chance to hunt them should in my opinion.
Today is a Thankful day for all of us living in this country and we all should recognize this and enjoy all that we are so very fortunate to have.
Today I will get my little Single scull home and with very little to do on it to suit me then on to our local bays to Hunt Ducks and Geese. while away I have heard that we after the first of the year the Pacific flyway will increase the number of Sprig (Pintail) to our bag limit from 1 to 3 again in my opinion they should have done years before this. In the day when we could shoot, and the bag limit was 7 there were far fewer than we have today. There is getting to be so many that everyone finally has got on the band wagon and complaining. I don't want to get started.
I hope everyone enjoys a little chat about Birds most know nothing about. We all live and hunt so different and many birds we do not have along with the many bird's others do not have. It is always nice to hear and see what other parts of the country does.
Happy holidays to all, good hunting, be safe, pick up after yourself. MikeE

 

[Tony N.]

I had a Humbolt Bay Scull boat up until last year. I just wasn't using and it was taking up to much room. I sold it to a fellow hunter down in Portland, OR. Hopefully it's getting some good use now.

 

[greg setter]

We have a lot of Atlantic Brant in New Jersey along the coast in the barrier island bays, which are many and are along pretty much the entire coastal portion of the state. A large portion of the population winters here. Many on here have and/or do hunt brant in NJ. The populations change from year to year, I have seen seasons of 4/day and 60 days and seasons of 30 days or less and 1 bird. They are really fun to hunt over decoys, if you get them coming they usually cooperate. To watch the big flocks out on the bay of 500-1000 birds get up and move is a spectacle by itself. The table fare has suffered out here due to the loss of eel grass beds, which was their primary food in the past. A combination of runoff into the bays and the building of the intra-coastal waterway have changed the water over the 80-90 years, so now once they get here they start eating sea lettuce and that changes the flavor. You can tell a new bird when you clean it and sometimes just by looking at its vent, new birds taste better out of the gate, anything that's been here for a few days or so you need to season a little and cook different.

I have not hunted brant in several years but did shoot many earlier on. If you want to hunt brant on the east coast this is one of the better places to go and probably more easily timed since they get here early and stay late. I have seen a few brant hang around as late as May when I would had a boat at Barnegat Light and would be fishing. I got one with a band once and it was from Nunavut. I thought about how far that bird had come. I have seen migrating flocks inland in the spring a few times. I do not know their northward route back to the breeding grounds, but others here may.

There is a long tradition of hunting brant out this way, and the first Black brant shot and identified as being different than the Atlantic brant was shot right here in Barnegat Bay many moons ago. There was quite a bit of writing about brant hunting in earlier times like the other waterfowling in this area, and for anyone hunting the bays it was and still is a common part of the bag. I think some of the people from Long Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts do some brant hunting also, and maybe they will have something to add.

 

[MIKE-SID]

I love watching and hunting brant here in CT. It is mesmerizing when they come in singing and dancing over the decoys. I see a lot on the shore, but now we have a 1 bird limit, with a 30 day season that starts on the 16th. @Nick Zito must get the brant that have been here for a while, and my brant have been mostly good eating.
@greg setter thanks for the explanation of their taste difference. I'm hoping to get one with a band, or two one day from parts unknown to me.

 

[MikeE]

I love watching and hunting brant here in CT. It is mesmerizing when they come in singing and dancing over the decoys. I see a lot on the shore, but now we have a 1 bird limit, with a 30 day season that starts on the 16th. @Nick Zito must get the brant that have been here for a while, and my brant have been mostly good eating.
@greg setter thanks for the explanation of their taste difference. I'm hoping to get one with a band, or two one day from parts unknown to me.

Hi there Mike
Yea you are right nothing like Brant when they come into a set of decoys. They are my favorite Bird to hunt of the fowl.
Here we have a 2-bird limit and a 30-day season. when I was a young man we had a 4-bird limit, and it ran from November thru to the 18th of February. when that bird came back from Baja MX it was unbelievable the numbers.
Now they leave AK in October thru November and winter in Baja Mx. we have a 30-day season from Nov 15 thru to Dec15. I'm out of here tomorrow on my way to Humboldt Bay the main stopping place on their way to Mexico and feed on eel grass their main diet here on the west coast.
We have always through that the American Brant on the east coast were really plentiful with huge numbers of birds up and down the east coast.
here we have more in numbers than we had in the 60s and yet they cut us to two birds and a short season go figure. Thanks so much for your reply and good luck on your hunt. MikeE

 

[D. Hinton]

Nice write up.
Did you go with an outfitter or was that one of your spots

 

[Steve Sanford]

I love watching and hunting brant here in CT. It is mesmerizing when they come in singing and dancing over the decoys. I see a lot on the shore, but now we have a 1 bird limit, with a 30 day season that starts on the 16th. @Nick Zito must get the brant that have been here for a while, and my brant have been mostly good eating.
@greg setter thanks for the explanation of their taste difference. I'm hoping to get one with a band, or two one day from parts unknown to me.

Mikes, Greg et al~

The "dancing and singing"...well put! A flock of Brant coming to the rig is one of Nature's grand spectacles. The voices are the icing on the cake.

I have gunned Brant since the limit was 6 - late-60s on Long Island. Later, I did lots of work with them - mostly surveying in the Fall and rocket-netting/banding in the Winter (that's a much younger I one the left). We dyed adults yellow and young birds pibnk to help with nailing down the northward migration.



I got to band them up on Baffin Island one summer - back when Nunavut was the Northwest Territories (August 1984, I think).

We (LIDCA) featured this species a few years ago - ATLANTIC BRANT - Our Graceful Arctic Goose. A grand bird all around!

All the best,

SJS

 

[Vince Pagliaroli]

Nothing compares to Brant Hunting. I chased em for many a year up and down the East Coast. New Jersey the best place by far. Never made to to the West Coast to hunt em but wanted to. They are pure Joy to see and hear. What a experience and one every true Waterfowler should enjoy.

When they "Ball Up" over the decoys be very careful with yer shots or ya may be over the limit very quickly.

 

[SJ Fairbank]

I echo what everyone else said. Graceful, elegant, trusting, just plain fun to watch. I too have hunted them since the 60's. My spin on Brant management is that if the population can't support a 3-4 bird limit, keep it closed. It's not like somebody needs the cushion in case they make a "mistake". If you can't ID a brant, get the hell off the water. And as Vince correctly points out, it's tough to kill only one out of a flock. They bunch up like nothing else, and they are as fragile a waterfowl as exists. One pellet and they're stone dead.

Somebody mentioned the birds hanging around till May. Here on the CT coast, it's usually the second week of May. A hundred or more in several flocks along the coast, here today, gone tomorrow. I believe there is like a two-three day window in early June the Brant have to nest from when they arrive on the tundra. If they can't nest in that timeframe, the hens will simply not lay that year. It's apparently the Brant's Achilles heel, if the weather is bad (snow) or the snow geese crowd them out the nesting season can be a bust. I'm sure Steve Sanford knows the skinny on this subject.

 

[Brad Bortner]

Today I will get my little Single scull home and with very little to do on it to suit me then on to our local bays to Hunt Ducks and Geese. while away I have heard that we after the first of the year the Pacific flyway will increase the number of Sprig (Pintail) to our bag limit from 1 to 3 again in my opinion they should have done years before this. In the day when we could shoot, and the bag limit was 7 there were far fewer than we have today. There is getting to be so many that everyone finally has got on the band wagon and complaining. I don't want to get started.

Mike

I agree that black brant are precious birds and glad you are getting a chance to hunt them. Humboldt is a traditional hotspot with a rich history of branting.

But I want to point out that you are incorrect about the pintail bag limit after there first of the year. The 2024-25 pintail limit is still 1 per day. The 3 per day is proposed for the 2025-26 season (i.e., NEXT fall's hunting season). If you shoot 3 a day in January of 2025 you'll get a ticket.

 

[MikeE]

Nice write up.
Did you go with an outfitter or was that one of your spots

Hi there D. Hinton
No sir I never hire a guide/outfitter.
I hunt Humboldt Bay CA where I was Born and raised until my military years then moved to Oregon. I miss my Brant hunting so every year I take a trip or two to Humboldt Bay to hunt Brant.
There as I know only one guide on the Bay Jeff Corbit.
I'm 77 and still hitting it as hard as I can, and these trips are getting harder as the years turn over.
Thank you, sir, for your reply. MikeE

 

[Paul Mc]

We are inundated with them and our limit is 1.

 

[MikeE]

We are inundated with them and our limit is 1.

Paul my friend what you need to do is find the numbers overall in their breeding grounds then the number of juveniles each season go back on your bumper seasons then hit the feds big time with those numbers and insist on why and how they made their decisions.
The dept of wildlife is getting ridiculous about number of bird and use every excuse that that the numbers are down even though we all know the ups and downs of the Brant populations each year and yet they seem to hold their numbers overall. as the Pacific Black Brant are doing in fact our numbers here are better than what they were in the 60-70s so go figure as they have us down from 4 to two. the two-bird limit has been going on for decades yet are numbers are up and hold more than steady.
We here are fighting the feds to give us more birds plus a more lenient season instead of just 30 days. when we used to hunt them until Feb 18th back in the day. Now what Alaska is indicating the number reduction learning that it is not by hunters but the artic fox and natives taking for consumption. They also indicate that by doing so on the trapping and restriction on native theft of the eggs seen a huge increase on the numbers.
Get you local involved if you like hunting brant. Hope it works out for your area. MikeE

 

[MikeE]

Mike

I agree that black brant are precious birds and glad you are getting a chance to hunt them. Humboldt is a traditional hotspot with a rich history of branting.

But I want to point out that you are incorrect about the pintail bag limit after there first of the year. The 2024-25 pintail limit is still 1 per day. The 3 per day is proposed for the 2025-26 season (i.e., NEXT fall's hunting season). If you shoot 3 a day in January of 2025 you'll get a ticket.

Brad my friend. question for you. First are you in the Puget Sound area and if so, do have the numbers of pacific Brant that stop over and when each fall.
2nd If not the Sound where and if there are Brant staging in your area. Numbers and when they arrive and leave.
We are hearing from Izembek AK that many birds are not leaving AK about 70,000 to be exact so it looks like our numbers are down by the time they reach the lower 48, plus Birds that are staying in WA year-round a few hundred which makes it hard on a healthier limit as the WDFW don't want their bird killed off.
They are saying these birds are not a resident bird and want them to migrate and do everything to get them to move south. But! the birds that are hatched in those areas know nothing more than not to migrate from their Birthplace. even though they continue to push them to migrate when the thousand all leave Izembek bay. when it freezes over. The biggest problem is the birds i just spoke about go to unfrozen bays then when Izembek unfreezes in a week or two they are right back so they push again and again but they will not leave.
That is why WA bird hatched there never leave and they really don't want them to change their flight pattern for the 1000 of years of migrating.
MikeE

 

[MIKE-SID]

We are inundated with them and our limit is 1.

That's how I feel across the sound in CT. 30 day season, 1 a day. 12/16 to 1/18. It's still a sin to hunt waterfowl on Sundays in CT!
I had a flock of 40+ right over my head mid November

 

[Brad Bortner]

Brad my friend. question for you. First are you in the Puget Sound area and if so, do have the numbers of pacific Brant that stop over and when each fall.
2nd If not the Sound where and if there are Brant staging in your area. Numbers and when they arrive and leave.
We are hearing from Izembek AK that many birds are not leaving AK about 70,000 to be exact so it looks like our numbers are down by the time they reach the lower 48, plus Birds that are staying in WA year-round a few hundred which makes it hard on a healthier limit as the WDFW don't want their bird killed off.
They are saying these birds are not a resident bird and want them to migrate and do everything to get them to move south. But! the birds that are hatched in those areas know nothing more than not to migrate from their Birthplace. even though they continue to push them to migrate when the thousand all leave Izembek bay. when it freezes over. The biggest problem is the birds i just spoke about go to unfrozen bays then when Izembek unfreezes in a week or two they are right back so they push again and again but they will not leave.
That is why WA bird hatched there never leave and they really don't want them to change their flight pattern for the 1000 of years of migrating.
MikeE

Mike, I am in SW Washington. There a few bays around Puget Sound along the Washington and Oregon coasts that winter brant. Most number in the hundreds at best but Padilla and Samish Bays on Puget Sound get thousands. WDFW does a survey in early January and decides to open if there are more than 6,000 birds (I believe that is the threshold). This is to protect gray-bellied brant that breed in the central Canadian Arctic and are distinctly different from the black brant. Black brant breed further west on the North Slope of Alaska, the Yukon-Kuskokwin Delta and a few other places. As far as I know there are no brant breeding in Washington and no attempt to protect any that do spend the summer here. Any that are here during the summer are likely cripples that survived but couldn't fly north.

A greater and greater proportion of Pacific brant are overwintering in Izembek lagoon and nearby lagoons and not migrating south. I guess they find it better to stay there than to migrate.

 

[MikeE]

Brad are these grewy7 belly Brant American Brant that winter in Canda and along the easter seaboard?
We have a few brant Pacific's that intermingle with the American Brant also, very few but nevertheless some do.
This is what I was saying about the Dept's of wildlife they instead of taking care of the sportsman from there state that support the wildlife division by stopping a bag limit. Plus taking a survey of 6000 birds determine the outcome of how many you can kill. To me that is idiotic to say the least when Bios from Izembek whom I have been in contact for years has indicated the lower 48 cannot go by what leaves there to determine a bag limit.
Number one more and more birds are not leaving Izembek and if they do from a freeze up are back in a couple weeks after a thaw. Izembek does not freeze and stay froze and the birds that are staying which is now around 70,000 and growing. With this going on those birds have it all right there BUT! even though it's happening they do not want to stop their normal Migration and continue to try and push them on their way.
Problem is the young that are hatched there know nothing else but to stay where they were hatched and grown. So, they continue a cycle of native to AK Izembek. More and more each year.
So, the 48 need to take care of their state as the Numbers of pacific Black Brant Population is healthier than what it once was in the 60-70's.
Yes, up and down years but the Artic Fox was the number threat along with the Natives stealing eggs from the nesting grounds.
Both have been reduced Fox by trapping and natives restricting.
They also indicated that once was until just a short time ago that the Hunters were a lot of the cause of the decline and with studies that was found not true. The sportsman could not force a decline in these birds yest now that the fish and wildlife like everything they do and once they take something away, they never want the sportsman to see it come back. One reason why the revenue has dropped over the years as sportsman are tired of no common sense put forth. MikeE

 

[MikeE]

Mikes, Greg et al~

The "dancing and singing"...well put! A flock of Brant coming to the rig is one of Nature's grand spectacles. The voices are the icing on the cake.

I have gunned Brant since the limit was 6 - late-60s on Long Island. Later, I did lots of work with them - mostly surveying in the Fall and rocket-netting/banding in the Winter (that's a much younger I one the left). We dyed adults yellow and young birds pibnk to help with nailing down the northward migration.

View attachment 61816

I got to band them up on Baffin Island one summer - back when Nunavut was the Northwest Territories (August 1984, I think).

We (LIDCA) featured this species a few years ago - ATLANTIC BRANT - Our Graceful Arctic Goose. A grand bird all around!

All the best,

SJS

Steve
always good to see a dedicated fowler help with all that need to be done with our fowl.
What seem to be the biggest problem with the Atlantic Brant population?
We had a similar thing going on back in the 70's to where they took away our limit of 4 and went to 2 birds and has been 2 ever since.
The artic fox was our number 1 killer then came the local natives robbing the nests each spring for consumption.
With guidance and the trapping of the Artic Fox and restricting of native theft of eggs we have rebounded back even larger than what it once was in the 60's and 70's.
The biggest problem today is once the dept of wildlife seems to take something away we never get it back so it's a fight to regain the numbers and time frame we once had.
We here have a pretty upset number of sportsmen who know the issue and can't understand why they will know move forward on limit and time the birds are hunted.
These Birds of all the fowl are the most unique and most fun to hunt. when foraging on eel grass the best of the fowl at the table also.
A bird that filters salt water to fresh water is pretty amazing and a reason they never have to run to fresh water pretty darn unique.
Here the Birds Stage each fall in Izembek Alaska where they forage until they get fattened up for there long journey south to Baja MX an 80 straight through flight with a strong North wind behind them if they wish to do so which many do while many of the other's stage back to feed and rest in the many bays along the way.
where do these Atlantic Brant start and finish their migration? Do you happen to know the total Number of Atlantic's on the easter seaboard? where and if banding takes place by whom and where?
I have heard the Atlantics are smaller than the Pacific's, which the Pacific's are about the size of a cackler Canadian goose or larger than a big Drake Mallard.
Here on the west coast, they are banded in AK and usually leg bands but then many are also neck banded with double leg bands.
Very good table fare and a reason many decoys them here on the west coast.
I'm a sculler and have been sculling for well over 60 plus years and now at 77 still scull but decoy hunt them also.
Nice chatting with you and hope to hear back and enlighten my on the Atlantics of the eastern shores.
MikeE

 

[Brad Bortner]

Brad are these grewy7 belly Brant American Brant that winter in Canda and along the easter seaboard?
We have a few brant Pacific's that intermingle with the American Brant also, very few but nevertheless some do.
This is what I was saying about the Dept's of wildlife they instead of taking care of the sportsman from there state that support the wildlife division by stopping a bag limit. Plus taking a survey of 6000 birds determine the outcome of how many you can kill. To me that is idiotic to say the least when Bios from Izembek whom I have been in contact for years has indicated the lower 48 cannot go by what leaves there to determine a bag limit.
Number one more and more birds are not leaving Izembek and if they do from a freeze up are back in a couple weeks after a thaw. Izembek does not freeze and stay froze and the birds that are staying which is now around 70,000 and growing. With this going on those birds have it all right there BUT! even though it's happening they do not want to stop their normal Migration and continue to try and push them on their way.
Problem is the young that are hatched there know nothing else but to stay where they were hatched and grown. So, they continue a cycle of native to AK Izembek. More and more each year.
So, the 48 need to take care of their state as the Numbers of pacific Black Brant Population is healthier than what it once was in the 60-70's.
Yes, up and down years but the Artic Fox was the number threat along with the Natives stealing eggs from the nesting grounds.
Both have been reduced Fox by trapping and natives restricting.
They also indicated that once was until just a short time ago that the Hunters were a lot of the cause of the decline and with studies that was found not true. The sportsman could not force a decline in these birds yest now that the fish and wildlife like everything they do and once they take something away, they never want the sportsman to see it come back. One reason why the revenue has dropped over the years as sportsman are tired of no common sense put forth. MikeE

Brant, like all migratory game birds, are managed on a flyway basis not individual state basis. The Pacific Flyway Council and its Study Committee have been in place since 1948 cooperatively setting hunting regulations in the Pacific Flyway. You can read their management plan for black brant here https://www.pacificflyway.gov/Documents/Pb_plan.pdf .

The gray bellies are unique on the Pacific Coast. They appear to be intermediate between Atlantics and Black Brant. The breed in the Canadian Arctic and winter in British Columbia. I think Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife set the 6000 bird threshold to not only protect the gray-bellied birds but also to provide for the season without getting shut down for harvesting too many gray birds. As for the bag limit in the flyway outside of Alaska, the overall population appears to be increasing but the proportion leaving Izembek is declining. I believe the bag limit and season length are set trying to provide hunting without killing too many of the ones that are still migrating. There are a number of examples of over harvesting of migratory birds that show a high propensity to migrate to specific locations. Florida and Louisiana with Canada geese are 2 examples that come to mind. Those areas just don't have any Canada geese anymore. The same is likely true in some Black Brant bays.

Arctic foxes can occasionally be a problem in breeding colonies but there are hundreds of thousands of cackling geese and white-fronts in the same areas. There have been some control efforts in years with high fox numbers but as you've already said the brant population is growing so there isn't much evidence that foxes are decimating brant numbers. Subsistence harvest of eggs and adults by Alaska Natives and rural residents is recognized as a basic right in law and the Alaska Constitution. They have been harvesting birds since time immemorial. There have been years of work dedicating to fostering communication between hunters and subsistence users. I think it would be wrong to characterize harvest by Alaska Natives as the number 2 threat to brant.

 

[MikeE]

Brant, like all migratory game birds, are managed on a flyway basis not individual state basis. The Pacific Flyway Council and its Study Committee have been in place since 1948 cooperatively setting hunting regulations in the Pacific Flyway. You can read their management plan for black brant here https://www.pacificflyway.gov/Documents/Pb_plan.pdf .

The gray bellies are unique on the Pacific Coast. They appear to be intermediate between Atlantics and Black Brant. The breed in the Canadian Arctic and winter in British Columbia. I think Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife set the 6000 bird threshold to not only protect the gray-bellied birds but also to provide for the season without getting shut down for harvesting too many gray birds. As for the bag limit in the flyway outside of Alaska, the overall population appears to be increasing but the proportion leaving Izembek is declining. I believe the bag limit and season length are set trying to provide hunting without killing too many of the ones that are still migrating. There are a number of examples of over harvesting of migratory birds that show a high propensity to migrate to specific locations. Florida and Louisiana with Canada geese are 2 examples that come to mind. Those areas just don't have any Canada geese anymore. The same is likely true in some Black Brant bays.

Arctic foxes can occasionally be a problem in breeding colonies but there are hundreds of thousands of cackling geese and white-fronts in the same areas. There have been some control efforts in years with high fox numbers but as you've already said the brant population is growing so there isn't much evidence that foxes are decimating brant numbers. Subsistence harvest of eggs and adults by Alaska Natives and rural residents is recognized as a basic right in law and the Alaska Constitution. They have been harvesting birds since time immemorial. There have been years of work dedicating to fostering communication between hunters and subsistence users. I think it would be wrong to characterize harvest by Alaska Natives as the number 2 threat to brant.

Hi Brad
We have some agreement and some I disagree with.
According with dept of wildlife in AK and on plenty of studies generated simply because the biggest effect on the down numbers in the Brant population of the later 60 and 70's when limits were decreased along with the amount of Day one is able to hunt these great little species.
Reason was put out by the federal dept of wildlife in CA that the hunters were taking such huge numbers of Brant with most being on their return to the AK peninsulas waiting for their breeding to take place in early spring.
With their studies they came to an over welling conclusion that the sportsman was definitely not from any decrease in the Brant population. Due to this the Numbers were cut along with the number of days one could hunt these birds. Back in the Days when I was a young man and my grandfather's days of hunting back to the very early days the season was long and the numbers great.
It was not until the very early 70 these changes came forth that we were cut back on both aspects' numbers and also number of days we could hunt.
I have been hunting these little guys since I was 12 and now 77 and have seen the best and the worst and when I say worst I'm not saying hundreds of thousands of birds but only a few thousand and during those counts it was and has been suggested many birds just might not have been there at the time of the count as it in Izembek's eye say's its different every year.
They do blame the Arctic fox as the biggest issue back then and still is a problem but nothing as it was a few years back and sustainable.
yes, the natives have that right, but it is a problem nevertheless as they don't take just a few from each nest they completely strip the nest and does become an issue with as you mentioned all the fowl.
today all and all we are definitely not seeing these issues that we had in the 70's and it's a wonder why ten are we not seeing the numbers of time frame and limit sizes increased? It all boils down that once the depts take away we never seem to see them back.
Take our sprig numbers we have complained about for years on end and oh no the numbers on the ground along other flyways were a problem which makes it all a problem the words from the Oregon Dept of wildlife. Now look they want to give us 3 birds in the 25 26 seasons go figure that one out same with the elusions there are so many of them that the farmers are up in arms over there fields being destroyed by these little guys. No long ago they wanted to put them on the endangered species list. They just don't know or do they use common sense why making decisions at all.
On the Brant it was noted as mentioned a few times that the feds in Sacramento CA indicated the biggest reason for the decline in numbers was not just the sportsman taking of the birds but also with that late February season we were not just killing the one bird but for every one bird we were killing 4-5 birds as they were bred in Mexico. Again, wrong according to Izembek they could not come to a reason why they would indicate that accept to have a reason for closing those late seasons. Pretty pathetic as far as I'm concerned.
With numbers above what they were in the 60' 70's they still will not give us more time or increase in birds knowing we are definitely not the reason for any declines in the brant population and other fowl.
Birds not stopping up and down the coast for one reason is the eel grass beds are few and far between. Here in coos bay OR we have the perfect bay for brant and the only time we even see brant here is on their return for a stopover for rest and pick a little eel grass along the way North.
We have been trying to get the dept to do a restoration on the eel grass beds as they have done in CA.
Humbold bay the second largest eel grass beds on the west coast only get a few thousand stop to replenish and continue to Baja. Fron Izembek to Baja an 80 hr flight with a north wind behind them but still a few stopovers in major bays just for a day to a few days then continue their flight to MX.
CA doesn't want to deal with the birds as it has become a huge issue first with the homeless taking over the south spit and finally where our old timers had blinds on the beach and stilt blinds on the bay were all burned, and the spit locked up due to the issues the homeless presented. now the gates open at 4 am and close at 6pm and there are now only 9 spots to hunt where the used to be 23 blinds along the spit. I disagree whole handedly as it's all about money and if they are shortchanged from license purchases the federal Gov subsidizes them. So, they only care about getting the dollar one way or another.
MikeE