Swans

[WGM-57]

Went out and did some scouting this morning. Geese were'nt doing much, but I did come apon 5 swans sitting in a wheat field about 100 yards off the road. Pretty rare around these parts. No camera. 15 miles from the house. Made a mad dash back home to get camera, went back and they were still there. :) Wish I had a better camera with bigger lenses.
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t195/Boog_57/100_3031.jpg

[h20fowler]

Nice find.

We get a few around the bottoms and quivira every year.

[Crazy_Farmer]

We've had around 200 in our field the last two months. We've seen two with neck collars, a red and a black one. It's neat to see and hear as they fly over the spread only 5 yards up. I can only hope I could get the chance to shoot one someday, not very likely up here.

[laxblastin87]

I do alot of waterfowl hunting on the saltmarshes of marylands lower shore and we sometimes use 2 swan decoys and places them liek 75 yds upwind of our rig and you wouldn't belive how well they decoy to them give a little mouth call and they sucker right on in....wish we could shoot a few

[WGM-57]

I stopped by the refuge headquarters this morning and asked them what kind of swans they were. They are Trumpeter swans, very rare in these parts. They said the last ones known to be here were in 1995 and there was one here in 1992. They gave me a much better picture of them and were supposed to e mail me some but haven't recieved them yet. Will post them when I recieve them or figure out how to scan the one I have.

[DEADEYE]

I saw 2 swans this weekend in Carrollton Mo,one had a yellow collar on it.

[KShonker]

You been doing any killing WGM-57?

[iawaterfowler88]

killer miller and I had some decoy into us about 2 years ago when we were hunting a field just outside of town. 2 adults and 5 juvies. That same year my dad and I had 4 land in our duck spread, those were the only wild ones I had ever seen other than at Yellowstone park as a kid. Definitely cool birds.

[WGM-57]

You been doing any killing WGM-57?
Haven't set a decoy out or fired a shot since new years day :cry: Birds aren't doing much around my area that I can see.

[WGM-57]

Got some better pics of the swans today :) USFW employee sent them to me :)
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t195/Boog_57/P1030292.jpg
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t195/Boog_57/P1030290-3.jpg

[wickedmfer]

We had quite a few swans come through here this year. Need a special permit to hunt them. I might put in for that this year since I had several opprotunities to get on to some. I'll get my kid to show me how to post pics later. :)

[Just Hunt]

We've seen more Swans in the Pike County Illinois bottoms along Miss. Rvr. Pool 24 than we've ever seen. We've counted in the double didgets this fall and winter. It's neat see'n that many.

[DEADEYE]

We've seen more Swans in the Pike County Illinois bottoms along Miss. Rvr. Pool 24 than we've ever seen. We've counted in the double didgets this fall and winter. It's neat see'n that many.I hunt Pool 24 and did not see near as many as I did last year,they always hang around in the bay of the concrete plant.Deadeye

[Johnsonevinrude]

I saw a pair of swans in the Waukegan Harbor
during the hot spell last week. I got about 30 feet
from them on the pier. They can really reach down
with their long neck and feed off the bottom without diving.
Someone shot one with a permit and said it tasted
like mud but they are beautiful birds.

[WGM-57]

I don't think you can shoot trumpeter swans. I think that tundra swans are the only ones that are legal to shoot in some areas. These are trumpeter swans, supposed to be only a few thousand of them in the whole country.

[wickedmfer]

Here's some pics from this year.

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii59/wickedmfer/020.jpg
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii59/wickedmfer/019.jpg
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii59/wickedmfer/014.jpg
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii59/wickedmfer/011.jpg

[laxblastin87]

Yeah I believe that you can only hunt tundra swans and possible whislting swans? not sure on that one but the tundras I know you can for sure in some states like North Carolina

[mdh2ofowler]

Well you sure as hell can't hunt em in Maryland even though we need to. They tear up the marshes in Dorchester county every year. I have a few friends in DNR that say they are workin on a limited season for Tundra swans hopefully for next year. The anti-hunters are fighting back hard though

[laxblastin87]

I hear that, but those damn animal rights people are gonna pull the same bull that they did when DNR finally did something about the Mute Swans which eat the hell out of the grasses that keep our ducks coming back