Be sure to head on over to Utah Waterfowl Association
Below you will find the 2012 Waterfowl Hunting Forecasts for the following areas:
OGDEN BAY WMA
Marsh and Impoundment Conditions:
Unit 1 – Pondweed growth is excellent on main and fair in the secondary impoundments. Over 1,200 ac of phragmites in the central area have been grazed after an earlier herbicide treatment which reopened up the marsh area. In the secondary impoundments some phrag was retreated this year.
Unit 2 – 600ac east side phragmites overgrowth was reopened by experimental grazing this summer. A similar, smaller treatment resulted in excellent hunting two years ago. The area has started being flooded, but will mostly be low for the youth hunt.
Unit 3 – Pondweed growth is good again this year as the stands developed over the last three years have thickened and enlarged. A huge new principally alkali bulrush and salcornia marsh west of outer dike is flooded after a summer drawdown and is in excellent condition. The east side of the Main impoundment is unfortunately overgrowing, but 600ac to the east is in drawdown and an over 100 ac grazing allotment helped open up the area. Some additional small phrag areas were chemically treated also. Two newer impoundments on this unit are
finished and developing aquatic vegetation.
Weber Delta – South Weber Delta is fair with over 200ac in the three newer ponds and a seasonally flooded flats water system, which is currently low but filling. The “Big Pond” is filling and was grazed to reduce perimeter vegetation overgrowth this summer. North Weber Delta is fair with the main river impoundment currently flooded and the east dump basin is dry, but starting to fill.
Pintail – Fair with some good new marsh area, but phragmites expanded westward this summer again. The water on this area is very low(see Access section below).
Generally all major impoundments are full and overflowing onto the westward flats. Marsh conditions are very good to excellent in most areas. The Great Salt Lake is still receded and near its all time low, which allowed large areas of west flats to regenerate vegetation. Phragmites control by drawdown, grazing, or herbicide projects occurred in several sections of marsh and they may appear drought stricken, but are now flooding.
Bird Numbers:
Unit 1 – Good, in the main impoundments. Incredible numbers of birds are starting to build in the larger interior flats, which were reopened by grazing and are now flooded. The largest concentration of geese in over 10 years was recently observed on the flats north end. Better numbers of ducks are starting to use secondary ponds, also.
Unit 2 – Poor with larger numbers on the south grazing area. Further west flats and far north end ponds are expected, like last year, to gain large number of birds when these areas totally refill and interior hunting forces them out there.
Unit 3 – Excellent in the main impoundment, excellent on west flats and improved on the smaller impoundments.
Weber Delta – Fair in general, but numbers will increase as these areas refill. It is holding a fair number of geese. Ducks are thickly concentrated in the larger ponds and impoundments
Pintail – Poor now and with an expectation of increasing to excellent numbers later on west side flats towards the Great Salt Lake.
Generally, birds are mostly concentrated on larger impoundments or ponds and flats in Unit 1 and 3. Remote ponds and flats way west of impoundments will increasingly hold larger numbers of birds as they are displaced in easily accessible areas by hunters pre-hunt scouting activities and the Youth Hunt.
Access:
Good vehicle access with most roadways and parking lots mowed and in fair to good shape. All access road will be graded by the general opener.
Boat channels into main impoundments of Unit 1 and east side are clear and usable. Unit 3 boat channel will be a tight fit, but has been sprayed with herbicide to open it up. There is a temporary equipment bridge blocking the East Dike Channel between North and Middle Runs. Boaters wanting to go upriver from the Northeast Parking Lot launch should go immediately left and east up North Run. A boat channel has been excavated around the south most, lowest walk bridge across the East Dike channel. A handicap accessible boat dock has been placed near the boat ramp into Unit 1 at parking lot number three.
Due to low river levels, the Pintail Flats airboat channels will not be useable out to the Great salt Lake for the Youth Hunt. Boats can get most the way down the South channel currently. The South and West Airboat Access Channel should be fully usable later on and we herbicide treated phragmites along both channels and mowed some areas earlier. The West Airboat Channel is less congested and now preferred by most all air boaters when it fills.
There will be some temporary head gate replacement construction activates that may interfere with hunting some impoundment areas for a day or two. There will also survey teams and heavy equipment working along river channels east side river channels throughout the fall.
Hunting Forecast:
The Youth Hunt will be exceptional in the main impoundments and adjacent flats. The General Opener should be very good as well. Hunting should improve as the season progresses and new birds arrive after all the pre-hunt scouting and opening weekend pressures subsides. Huge numbers of birds are forecast this year from the north. Hunters in general will find the best hunting in the better habitat and bird concentration areas detailed before. Particularly, the huge phrag graze treatment area south of the West North Run Parking Lot is expected to provide excellent walk in hunting this fall. Pintail Flats and Weber River Channels should again be the best late season areas.
Harold Crane WMA
Marsh Conditions:
Main Impoundments- Excellent aquatic vegetation growth. In the marsh, over 800 ac of east and west impoundments’ phragmites has been retreated chemically last year and reopened by livestock grazing this year. ‘Exterior Flats-Good. All flats to west, north and east are being flooded. A
small impoundment to the northwest was repaired and is filling. Willard Spur has much less water than last year on this date is very shallow!
Rainbow Unit- Fair, Rainbow pond was partially dry during the summer, but it has more water than most years at this time. The ponds on the north end and along the GSL Mineral canal are almost full. The area north of the Rail Trail has been chemical treated for phrags and is listed for burning ASAP
Generally, marsh and impoundments conditions are improved due to major habitat manipulations.
Bird Numbers:
Main Impoundments- Incredible numbers of both ducks and geese are the west and east impoundments ponds and grazed flats. The south impoundment is holding the least birds. Higher late summer bird use the last few years has been noted and this years is particularly exceptional, but preseason scouting and youth hunt will temporarily displace some birds
Exterior Flats- Fair, birds are in flooded flats close to the north and west dikes. Outward areas were drier than normal this year
Rainbow Unit- fair with some birds on the Rainbow Pond and much better duck and goose numbers on the north ponds and along GSL Mineral Canal. Goose numbers are overall good and improved.
The two years ago moderate level botulism outbreak has not occurred in the Willard Spur to the north, but we have had late September outbreaks on hot, high bird density years like this one and few sick birds may be found. Many of the bird recover in the fresher water on Crane. Avoid handling or allowing your dog to handle any located sick or dead birds.
Access:
The road with three parking lots accessing the west Rainbow Unit is in good shape. The main Harold Crane parking lot has been enlarged, also. All main impoundments are at normal water levels. The south impoundment is full, but now will be held at slightly lower compromise level after an agreement was finished with other agencies and upstream landowners.
Newer north bound water distribution channels located near the center dike, in both the east and west impoundments provide improved access for those willing to carry small boats across the south dike. The east access channel into the non-motorized boating only, east unit will be cleaned before the general hunt and is partially blocked right now. A newer east impoundment boat launch was installed a couple years ago. This channel starts at the west end of the main parking lot. A handicap accessible boat dock has been placed in the south impoundment.
The federal Bureau of Reclamation road to Harold Crane through Willard Upland Game Bird Area will be graded before the general hunt by DWR. The installed much larger head gates in the South Drain channel around Willard Bay Reservoir, include under the main road to Crane. The head gate bridges are slightly narrower than the road, so be careful.
Hunt Forecast:
Should be great for the youth hunt and general opener if the birds stick around! Many of the remote areas will not be hunted on the youth hunt and should provide excellent hunting on the General Opener for anyone willing to expend a little extra effort. Because the Willard Spur is so low some of the huge numbers of birds may leave prematurely.
Howard Slough WMA
Marsh Conditions:
Good. In main impoundments water is at full pool/spilling levels and contain excellent pondweed growth. New extensive phrag marshes have developed west and south of main impoundments and were chemically treated along the Main impoundment dike. Some seasonal, small ponds on the Hooper Hot Springs Unit are full and the phrag throughout the whole unit was chemically treated. An older 280ac of phrag treatment area has been grazed again to control regrowth on the east side of the main impoundment near the popular “Shotgun Alley” location.
Bird Numbers:
Exceptionally high bird numbers are in main impoundments, the grazed area. Some are way west of the marsh areas along lakefront. Generally duck numbers have been holding well above average and goose numbers have increased substantially.
Access:
The access road is a little bumpy but will be graded by the general opener. There will be some temporary, one or two day construction activates along the east impoundment dike that may temporally disturb some hunters.
Hunting Forecast:
The Slough had the best WMA Youth Hunt success in the region last year and should be great again this year. It should hunt well throughout the season also. For its’ size it holds up very well under extremely heavy hunting pressure and particularly on high duck number years such as this one.
BlueSpeculum 