October 2016

ALERT!!!   The October meeting will be held at the Slovak Citizen Club at 51 East Silver St. in Westfield on Tuesday the 4th starting at 7:30pm.

Meeting Place Problem:  If you attended our last meeting you know there was a problem: The American Legion on New Ludlow Rd. is closing and we are in need of another place to meet.
For at least the October meeting we will meet at the Slovak Citizen's Club at 51 East Silver St. in Westfield. 
Directions: Use your GPS, or follow Rt. 202 from the Mass. Pike until you come to the town common with the famous gazebo. Stay in the left lane and instead of going around the Common go straight ahead towards the fire station which is on Broad St. Follow Broad St. until you come to a set of lights at East Silver St. The Big Y should be in front of you and the Post Office to your right. Go left (east) on East Silver St. for a few hundred yards and you'll see a two story brick building on the right. Drive around back to the parking lot. You'll see three doors on the back of the building. Take the farthest left door. You may have to be "buzzed in". Our meeting room is through the door on the left side of the bar. 
Coming from the east on Rt. 20: when you come to the gazebo go left around the town common. Instead of going south on Rt. 202  stay left and half way around the common at the set of lights go straight on Broad St. towards the fire station. Travel south on Broad St. until you come to a set of lights at the intersection with East Silver St. Go left on East Silver St. until you see the two story brick building on the right. 
Future Meetings:  If someone knows of an establishment that is more centrally located to our membership please check it out, talk to their manager, and give us the details at the October meeting. Even if we find the Slovak Club meets our needs we need to have their "OK" for future meetings. Their Board of Directors will meet later in October and notify us of their decision.

 Biggest Goose Contest:  Although there were 13 "hunters" signed up for the contest there was not one goose, of any size, weighed in! There were 13 "excuses" why no geese were bagged, but nobody won the big prize. Ed Snyder won the Loser's Pool and Mike Blair won the $25 Cabela's gift card.

Just to prove that some of our members are "real" hunters, check out the picture below. One of our members, Jeff Rollet, and a few friends had some real good luck during the middle of September in a neighboring state. 

September 2016

The September meetingwill be held at the American Legion on New Ludlow Rd. in Chicopee on Tuesday the 6th starting at 7:30pm.

 Mailing Address Change!!!  WMDH, P.O. Box 2350, Westfield, MA 01086

 Biggest Goose Contest:  Paul Baj will be in the Legion parking lot from 7:00pm to 7:30pm weighing geese. The winning goose will be announced at the regular September meeting.

If you’ve been away for the last couple of Newsletters and are not aware of this contest or the Band Contest the rules are listed below.

 If you still want to enter either of these contests reply to this email immediately. No late entries will be accepted.

 Biggest Goose Contest:Our annual contest will beheld on Tuesday September 6th which is the opening day of the early goose season.

The rules are simple: Pay your $5 entry fee before Tuesday September 6th.

Shoot a goose on the 6th and bring it to the weigh-in at the American Legion before the meeting starts.The member with the heaviest goose will be the winner and collect 80% of the entry money.

One name from all the entrants (except the biggest goose contest winner) will be drawn and receive20% of the entry money.

One name from all the entrants will be drawn for a $25 Cabela’s gift card.

Band Contest:  Another activity that we hold every year is the Duck/Goose Band Contest. This contest starts with the opening of the early goose season and ends with the close of the late goose season in February.Rules are pretty simple: Pay your $5 entry fee before the September meeting, shoot a banded bird,and turn in the certificate by the March 2017 meeting. At the March 2017meeting a name will be drawn from all the band entries and that member will receive 80% of the pool. One name from all the entrants (except the Band Contest winner) will be drawn and win 20% of the pool.

One name from all the entrants will be drawn for a $25 Cabela’s gift card.

Hats:  Paul Baj had camo hats made up with “Western Mass. Duck Hunter’s” emblazoned on them. If there are any left he will have them at this meeting.

 Waterfowl Banding :  WMDH members recently assisted Mass. Waterfowl Biologist H Heusmann in airboating  an area in the Berkshires. 70+/-- ducks were banded. Most of the were woodies, a few were mallards, and one Sora rail was also banded. Three woodies that were previously banded were also captured and released. Previously banded birds have their band numbers recorded, but they do not receive a new band nor an additional band. Members that participated were Paul Baj, Henry Tenczar, Michael Schulz, and Charlie Bates.

 So far this year Mr. Heusmann has only been able to band half of his usual areas because low water conditions have made it impossible to launch the airboat. At this time around 300 ducks have been banded. Earlier this summer Mass. Wildlife personnel banded 800 Canada geese by rounding them up when they were flightless.

 Upcoming Events:

September Squirrel Contest and cookout, but squirrel won’t be on the menu.

Berkshires waterfowlhunt in October.

Central zone waterfowl hunt in November.

 

June 2016

The June meeting was  held at the American Legion on New Ludlow Rd. in Chicopee on Tuesday the 3rd at 7:30pm.

Turkey Beard Contest:The winner was  Charlie Bates with a 10 inch beard. The prize was $48. / Micheal S. won the "looser" pool drawing for $12, but he did enter a beard.

Eider numbers: Ed Snyder talked about the low eider numbers that may have determined the new season dates & limits. An in depth explanation is on the "Legislative Alerts " page.

Chicopee river gun discharge ban:  Ed also spoke about the successful meeting he had on the recommendation of F&W Conn. Valley manager Ralph Taylor. See the "2016 Updates" page for more.

Sporting Clays: W.MA Bird Dog Club opened up their course early this year and WMDH has already shot there four times since it opened. Shooting cost is $30 a round (100 targets) and starts at 9:30 on Saturday mornings. We have also been given permission to bring our grill and have a BBQ after we shoot and bring new shooters or even observers that would like to try sporting clays for the first time. 

 Father's Day Shoot at Conway:On Sunday June 19th the Conway club will hold their annual Father's Day Shoot. I have one squad reserved for 8:30 and we will be allowed to have seven shooters. Cost is $50 for 100 clays and a BBQ chicken dinner after we shoot. There are a few openings left on our squad, but I need to know as soon as possible if there is anyone  that is seriously interested in joining us.

Waterfowl Season: Since this year's season dates were decided in April under the new Federal policy you can go to the MassWildlife web site and find out the dates for the zone you wish to hunt.Don't forget to get your 2016 H.I.P. number if you don't already have one.

Ducks Unlimited: The Westfield River Chapter of D.U.  held its annual banquet at the Delaney House on May 14.There were roughly 80 to 90 in attendance. There was some spirited bidding on a few items that brought high prices and there was some really good buys on others. Keep this banquet in mind for next year.

July meeting: We voted on having an informal meeting on Tuesday, July 5th, and will order pizza for those in attendance. If a quorum of 8 members is not reached, no voting can take place.

Members Photos: Lets send in some fishing pictures to post for June.

May 2016

The May meeting will be held at the American Legion on New Ludlow Rd. in Chicopee on Tuesday the 3rd at 7:30pm.

Address Change!!!  Our new mailing address is WMDH, P.O. Box 2350, Westfield, MA 01086

Membership Renewal:Just a reminder, if you did not renew your membership at the Sportsmen's Show our membership year started in March. Renewals will be taken at the upcoming meetings or through the mail (WMDH, P.O. Box 2350, Westfield, MA 01086). Annual membership is $20.

Turkey Beard Contest: After four days of the season there are no reports of any turkeys that were actually shot. There have been several stories of missed shots and bungled set ups. Keep plugging away and remember if you’re in the contest bring your beard to theJune meeting or mail it to our P.O. box and I’ll pick it up before the June meeting. There’s still plenty of days left in the season, but the dumb ones arequickly being removed from the gene pool.

Waterfowl Hearing: WMDH sent in our annual letter to the Board making a suggestion on what we would like for a duck season in the Berkshire and Central Zones. Paul Baj, Ed Snyder,and Charlie Bates attended the meeting. Our dates and the dates presented by H. Heusmann, Mass. Waterfowl Biologist, were identical and there were no dissenters in the crowd so those dates were passed by the Board. Check the MassWildlife web sites for specific dates, but look for a season identical tolast year’s for starting and stopping each segment.
The sea duck season has been changed from past years due to a decline in the seaduck population.

Sporting Clays:  W.MA Bird Dog Club opened up their course a couple weeks ago and WMDH has already shot there three times since it opened. Shooting cost is $30 a round (100targets) and starts at 9:30 on Saturday mornings. We have also been given permission to bring our grill and have a BBQ after we shoot and bring new shooters or even observers that would like to try sporting clays for the first time.

Ducks Unlimited: The Westfield River Chapter of D.U. will hold its annual banquet at the Delaney House on May 14. Contact Joe Brady at (413)532-7544 for tickets. More details can be found on the D.U. web site at Ducks.org.

April 2016

The April meeting will be held at the American Legion on NewLudlow Rd. in Chicopee on Tuesday the 5th starting at 7:30pm.

Address Change!!! Our new mailing address is WMDH, P.O. Box 2350, Westfield, MA 01086

Membership Renewal: Just a reminder, if you did not renew your membership at the Sportsmen's Show our membership year started in March. Renewals will be taken at the upcoming meetings or through the mail (WMDH, P.O. Box 2350, Westfield, MA 01086). Annual membership is $20.

Sportsmen’s Show: This year’s show was a success. We sold a truckload of used waterfowl hunting gear and decoys. By Sunday morning most of our decoys had already been sold. Full body and floater goose decoys were in demand as were puddle ducks. Diving duck decoys were not very popular, but we didn’t have a very good number to choose from which might have been the problem.
We also talked with a number of potential new members and explained to many others just what WMDH was all about.

Duck/Goose BandContest: The winner of the contest was Michael S.

Wood Duck House Project: It would be helpful if members started checking those houses that can be safely reached. If you send me the house number, the pond, river, or town where it’s located, and what you observed for success, I’ll add it to our data base.

Wood Duck House Workdays: On March 12 several members traveled to the Warren/Brimfield area to service our boxes. By the end of a busy day we had checked and serviced 24 houses and managed to take a lunch break in between towns. At least 50% of the houses had usage by either hoodies or woodies.
On March 26th and 30th we traveled to the Berkshires with the goal to service 70+ houses. When the smoke cleared we had serviced or added 48 houses. Many of our houses needed repair or replacement. Usage appeared to be lower than usual. We need to make another trip, but we could use more helpers.
The following members participated on one or more of these work days: Paul Baj (our chef), Maurry Tamarkin, Ed Snyder, Ed Snyder jr, Mike Blair, Michael Schulz, Neal Schermerhorn, Bill Santos, and Charlie Bates.

Contests: Stay tuned for our upcoming turkey contest.

Sporting Clays: W.MA Bird Dog Club opened up their course a couple weeks ago and depending on the weather WMDH will start sending shooters there this month. Shooting cost is $30 a round (100 targets) and starts at 9:30 on Saturday mornings.

March  2016

The March meeting will be held at the American Legion on New Ludlow Rd. in Chicopee on Tuesday the 1st starting at 7:30pm.

Note: our P.O. Box has been changed to:

W.M.D.H
P.O. Box 2350
Westfield, MA 01086
 

Membership Renewal: Just a reminder, if you did not renew your membership at the Sportsmen's Show our membership year starts in March. Renewals will be taken at the upcoming meetings or through the mail ( WMDH, P.O. Box 2350, Westfield, MA 01086). Annual membership is $20.

 Sportsmen’s Show : This year’s show was a success. We sold a truckload of used waterfowl hunting gear and decoys. By Sunday morning most of our decoys had already been sold. Full body and floater goose decoys were in demand as were puddle ducks. Diving duck decoys were not very popular, but we didn’t have a very good number to choose from which might have been the problem.

We also talked with a number of potential new members and explained to many others just what WMDH was all about.

 Duck/Goose Band Contest:  This is your last chance to enter your duck or goose band into this contest. If you were lucky enough to bag a banded bird this season and you entered this contest in September you need to turn in your certificate to Bob Derby before the start of this month’s meeting. A winner will be drawn from all entries at this meeting. Good Luck!

 Wood Duck House Project:  It would be helpful if members started checking those houses that can be safely reached. If you send me the house number, the pond, river, or town where it’s located, and what you observed for success, I’ll add it to our data base.

 Wood Duck House Workday:  We will also make plans this month to service those houses that can only be reached by boat or canoe. If you would like to be included in one of these work days contact us for specific dates. It would be a good way to learn some potential new spots.

 Contests  Stay tuned for our upcoming turkey contest.

 Sporting Clays:  W. MA Bird Dog Club opened up their course a couple weeks ago and depending on the weather WMDH will start sending shooters there this month. Shooting cost is $25 a round (100 targets) and starts at 9:30 on Saturday mornings.   WMDH’s will hold their January meeting at 7:30pm on Tuesday the 5th at the American Legion at 292 New Ludlow Rd. in Chicopee.

JANUARY  2016

Annual Game Sampler  will be held Tuesday January 5th at the American Legion starting at 7:30pm.

 ***If you plan to attend or bring a food item or donate a prize and you haven’t already contacted us please reply to :  duckstopper3@verizon.net 

 At this time the Prize Committee has come up with some nice prizes for the raffle, but we can always use more. WMDH members have also volunteered to bring a variety of wild game dishes, but we could use other dishes especially something more exotic that you don’t find on the usual game dinner menu. 

Reminder: you can bring non-WMDH's members.  The cost is $10 each / $5 for anyone bringing a food item, it's free if you bring a prize for the raffle and a food item.  (Prize must be valued at or above $5)

 January Meeting Agenda:  After the Game Sampler is finished WMDH’s members will hold a brief meeting to discuss the upcoming Sportsmen’s Show at the Big E in February.

 
Duck/Goose Band Contest: Although many reports indicate that this season has not been one of the better ones keep in mind that the Band Contest runs until the end of the late goose season. If you entered this contest by the September 1st deadline you have two more months to bag a banded bird and turn in your certificate to Bob Derby. Good Luck!

 2016 H.I.P. # and Waterfowl Stamp:  Don’t forget to take the H.I.P. survey and buy your waterfowl stamp when you get your 2016 hunting license.

November /December

Important !!Click here for a full report on the legislators hearing addressed below:  Legistrative hearing -full report

From Charlie:

A Sporting Chance to Talk To Legislators
Sportswomen and men can express their opinion about proposed bills in person at a hearing being conducted by legislators of the Joint Committee of Natural Resources on Tuesday, November 10, 2016 at 1 PM at the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife’s Field Headquarters, 1 Rabbit Hill Road in Westborough. The Committee’s hearing will be on proposed legislation affecting sporting interests.

Monthly newsletter

December 2016

The January meeting and "Game sampler" will be held at the Slovak Citizen Club at 51  East Silver St. in Westfield, on Tuesday the 3rd starting at 7:30 pm.

More info and Directions are found the new"2017 Newsletter" page.

November 2016

ALERT!!!   The December meeting will be held at the  Slovak Club on 51 East Silver St. at the corner of Cleveland St. in Westfield, Massachusetts on Tuesday Dec. 6th starting at 7:30pm

Directions: From Mass. Pike go about 1 mile south towards Westfield center and the town common . At the town common bear slightly left, but continue straight which is Broad St. You'll see the fire station on the left. Continue on Broad St. a couple hundred yards until you come to a set of lights. Go left at these lights which is East Silver St. Continue to 51 East Silver St. until you see a two story brick building on the right at the corner of Cleveland St. The parking lot is off of Cleveland St. Go in the door on the left. You may have to be "buzzed" in.

 Squirrel Extravaganza: Six of us made the trip to the Berkshires in search of the furry tailed rodents. We had good weather, we had good food, we had good camaraderie, but the squirrels were scarce. A combination of too many leaves, too few squirrels, a scarcity of acorns, and some people that had trouble following their map may have contributed to the low kill.

 Waterfowl Banding: Here’s some information from H. Heusmann about this summer’s duck banding:
2016 goes into the books as the poorest airboating season on record not caused by mechanical problems. Due to drought conditions we were able to boat only 8 sites of the 15 or so normally available.  Airboating was conducted on 9 nights as we did Lackey Pond WMA in Uxbridge twice.  This year the only sites boated in the western half of the state were the Housatonic River in Lenox and Lake Warner in Hadley. The Memorial Sanctuary in Longmeadow has not been boatable since 2013 because of low water levels.  This year we received a report that the water was so low even fish were dying though the herons and egrets were having a great time. In an ironic twist, we could not boat the Chicopee River in Chicopee because the access road was flooded out by beaver, the only site could not boat because of too much water!  When Hatfield Oxbow (aka Twin Ponds) was scouted the evening of 9/28 fewer than 20 ducks were observed flying in.  We don’t  know if the site had been hunted the previous Saturday, the first Youth Waterfowl Hunt day. In light of the few ducks, low water and questionable access, no attempt was made to airboat the area this year.

In summary, a total of 502 birds were banded during preseason trapping operations in Massachusetts by Division personnel and their cooperators. The total included 333 wood ducks, 148 mallards, 1 American black duck, 1 Mallard dominant hybrid, 2 green winged teal, and 2 soras.  All birds were banded via airboat nightlighting efforts except for 68 mallards, the single black duck and the single Mallard type hybrid which were captured by bait trapping, drop net trap, tub launcher, and net gun.  Twenty eight previously banded birds were recaptured on airboat nightlighting operations and one mallard by tub launcher. 
Because of the drought conditions our waterfowl biologist, H Heusmann, has not been able to airboat as many of his banding sites as usual. Still, there should be several hundred 2016 banded ducks and 800 or so banded geese out there. There should also be a good number of previously banded ducks and geese from past years. There's also the chance, however slim, that you will bag a banded bird from out of state.

 Season Opener Predictions: As I mentioned in last month’s newsletter everything I read on social media indicated that we should have no problem bagging our limits of woodies. Well, based on what several of our members experienced on the Berkshire opener that was not the case. Three teams of us hunted in different places that last year produced limits of woodies for each of us. This year one team never had a Woodie come into their pond, another team only managed two woodies, and my team mate and I ended up with one Woodie and three mallards.

Weather Changes: Anyone seeing any "new" birds or having any good hunts after this recent winter weather? Lots of geese on the move in some northern states.

 Band Contest: Anyone bagged a banded duck or goose yet? Don’t forget to go online at www.reportband.GOV and enter your information. You’ll get a return email with when and where your bird was banded. When you print out this email you’ll get a certificate about your bird.

Web Site Info:  Ed Snyder has updated our site with new topics and new pictures. Check it out, and don't forget to send some new photos for this year.

 Address Change!!! Our new mailing address is WMDH, P.O. Box 2350, Westfield, MA 01086

Upcoming Events:  Game Sampler in January.

August 2015

Western Mass. Duck Hunter’s August Newsletter

WMDH’s will hold their August meeting at 7:30pm on Tuesday the 2nd at the American Legion at 292 New Ludlow Rd. in Chicopee. Paul Baj will be the Moderator this month. 
July Meeting: The official meeting was cancelled and in its' place we held a trap shoot and picnic at George Leclerc's house.  George has an automatic trap set up in his back field and even has cement pads set up at each station. About a dozen members and friends showed up to help get things set up, shoot, or just enjoy the BBQ. Thanks to Adam Hennessey who set up a tent so we had a place to sit protected from the sun. We went through close to three cases of clays and consumed two dozen burgers and the same amount of hot dogs.
 

                   Pictures from George's picnic/shoot.  (click on them to enlarge)

Leicester Shoot: A squad of WMDH's attended this club's 12th Annual Shoot held on their sporting clays course. There was a station where you shot from a boat, from a laydown blind, from a spot in the woods imitating wood ducks flushing through the trees, in tall trees representing pass shooting, and a field to represent a snow goose hunt. Many shooters need more practice shooting out of a layout blind. Some of the simo targets also caused problems for a few people. Mostly good natured ribbing took place.
 
After the shoot everyone met at the pavilion for lunch. Member Paul Baj acted as our chef and served us steak, baked potato, corn on the cob, and a nice salad to keep us healthy. When everyone finished eating the organizers of the shoot, Jim Person of Moose Brook Gun Dogs and Ray Jackson of Badfish Decoys, primed us up for the raffle. Several calls, including a custom made goose call, member Ed Snyder's prints, and a Ruger pistol were highlights of the raffle. Everyone won at least one prize.
 

Pictures from the shoot.  (click on them to enlarge)

Again this year the shoot organizers presented the WMDH's with a generous donation for our wood duck project. We should be able to build close to 50 houses with this donation. Thanks again guys for the help.
 





 

some Photos from last year's newsletters

Biggest Goose Contest: New member Michael S. (below) won the contest which was held on the opening day of the September goose Season. Besides winning the contest, Michael's other bird is his first banded goose. This is the first band for the Duck/Goose Band Contest.

Bear Season:  Pat Fletcher bagged this 267 pounder during the September season. (above)

Early Goose Season:  (Below) Paul B.and Charlie B. (left) along with their guide had a successful trip to upstate New York for the September goose season.

Web Site:  We can always use some more up to date pictures from this season.