Moon flight or decoying?

[Continental Shooter]

Hi guys,

having a wildfowling novice moment here 

Saturday will be the third day after full moon and some say it's  still good to try for a moon flight which makes me wonder if it's worth at all trying to get set up on stubble?

my gut feeling is possibly not as if there is enough light the geese will still be flying out at moonrise (8:40 PM) to get to the  feeding grounds. 

This brings another sets of quetsions: HW is at about 5:40 AM on my estuary but what if there is not enough light at moon rise? will they wait HW (as usual) or will they fly anyway?

I am almost certainly going to try on the estuary as it will be LW throughout the night (LW 23:15) with the moon up and this might drive gees back to roost until HW (my thought) 

What would be your choice under these circumstances? not looking for a definite answer, just your expert opinion 

Cheers,

 

[Ajarrett]

Best advice is try it and see. Geese will invariably move at some time when there is a good moon, but when and where will vary depending on area and circumstances

[figgy]

In my area early season the stay on the stubble fields all night and don't really flight. Only way to know is to try it unless you can speak to a local wildfowler.

Edited September 25, 2018 by figgy

[Continental Shooter]

Thanks guys, I'll definitely try the estuary, but was not looking for opinions on your area i.e. what would be the local behaviour. My stubble field is probably 60-80 miles away from the estuary and geese in there would be those in the reservoirs rather than the foreshore ones so, not really correlated. Cheers

[motty]

I am not sure I understand what the original question is.

[Continental Shooter]

Hahaha would you do if these conditions materialise in your area, essentially😂

[figgy]

Now I’m confused 

[marsh man]

1 hour ago, figgy said:

Now I’m confused 

I think we all are , very hard to give advice on shooting under the moon if the information on the area is clear cut let alone bit confusing  , with the op living 60-80 miles away and the geese are on a lake rather than an estuary , I would have thought he would be up against it if the Greys / Canadas had been feeding on the stubble's during the day , taking the timing of the moon , hopping  for the right cloud conditions , and a return trip of 160 miles ,,,,,,,,, I think I would stay at home and watch a d v d . 

[figgy]

Marsh Man i am of the same mind.

[Konnie]

As above lot of ifs in wildfowling as it is going that far in the hope of cloud conditions and the normal factors, is a big ask

[Continental Shooter]

10 hours ago, figgy said:

Now I’m confused 

Sorry if I created confusion. Probably not the best wording.

What was I looking for was like Figgy's first post where you provide an inside on what you would do on your area rather than mine. I know that would  be impossible and i'll only find out with experience. 

[marsh man]

3 hours ago, Continental Shooter said:

Sorry if I created confusion. Probably not the best wording.

What was I looking for was like Figgy's first post where you provide an inside on what you would do on your area rather than mine. I know that would  be impossible and i'll only find out with experience. 

Its very hard to plan moon light flighting due to many things that could go wrong , mainly weather conditions and what the duck / geese have been feeding on .

Every season I got a tide times booklet from what is now the Broads Authority , this tell you the height of the tide and the tide time , it also have the different stages of the moon , this is only a guide as the wind strength and direction on the day can make a big difference , then on the day itself its down to cloud cover , to much is as bad as not enough , 

Around my way the top of the tide on the night of a full moon is around 11pm  , if I was going to flight duck on a flooded marsh and the height of the tide was normal I would go around 8pm as I know the duck would start lifting off when the tide start covering the mud where they are resting , timing would vary with the height of the tide and the wind direction , a strong wind from the N / E would push a lot more water up making the duck leave early for shelter .

This is only a small part of shooting under the moon and it can vary a lot with inland goose shooting and shooting on the coast , the main advantage is living a short distance from your shooting grounds and being abel to go at very short notice .

Having said all that , the only way you can find out what it is like is to go under different conditions and to find out yourself , Good Luck .

 

[Continental Shooter]

20 hours ago, marsh man said:

Around my way the top of the tide on the night of a full moon is around 11pm  , if I was going to flight duck on a flooded marsh and the height of the tide was normal I would go around 8pm as I know the duck would start lifting off when the tide start covering the mud where they are resting , timing would vary with the height of the tide and the wind direction , a strong wind from the N / E would push a lot more water up making the duck leave early for shelter .

 

 

 

Thanks MM,

That's what i was trying to get: info about your relevant areas.  The idea is that with sufficient data, i can kind of guestimate, based on conditions and experience, whether to moonflight on the estuary or go for a morning flight on the stubble.  I know every place is different and every tide is different  but i like to analyse data and try to figure out things (sorry, professional disease).

Unfortunately, i am not lucky enough to live anywhere close to where i shoot so and can't go most days (work commitments), the best i can do is to make an educated guess -on the day of my choosing- and hope for the best.   What threw me off this time is the moon still up on the Saturday and my fear is that geese will fly out at night to feed on the stubble and not show up in the morning (which is probably the case).

Cheers,