The waterfowl report is published each week during the waterfowl hunting season on this site. We encourage hunters to send photographs and updated information to augment this report. Our goal is to make this report the most comprehensive waterfowl hunting report available for Southern California hunters -- with all of the information in a single place. Updates, photographs, and comments should be e-mailed to Jim Matthews at odwriter@charter.net.
 

January 15, 2009

 

Most public hunting areas still
cranking out decent duck bags


By JIM MATTHEWS
Outdoor News Service


Hunters at the San Jacinto Wildlife Area continued to see decent hunting this week with hunters averaging just under two birds each on Saturday (Jan. 10) and Wednesday (Jan. 14) this week.
“Some of our best hunt days have been windy days,” said Tom Trakes at San Jacinto on Thursday. He said the 1.89 and 1.96 averages the last two shoot days are better than bluebird days when the wind isn’t blowing at San Jacinto by at least a bird per hunter.
Trakes said the main pond complex and all of the marsh hunting areas have been shooting really well late in the season, but the best shooting has definitely been in the morning with the afternoon hunts dragging the hunter average down.
At the Wister Unit of the Imperial Wildlife Area and the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge, goose hunting as slowed from its peak in December with a total of 66 light geese taken over the three shoot days last week, and those numbers were buoyed by the 31 geese taken on the federal refuge on Saturday (Jan. 10). By comparison, the three-day season high take on the two areas was 187 light geese in mid December.
The duck hunting averages at Wister and the Union Tract have remained pretty good at better than two birds per hunter most days, with greenwings, spoonies, and pintail making up the bulk of the bag.
The Kern National Wildlife Refuge hunters have continued to see decent shooting, but the averages have dropped from the spectacular 4 ˝ birds per hunter on Jan. 3 to just 2.8 birds per hunter this Wednesday (Jan. 14).
Raahauge’s Duck Club in Prado Basin continues to be a sleeper spot for public hunters with few of the public blinds being used but hunters here are averaging over three birds each, hunters have been consistently averaging over three birds each with a lot of mallards in the bag.


JUNIOR HUNTING EVENTS: The San Jacinto Wildlife Area staff and its regular hunters will be hosting a special event Saturday, Jan. 31, for junior hunters on Junior Waterfowl Weekend. The federal duck hunting framework allows junior hunters to hunt one weekend after the close of the regular waterfowl season. Junior hunters must be accompanied by a non-hunting adult for this hunt, but Trakes said juniors will be provided a pancake breakfast at 3 a.m. and then a barbecue lunch around noon on this special shoot day. There will also be a raffle with a host of free waterfowl hunting gear for the juniors. For more information or to volunteer, call the wildlife area at 951-928-0580 or visit the web site at www.sjwa.info.
There will also be a special junior waterfowl hunt and event at Wister this special hunting weekend. For information on that event, call the Wister Unit at 760-359-0577.


What follows is the area-by-area breakdown for public hunting this past week:


At the SAN JACINTO WILDLIFE AREA, there were 107 hunters on Wednesday, Jan. 7, who shot 329 ducks and six coots for a 3.13 average. The duck take included 128 greenwings, 120 shovelers, 34 gadwall, 14 ruddies, seven pintail, six wigeon, six bufflehead, five cinnamons, four mallards, two ringnecks, two scaup, and one redhead. On Saturday, Jan. 10, there were 152 hunters who shot 285 ducks and 13 coots for a 1.96 average. The duck kill consisted of 143 shovelers, 81 greenwings, 17 gadwall, 11 bufflehead, 11 ruddies, eight pintail six wigeon, five mallards, two cinnamon teal, and one redhead. On Wednesday, Jan. 14, there were 110 hunters who shot 205 ducks and three coots for a 1.89 average. The duck bag was made up of 78 greenwings, 67 shovelers, 14 pintail, 13 gadwall, 10 ruddies, eight wigeon, eight bufflehead, five cinnamons, and two redheads. San Jacinto is open to waterfowl and pheasant hunting through the state reservation system or a daily drawing for remaining sites after all reservation holders are admitted to the area. Refills are also permitted until 2 p.m. Shoot days are Wednesday and Saturday for waterfowl, and Mondays for pheasants during the pheasant season. For more information, contact the wildlife area at 951-928-0580 or visit the web site at www.sjwa.info.
At the WISTER UNIT of the IMPERIAL WILDLIFE AREA on the Salton Sea, there were 115 hunters on Wednesday, Jan. 7, who shot 274 ducks, 17 snow geese, and three coots for a 2.56 average. The duck bag included 88 shovelers, 60 greenwings, 48 wigeon, 48 pintail, 18 mallards, 11 gadwall, nine cinnamons, and two ruddies. On Saturday, Jan. 10, there were 285 hunters who shot 571 ducks, 10 snow geese, and three Ross geese for a 2.05 average. The duck bag was made up of 204 greenwings, 198 shovelers, 68 pintail, 28 wigeon, 26 cinnamons, 23 gadwall, nine mallards, six scaup, three ruddies, one ringneck, and one goldeneye. On Sunday, Jan. 11, there were 102 hunters who shot 84 ducks and one snow goose for a .86 average. The duck kill consisted of 28 greenwings, 25 shovelers, 11 pintail, nine ruddies, five wigeon, four cinnamons, and two gadwall. Wister is open to waterfowl hunting through the state reservation system and a daily drawing for sites after all reservation holders are admitted to the area. Refills are permitted. Shoot days are Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. For more information, contact the unit at 760-359-0577.
At the SONNY BONO-SALTON SEA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, there were 11 hunters on Wednesday, Jan. 7, who shot eight shovelers, two Ross’ geese, two greenwings, and a pintail for a 1.08 average. On Saturday, Jan. 10, there were 43 hunters who shot 78 ducks, 24 snow geese, seven Ross’ geese, and a coot for a 2.53 average. The duck bag was made up of 33 shovelers, 17 greenwings, 14 pintail, 11 cinnamons, two mallards and a wigeon. On Sunday, Jan. 11, there were 16 hunters who shot 21 ducks and two snow geese for a 1.44 average. The duck bag included seven shovelers, six wigeon, five pintail, two greenwings, and one mallard. The refuge is managed as part of the Wister Unit. For more information, contact the Wister Unit at 760-359-0577.
At the FINNEY-RAMER UNIT of the IMPERIAL WILDLIFE AREA on the Alamo River south of the Salton Sea, there were 10 hunters from Monday, Jan. 5 through Sunday, Jan. 11, who shot five shovelers, five greenwings, and four ruddies for a 1.40 average. Finney-Ramer is open to hunters seven days a week under a self-registration and self-reporting system. For more information, contact the Wister Unit at 760-359-0577.
At the KERN NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, there were 145 hunters on Wednesday, Jan. 7, who shot 424 ducks for a 2.92 average. The duck take was made up of 134 greenwings, 92 shovelers, 87 gadwall, 26 pintail, 25 wigeon, seven mallards, four redheads, three ringnecks, two bufflehad, and one bluewing teal. No Saturday results available. On Wednesday, Jan. 14, there were 141 hunters who shot 394 ducks for a 2.79 average. The duck bag consisted of 123 greenwings, 115 gadwall, 56 shovelers, 27 cinnamons, 24 wigeon, 13 pintail, 13 redheads, 12 mallards, three ringnecks, two bluewing teal, two scaup, two bufflehead, and two ruddies. Kern is open to waterfowl hunting through the state reservation system or a daily drawing for remaining sites after all reservation holders are admitted to the area. Refills are also permitted throughout the shoot day. Shoot days are Wednesday and Saturday. For more information, call 661-725-2767 or the comprehensive hunter's hotline at 661-725-6504, normally updated after each hunt day.
At LAKE HENSHAW, no results were available for this past week. Henshaw is open to public hunting on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The fee is $25 per hunter per day ($10 for juniors) with boat rentals $35. Hunters can also launch their own boats for a $5 fee and a $5 quagga mussel washdown charge. For more information, contact Lake Henshaw at 760-782-3501.
At the SAN DIEGO CITY LAKES, there were a total of 29 hunters at BARRETT LAKE on Wednesday, Jan. 7 and Saturday, Jan. 10, this past week. They shot a total of 43 ducks for a 1.48 average. The duck take included 15 ruddies, 11 scaup, eight ringnecks, three gadwall, two mallards, one shoveler, one wigeon, one cinnamon, and one redhead. At SUTHERLAND RESERVOIR there were four hunters on Thursday, Jan. 8 and Sunday, Jan. 11, who shot two greenwings, one mallard, one ruddy, one shoveler, and one ringneck for a 1.50 average. Reservations are still available for Barrett for all Wednesday shoot days from November through January and for all shoot days at Sutherland. For more information and to request a hunting information packet, hunters should call the lake’s office at 619-668-2050 or e-mail ssmith@sandiego.gov.
At RAAHAUGE'S DUCK CLUB in PRADO BASIN, there were 54 hunters over the three shoot days, Wednesday, Jan. 7, Saturday, Jan. 10, and Sunday, Jan. 11 who shot a total of 195 ducks for a 3.61 average. The duck bag included 50 greenwings, 37 shovelers, 27 mallards, 21 gadwall, 20 cinnamons, 10 ringnecks, nine scaup, six pintail, five wigeon, two bufflehead, and two redheads. Public blinds are available for $200 per day for a two-person blind. An adult with a junior hunter is just $100. All reservations must be made in advance by telephone. No walk-ons this year for the public blinds. For information, call Raahauge’s at 951-735-7981.

Hunters who would like to contribute information and photographs to this report should e-mail the information to Jim Matthews at odwriter@verizon.net.

The waterfowl report is copyrighted and any use or reposting of the report, or portions of the report, is prohibited without written permission. Posting of links to the fish report on the Outdoor News Service web site is allowed.