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.
 

December 3, 2008

 

Duck averages stay dismal, but winds help goose hunt on Union Tract at south end of Salton Sea


By JIM MATTHEWS
Outdoor News Service


While duck hunting has stayed pretty dismal across the board at public hunting spots throughout Southern California, winds and an influx of new light geese at the Sonny Bono-Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge led to the single best goose hunting day so far this season.
There were 46 light geese taken the day before Thanksgiving at the Union Tract by 26 hunters for 1 1/2 geese per hunter average. There were also 34 light geese taken by the 86 hunters at the Wister Unit of the Imperial Wildlife Area that day. But the return of warm, balmy weather by the weekend soured the hunt for the weekend. There were 48 light geese taken between the two shoot areas over both weekend days -- not horrible, but certainly not up to Wednesday’s hunt. Meanwhile, duck hunting all three shoot days this past week was pretty dismal at both Wister and the federal refuge.
After a little bump the week before, the San Jacinto Wildlife Area saw its duck harvest drop again with about a bird per hunter average both of last week’s shoot days, and the Kern National Wildlife Refuge continued to shoot poorly with averages again around a bird per hunter there. There was a Eurasian wigeon shot at Kern on Saturday, however.
In San Diego County, Lake Henshaw opened to hunting this past week with just fair action on wigeon and teal. Hunters averaged nearly 1 1/2 birds each. Kyle Casto, Santa Ysabel, shot the only limit reported on the opener, bagging five greenwings and two wigeon, but Joe Dilgo, Murrieta, Ken Moore, Imperial Beach, and Eric Rheinhard, San Marcos, all had four birds each. Lake staff estimates there are currently about 300 ducks and 60 geese on the lake. Public hunting is allowed here on Wednesday and Saturday, and the lake has been extremely popular with scull boaters in past seasons.
Barrett Lake is starting to improve for diving ducks as more birds move south with a nice mix of ringnecks, ruddies, and bluebill (scaup). Hunters are averaged about 1.6 birds the two shoot days this past week.


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


At the SAN JACINTO WILDLIFE AREA, there were 131 hunters on Wednesday, Nov. 16, who shot 147 ducks and four coots for a 1.15 average. The duck bag consistd of 40 wigeon, 31 greenwings, 25 ruddies, 18 shovelers, 11 gadwall, nine pintail, four mallards, four cinnamon teal, three bufflehead, one redhead, and one scaup. On Saturday, there were 134 hunters who shot 121 ducks and two coots for a .92 average. The duck kill included 50 wigeon, 27 shovelers, 14 gadwall, nine greenwings, six ruddies, four bufflehead, three redheads, two mallards, two pintail, one cinnamon, one scaup, one goldeneye, and one merganser. 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.
At the WISTER UNIT of the IMPERIAL WILDLIFE AREA on the Salton Sea, there were 86 hunters on Wednesday, Nov. 26, who shot 86 ducks, 33 snow geese, one Ross’ goose, and one coot for a 1.48 average. The duck kill consisted of 39 wigeon, 17 greenwings, 12 pintail, seven gadwall, three shovelers, three redheads, two mallards, and one bufflehead. On Saturday, Nov. 29, there were 176 hunters who shot 34 ducks, 25 snow geese, two Ross’ geese, and 11 coots for a .41 average. The duck bag was made up of eight greenwings, six pintail, six wigeon, three mallards, three scaup, two ruddies, one gadwall, one cinnamon, one shoveler, one redhead, and one bluewing teal. On Sunday, Nov. 30, there were 59 hunters who shot 12 ducks, eight snow geese, and one coot for a .36 average. The duck bag included three gadwall, three pintail, two wigeon, two ruddies, one shoveler, and one bufflehead. 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 26 hunters Wednesday, Nov. 26, who shot 30 snow geese, 16 Ross geese, a pintail and a greenwing teal for a 1.85 average. On Saturday, Nov. 29, there were nine hunters who shot 12 snow geese, two scaup, two greenwings, one gadwall, one wigeon, one cinnamon, one bufflehead, and one ruddy for a .47 average. On Sunday, Nov. 30, there were five hunters who shot one snow goose for a .20 average. 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 a total of six hunters from Monday, Nov. 24 through Sunday, Nov. 30 who shot a total of nine ducks for a 1.5 average. The duck bag included three cinnamons, one gadwall, one greenwing, and one shoveler. 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 no results available from Wednesday, Nov. 26. On Saturday, Nov. 29, there were 102 hunters who shot 105 ducks and one coot for a 1.04 average. The duck kill included 41 gadwall, 20 shovelers, 14 mallards, 12 wigeon, five pintail, two greenwings, two redhears, two ringnecks, one ruddy duck, and one Eurasian wigeon. 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, waterfowl hunting season opened this past Saturday, Nov. 29. There were 26 hunters who reported shooting 35 ducks for a 1.35 average. The duck bag was made up of 17 greenwings, 13 wigeon, and two cinnamons. 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 41 hunters at BARRETT LAKE on Wednesday, Nov. 16, and Saturday, Nov. 29, this past week. They shot a total of 67 ducks for a 1.63 average. The duck bag was made up of 28 ringnecks, 13 ruddies, 10 scaup, seven wigeon, four gadwall, three mallards, one greenwing, and one redhead. At SUTHERLAND RESERVOIR there was no hunting last Thursday and no hunters on Sunday, Nov. 30. 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 56 hunters over the four shoot days, Wednesday, Nov. 16, Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27, Saturday, Nov. 29, and Sunday, Nov. 30, who shot a total of 103 ducks and 14 coots for a 2.09 average. The duck kill consisted of 21 wigeon, 21 cinnamons, 19 gadwall, 12 mallards, nine scaup, three greenwings, three shovelers, two bufflehead, two ringnecks, one ruddy, and one wood duck. 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.

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