The waterfowl report is published each week during the waterfowl hunting season on this site, usually updated on Monday afternoons. 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@earthlink.net.
 

January 2, 2008

Kern National Wildlife Refuge continues
to average three or more ducks per hunter

The Kern National Wildlife Refuge and Lake Henshaw continue to produce hunter averages at three or more birds each, the highest of all Southern California public waterfowl hunting areas. Several days of poor weather forecast for late this week should only make the Saturday hunt even better at both locations.
At Kern last Wednesday, one hunter shot seven mallards from Blind No. 4, while hunters in the No. 10 blind averaged over five birds each, with the bulk of the bag shovelers. Unit 1A also had a five bird average for the eight hunters on this unit. On Saturday, three hunters in Blind No. 1 had full limits with the bag mostly gadwall and shovelers.
In San Diego County, Lake Henshaw continues to hold a lot of wigeon, gadwall and teal. A few honkers are also showing in the bag. On Saturday, the hunters reporting back in averaged just over three birds each and there were five limits reported. Colton Gallegos and Wes Garcia, both of Fallbrook, shot seven gadwall, five wigeon, and two mallards to fill their limits. Eric Lovelace, Wildomar, had a honker and a mixed limit of ducks that included cinnamon teal and wigeon. Dennis Zamora, Temecula, bagged a seven-bird limit of shovelers.
On the south end of the Salton Sea, the state and federal refuges have both tanked for goose hunters, with a grand total of 31 Ross’ and snow geese taken over all three shoot days at both areas. The valley is still holding a lot of birds but they are holding mostly on the closed zones or feeding off the public hunting areas.
The duck hunting at the Wister Unit of the Imperial Wildlife Area and the Sony Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge has continued pretty fair with hunters averaging between two and 2 1/2 birds per hunter, with northern shovelers making up the bulk of the bag.
At the San Jacinto Wildlife Area, averages have dropped to just over a duck per hunter, and Tom Trakes said he felt that was because most of the waterfowl feed was gone from the area.

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

At the SAN JACINTO WILDLIFE AREA, there were 102 hunters this past Wednesday, Dec. 26, who shot 114 ducks and seven coots for a 1.12 average. The duck bag consisted of 66 northern shovelers, 12 gadwall, 10 greenwing teal, eight wigeon, six redheads, three pintail, three bufflehead, two cinnamon teal, two ruddies, one canvasback, and one merganser. On Saturday, Dec. 29, there were 117 hunters who shot 165 ducks and 11 coots for a 1.50 average. The duck kill was made up of 97 shovelers, 17 greenwings, 14 gadwall, nine ruddies, seven bufflehead, six wigeon, five ringnecks, four pintail, four 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.
At the WISTER UNIT of the IMPERIAL WILDLIFE AREA on the Salton Sea, there were 89 hunters last Wednesday who shot 252 ducks, a snow goose and a Ross goose for a 2.85 average. The duck bag was made up of 88 greenwings, 59 pintail, 36 shovelers, 26 gadwall, 24 wigeon, six cinnamon teal, three scaup, two mallards, two redheads, two ringnecks, two bufflehead, and two goldeneye. On Saturday, there were 279 hunters who shot 698 ducks, two coots, five snow geese, and one Ross’ goose for a 2.53 average. The duck kill included 265 greenwings, 265 shovelers, 68 pintail, 39 gadwall, 28 wigeon, 16 cinnamons, eight mallards, four redheads, three ruddies, one ringneck, and one scaup. On Sunday, there were 106 hunters who shot 95 ducks, six snow geese, and one Ross’ goose for a .96 average. The duck take consisted of 38 greenwings, 27 shovelers, 10 pintail, six gadwall, four wigeon, four cinnamons, three ruddies, one mallard, one scaup, and one goldeneye. 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 17 hunters last Wednesday who shot 17 ducks, four Ross’ geese, and three snow geese for a 1.41 average. The duck bag consisted of six gadwall, five pintail, five shoveler, and one greenwing. On Saturday, there were 29 hunters who shot 44 ducks and three snow geese for a 1.62 average. The duck kill included 39 shovelers, three pintail, one gadwall, and one redhead. On Sunday, there were 14 hunters who shot six snow geese, two greenwings, and one ruddy for a .64 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 14 hunters from Monday through Sunday this past week who shot 25 ducks for a 1.79 average. The duck bag was made up of 13 greenwings, eight shovelers, two gadwall, one wigeon, and one cinnamon. 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 102 hunters this past Wednesday who shot 363 ducks for a 3.56 average. The bag was made up of 131 gadwall, 115 shovelers, 36 greenwings, 25 wigeon, 18 mallards, 18 pintail, 12 cinnamons, three ringnecks, two bufflehead, one redhead, one canvasback, and one ruddy. On Saturday, there were 134 hunters who shot 399 ducks for a 2.98 average. The duck kill included 115 shovelers, 111 gadwall, 62 greenwings, 37 cinnamons, 23 wigeon, 19 mallards, 17 pintail, eight bufflehead, two ringnecks, two ruddies, one redhead, one canvasback, and one scaup. 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 the SAN DIEGO CITY LAKES, no information was available for BARRETT LAKE or SUTHERLAND RESERVOIR. Barrett is open to waterfowl hunting on each Wednesday and Saturday, and reservations are available only for Wed., Jan. 23. Sutherland is open on a Thursday and Sunday schedule. There are still openings for all shoot days. For information on the City Lakes waterfowl program, call (619) 668-2060.
At LAKE HENSHAW, there were 10 hunters last Wednesday with six hunters reporting 11 ducks and one Canada goose for a 2.0 average. The duck bag was made up of five shovelers, two greenwings, two gadwall, one wigeon, and one pintail. On Saturday, there were 28 hunters with 16 reporting 49 ducks and two Canada geese for a 3.19 average. The duck bag was made up of 17 wigeon, 10 shovelers, eight gadwall, seven cinnamon teal, three greenwings, two mallards, one pintail, and one bufflehead. Hunt days are Wednesdays and Saturdays. The fee is $25 for adult hunters and $10 for juniors. For more information, contact the lake at 760-782-3501.
At MIKE RAAHAUGE’S DUCK CLUB in Prado Basin, the public hunting program kicked off just before Christmas. Public blind sites are limited because flooding three winters ruined most of the ponding. Cost for a two-person blind is $175 and hunting is allowed on a Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday schedule. For information on the public hunting program here, call Raahauge’s at 951-735-7981.
The CIBOLA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE on the Colorado River is a popular spot for goose hunters who set out large spreads of decoys in groomed goose fields. Reservations are issued through a drawing, but there is also a daily waiting line for unfilled blind sites. Hunt results from this past week were not available again. The more recent aerial survey (done Dec. 4) turned up 3,700 Canada geese, 700 snows, 7,000 pintail, 3,400 mallards, 2,600 greenwings, 2,500 wigeon, and a smattering of other ducks with a total waterfowl count of 22,000 birds. The next count is set for Jan. 3, and the annual volunteer Christmas Bird Count will be Friday. For refuge information, call 928-857-3253 or visit the web site at http://www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/CibolaNWR/index.html.

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

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