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 23, 2008

Light goose and redhead numbers spike in
hunters’ bag at Salton Sea this past week

Hunters on the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge saw a spike in redhead duck numbers on Saturday, and the light goose harvest also jumped for all three shoot days on the federal unit, along with the Wister Unit of the Imperial Wildlife Area.
A total of 39 redheads were taken by the 38 hunters on Saturday at Bono, making up nearly half of the ducks taken that day. It was the highest one-day count on the big diving ducks this season.
The take on snows and Ross’ geese also jumped at both the federal unit and Wister this past week, with 62 light geese taken at Wister (along with one honker) and 49 more birds at the federal unit. The take of 111 light geese for the week is the best since early December and more than double the number taken last week, which bodes well for the last weekend of the season.
Kern continues to have the best ducks hunting, but even its average dropped to just over 2 1/2 birds per hunter this week, a full bird below last week’s averages. As with most of the other public shooting areas, shovelers, greenwing teal, and gadwall continue to make up the bulk of the duck take.
Lake Henshaw has also been a hotspot, but with not all hunters always reporting back in, the harvest averages might only represent what the better hunters are doing each week. Still, the average for those who did report back in on Saturday was 5 1/2 birds per hunter, and there were four limits reported. Steve Turigliatto, Escondido, shot a seven-bird limit of teal -- six cinnamons and a greenwing on Saturday. He and hunting partner Joe Shuler, also Escondido, had 12 birds on Wednesday, with a mixed bag consisting of three wigeon, three gadwall, three cinnamons, two spoonies, and a greenwing.
Andrew Moreau, Santee, had four wigeon, a pintail, and one bluebill on Saturday, and Mher Torossian, Placentia, killed three greenwings, a pintail, and a shoveler the same day. Mike Bowman, Oceanside, shot two shovelers, a wigeon, and a cinnamon, also on Saturday. On Wednesday, Brent Gaddis, San Diego, have five ducks in his bag, including two shovelers, a pintail, a greenwing, and a cinnamon.
San Jacinto Wildlife Area continues to see very high hunter use and averages this week were around 1 1/2 birds per hunter, and another Canada goose and Ross’ goose were taken.
Tom Trakes, with the DFG at San Jacinto, said the staff was going to set up a “loaner” program for next year, so new hunters could borrow decoys, waders, and other gear on their trips to the wildlife area. Hunter who would like to donate old but functional gear should contact Trakes or Scott Sewell at the wildlife area at 951-928-0580.

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

At the SAN JACINTO WILDLIFE AREA, there were 96 hunters this past Wednesday, Jan. 16, who shot 172 ducks and one Canada goose for a 1.80 average. The duck bag consisted of 67 northern shovelers, 34 greenwing teal, 29 gadwall, 18 pintail, seven cinnamon teal, five redheads, four bufflehead, three mallards, two wigeon, and two ruddies. On Saturday, there were 127 hunters who shot 155 ducks, four coots, and one Ross’ goose for a 1.26 average. The duck kill included 56 shovelers, 35 greenwings, 19 pintail, 17 gadwall, eight cinnamons, seven ruddies, five bufflehead, three ringnecks, and one wigeon. San Jacinto 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 until 2 p.m. Shoot days are Wednesday and Saturday. 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 118 hunters last Wednesday who shot 180 ducks, 27 snow geese, and one coot for a 1.76 average. The duck bag consisted of 65 greenwings, 55 shovelers, 32 pintail, 10 gadwall, six wigeon, six cinnamons, three mallards, two canvasback, and one bufflehead. On Saturday, there were 272 hunters who shot 413 ducks, 18 snow geese, and one Canada goose for a 1.59 average. The duck kill was made up of 171 greenwings, 111 shovelers, 56 pintail, 24 wigeon, 22 cinnamons, 19 gadwall, four mallards, two redheads, two goldeneye, and two ruddies. On Sunday, there were 85 hunters who shot 42 ducks, 15 snow geese, and two Ross’ geese for a .69 average. The duck bag included 14 cinnamons, 12 redheads, seven greenwings, five pintail, three shovelers, and one canvasback. 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 22 hunters last Wednesday who shot 19 ducks, 12 snow geese, and five Ross’ geese for a 1.64 average. The duck bag included eight redheads, seven cinnamons, three greenwings, and one shoveler. On Saturday, there were 38 hunters who shot 86 ducks, 24 snow geese, and one Ross’ goose for a 2.92 average. The duck kill consisted of 39 redheads, 28 cinnamons, seven greenwings, five shovelers, two ringnecks, one canvasback, and one bufflehead. On Sunday, there were 17 hunters who shot five snow geese, two Ross’ geese, one shoveler, and one coot for a .59 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 nine hunters from Monday through Sunday this past week who shot 19 ducks for a 2.11 average. The duck bag included nine shovelers, six greenwings, one mallard, one pintail, one cinnamon teal, and one ruddy. 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 for last Wednesday. On Saturday, there were 120 hunters who shot 312 ducks and two coots for a 2.62 average. The duck bag included 84 shovelers, 63 greenwings, 60 gadwall, 33 cinnamons, 21 wigeon, 16 mallards, 13 pintail, nine bufflehead, six redheads, three ringnecks, three ruddies, and one merganser. 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, BARRETT LAKE had 10 hunters last Wednesday who shot 26 ducks for a 2.60 average. The bag was made up of 20 ruddies, two ringnecks, one bufflehead, one gadwall, one shoveler, and one wigeon. No results were available for Saturday. There were no hunters at SUTHERLAND RESERVOIR. Barrett is open to waterfowl hunting on each Wednesday and Saturday. Sutherland is open on a Thursday and Sunday schedule. For information on the City Lakes waterfowl program, call 619-668-2060.
At LAKE HENSHAW, there were 17 hunters this past Wednesday with six hunters reporting a bag of 23 ducks, including two limits, for a 1.35 average. The kill included six cinnamons, five shovelers, four wigeon, three gadwall, two greenwing, and one bufflehead. On Saturday, there were 20 hunters with 12 reporting a bag of 63 ducks, including four limits, and two Canada geese for a 5.42 average. The duck bag included 12 wigeon, 12 cinnamons, 11 greenwings, seven mallards, six shovelers, four scaup, three pintail, three ringnecks, three gadwall, one redhead, and one canvasback. 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. 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.

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.