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.
 

October 24, 2007

Waterfowl season opener generally good
at public areas in Southern California

Waterfowl hunters at the two most popular public hunting areas in Southern California averaged about 3 ˝ birds each on opening day of the season this past Saturday.
At the San Jacinto Wildlife Area, hunters averaged 3.44 birds with shovelers, cinnamon teal, and greenwing teal making up the bulk of the bag.
“We probably had at least two dozen limits,” said the Department of Fish and Game’s Scott Sewell. “Our first group back in opening morning – from the handicap blind – all had limits, two adults and one junior. That was really nice to see.”
Sewell said there were quite a few wigeon on the wildlife area, with 64 taken opening day. “They’re really nice to see. It was cool watching 25 to 30 wigeon coming into a blind,” said Sewell.
At the Wister Unit of the Imperial Wildlife Area and the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge the birds-per-hunter average was 3.56 and 3.04 respectively opening day, and there were even a dozen snow geese taken the opening weekend, 11 on Saturday and another one on Sunday. There are only a handful of snow geese in the area right now, however. Sunday duck averages dropped to about 1 ˝ birds per hunter, in spite of 30 mile-per-hour winds that usually improve the hunting.
Greenwing teal made up the bulk of the bag both shoot days of opening weekend at the south end of the Salton Sea. At Wister, 998 of the 2013 ducks taken opening weekend were greenwings.

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

At the SAN JACINTO WILDLIFE AREA, there were 178 hunters opening Saturday, Oct. 20 who shot 607 ducks and five coots for a 3.44 average. The duck kill included 219 northern shovelers, 139 cinnamon teal, 135 greenwing teal, 64 wigeon, 14 pintail, 13 gadwall, eight mallards, eight ruddy ducks, three bufflehead, two redheads, and two ringnecks. 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 466 hunters on opening Saturday who shot 1,642 ducks, 11 snow geese, and eight coots for a 3.56 average. The duck bag was made up of 850 greenwing teal, 198 shovelers, 189 pintail, 140 cinnamon teal, 134 mallards, 96 wigeon, 19 gadwall, 13 redheads, two ringnecks, and one scaup. On Sunday, there were 228 hunters who shot 371 ducks, one snow goose and one coot for a 1.64 average. The duck kill consisted of 148 greenwings, 53 pintail, 49 shovelers, 43 wigeon, 41 cinnamons, 20 mallards, 10 gadwall, four redheads, two canvasback, and one ringneck. 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 47 hunters opening Saturday who shot 143 ducks for a 3.04 average. The duck bag consisted of 91 shovelers, 21 greenwings, 10 cinnamons, seven mallards, four pintail, four ruddies, thee redhead, two wigeon, and one gadwall. On Sunday, there were 19 hunters who shot 29 ducks for a 1.53 average. The bag was made up of 24 shovelers, three pintail, one mallard, and one gadwall. 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 17 hunters opening Saturday who shot a total of 40 ducks, including 12 shovelers, 11 greenwings, seven ruddies, and 10 birds were not identified, for a 2.35 average. On Sunday, there were 10 hunters shot 21 ducks for a 2.1 average. The duck bag included six greenwings, five shovelers, four ruddies, and six birds not identified. 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 70 hunters last Wednesday who shot 166 ducks for a 2.34 average. The bag consisted of 70 gadwall, 33 shovelers, 15 pintail, 11 mallards, 11 greenwings, 10 cinnamons, seven wigeon, six redheads, two ringnecks, and one ruddy. On Saturday, there were 50 hunters shot shot 114 ducks for a 2.15 average. The duck kill was made up of 32 gadwall, 30 shovelers, 21 pintail, nine mallards, eight ringnecks, seven greenwings, three cinnamons, two wigeon, one redhead, and one ruddy. 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.

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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