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.
 

November 14, 2007

Snow geese no-shows at Wister, but birds are
showing on private ground in Imperial Valley

There are still only about 1,000 snow and Ross’ geese using the Wister Unit of the Imperial Wildlife Area on the south end of the Salton Sea, according to Adolfo Hernandez with the Department of Fish and Game at the wildlife area. And the harvest of light geese from the area and adjoining federal unit has continued to be off this past week.
There were only 47 geese shot between the two hunting areas this past weekend, including one banded cackling goose.
But hunters on private ground in the Imperial Valley are reporting far more light geese.
Ed Rister, a long-time Imperial Valley hunter, said he thought there were at least 15,000 geese in the area.
“Walt Slovack told me there were 10,000 geese down there last week. Most of them were in the Westmorland area, but they weren’t using the refuge. I think there’s more now, and they’re deking really well. Most of the birds down there are Ross’ geese. I shot four birds this week, and three of them were Ross,” said Rister on Wednesday.
Hernandez confirmed that the snow geese weren’t using the wildlife area in the numbers he’d expect for this time of year, and even the duck numbers are off.
“I don’t know where the ducks and geese went. I wonder what happened,” said Hernandez. “I know a lot of hunters don’t like spoonies, but there were more spoonies here before than now. There are still a lot of pintail and teal, but the spoonies are gone.”
The San Jacinto Wildlife Area continues to produce about two birds per hunter both hunt days. This past week, the hunting was best in the afternoons when the breeze had come up, and walk-on hunters have been doing very well after popular blind sites were vacated.
The main birds in the bag continue to be spoonies, greenwings, and pintail, but wigeon are also on the area in good numbers.
San Jacinto’s Monday pheasant hunt was tough, with just 10 birds taken for 100 hunters (walk-ons and refills were allowed this year for the first time. Of those pheasants, only two were wild birds and the remaining eight were left-over planted birds from a weekend junior hunt.

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

At the SAN JACINTO WILDLIFE AREA, there were 114 hunters last Wednesday, Nov. 7, who shot 251 ducks for a 2.20 average. The duck kill was made up of 107 spoonies, 39 greenwing teal, 34 wigeon, 31 pintail, 12 gadwall, six cinnamons, five scaup, four redheads, three mallards, three bufflehead, three ruddies, two ringnecks, and one canvasback. On Saturday, there were 122 hunters who shot 226 ducks and one coot for a 1.85 average. The duck bag consisted of 75 spoonies, 30 greenwings, 26 pintail, 18 gadwall, 16 wigeon, 15 cinnamons, 14 mallards, eight ringnecks, six redheads, six ruddies, five scaup, four bufflehead, one canvasback, 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 124 hunters last Wednesday who shot 254 ducks and eight snow geese for a 2.11 average. The duck bag was made up of 99 greenwings, 54 wigeon, 43 pintail, 20 shovelers, 16 gadwall, nine cinnamons, seven mallards, two redheads, two ringnecks, one scaup, and one bufflehead. On Saturday, there were 193 hunters who shot 420 ducks, 11 snow geese, and three Ross’ geese for a 2.18 average. The duck kill consisted of 115 greenwings, 91 wigeon, 69 shovelers, 66 pintail, 23 gadwell, 21 mallards, 16 cinnamons, seven redheads, seven ruddys, three ringnecks, and two scaup. On Sunday, there were 96 hunters who shot 62 ducks, five snow geese, and one cackling goose for an average of 0.50. The duck kill included 18 pintail, 17 wigeon, nine greenwings, five shovelers, five gadwell, three cinnamons, two mallards, two ringnecks, and one redhead. 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 six hunters this past Wednesday who shot eight Ross’ geese, four snow geese, four shovelers, and one pintail for a 2.80 average. On Saturday, there were 20 hunters who shot eight Ross’ geese, seven snow geese, five mallards, two wideon, two greenwings, two redheads, two canvasbacks, two ruddies, one pintail, and one ringneck for a 1.60 average. On Sunday there were 26 hunters who shot one shoveler for a 0.04 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 13 hunters from Monday through Sunday this past week who shot 15 ducks for a 1.15 average. Hunters shot eight greenwings, five shovelers, and two cinnamons. 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 107 hunters last Saturday who shot 438 ducks and four coots for a 4.13 average. The duck bag was made up of 93 gadwall, 88 shovelers, 67 mallards, 61 cinnamons, 50 greenwings, 20 ringnecks, 20 pintail, 13 redheads, 12 widgeon, six canvasbacks, three bluewings, three buffleheads, 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, waterfowl season will start next week at BARRETT LAKE and SUTHERLAND RESERVOIR by reservation only. Barrett is now open to waterfowl hunting on each Wednesday and Saturday. There are still openings available for Jan. 23. Sutherland is now 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 MIKE RAAHAUGE’S DUCK CLUB in Prado Basin, the public hunting program is tentatively slated to begin around the first of December. The duck hunting ponds, destroyed in flooding three winters ago, are now completed and water is going into the area now. For information on the public hunting program here, 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@earthlink.net.

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