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 20, 2007

Refuge waterfowl hunting tanks at all
public hunting areas, except Kern NWR

With the exception of the Kern National Wildlife Refuge, waterfowl hunting success took a sharp decline at all the major public hunting areas in the southern part of the state.
Kern hunters had over three birds per hunter last Wednesday and dropped to just over two birds per hunter on Saturday, while Wister fell from 2 ˝ birds last Wednesday to just over a bird per hunter on Saturday.
It was the sharp decline in the number of Northern shovelers at all shooting areas that led to the decline in hunter success rates. Frequently the number one bird in hunters’ bags, shovelers were none factors in the harvest numbers on the south end of the Salton Sea and at the Kern NWR. Even at San Jacinto, spoonies were a smaller percentage of the bag than normal.
The field goose hunting program begins at the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge this weekend, but snow geese are just starting to filter into the area.

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

At the SAN JACINTO WILDLIFE AREA, there were 94 hunters last Wednesday who shot 137 ducks, one Ross’ goose, and one coot for a 1.44 average. The duck bag consisted of 63 spoonies, 19 greenwing teal, 15 wigeon, 11 pintail, eight gadwall, six cinnamon teal, five redheads, four ringnecks, four scaup, one bufflehead, and one ruddy duck. On Saturday, there were 137 hunters who shot 141 ducks and six coots for a 1.07 average. The duck kill was made up of 36 spoonies, 25 wigeon, 18 greenwings, 15 gadwall, 12 cinnamons, nine bufflehead, seven pintail, six mallards, six ruddies, four redheads, two scaup, and one ringneck. On Monday this week, 30 pheasant hunters shot three pheasants. 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 163 hunters last Wednesday who shot 146 ducks and 17 snow geese for a 2.51 average. The duck bag consisted of 58 greenwings, 31 pintail, 26 wigeon, 19 shovelers, four gadwall, three cinnamons, two redheads, one ringneck, and one ruddy. On Saturday, there were 265 hunters who shot 253 ducks, 10 snow geese, and two coots for a 1.29 average. The duck kill included 79 wigeon, 71 greenwings, 44 pintail, 21 shovelers, 15 gadwall, 11 cinnamons, three mallards, three ruddies, two redheads, two ringnecks, one scaup, and one merganser. On Sunday, there were 106 hunters who shot 53 ducks, two snow geese, and one Ross’ goose for a .53 average. The duck harvest was made up of 19 wigeon, 10 greenwings, eight gadwall, eight cinnamon teal, five pintail, two shovelers, and one mallard. 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 12 hunters this past Wednesday who shot nine ducks, eight Ross’ geese, and two snow geese for a 1.58 average. The duck bag was made up of three ruddies, two gadwall, two cinnamons, one pintail, and on redhead. On Saturday, there were 17 hunters who shot 15 snow geese, seven Ross’ geese, and seven ducks. The duck kill consisted of two gadwall, two greenwings, one shoveler, one ringneck, and one scaup. On Sunday, there were 20 hunters who shot four snow geese, a pintail, and on greenwing for a .30 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 21 hunters from Monday through Sunday this past week who shot 20 ducks for a .95 average. The bag was made up of nine greenwings, seven shovelers, and four 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 71 hunters last Wednesday who shot 244 ducks for a 3.44 average. The duck bag consisted of 92 gadwall, 59 cinnamons, 34 mallards, 31 shovelers, six wigeon, six greenwings, four ringnecks, three pintail, three buffleheads, two redheads, two canvasback, one bluewing teal, and one scaup. On Saturday, there were 92 hunters who shot 200 ducks for a 2.17 average. The duck kill included 64 gadwall, 46 cinnamons, 32 shovelers, 25 mallards, 10 wigeon, nine greenwings, five pintail, three ruddies, two bluewings, two redheads, one bufflehead, and one canvasback. 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 27 hunters on Saturday who shot 42 ducks and two coots for a 1.63 average. The duck bag consisted of 11 ruddies, five gadwall, five wigeon, four greenwings, three scaup, three shovelers, three ringnecks, two mallards, two redheads, one bufflehead, one canvasback, one pintail, and one cinnamon. At SUTHERLAND RESERVOIR there was one hunter this past Sunday who shot three coots for a 3.0 average. Barrett is now open to waterfowl hunting on each Wednesday and Saturday, and all reservations are filled. 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 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.
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 daily waiting line for unfilled blind sites when the fields open November 24. There are also several open duck and goose hunting areas (open seven days a week), with the island unit having the best habitat and blind sites this year. The most recent bird count was made Nov. 13. There were 1,500 mallards, 3,150 pintail, 5,900 greenwing teal, 2,500 wigeon, 20 scaup, 250 snow geese, and 45 Canada geese. 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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