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 27, 2007

Geese providing only decent news for
Southern California waterfowl hunters

The waterfowl hunting at public areas in Southern California has slipped into the mid-season doldrums with generally poor weather conditions (for hunting) and a lack of new birds making the hunting tough for ducks, but there have been increases in goose numbers throughout the region and perhaps the best goose hunting of the season so far.
Adolfo Hernandez at the Wister Unit of the Imperial Wildlife Area said there were more snow geese in the Imperial Valley than ever before, but the duck numbers -- especially northern shovelers -- remain below normal. The snow geese started using Wister more toward the end of last week, and there were 61 snows and Ross’ geese taken on Saturday, the best single goose shoot day of the season so far.
The federal refuge (Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge) was good for geese all this past week with a total of 121 geese taken over the three shoot days. Last Wednesday, there was an average of three geese per hunter.
At the San Jacinto Wildlife Area, Scott Sewell said the wigeon numbers have dropped and the seasonal influx of greenwing teal hasn’t begun yet. He did note that four Canada geese and two snows were taken by hunters at the area in the past week. The Walker 2 and F5 blinds produced the honkers, and local junior hunter Dillon Donnelly shot one of the snows from Walker 10.
“I hunted the Z pond in the afternoon and the snow geese were pounding into F7, but there was no one there. They could have got them,” said Sewell.
The Cibola National Wildlife Refuge’s goose fields opened for the season this past weekend, and a total of eight honkers were taken by hunters. The most recent count placed only between 2,000 and 2,500 Canadas on the wildlife refuge, but birds have been pouring in every day this week and numbers are expected to double by the weekend.
Mike Raahauge at Mike Raahauge’s Duck Club said water was still being delivered to the public hunting ponds in Prado Basin, and he thought hunting would begin by the second weekend in December. Raahauge said the private club blinds, which just opened, have been having good duck shooting, and “they’ve probably shot more geese than we’ve shot all the other years combined.”

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

At the SAN JACINTO WILDLIFE AREA, there were 128 hunters last Wednesday who shot 132 ducks, 11 coots, one Canada goose, and one snow goose for a 1.13 average. The duck bag included 43 northern shovelers, 15 wigeon, 15 greenwing teal, 11 pintail, nine gadwall, seven scaup, six cinnamon teal, six ruddy ducks, five mallards, five bufflehead, four redheads, three canvasbacks, and three ringnecks. On Saturday, there were 131 hunters who shot 116 ducks, three coots, three Canada geese, and one snow goose for a .94 average. The duck bag consisted of 31 shovelers, 16 wigeon, 15 greenwings, 14 gadwall, seven mallards, seven pintail, six ringnecks, six bufflehead, five ruddies, three cinnamons, two redheads, two goldeneye, and a 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 126 hunters last Wednesday who shot 234 ducks, 12 snow geese, and two Ross’ geese for a 1.97 average. The duck kill consisted of 80 wigeon, 32 greenwings, 28 pintail, 28 gadwall, 19 shovelers, 17 cinnamons, 16 mallards, five canvasbacks, five redheads, two bufflehead, and two ruddies. On Saturday, there were 257 hunters who shot 583 ducks, 47 snow geese, and 14 Ross’ geese for a 2.51 average. The duck bag was made up of 160 greenwings, 135 wigeon, 112 shovelers, 61 gadwall, 56 pintail, 23 mallards, 13 scaup, six cinnamons, seven redheads, four ruddies, three ringnecks, and three goldeneye. On Sunday, there were 113 hunters who shot 89 ducks, three snow geese, and two Canada geese for a .83 average. The duck take included 29 greenwings, 26 shovelers, 11 wigeon, eight gadwall, six pintail, five cinnamons, two mallards, and two bufflehead. 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 15 hunters last Wednesday who shot 45 snow geese and 22 ducks for a 4.47 average. The duck bag was made up of five redheads, five ringnecks, three shovelers, two gadwall, two cinnamons, two ruddis, one wigeon, one greenwing, and one scaup. On Saturday, there were 38 hunters who shot 42 ducks, 24 snow geese, 21 Ross’ geese, one Canada goose, and one Aleutian Canada goose for a 2.34 average. The duck kill consisted of 20 shovelers, nine greenwings, four wigeon, four pintail, two mallards, one gadwall, one redhead, and one scaup. On Sunday, there were 27 hunters who shot 14 Ross’ geese, seven snow geese, and two mallards for a .85 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 24 hunters from Monday through Sunday this past week who shot 23 ducks for a .96 average. The bag was made up of 14 greenwings, six shovelers, and three 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 90 hunters last Wednesday who shot 210 ducks and five coots for a 2.39 average. The duck bag was made up of 95 gadwall, 28 mallards, 25 shovelers, 18 greenwings, 12 wigeon, eight cinnamons, seven pintail, seven ringnecks, four redheads, three canvasbacks, two bufflehead, and one scaup. On Saturday, there were 88 hunters who shot 158 ducks for a 1.80 average. Blind site No. 10 had a 4.3 average. The duck kill consisted of 47 gadwall, 39 shovelers, 24 mallards, 11 greenwings, seven cinnamons, six wigeon, six pintail, six bufflehead, four ringnecks, three redheads, two canvasbacks, two bluewing teal, 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.
At the SAN DIEGO CITY LAKES, BARRETT LAKE had 59 hunters this past week who shot 51 ducks for a .86 average. The duck kill included nine ruddies, nine greewnings, seven ringnecks, five bufflehead, five shovelers, four gadwall, four wigeon, three canvasback, three redheads, and two mallards. At SUTHERLAND RESERVOIR there was two hunters this past weekend who shot two greenwing teal for a 1.00 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. The hunting fields opened this past weekend, and eight honkers were taken over the two shoot days. 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 duck survey was flown in early November and the area held 13,000 ducks. The most recent goose count was Monday this week when between 2,000 and 2,500 honkers and a few hundred snow geese were counted. The Canada goose numbers are climbing daily and the number of birds is expected to double by the weekend. 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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