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.
 

December 11, 2007

Mid-season ‘lull’ isn’t terrible
on public waterfowl hunting areas

The Wister Unit of the Imperial Wildlife Area saw duck hunting averages jump to over three birds per hunter last Wednesday and Saturday, and the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge produced limits for all the goose hunters on the area this past Sunday.
This part of the waterfowl season on Southern California’s public hunting areas is normally slow, with few new migrants and resident birds wary, but the hunting throughout the region has been better than normal thanks to rainy and windy conditions much of the past week.
Hunters at Wister averaged 3.6 birds each last Wednesday and 3.7 birds Saturday (including over 100 snow geese) before the averages fell off to just 1.4 birds on Sunday, which is still better than normal for this time of year.
At the San Jacinto Wildlife Area, the hunting got tougher with the average falling to less than a bird per hunter on Saturday, but Tom Trakes, a DFG staffer at the wildlife area, said they managed to plant 16,000 pounds of winter wheat on the upland side of the area before last week’s rain, which should provided excellent cover and feed for waterfowl, pheasants, quail, and doves. He also said another 50 acre block would likely be planted this week for geese.
Trakes said that Les Lowe of Perris shot only the second brandt ever to be taken at the wildlife area on Saturday and then donated the bird to be mounted and placed in the headquarters.
Lake Henshaw hunters reporting back in have had better than four birds per hunter, with at least six limits reported the two shoot days this past week. Wigeon and mallards have made up the bulk of the bag. John Jensen, La Mesa, and Kevin Moreaux, Santee, both had limits last Wednesday, with their 14 bird bag consisting of seven wigeon, three mallards, three gadwall, a pintail, and one spoonie. Craig and Cheyenne Heyer, Vista, had four mallards, four wigeon, four gadwall, and two spoonies in their double limit. Brian Burchette, La Mirada, had four wigeon, two gadwall and a shoveler for his limit. Ryan, Eric, and Mike Lovelace, all Wildomar, were just one bird shy of a triple limit with 20 birds, including seven greenwings, six wigeon, four shovelers, two gadwall, and one mallard.
Mike Raahauge’s Duck Club in Prado Basin is expected to open its public blinds next weekend. Rains this past weekend helped filled the public pond hunting areas, but the diking and water delivery system to these ponds keeps washing out.

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

At the SAN JACINTO WILDLIFE AREA, there were 102 hunters last Wednesday who shot 165 ducks, three coots, and two snow geese for a 1.67 average. The duck bag was made up of 97 northern shovelers, 24 gadwall, 16 greenwing teal, 10 wigeon, seven ruddy ducks, five bufflehead, two redheads, one pintail, one ringneck, one scaup, and one goldeneye. On Saturday, there were 128 hunters who shot 108 ducks and one brandt for a .85 average. The duck bag included 45 shovelers, 12 ruddies, 11 gadwall, nine greenwings, seven wigeon, seven bufflehead, five cinnamon teal, five redheads, two mallards, two ringnecks, and one canvasback. 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 123 hunters last Wednesday who shot 426 ducks and 23 snow geese for a 3.65 average. The duck bag included 151 greenwings, 111 shovelers, 70 wigeon, 66 pintail, 13 gadwall, eight mallards, five cinnamons, one bufflehead, and one ruddy. On Saturday, there were 210 hunters who shot 693 ducks, 102 snow geese, and four Ross’ geese for a 3.70 average. The duck kill consisted of 300 greenwings, 174 shovelers, 74 pintail, 61 wigeon, 51 gadwall, 16 mallards, 11 cinnamons, five scaup, and one ruddy. On Sunday, there were 80 hunters who shot 84 ducks, 17 snow geese, and 12 Ross’ geese for a 1.41 average. The duck bag was made up of 26 shovelers, 21 greenwings, 12 pintail, 10 wigeon, 10 gadwall, three scaup, one mallard, and one cinnamon. 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 14 hunters last Wednesday who shot 15 ducks, seven snow geese, and two Ross’ geese for a 1.71 average. The duck bag was made up of eight shovelers, five greenwings, and two pintail. On Saturday, there were 25 hunters who shot 41 ducks and 10 snow geese for a 2.04 average. The duck harvest included 20 shovelers, 12 greenwings, three pintail, two cinnamons, one mallard, one gadwall, one scaup, and one ruddy. On Sunday, there were nine hunters who shot 29 snow geese, 10 Ross’ geese, and four wigeon for a 4.78 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 17 hunters from Monday through Sunday this past week who shot 35 ducks for a 2.06 average. The duck bag consisted of 21 greenwings, nine shovelers, and five 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 this past Wednesday who shot 303 ducks and one coot for a 2.84 average. The bag was made up of 129 gadwall, 53 shovelers, 28 cinnamons, 21 greenwings, 21 wigeon, 21 mallards, six redheads, six ringnecks, five pintail, four ruddies, three scaup, three bufflehead, two canvasbacks, and one bluewing teal. On Saturday, there were 117 hunters who shot 332 ducks and two coots for a 2.85 average. The duck kill included 150 gadwall, 75 shovelers, 34 wigeon, 26 mallards, 23 cinnamons, 15 greenwings, three pintail, three redheads, one ringneck, one bufflehead, and on 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 and SUTHERLAND RESERVOIR, were closed last Wednesday and over the weekend because the burned areas were affected by rain. Barrett is now open to waterfowl hunting on each Wednesday and Saturday, and reservations are available only for Wed., Jan. 23. 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 LAKE HENSHAW, there were 11 hunters last Wednesday with seven reporting 30 ducks for a 4.29 average, including two limits. The duck kill consisted of nine mallards, nine wigeon, six shovelers, three gadwall, one cinnamon, one bufflehead, and one pintail. On Saturday, there were 22 hunters with 11 reporting 56 ducks, including four limits, for a 5.09 average. The bag was made up of 19 wigeon, nine mallards, nine gadwall, eight shovelers, seven greenwings, two bufflehead, one bufflehead, one ruddy, and one merganser. 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 is tentatively slated to begin around Dec. 22. The duck hunting ponds, destroyed in flooding three winters ago, are now completed and water was going into the area until a levy washed out again. 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, but the more recent aerial survey (done Dec. 4) turned up 3,700 Canada geese, 700 snows, 7,000 pintail, 3,400 mallards, 2,600 greenwings, 2,500 wigeon, and a smattering of other ducks with a total waterfowl count of 22,000 birds. 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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