We tell you EXACTLY where to go
The most detailed bird hunters' scouting report published in the world!
Bird hunting is about more than long, quiet hikes in the desert with the dog and a hunting buddy or two. Not that just being there isn't enough most of the time. Sometimes it's just nice to see more than brilliant sunsets. Sometimes it would be nice to watch the dog actually work a few birds. Sometimes a little heft in the back of the vest would make the trip a richer experience. Sometimes a little success is a nice thing.
Western Birds is about being in the right place at the right time and helping you reach that place.
Special New Subscriber Offer
WESTERN BIRDS PROVIDES DETAILED MAPS, GUZZLER LOCATIONS, AND CURRENT SCOUTING UPDATES FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BIRD HUNTERS
Western Birds is the most detailed scouting report published in the world. Period!
This is not an overstatement or exaggeration. Western Birds provides the same information your best hunting friend would give you -- if he were really a friend, a close friend, a great friend. We provide detailed maps of desert water sources -- springs, stock tanks, and most-importantly guzzlers -- and we tell you what we've seen there on our most recent visits to the location. Each newsletter has GPS coordinates of the guzzlers and water sources that you link directly to Google Earth and then plug right in to your hand-held GPS unit, phone, device, or mapping software. We provide the latest information on spring production and how good the fall hunting seasons will be. We cover quail, chukar, and dove a lot, but also other game birds species -- like places to hunt snipe. There truly is nothing else like it published today.
Since we've began publishing Western Birds in 1996, we have given details to over 800 hunting locations in the southern half of California. We've published four special "compendium" issues that have all of the guzzler locations for large areas -- the Mojave National Preserve, the Red Mountain region, the West Mojave between Barstow and Lucerne Valley, and the Carrizo Plain region west of Bakersfield. Combined, those four issues have over 280 guzzler locations. And these are all public land hunting spots which are usually good year-after-year. Starting in 2020, the newletter became an all digital publication (no more printed copies). And they arrive as a with a Google Earth file with all the locations already plotted.
Does this sound like something you could use for your bird hunting?
SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
A subscription to Western Birds is $150 for six issues. Think about what a tank of gas costs for your hunting rig and how many of those tanks of gas we'll be saving you because we're doing most of the scouting. It's a bargain at twice the price. For new subscribers, we highly recommend that you take advantage of our $225 special that includes your choice of four back issues of the newsletter. You can get up to 250 guzzler locations or more depending on the issues you choose.
Click HERE or on the blue button below for a downloadable PDF subscription form you can fill out and return either by e-mail or snail mail.
EXISTING SUBSCRIBERS: Click HERE or on the blue button below for a downloadable PDF renewal form you can fill out and return by mail, fax, or e-mail.
BACKISSUES ARE AVAILABLE
Backissues of Western Birds are available -- but only to current subscribers. We have covered quail hunting spots from San Luis Obispo County to San Diego County. We've covered everything from where to hunt ptarmigan in the high country of the Eastern Sierra Nevada to a snipe hunting spot less than 70 miles from downtown Los Angeles. We've mapped and given GPS coordinates to all of the best chukar hunting guzzlers in the region. We do an annual dove hunting issue that covers all the public land areas from Yuma to Blythe to the Imperial Valley and some places you probably have never knew were good for dove.
Please e-mail Jim Matthews at odwriter@verizon.net for the latest back issue list and an order form.
WHAT IS A GUZZLER?
A guzzler is a man-made water catchment. Using a large "apron," the device catches rainwater and directs it into a tank. In small game guzzlers, the tanks are usually set underground at the lower edge of the apron. The tanks are set at an angle and access is given to small game and birds that can walk down into the tank and get a drink. Larger big game drinkers have larger above ground tanks with a pipe and valve system to a drinker box, allowing access to the water by all wildlife.
Most guzzlers were constructed in the 1950s and 1960s by Department of Fish and Wildlife staff. There are well over a 1,000 small game drinkers across Southern California public lands. Most are in various state of disrepair, and the DFW no longer thinks building or maintaining these devices is a high priority. But volunteer hunter-conservation groups have taken up the calling and have been repairing them, filling them during droughts, and even building new guzzlers.
This guzzler is in the Santa Ana Mountains in the Cleveland National Forest. It shows the rain apron and the opening to the water tank.
FREE SAMPLES
Here are a couple of samples of and from the Western Birds newsletter you can download for free to see the kind of information and details we provide. Click on the arrows to download the PDF.
2019 Upland Bird Forecast
2019 Special Dove Issue
2018 Upland Bird Forecast
REVISED Quail Calling Issue
Questions? Please feel free to call Jim Matthews at 909-887-3444.
INFO ON OTHER OUTDOOR NEWS SERVICE NEWSLETTERS:
We used to publish the very cool California Hog Hunter and California Bucks newsletters. We revived the California Hog Hunter newsletter briefly (see the California Hog Hunter page on this website). Sadly, California Hog Hunter and California Bucks are no longer being published. Please call if you have questions about these publications.
THIS PAGE WAS LAST UPDATED January 9, 2023
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