SoCalHunt Hunting Report for 11/30/11

Today SoCalHunt was back at it, trying for a sweatline draw at San Jacinto Wildlife Area. As usual, after the reservation holders were assigned their hunting sites, the ambiguous little square piece of paper, scribed with our names, went into the sweatline bucket and the “sweating” began.

Jesse began calling out the names of the lucky waterfowlers and as each name was called our choice of blinds diminished. Finally, late in the draw, our names were announced and we went inside the check station to pick our spot. There wasn’t a lot of blinds left by this time but we still had our choice of about ten or twelve spots and we chose what we though would be our best bet.

We drove to the parking area and had just about an hour left to set up when we arrived at our blind. We set our decoys and had about ten minutes left before starting time by the time we finished. Just after start time we had some birds come within range but didn’t connect on the first couple of opportunities that came through our area. Not long after a lone shoveler hen swung in low over the decoys and we dropped her. She wasn’t going anywhere and we left her to float, as this was prime time to (hopefully) bag a few more while they were flying. A few minutes later another spoony hen landed about 80 yards out in the pond and just sat there. After a few minutes a neighboring blind opened up on a duck in their area and this spooked the spoony right towards us. She climbed over the decoys but didn’t climb high enough as we splashed her right in the middle of our decoy spread. We then proceeded to miss the next couple of chances we had and things started to slow down a little. My partner waded out and picked up both birds just before the sun peeked over the horizon.

Well, so far, not too bad, two birds in the bag and the sun was just coming up right next to Mount San Jacinto. This is always a favorite time of the day, sunrise at San Jacinto.

As the day progressed we had a couple more ducks come within range but we just weren’t able to include these birds on our strap. As the sun rose things slowed down and, although some wind had been predicted, it didn’t materialize and the ponds remained glassy. At least the scenery, which is always great at San Jacinto, was again so, with some spectacular clouds filling in the sky.

After a while things dropped off to practically nothing, with just an occasional duck seen flying at stratospheric heights, and about 10:45 we decided to call it a day. So we ended up with just the two shovelers we dropped early.

There were some blinds that did much better as when we were checking out we did see one pair of hunters come into the check station with a full double limit. I guess if we’d have shot a little better we could have had a couple more birds each but, even though we can’t really blame that on the blind, there are obviously some blinds today that were producing better then most.

Anyway, we’ll be back at it again soon, of course. Maybe even this Saturday.

Hunt Results for San Jacinto Wildlife Area, Wednesday – 11/30/11

This Wednesday’s average bird count dropped just slightly from last Saturday’s average at San Jacinto Wildlife Area. Tom Trakes, from San Jacinto Wildlife Area, reported that the waterfowl count for Wednesday, 11/30/11, was as follows:

118 adult and 6 junior hunters checked in with 75 Northern Shovelers, 10 Wigeon, 7 Bufflehead, 25 Cinnamon Teal, 28 Gadwall, 57 Green Wing Teal, 11 Mallards, 20 Pintail, 4 Redheads, 2 Ring Necks, 2 Scaup, 1 Goldeneye and 8 Ruddy Ducks. A single Ross’ Goose was also taken at the refuge on Wednesday. 5 coot were bagged as well on Wednesday. This resulted in an average per hunter of 2.06 waterfowl. Tom advised that out of 50 reservation holders 22 arrived on time.

San Jacinto is open for waterfowl hunting on Wednesdays and Saturdays only. You can put in for reservations on-line through the DFG Automated License Data System (ALDS). Your reservation request has to be to the ALDS system 17 days in advance to get in on the drawing or you can get in on the daily “sweatline” drawing for the remaining blinds after the reservations are taken care of. Reservation spots are given out starting at 3 AM and the “sweatline” drawing is done after that. The ALDS can be accessed through the DFG web site at the below link –

https://www.ca.wildlifelicense.com/InternetSales/

Don’t forget that all licenses and 1 day, 2 day or season passes must be purchased at a DFG Office or a license agent before your arrive at the refuge. These can be purchased on-line via the ALDS system also, however, you will have to wait for the DFG to mail you’re the actual licenses and passes which can take up to 15 days. If you purchase your license and passes in person at a DFG office or license agent you immediately get them without the wait for the mail. No licenses or passes will be sold at the check stations this year. You can also show up for an afternoon refill hunt but the last refill is at 2 PM. For more information, contact the staff at San Jacinto at 951-928-0580.

Don’t forget to donate towards San Jacinto’s Annual Junior Waterfowl Hunt by dropping a buck or two, or even some change, in the bottle on the check station counter. In the past this bottle has been filled by hunters putting their change from daily permit purchases in the bottle. Since the check station is no longer selling permits the source of that change has dried up. This is important for promoting the future of our sport by getting young people interested in waterfowl hunting.

Also, San Jacinto’s Annual Christmas Toy Drive has started. Bring a toy to donate to the barrel in the check station. Check SoCalHunt’s post regarding the toy drive for information at:

https://socalhunt.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/annual-toy-drive-begins-at-san-jacinto-wildlife-area/

Hunt Results for San Jacinto Wildlife Area, Saturday – 11/26/11

The waterfowl take on Saturday, 11/26/11, at San Jacinto Wildlife Area, dropped slightly from last Wednesday’s average. Tom Trakes, from San Jacinto Wildlife Area, reported that the waterfowl numbers for Saturday was as follows:

131 adult and 10 junior hunters checked in with 113 Northern Shovelers, 10 Wigeon, 1 Blue Wing Teal, 5 Bufflehead, 43 Cinnamon Teal, 24 Gadwall, 56 Green Wing Teal, 4 Mallards, 1 Merganser, 17 Pintail, 2 Redhead, 3 Ring Necks, 2 Scaup, and 10 Ruddy Ducks. 1 Snow Goose and 1 Ross’ Goose were also taken at San Jacinto on Saturday. 5 coot were included in the bag on Saturday. This resulted in an average per hunter of 2.11 waterfowl. Tom advised that out of 50 reservation card holders 25 showed up on time.

San Jacinto is open for waterfowl hunting on Wednesdays and Saturdays only. You can put in for reservations on-line through the DFG Automated License Data System (ALDS). Your reservation request has to be to the ALDS system 17 days in advance to get in on the drawing or you can get in on the daily “sweatline” drawing for the remaining blinds after the reservations are taken care of. Reservation spots are given out starting at 3 AM and the “sweatline” drawing is done after that. The ALDS can be accessed through the DFG web site at the below link –

https://www.ca.wildlifelicense.com/InternetSales/

Don’t forget that all licenses and 1 day, 2 day or season passes must be purchased at a DFG Office or a license agent before your arrive at the refuge. These can be purchased on-line via the ALDS system also, however, you will have to wait for the DFG to mail you’re the actual licenses and passes which can take up to 15 days. If you purchase your license and passes in person at a DFG office or license agent you immediately get them without the wait for the mail. No licenses or passes will be sold at the check stations this year. You can also show up for an afternoon refill hunt but the last refill is at 2 PM. For more information, contact the staff at San Jacinto at 951-928-0580.

Don’t forget to donate towards San Jacinto’s Annual Junior Waterfowl Hunt by dropping a buck or two, or even some change, in the bottle on the check station counter. In the past this bottle has been filled by hunters putting their change from daily permit purchases in the bottle. Since the check station is no longer selling permits the source of that change has dried up. This is important for promoting the future of our sport by getting young people interested in waterfowl hunting.

Also, San Jacinto’s Annual Christmas Toy Drive has started. Bring a toy to donate to the barrel in the check station. Check SoCalHunt’s post regarding the toy drive for information at:

https://socalhunt.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/annual-toy-drive-begins-at-san-jacinto-wildlife-area/

Hunt Results for San Jacinto Wildlife Area, Wednesday – 11/23/11

The average bird per hunter this Wednesday, 11/23/11, at San Jacinto Wildlife Area, went up some from last Saturday. Tom Trakes, from San Jacinto Wildlife Area, reported that the waterfowl take for Wednesday was as follows:

141 adult and 11 junior hunters checked in with 106 Northern Shovelers, 14 Wigeon, 16 Bufflehead, 69 Cinnamon Teal, 23 Gadwall, 39 Green Wing Teal, 8 Mallards, 1 Merganser, 23 Pintail, 16 Redhead, 24 Ring Necks, 3 Scaup, 1 Wood Duck and 12 Ruddy Ducks. There was a lone Canada Goose taken on the refuge Wednesday. 11 coot were also taken on Wednesday. This resulted in an average per hunter of 2.41 waterfowl. Tom advised that out of 50 reservation card holders 25 showed up on time.

San Jacinto is open for waterfowl hunting on Wednesdays and Saturdays only. You can put in for reservations on-line through the DFG Automated License Data System (ALDS). Your reservation request has to be to the ALDS system 17 days in advance to get in on the drawing or you can get in on the daily “sweatline” drawing for the remaining blinds after the reservations are taken care of. Reservation spots are given out starting at 3 AM and the “sweatline” drawing is done after that. The ALDS can be accessed through the DFG web site at the below link –

https://www.ca.wildlifelicense.com/InternetSales/

Don’t forget that all licenses and 1 day, 2 day or season passes must be purchased at a DFG Office or a license agent before your arrive at the refuge. These can be purchased on-line via the ALDS system also, however, you will have to wait for the DFG to mail you’re the actual licenses and passes which can take up to 15 days. If you purchase your license and passes in person at a DFG office or license agent you immediately get them without the wait for the mail. No licenses or passes will be sold at the check stations this year. You can also show up for an afternoon refill hunt but the last refill is at 2 PM. For more information, contact the staff at San Jacinto at 951-928-0580.

Don’t forget to donate towards San Jacinto’s Annual Junior Waterfowl Hunt by dropping a buck or two, or even some change, in the bottle on the check station counter. In the past this bottle has been filled by hunters putting their change from daily permit purchases in the bottle. Since the check station is no longer selling permits the source of that change has dried up. This is important for promoting the future of our sport by getting young people interested in waterfowl hunting.

Also, San Jacinto’s Annual Christmas Toy Drive has started. Bring a toy to donate to the barrel in the check station. Check SoCalHunt’s post regarding the toy drive for information at:

https://socalhunt.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/annual-toy-drive-begins-at-san-jacinto-wildlife-area/

SoCalHunt Hunting Report for 11/23/11

Today SoCalHunt decided to change things up and do an afternoon refill hunt. This was one of the rare times I went solo, as none of my regular hunting partners were available today. Also, I’d just come in from an out of state trip yesterday so getting up at 0130 to make the sweatline drawing didn’t sound like a real good idea.

As I drove up Davis Road towards the check station I had a little trepidation as the report from this past Saturday at San Jacinto indicated that a record number of hunters had shown up to hunt. This meant, if today was anything like Saturday, I might have a problem getting a spot as the refill list would be l-o-n-g.

When I turned into the check station I was relieved to see that there was only about a dozen or so trucks in the parking lot. I walked up to the check station and put my name on the refill list, noting there was just a little over a dozen hunting parties listed on the refill list, and some of these had already gone out and refilled. I waited about 45 minutes and a group of hunters checked in from one of my favorite blinds. No one ahead of me on the refill list wanted this blind so I grabbed it and headed out. It was a beautiful day with mild temperatures, a slight breeze and wispy clouds coloring the sky.

I rolled my gear out to the blind in my Ducks and Bucks cart and set my decoys and was hunting by 12:30. About 20 minutes later I had my first opportunity as a pair of teal swooped low over the blind and I dropped a nice green wing hen. As the afternoon progressed I had several opportunities on shovelers, gadwalls, pintails and wigeon but, I am almost embarrassed to say, I was practicing what I call “catch and release” hunting. This is when the ducks fly in, I shoot three holes in the sky and the birds fly away. After several C & R sessions another teal zoomed in and I hit her, sailing her to the far end of the pond. She hit the water swimming and I figured I would have a chase on my hands but after swimming just a few feet she expired and I only needed to do a long retrieve on the bird.

A couple more larger birds presented themselves but again I blew these opportunities. It seemed that I could hit teal flying by in afterburner but I couldn’t hit large ducks flying by at moderate speeds, go figure. As the day wound down another teal decided that my decoys looked pretty good and landed in the decoys about 30 yards from the blind. I stood up and she took off but she only got about 10 feet high before I splashed her back into the decoys. As quitting time drew near the sun ducked behind the hills and my pond was entirely in shadow for about the last 45 minutes of shoot time.

With 8 minutes of legal shoot time left a nice hen pintail swooped low over the decoys, turned and circled back and put the landing gear down, just like its supposed to work. I finally did my part on this larger duck and she splashed in between the decoys and the blind. Quitting time came around and the day was over, except for picking up. I had 3 green wing teal and a nice pintail for my efforts, not too bad for a quick afternoon shoot, although a limit was certainly within my reach if I had been “on” today. So it was another typical nice day at San Jacinto Wildlife Area with some nice ducks to show for the afternoon.

Hunt Results for San Jacinto Wildlife Area, Saturday – 11/19/11

(Personal note – Sorry this one’s so late but I was out of town until today)

The per hunter average dropped significantly this past Saturday, 11/19/11, at San Jacinto Wildlife Area with the average per hunter the second lowest for the season so far. Tom Trakes, from San Jacinto Wildlife Area, reported that the waterfowl take for Saturday was as follows:

167 adult and 14 junior hunters checked in with 121 Northern Shovelers, 25 Wigeon, 12 Bufflehead, 55 Cinnamon Teal, 48 Gadwall, 35 Green Wing Teal, 14 Mallards, 19 Pintail, 3 Redhead, 16 Ring Necks, 3 Scaup, and 10 Ruddy Ducks. There were no Geese taken on the refuge Saturday. 2 coot were included in the bag on Saturday. This resulted in an average per hunter of 1.99 waterfowl. Tom advised that out of 50 reservation card holders 29 arrived on time.

San Jacinto is open for waterfowl hunting on Wednesdays and Saturdays only. You can put in for reservations on-line through the DFG Automated License Data System (ALDS). Your reservation request has to be to the ALDS system 17 days in advance to get in on the drawing or you can get in on the daily “sweatline” drawing for the remaining blinds after the reservations are taken care of. Reservation spots are given out starting at 3 AM and the “sweatline” drawing is done after that. The ALDS can be accessed through the DFG web site at the below link –

https://www.ca.wildlifelicense.com/InternetSales/

Don’t forget that all licenses and 1 day, 2 day or season passes must be purchased at a DFG Office or a license agent before your arrive at the refuge. These can be purchased on-line via the ALDS system also, however, you will have to wait for the DFG to mail you’re the actual licenses and passes which can take up to 15 days. If you purchase your license and passes in person at a DFG office or license agent you immediately get them without the wait for the mail. No licenses or passes will be sold at the check stations this year. You can also show up for an afternoon refill hunt but the last refill is at 2 PM. For more information, contact the staff at San Jacinto at 951-928-0580.

Don’t forget to donate towards San Jacinto’s Annual Junior Waterfowl Hunt by dropping a buck or two, or even some change, in the bottle on the check station counter. In the past this bottle has been filled by hunters putting their change from daily permit purchases in the bottle. Since the check station is no longer selling permits the source of that change has dried up. This is important for promoting the future of our sport by getting young people interested in waterfowl hunting.

Also, San Jacinto’s Annual Christmas Toy Drive has started. Bring a toy to donate to the barrel in the check station. Check SoCalHunt’s post regarding the toy drive for information at:

https://socalhunt.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/annual-toy-drive-begins-at-san-jacinto-wildlife-area/

Hunt Results for San Jacinto Wildlife Area, Wednesday – 11/16/11

Waterfowl averages at San Jacinto Wildlife Area dropped slightly on Wednesday, 11/16/11, probably due to foggy conditions early in the day. Tom Trakes, from San Jacinto Wildlife Area, reported that the results for Wednesday were as follows:

125 adult and 6 junior hunters checked in with 106 Northern Shovelers, 41 Wigeon, 1 Blue Wing Teal, 5 Bufflehead, 111 Cinnamon Teal, 51 Gadwall, 43 Green Wing Teal, 52 Mallards, 33 Pintail, 5 Redhead, 27 Ring Necks, 3 Scaup, 1 Wood Duck and 13 Ruddy Ducks. There were no Geese taken on the refuge Wednesday. 6 coot were included in the bag on Wednesday. This resulted in an average per hunter of 3.80. Tom advised that out of 50 reservation card holders 27 arrived on time.

San Jacinto is open for waterfowl hunting on Wednesdays and Saturdays only. You can put in for reservations on-line through the DFG Automated License Data System (ALDS). Your reservation request has to be to the ALDS system 17 days in advance to get in on the drawing or you can get in on the daily “sweatline” drawing for the remaining blinds after the reservations are taken care of. Reservation spots are given out starting at 3 AM and the “sweatline” drawing is done after that. The ALDS can be accessed through the DFG web site at the below link –

https://www.ca.wildlifelicense.com/InternetSales/

Don’t forget that all licenses and 1 day, 2 day or season passes must be purchased at a DFG Office or a license agent before your arrive at the refuge. These can be purchased on-line via the ALDS system also, however, you will have to wait for the DFG to mail you’re the actual licenses and passes which can take up to 15 days. If you purchase your license and passes in person at a DFG office or license agent you immediately get them without the wait for the mail. No licenses or passes will be sold at the check stations this year. You can also show up for an afternoon refill hunt but the last refill is at 2 PM. For more information, contact the staff at San Jacinto at 951-928-0580.

Don’t forget to donate towards San Jacinto’s Annual Junior Waterfowl Hunt by dropping a buck or two, or even some change, in the bottle on the check station counter. In the past this bottle has been filled by hunters putting their change from daily permit purchases in the bottle. Since the check station is no longer selling permits the source of that change has dried up. This is important for promoting the future of our sport by getting young people interested in waterfowl hunting.

Also, San Jacinto’s Annual Christmas Toy Drive has started. Bring a toy to donate to the barrel in the check station. Check SoCalHunt’s post regarding the toy drive for information at:

https://socalhunt.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/annual-toy-drive-begins-at-san-jacinto-wildlife-area/

Annual Toy Drive Begins at San Jacinto Wildlife Area

The staff at San Jacinto Wildlife Area has begun their Annual Toy Drive! Tom Trakes, Wildlife Habitat Supervisor, at San Jacinto Wildlife Area advised SoCalHunt that this year the Toy Drive will be to benefit two deserving recipients. Not only will they supply toys and Radio Flyer wagons for Loma Linda Children’s Hospital, as they have in the past, but toys will also be donated to Bryant Park Head Start Preschool.

I would encourage all hunters that show up to hunt at San Jacinto in the next few weeks to bring along a new, unwrapped toy to donate to the kids. This is a chance to show the general public that hunters have a heart. The toys for the Head Start Preschool are intended for 4 to 5 year old boys and girls. Toys are also needed for Loma Linda Children’s Hospital but there is a special need at Loma Linda for the Radio Flyer Pathfinder (model 2700) wagons. These wagons are helpful to the children in the hospital as they can be rolled around in them to the various areas of the hospital with their IV’s and other medication in tow. The wagons retail for around $80. Tom said that anyone, or any group of people that would like to pitch in together, can contact him to donate funds towards a wagon.

Donations for the Bryant Park Head Start Program will be accepted until December 21st, with the San Jacinto Staff delivering them on the 22nd, and donations for Loma Linda will be accepted until December 22nd, with the San Jacinto Staff delivering them on the 23rd.

Please take this opportunity to donate to the San Jacinto Annual Toy Drive and support this noble effort.

For further details and/or to make arrangements to donate a wagon to Loma Linda, please contact Tom at (951)-236-3040 or Dirk at (951)-634-3264. Toys can be donated at the San Jacinto Wildlife Area Office at 17050 Davis Road, Lakeview, CA 92567.

Thank you for your support!

SoCalHunt Hunting Report for 11/16/11

San Jacinto Wildlife Area at 0300 once again SoCalHunt was awaiting the sweatline drawing. After the lucky reservation holders were set hustling out to their blinds Jessie brought out sweatline bucket and was shortly announcing the names.

We got lucky today and were drawn fairly early from the bucket. When we approached the counter we saw that one of the prime blinds was still available. We grabbed it quick and we were on our way. It was a foggy morning and appeared to get even foggier as we drove toward our hunting spot.

There was a lot of light cover on this pond mixed with areas of open water and some large stands of tules. We set or decoys and got back in the blind to await start time. Start time rolled around and, for a change, the first shot on the refuge wasn’t heard until it was actually start time. This may have been because it was so darn foggy that you couldn’t see any birds until they were virtually right on top of us. Visibility as probably about 50 feet at start time and many ducks came looming out of the fog and disappeared again before we could shoulder our shotguns.

Not too long after start time a nice cinnamon teal drake zipped by the blind and my partner dropped him with a well-placed shot. Shortly after that a spoony hen swung in towards the decoys and I splashed her in the pond. Ducks kept coming in at a good pace but the fog handicapped us a little as you had to be looking in exactly the right direction when a bird broke out of the fog to even have a chance of getting a shot off. We managed to drop a couple more spoonys and a couple more teal as the morning progressed. The fog hung in a long time and finally started to burn off just a little after 9:00 am.

Shortly after the fog started to clear a nice mallard hen turned in towards the decoys and I was able to nail her with one shot. She tumbled out of the sky and thumped on the dike about ten feet in front of our blind. We managed a couple more birds and things started to slow down some. Since the sun had made an appearance it was getting quite warm and about noon we decided to call it a day. We had a total of nine ducks, one mallard, three shovelers and five cinnamon teal.

Anyway, it was a very satisfying day. We had a good number of ducks and had experienced some fun shooting, some of it very challenging because of the fog. Another great day of waterfowl hunting at San Jacinto Wildlife Area.

Hunt Results for San Jacinto Wildlife Area, Saturday – 11/12/11

Waterfowl averages again improved at San Jacinto Wildlife Area as hunters bagged the best average so far for the season under stormy skys. Tom Trakes, from San Jacinto Wildlife Area, reported that the results for Saturday, 11/12/11 were as follows:

129 adult and 6 junior hunter checked in with 167 Northern Shovelers, 87 Wigeon, 2 Blue Wing Teal, 16 Bufflehead, 1 Canvasback, 134 Cinnamon Teal, 38 Gadwall, 21 Green Wing Teal, 11 Mallards, 24 Pintail, 15 Redhead, 31 Ring Necks, 4 Scaup, 1 Golden Eye, 2 Wood Ducks and 20 Ruddy Ducks. There was also a lone Snow Goose taken on the refuge Saturday. 8 coot were also taken on Saturday. This averaged out to 4.32 waterfowl per gun. Tom stated that out of 50 reservation card holders 23 arrived on time.

San Jacinto is open for waterfowl hunting on Wednesdays and Saturdays only. You can put in for reservations on-line through the DFG Automated License Data System (ALDS). Your reservation request has to be to the ALDS system 17 days in advance to get in on the drawing or you can get in on the daily “sweatline” drawing for the remaining blinds after the reservations are taken care of. Reservation spots are given out starting at 3 AM and the “sweatline” drawing is done after that. The ALDS can be accessed through the DFG web site at the below link –

https://www.ca.wildlifelicense.com/InternetSales/

Don’t forget that all licenses and 1 day, 2 day or season passes must be purchased at a DFG Office or a license agent before your arrive at the refuge. These can be purchased on-line via the ALDS system also, however, you will have to wait for the DFG to mail you’re the actual licenses and passes which can take up to 15 days. If you purchase your license and passes in person at a DFG office or license agent you immediately get them without the wait for the mail. No licenses or passes will be sold at the check stations this year. You can also show up for an afternoon refill hunt but the last refill is at 2 PM. For more information, contact the staff at San Jacinto at 951-928-0580.

Don’t forget to donate towards San Jacinto’s Annual Junior Waterfowl Hunt by dropping a buck or two, or even some change, in the bottle on the check station counter. In the past this bottle has been filled by hunters putting their change from daily permit purchases in the bottle. Since the check station is no longer selling permits the source of that change has dried up. This is important for promoting the future of our sport by getting young people interested in waterfowl hunting.

Also, San Jacinto’s Annual Christmas Toy Drive has started. Bring a toy to donate to the barrel in the check station. Look for a post in the near future on SoCalHunt’s blog for details

Hunt Results for San Jacinto Wildlife Area, Wednesday – 11/9/11

Once again the bag improved at San Jacinto Wildlife Area as hunters brought in a new high per gun average for the season under windy conditions. Tom Trakes, from San Jacinto Wildlife Area, reported that the results for Wednesday, 11/9/11 were as follows:

129 adult and 1 junior hunter checked in with 159 Northern Shovelers, 49 Wigeon, 3 Blue Wing Teal, 10 Bufflehead, 69 Cinnamon Teal, 47 Gadwall, 12 Green Wing Teal, 20 Mallards, 19 Pintail, 7 Redhead, 21 Ring Necks, 1 Scaup, 2 Golden Eyes and 17 Ruddy Ducks. There where also 3 Snow Goose taken on the refuge Wednesday. 6 coot were also checked in on Wednesday. This averaged out to 3.42 waterfowl per gun. Tom stated that out of 50 reservation card holders 26 arrived on time.

San Jacinto is open for waterfowl hunting on Wednesdays and Saturdays only. You can put in for reservations on-line through the DFG Automated License Data System (ALDS). Your reservation request has to be to the ALDS system 17 days in advance to get in on the drawing or you can get in on the daily “sweatline” drawing for the remaining blinds after the reservations are taken care of. Reservation spots are given out starting at 3 AM and the “sweatline” drawing is done after that. The ALDS can be accessed through the DFG web site at the below link –

https://www.ca.wildlifelicense.com/InternetSales/

Don’t forget that all licenses and 1 day, 2 day or season passes must be purchased at a DFG Office or a license agent before your arrive at the refuge. These can be purchased on-line via the ALDS system also, however, you will have to wait for the DFG to mail you’re the actual licenses and passes which can take up to 15 days. If you purchase your license and passes in person at a DFG office or license agent you immediately get them without the wait for the mail. No licenses or passes will be sold at the check stations this year. You can also show up for an afternoon refill hunt but the last refill is at 2 PM. For more information, contact the staff at San Jacinto at 951-928-0580.

Don’t forget to donate towards San Jacinto’s Annual Junior Waterfowl Hunt by dropping a buck or two, or even some change, in the bottle on the check station counter. In the past this bottle has been filled by hunters putting their change from daily permit purchases in the bottle. Since the check station is no longer selling permits the source of that change has dried up. This is important for promoting the future of our sport by getting young people interested in waterfowl hunting.

Also, San Jacinto’s Annual Christmas Toy Drive has started. Bring a toy to donate to the barrel in the check station. Look for a post in the near future on SoCalHunt’s blog for details

SoCalHunt Hunting Report for 11/9/11

Once more SoCalHunt hit the sweatline at San Jacinto Wildlife Area. Once all the reservation holders were taken care of and heading out to their blinds the sweatline drawing was on.

This time we were drawn near the end of the sweatline drawing and there were only a few spots left to choose from. But, at least we weren’t shut out and we were on our way to hunt, especially since we could only stay until about 9:30 this morning meaning waiting for a refill spot was out of the question. We decided to pick a spot we’d never hunted before and were off to set up.

The hunt area we picked didn’t have a designated blind and when we arrived we tucked into the natural cover as best we could. Because of the time change Sunday morning we had an hour less to set up and that, combined with being one of the last out of the sweatline bucket, meant that we had just slightly less then an hour to set up before start time. We decided to go with only 15 decoys because of the time factor and also because the pond at this location, although long, wasn’t very wide.

Early after starting time we had a few chances but didn’t connect on any of these. The area we were hunting was pretty much smack-dab in the middle of several other blinds and to get to us the ducks would have to maneuver between these blinds to get into our area. Many times we had birds coming our way only to have the surrounding blinds knock them down before they could get too us.

Although it was an absolutely clear day, without a cloud in the sky, the wind was blowing about 15 to 20 miles an hour and we had high hopes that this would keep the ducks moving. As the sun peeked over Mount San Jacinto east of us we could see duck flying all over the refuge.

At one point my partner went to check on what we thought was a possible crippled bird that was in our pond and he ended coming back with a little ruddy. As the morning progressed we continued to see birds drop to the guns of the surrounding blinds. These guys could shoot! It was nice to see the birds falling for them but a little frustrating as we weren’t getting many chances ourselves. Finally a couple of teal made it through and I dropped one at the far end of our pond. She was swimming as soon as she hit the water and headed straight for the tules. I tried to stop her with another shot but she made in inside the reeds and despite searching for her I was unable to recover her. Man, that is frustrating to loose a bird like that! As the sun climbed higher we could see that there was still some snow on the surrounding mountains but it looked like substantially less then was there on Saturday.

After a short time a small flock of teal dove into our pond and we opened up on them. One of the cinnamon teal hens dropped out of the group and splashed down hard right in front of our blind. We were both shooting so we couldn’t tell which one of us brought her down. It was now getting real close to when we’d have to pick up and head for home and just minutes before we were going to call it a day a group of wigeon made it through the gauntlet of the surrounding blinds and headed our way. One of the hens swung in lower then the rest of the group and both of us fired at her. She sailed over to the other side of our levee, obviously hit, and my partner went after her. He immediately found her folded up right against the bank of the neighboring pond.

At that point it was time to pick up and we headed to the check station with our three birds.

So, we had a nice morning of duck hunting and were able to come home with a few ducks. Where else but San Jacinto could you do a morning duck hunt and be home before noon? Hopefully we’ll try it again next Wednesday (I have something going Saturday so I’ll have to skip that one).

Hunt Results for San Jacinto Wildlife Area, Saturday – 11/5/11

The Waterfowl count improved at San Jacinto Wildlife Area on Saturday, 11/5/11, as hunters came in with the best average per gun of the season so far. Tom Trakes, from San Jacinto Wildlife Area, reported that the results for Saturday, 11/5/11 were as follows:

118 adult and 11 junior hunters harvested 94 Northern Shovelers, 30 Wigeon, 4 Blue Wing Teal, 25 Bufflehead, 102 Cinnamon Teal, 10 Gadwall, 2 Green Wing Teal, 30 Mallards, 9 Pintail, 2 Redhead, 30 Ring Necks, 6 Scaup and 19 Ruddy Ducks. A lone Snow Goose was downed on the refuge Saturday. 52 coot were also bagged on Saturday. This averaged out to 3.22 waterfowl per gun. Tom stated that out of 50 reservation cards 24 checked in for their spots on time.

San Jacinto is open for waterfowl hunting on Wednesdays and Saturdays only. You can put in for reservations on-line through the DFG Automated License Data System (ALDS). Your reservation request has to be to the ALDS system 17 days in advance to get in on the drawing or you can get in on the daily “sweatline” drawing for the remaining blinds after the reservations are taken care of. Reservation spots are given out starting at 3 AM and the “sweatline” drawing is done after that. The ALDS can be accessed through the DFG web site at the below link –

https://www.ca.wildlifelicense.com/InternetSales/

Don’t forget that all licenses and 1 day, 2 day or season passes must be purchased at a DFG Office or a license agent before your arrive at the refuge. These can be purchased on-line via the ALDS system also, however, you will have to wait for the DFG to mail you’re the actual licenses and passes which can take up to 15 days. If you purchase your license and passes in person at a DFG office or license agent you immediately get them without the wait for the mail. No licenses or passes will be sold at the check stations this year. You can also show up for an afternoon refill hunt but the last refill is at 2 PM. For more information, contact the staff at San Jacinto at 951-928-0580.

Don’t forget to donate towards San Jacinto’s Annual Junior Waterfowl Hunt by dropping a buck or two, or even some change, in the bottle on the check station counter. In the past this bottle has been filled by hunters putting their change from daily permit purchases in the bottle. Since the check station is no longer selling permits the source of that change has dried up. This is important for promoting the future of our sport by getting young people interested in waterfowl hunting.

Also, San Jacinto’s Annual Christmas Toy Drive has started. Bring a toy to donate to the barrel in the check station. Look for a post in the near future on SoCalHunt’s blog for details

SoCalHunt Hunting Report for 11/5/11

This morning SoCalHunt headed out to San Jacinto Wildlife Area for the sweatline drawing once again. Several hunters were waiting to fill the sweatline bucket with their names in hopes of getting onto the refuge for a hunt. After Tom’s usual morning briefing the reservation holders chose their blinds. Once all the reservation holders were on their way to their blinds the sweatline bucket came out and everyone tossed their names in the bucket for the drawing.

Once again we lucked out and were drawn quickly out of the bucket. We chose our spot and off we went to set up.

The blind we chose was a pretty good walk from the parking area and since it had rained the day before the levees were slick with mud. Most of the mud was just on the surface of the levees but there were a few low spots that had puddles that were deeper mud. The mud was sticky and kept building up on the wheels of our Ducks & Bucks Cart, making us stop a few times to knock the excess mud off the wheels. As we walked out to our blind it was a little foggy but just after we arrived and started setting out our decoys the fog thickened and we couldn’t see very far. The combination of the darkness and the fog was very disorienting and we had to guess as to the orientation of our decoys in relation to our blind as once we were more then about 30 feet from the blind (which was an island blind) we couldn’t see it. When we were finally set up we set back in the blind waiting for start time.

Just before start time the fog lifted somewhat and we were able to see a good distance again. It appeared that there were more birds flying this morning then last Saturday and we had a few opportunities early but were unable to connect. A group of wigeon flew by, with one of them slightly lower then the rest and my partner knocked the hen down in our pond.

We had a few more shots and either missed or let the duck sneak by when we were looking left and they came in from the right and vice-versa. After a while the fog again thickened and we were only able to see about 40 yards max. This made it very hard to see any birds coming and we missed opportunities on a few that came out of the fog and were gone before we could react. The fog did make for an interesting sunrise this morning.

After about an hour the fog started to burn off and we were finally able to get a good look at our surroundings. Due to yesterday’s storm the mountains behind us were covered with a heavy dusting of snow.

Of course, besides the ducks, there is always other wildlife on the refuge to observe. There was a large white pelican swimming around in our pond and, at one point, a cattle egret decided to land in a small tree in the water just a couple yards behind our blind.

Once the fog burnt off we could finally see how we had set our decoys and decided to go out a move a few around and make some adjustments to try to make the spread look a little better. A while later a hen shoveler came by and I was able to drop her as she turned to look at the decoys. A while later my partner was able to pick out a nice gadwall hen from a group of ducks and knock her down. Throughout the day there were ducks in the air probably at most every 15 minutes, sometimes several flying in several different directions. We had a few other shots but blew all of those. At one point a group of about 20 or so speckled belly geese came off the field south of us and flew directly at us. They had to clear one blind to get to us but the hunters in that blind took a few shots at them but didn’t connect (no blame on those hunters as the geese were in range, I would have done the same). By the time they came over us they were out of range.

About 12:30 it was getting slower and we decided to call it a day. We had three birds between us and, of course, we only had ourselves to blame for not having at least double that number.

Depending on schedules we may try it again Wednesday. If so, you’ll see a report on that hunt here also.
(Click on pictures for a full size view).

Hunt Results for San Jacinto Wildlife Area, Wednesday – 11/2/11

The duck harvest at San Jacinto Wildlife Area on Wednesday, 10/26/11, improved somewhat over the previous hunt day with hunters bagging a good numbers of waterfowl. Tom Trakes, from San Jacinto Wildlife Area, reported that the results for Wednesday, 11/2/11 were:

97 adult and 2 junior hunters bagged 57 Northern Shovelers, 15 Wigeon, 2 Blue Wing Teal, 1 Bufflehead, 65 Cinnamon Teal, 11 Gadwall, 6 Green Wing Teal, 18 Mallards, 15 Pintail, 2 Redhead, 20 Ring Necks, 2 Wood Ducks and 9 Ruddy Ducks. A lone Speckled Belly goose was taken on Wednesday. There were also 17 coot checked in on Wednesday. This works out to an average take of 2.43 waterfowl for each hunter. Tom advised that out of 50 reservation cards 20 showed up on time.

San Jacinto is open for waterfowl hunting on Wednesdays and Saturdays only. You can put in for reservations on-line through the DFG Automated License Data System (ALDS). Your reservation request has to be to the ALDS system 17 days in advance to get in on the drawing or you can get in on the daily “sweatline” drawing for the remaining blinds after the reservations are taken care of. Reservation spots are given out starting at 3 AM and the “sweatline” drawing is done after that. The ALDS can be accessed through the DFG web site at the below link –

https://www.ca.wildlifelicense.com/InternetSales/

Don’t forget that all licenses and 1 day, 2 day or season passes must be purchased at a DFG Office or a license agent before your arrive at the refuge. These can be purchased on-line via the ALDS system also, however, you will have to wait for the DFG to mail you’re the actual licenses and passes which can take up to 15 days. If you purchase your license and passes in person at a DFG office or license agent you immediately get them without the wait for the mail. No licenses or passes will be sold at the check stations this year. You can also show up for an afternoon refill hunt but the last refill is at 2 PM. For more information, contact the staff at San Jacinto at 951-928-0580.

Hunt Results for San Jacinto Wildlife Area, Saturday – 10/29/11

The Waterfowl count for San Jacinto Wildlife Area on Saturday, 10/29/11 slowed somewhat with hunters checking in with lower numbers of waterfowl then the last couple hunt days. Tom Trakes, from San Jacinto Wildlife Area, reported that the results for Saturday, 10/29/11 were as follows:

133 adult and 11 junior hunters bagged 61 Northern Shovelers, 13 Widgeon, 5 Bufflehead, 42 Cinnamon Teal, 8 Gadwall, 4 Green Wing Teal, 14 Mallards, 10 Pintail, 3 Redhead, 4 Ring Necks, 1 Whistling Duck and 15 Ruddy Ducks. Again there were no geese taken on the refuge Saturday. 67 coot were also taken on Saturday. This averaged out to only 1.72 waterfowl for each hunter. Tom stated that out of 50 reservation cards 31 checked in for their spots on time.

San Jacinto is open for waterfowl hunting on Wednesdays and Saturdays only. You can put in for reservations on-line through the DFG Automated License Data System (ALDS). Your reservation request has to be to the ALDS system 17 days in advance to get in on the drawing or you can get in on the daily “sweatline” drawing for the remaining blinds after the reservations are taken care of. Reservation spots are given out starting at 3 AM and the “sweatline” drawing is done after that. The ALDS can be accessed through the DFG web site at the below link –

https://www.ca.wildlifelicense.com/InternetSales/

Don’t forget that all licenses and 1 day, 2 day or season passes must be purchased at a DFG Office or a license agent before your arrive at the refuge. These can be purchased on-line via the ALDS system also, however, you will have to wait for the DFG to mail you’re the actual licenses and passes which can take up to 15 days. If you purchase your license and passes in person at a DFG office or license agent you immediately get them without the wait for the mail. No licenses or passes will be sold at the check stations this year. You can also show up for an afternoon refill hunt but the last refill is at 2 PM. For more information, contact the staff at San Jacinto at 951-928-0580.

Hunt Results for San Jacinto Wildlife Area, Wednesday – 10/26/11

The Waterfowl count for the second hunt day of the season at San Jacinto Wildlife Area on Wednesday, 10/26/11, was fairly good with hunters bringing in good numbers of waterfowl. Tom Trakes, from San Jacinto Wildlife Area, reported that the results for Wednesday, 10/26/11 were:

110 adult and no junior hunters bagged 38 Northern Shovelers, 2 Widgeon, 1 Bufflehead, 113 Cinnamon Teal, 3 Gadwall, 5 Green Wing Teal, 35 Mallards, 7 Pintail, 1 Redhead, 3 Wood Ducks and 5 Ruddy Ducks. There were no geese taken on Wednesday. In addition 21 coot were taken on Wednesday. This resulted in an average harvest of 2.13 waterfowl for each hunter. Tom advised that out of 50 reservation cards 30 showed up on time.

San Jacinto is open for waterfowl hunting on Wednesdays and Saturdays only. You can put in for reservations on-line through the DFG Automated License Data System (ALDS). Your reservation request has to be to the ALDS system 17 days in advance to get in on the drawing or you can get in on the daily “sweatline” drawing for the remaining blinds after the reservations are taken care of. Reservation spots are given out starting at 3 AM and the “sweatline” drawing is done after that. The ALDS can be accessed through the DFG web site at the below link –

https://www.ca.wildlifelicense.com/InternetSales/

Don’t forget that all licenses and 1 day, 2 day or season passes must be purchased at a DFG Office or a license agent before your arrive at the refuge. These can be purchased on-line via the ALDS system also, however, you will have to wait for the DFG to mail you’re the actual licenses and passes which can take up to 15 days. If you purchase your license and passes in person at a DFG office or license agent you immediately get them without the wait for the mail. No licenses or passes will be sold at the check stations this year. You can also show up for an afternoon refill hunt but the last refill is at 2 PM. For more information, contact the staff at San Jacinto at 951-928-0580.