San Jacinto’s 19th Annual Junior Waterfowl Hunt Event a Big Success, February 2nd, 2013

(Don’t forget to check the photos at the bottom of this page)

San Jacinto’s 19th annual Junior Waterfowl Hunt event was a big success! As usual.

The junior hunters and their adult partners gathered at the San Jacinto check station at 0300 and, after hunting spots were assigned, a nice pancake and sausage breakfast was enjoyed by all before heading out to the blinds.

After a successful day of duck hunting (check the results at the link below at the bottom of this page) the 74 junior hunters gathered back at SJ headquarters for a delicious lunch and the prize raffle.

Lunch consisted of giant sub sandwiches (donated by the local Wal-Mart), chips, soft drinks and cake. All the juniors came away with at least a custom made SJ Junior Hunt hat, a SJ Junior Hunt shirt and a survival bracelet. Many prizes were donated and they ran the gamut from custom-made call, lanyards, duck and goose decoys, a nice spotting scope up to two nice shotguns. Needless to say all the junior hunters went away happy.

I’m proud to say that the San Jacinto hunters outdid themselves this season with their donations to the water bottle on the check station counter. More then $1100.00 collected in the bottle. The money went to buy some of the food, the shirts and hats, the drinks and some of the raffle prizes.

A great time was had by all to top off a good day of duck hunting.
(hunt results for the Junior Hunt can be found here: https://socalhunt.wordpress.com/2013/02/05/hunt-results-for-san-jacinto-wildlife-area-junior-hunt-saturday-2213/ )

Lunch and prizes galore!

Everybody enjoying lunch.

The Junior Hunters!

San Jacinto Wildlife Area Blind Clean up Day Confirmed for March 9th, 2013

San Jacinto Wildlife Area Staff would like to invite hunters to participate in a Volunteer Clean Up Day of the Wildlife Area on Saturday, March 9, 2013. Volunteers are to assemble at 7 am at the Wildlife Area Headquarters office on Davis Road.

Work will be assigned at the start of the morning and afterwards we will meet at a local Mexican restaurant for a well-deserved lunch. (Everyone responsible for their own check).

Please be prepared for the following:

Trash removal from hunt sites
General clean up of hunt areas
Bring work gloves, sturdy boots, mud boots, covered shoes, Waders (if available)

Be sure to bring plenty of bottled water.

Direction to the San Jacinto Wildlife Area:

From the 215 South freeway,

-Exit Ramona Expressway going east towards Lake Perris, go 7 miles to Davis road, turn left and go up Davis road 2 miles to the Wildlife Headquarters office.

From the 79

-Exit Ramona Expressway going west towards Lake Perris, go to Davis road, turn right and go up Davis road 2 miles to the Wildlife Headquarters office.

Questions? Tom Trakes (951) 236-3040.

San Jacinto Wildlife Area 2012 / 2013 Season Long Stats

With the ending of the 2012 / 2013 waterfowl season San Jacinto Wildlife Area turned in some notable statistics for the season.

3845 adult and 348 junior hunters (4193 hunters total) harvested a total of 2863 Northern Shovelers, 560 Wigeon, 12 Blue Wing Teal, 201 Bufflehead, 22 Canvasbacks, 566 Cinnamon Teal, 703 Gadwall, 1808 Green Wing Teal, 222 Mallards, 6 Mergansers, 406 Pintail, 182 Redheads, 197 Ring Necks, 28 Scaup, 6 Wood Ducks, 4 Black Ducks, 1 Goldeneye, 1 Surf Scooter, and 402 Ruddy Ducks. In addition there were 7 White Front Geese, 1 Aleutian Goose, 1 Snow Goose and 2 Canada Geese bagged on the refuge this season. 246 Coot were also included in the count for the 2012 / 2013 season. This worked out to a total on the waterfowl of 8477 birds. The per gun average take for 2012 / 2013 worked out to 2.01 waterfowl per hunter. The above numbers also included the stats for the Junior Waterfowl Hunt on February 2nd.

To compare with last season there were 3 less adult hunters this season over last but there were 51 more junior hunters for a total of 48 more hunters accommodated in 2012 / 2013 over the 2011 / 2012 season. As for the birds, I’ll list them with a plus by the number or a minus by the number to indicate how many more or less of each type of bird was bagged this season over last.

There were +281 Northern Shovelers, +169 Wigeon, -5 Blue Wing Teal, -8 Bufflehead, +2 Canvasbacks, -794 Cinnamon Teal, -210 Gadwall, -205 Green Wing Teal, -181 Mallards, -3 Mergansers, -328 Pintail, +83 Redheads, -4 Ring Necks, no change in Scaup (28 both seasons), -1 Whistling Duck, -6 Wood Ducks, +4 Black Ducks, -3 Goldeneyes, +1 Surf Scooter and +58 Ruddy Ducks.

On the goose side of the ledger there were +1 White Front (Speckled Belly), no change in Aleutian (1 for both seasons), +2 Canada Geese, -6 Snow Geese, and -5 Ross’s Geese.

In addition, there were -113 coots taken. This was a total of -1272 waterfowl taken this season over last season. The average was -0.33 waterfowl per hunter this season over last season.

Hunt Results for San Jacinto Wildlife Area Junior Hunt, Saturday – 2/2/13

Saturday’s special San Jacinto Wildlife Area Annual Junior Waterfowl Hunt resulted in a good per hunter average for the junior hunters in attendance. Shoverlers were the number one bird taken with Cinnamon Teal taking the second spot for number of birds taken. Tom Trakes, from San Jacinto Wildlife Area, reported that the waterfowl take for the Junior Hunt on Saturday, 2/2/13, was as follows:

74 junior hunters checked in with 42 Northern Shovelers, 3 Bufflehead, 24 Cinnamon Teal, 5 Gadwall, 17 Green Wing Teal, 2 Pintail, 4 Redhead, and 7 Ruddy Ducks. There were no geese harvested at the Junior Hunt on Saturday. 6 coot were also brought in by the juniors on Saturday. This worked out to an average of 1.49 waterfowl per junior hunter. Tom advised that out of 50 reservations issued 21 arrived on time.

Since SoCalHunt couldn’t attend the Junior Hunt this year I’ll be posting a report on the breakfast, lunch and raffle as soon as Tom gets me the info on that. As soon as I have the info I’ll post it here.

2012 / 2013 Season Sunrise / Sunset Recap

In the past I’ve posted an article, with photographs, of the sunrises and sunset we at SoCalHunt have experienced in the season just past. This year is no exception, although this year, due to work responsibilities, we didn’t get out as much as usual and sunsets were in the majority, as we had to do mostly afternoon hunts. That being said, I’ve always maintained that my favorite times of day while hunting at San Jacinto Wildlife Area are sunrise and/or sunset. Anyone who hunts San Jacinto, and looks any further then the pond they are hunting, knows that good old SJ has some of the most spectacular beginnings and endings of the hunting days there. Below, in order of appearance, are the sunrises or sunsets on the days we hunted San Jacinto this year. We had one very cloudy day, which didn’t really have a visible sunset, and one foggy day that was almost too thick for a sunrise picture but ended up presenting a unique sunrise despite the fog.
Presented for your enjoyment:
(Click on the image for a full sized picture)

10/24/12 Sunset

11/7/12 Sunset

11/14/12 Sunset

11/21/12 Sunrise

11/28/12 Sunset

12/19/12 Sunset

12/26/12 Sunset (2)

1/2/13 Sunrise

1/16/13 Sunset

1/23/13 Sunset