San Jacinto Wildlife Area’s Annual Toy Drive has begun

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’s Toy Drive will once again benefit the Bryant Park Head Start Preschool.

We, at Socalhunt, encourage all hunters that show up to hunt at San Jacinto in the next several weeks 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.

Donations for the Bryant Park Head Start Program will be accepted until December 19^th, with the San Jacinto Staff, along with Santa, delivering them on the 20^th.

Please take this opportunity to show that hunters really care and donate to the San Jacinto Annual Toy Drive and support this noble effort.

For further details please contact Tom at (951)-236-3040 or the San Jacinto Wildlife Area Office at (951)-928-0580.  Toys can be donated at the San Jacinto Wildlife Area Office at 17050 Davis Road, Lakeview, CA 92567.

Thank you for your support!

Hunt Results for San Jacinto Wildlife Area, Wednesday – 10/30/13

The per hunter waterfowl average for San Jacinto Wildlife Area dropped a little from the previous Saturday’s average under calm blue-bird skies. Cinnamon Teal took over as number one for the most numerous bird taken with Shovelers taking the second spot on Wednesday. Tom Trakes, from San Jacinto Wildlife Area, reported that the results for Wednesday, 10/30/13 were as follows:

138 adult hunters and 4 junior hunter bagged 45 Northern Shovelers, 3 Gadwall, 31 Widgeon, 7 Pintail, 14 Green Wing Teal, 73 Cinnamon Teal, 3 Redhead, 4 Canvasbacks, 18 Ring Necks, 4 Bufflehead and 43 Ruddy Ducks.  There were also 2 Aleutian Geese  bagged at San Jacinto on Wednesday.   23 coots were also checked in on Wednesday.  This resulted in an average of 1.90 waterfowl per gun. 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.  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 – 10/26/13

Waterfowl numbers for San Jacinto Wildlife Area bumped up some on Saturday with the per hunter bird average being somewhat higher then with Wednesday’s foggy conditions. Once again Shovelers were the most numerous bird taken with Cinnamon Teal staying in the second spot for the third hunt day of the season. Tom Trakes, from San Jacinto Wildlife Area, reported that the results for Saturday, 10/26/13 were as follows:

126 adult and 5 junior hunters bagged 94 Northern Shovelers, 5 Mallards, 14 Gadwall, 39 Widgeon, 8 Pintail, 4 Green Wing Teal, 58 Cinnamon Teal, 3 Redhead, 39 Ring Necks, 3 Bufflehead, 4 Wood Ducks and 10 Ruddy Ducks.  There were no geese brought in to the check station on Saturday.  In addition there were 42 coots included in the count on Saturday.  This resulted in per hunter average of 2.47 waterfowl. Tom advised that out of 50 reservation cards 32 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.  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 – 10/23/13

The second hunt day of waterfowl season at San Jacinto Wildlife Area was pretty slow, being hampered in the morning by very foggy conditions.  As usual Shovelers were the number one bird taken with Cinnamon Teal coming in second again.  Tom Trakes, from San Jacinto Wildlife Area, reported that the results for Wednesday, 10/23/13 were as follows:

142 adult and 3 junior hunters checked in with 57 Northern Shovelers, 16 Mallards, 9 Gadwall, 17 Widgeon, 13 Pintail, 26 Green Wing Teal, 39 Cinnamon Teal, 3 Redheads, 20 Ring Necks, 6 Bufflehead, 9 Wood Ducks, 4 Blue Wing Teal and 29 Ruddy Ducks.  No geese were bagged on Wednesday.  13 coots were also checked in on Wednesday.  This worked out to an average harvest of 1.80 waterfowl per hunter. Tom advised that out of 50 reservation holders 35 arrived on time for their spots.

San Jacinto is open for waterfowl hunting on Wednesdays and Saturdays only. You can put in for reservations on-line through the DFW 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 DFW 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 DFW 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 DFW 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 DFW 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.  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.

SoCalHunt San Jacinto Hunting Report 10/23/13

Once again this year, due to work responsibilities, Socalhunt couldn’t attend the opener this past Saturday, so today I made arrangements to meet one of my regular hunting partners at San Jacinto Wildlife Area for our season kickoff with an afternoon refill hunt.

I headed out early, hoping to get a good spot on the refill list, as it sounded like the Saturday opener was pretty crowded. When I rolled up to the lot there were quite a few trucks in the lot and we ended up down near the bottom of the third page on the refill list.

When my partner arrived he told me that he would have to leave about 3 o’clock as his dog was at the vet and he needed to leave about then to pick her up.  Also, since I haven’t mentioned it before, San Jacinto was socked in with fog, meaning the guys out on the refuge couldn’t see any distance to shoot their birds.

We waited for quite a while before some of the blinds started to check in and the results weren’t very good, for the most part.  Most of those checking in only had a few birds unless they decided to shoot a few coots or ruddys.  Also, being as far down on the list as we were when a blind came in someone ahead of us on the list wanted it so we continued to wait.  As we waited the fog finally started to lift and, although hazy, you could see plenty far enough for duck shooting.

Well, it got to be about noon and my partner decided that it wouldn’t be worth going out as he had to leave early so he decided to head for home without going out.  Me, well, I’m a diehard when it comes to duck hunting so I opted to stick it out and see if a decent blind would open up.

A little after noon I checked the board and noticed a blind that was opened that no one had claimed.  Although it wasn’t a real good blind I figured that was probably the best I was going to do as far down on the list I was so, as I always say, you’re not going to kill them sitting on the couch at home (or hanging around the check station) so I grabbed the blind and headed out.

I was set up and hunting just after 1 pm.  About 20 minutes later I saw a flight of about 5 or 6 pintail a few hundred yards up the pond.  They passed over a neighboring blind and they were able to drop one of the sprig as they passed.  No shot for me but at least someone close by was getting some anyway.  After that I sat looking at a generally empty sky.  It was real hazy and it seemed to make it hard to see any birds at a distance.  The Barisconi Hills were almost lost in the haze and you couldn’t even see the mountains behind the Badlands and they aren’t that far away.

As the sun started to set the activity picked up some as I could hear more shooting in a few minutes then I had heard the rest of the time I’d been in the blind.  About 40 minutes before quitting time a lone duck flew over in range but I held off, as the bird appeared to be a scaup, and they’re closed the first 2 weeks of the season.  Finally, with only 12 minutes of shooting time to go, a widgeon hen flew in low over the decoys and I tried something different this time and actually dropped the bird instead of blowing 3 holes in the sky.

That was the only opportunity I got today and I was able to connect, which felt good.  So, for my opener I fired at 1 bird and dropped 1 bird.  And, as usual, the San Jacinto sunset was worth the price of admission once again.

Anyway, the way things are again this year I probably won’t get in as many hunts as I’d like, but you will see every hunt I do reported here on SoCalHunt.  I have a work obligation next Wednesday so the next opportunity, at least for now, is to hit good old SJ the Wednesday after next, probably for another afternoon refill.  Hopefully we’ll score a better blind and have more to report next time.

Hunt Results for San Jacinto Wildlife Area, Saturday 10/19/13

Opening day waterfowl count for San Jacinto Wildlife Area was good with many hunters scoring limits in the morning. Shovelers were the most numerous bird taken on the refuge followed closely by cinnamon teal. Tom Trakes, from San Jacinto Wildlife Area, reported that the results for Saturday, 10/19/13 were as follows:

181 adult and 25 junior hunters bagged 288 Northern Shovelers, 2 Mallards, 8 Gadwalls, 31 Widgeon, 2 Pintails, 8 Green Wing Teal, 236 Cinnamon Teal, 4 Redheads, 14 Ring Necks, 2 Buffleheads, 31 Ruddy Ducks and 3 Wood Ducks. There was also a lone Aleutian Goose bagged on Saturday. There were also 75 coots taken on Saturday. This resulted in an average harvest of 3.42 waterfowl per hunter. Tom advised that out of 50 reservation cards 33 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 DFW 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 DFW 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 DFW 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 DFW 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 DFW 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. 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.

Another Successful Blind Brush-Up Day At San Jacinto Wildlife Area

Saturday, September 28^th, a record number of volunteers turned out to help out with the volunteer blind brush-up day at San Jacinto Wildlife Area.  Tom Trakes, from San Jacinto Wildlife Area reported that about 40 volunteers, consisting of hunters that utilize San Jacinto arrived at 7 am and struck out to all corners of the refuge to complete their assignments.

This work party was primarily to clean out the area’s blinds and the get them brushed up and camouflaged for the upcoming season.  Many of the blinds had a bunch of tumbleweeds inside them and these were cleaned out leaving the blinds ready for use.  Some blinds were complete rebuilt by the volunteers.

 

 

 

Due to the number of volunteers they were able to make pretty quick and through work of brushing up and cleaning out the blinds.

After the work-day some of the volunteers met up at Casa Mexicana for a satisfying lunch.

The next event set for San Jacinto Wildlife Area is opening day of the waterfowl season on Saturday, October 19^th!  Things are looking up for a great season.  Tom reports that the water is flowing and coming up in the ponds and a lot of birds are already using the area, including some speckled-belly geese.  There’s a lot of food on the wildlife area for the birds, which should help hold birds in the area and draw in more as the season progresses.

Hope to see you out at good old SJ.