With the ending of the waterfowl season, San Jacinto Wildlife Area turned in some noteworthy numbers for the 2013 / 2014 season.
3962 adult and 251 junior hunters (4213 hunters total) harvested a total of 3258 Northern Shovelers, 228 Mallards, 737 Gadwall, 727 Widgeon, 266 Pintail, 1939 Green Wing Teal, 758 Cinnamon Teal, 98 Redheads, 27 Canvasbacks, 294 Ring Necks, 63 Scaup, 197 Bufflehead, 1 Goldeneye, 23 Wood Ducks, 10 Blue Wing Teal, 2 Mergansers, and 459 Ruddy Ducks. In addition there were 4 Aleutian Geese, and 2 Ross’ Geese bagged on the refuge this season. 409 Coots were also included in the count for the 2013 / 2014 season. This worked out to a total on the waterfowl of 9502 birds. The per gun average take for 2013 / 2014 worked out to 2.26 waterfowl per hunter.
To compare with last season there were 117 more adult hunters this season over last and there were 97 less junior hunters for a total of 20 more hunters accommodated in 2013 / 2014 over the 2012 / 2013 season. This did not include the count for the 2014 Junior Hunt, which hasn’t happened yet. So, judging by last years Junior Hunt that should add about 75 or more junior hunters to the count which would mean about 100, give or take a few, more hunters this season over last. 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 +395 Northern Shovelers, +6 Mallards, +34 Gadwall, +167 Widgeon, -140 Pintail, +131 Green Wing Teal, +192 Cinnamon Teal, -84 Redheads, +5 Canvasbacks, +97 Ring Necks, +35 Scaup, -4 Bufflehead, No change (1 each season) Goldeneye, +17 Wood Ducks, -2 Blue Wing Teal, -4 Mergansers, -4 Black Ducks (0 this season), -1 Surf Scooters (0 this season) and +57 Ruddy Ducks.
On the goose side of the ledger there were +3 Aleutian Geese, -7 White Front Geese (0 this season), -1 Snow Geese (0 this season), -2 Canada Geese (0 this season), and +2 Ross’s Geese.
In addition, there were +163 coots taken. This was a total of +1025 waterfowl taken this season over last season. The average was +0.25 waterfowl per hunter this season over last season.
As Stated earlier, this doesn’t include the Junior Hunt so these numbers will change slightly but it gives you a good idea of how the season went. In general hunter numbers were up, birds bagged where up and the per gun average was up.
Good luck to the Junior Hunters on Saturday and, as I write this there is “only” 260 days, 7 hours, 56 minutes, and 20 seconds until the start of the 2014 / 2015 waterfowl season…only…
SoCalHunt 