San Jacinto Wildlife Area duck average stayed nearly the same, with just a small drop back, Saturday over Wednesday’s average on a day with cold temperatures and clear skies. Shovelers, once again, were in first place for number of birds taken with Green Wing Teal holding on to second place today. There were also 2 rare Fulvous Whistling Ducks checked in today. Tom Trakes, from San Jacinto Wildlife Area, reported that the results for the first hunt day of 2015, Saturday, 1/3/15 were as follows:
156 adult and 10 junior hunters bagged 157 Northern Shovelers, 21 Gadwall, 16 Widgeon, 126 Green Wing Teal, 11 Mallards, 7 Pintail, 1 Ring Neck, 2 Redheads, 2 Canvasback, 2 Scaup, 11 Bufflehead, 5 Cinnamon Teal, 2 Fulvous Whistling Ducks, and 5 Ruddy Ducks. There were no geese taken at San Jacinto on Saturday. 13 coots were checked in at San Jacinto on Saturday, including a rarity, a banded coot. This worked out to an average take of 2.22 ducks per hunter, or, with the coots included, 2.30 waterfowl per hunter. Tom advised that out of 52 reservations 33 showed up on time.
Don’t forget to bring a buck or two or ten, whatever you can spare if you’re able, and put some in the box in the check station for the Junior Waterfowl Hunt. These donations go towards running the event, the food and some of the prizes for the junior hunters. The juniors are the future of our sport and the junior hunt is a great way to get them enthused about the sport.
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 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 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 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.
SoCalHunt 