Dove Season Opens Tuesday, September 1st – Reminder for San Jacinto

This coming Tuesday, September 1^st, is the opening of dove season in California. Due to the ammunition restrictions required by the ill advised (and zero scientific study backed) AB 711 if you are going to hunt any state wildlife areas and ecological reserves, of which San Jacinto is one, you are now, as of July 1^st, required to use non-lead ammunition.

Traditionally, in the upland areas of San Jacinto, we were allowed to use lead shot for taking dove, quail and rabbits but with the phase 1 ammo restrictions of AB 711 we must now use non-lead ammunition. Be sure, if you are going to hunt doves on the opener at San Jacinto, or any state wildlife area or ecological reserve, you don’t have any lead shot in your possession. You will be subject to a big citation if you are checked by a DFW Wildlife Officer (Warden) and have any lead shot on you. Be sure you carefully go through your hunting vest or whatever you’re going to carry your ammo in and ensure that there isn’t a stray lead shell from last year hiding somewhere.

You can read more about AB 711 here:

https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/hunting/nonlead-ammunition  

Good luck if you’re going. Maybe we’ll see you out there.

Volunteer Blind Brush-Up Work-Day At San Jacinto Wildlife Area A Big Success!

The first volunteer blind brush-up day for this coming season, Saturday, August 15^th, had a good turn out with about 25 volunteers showing up at San Jacinto Wildlife Area’s check station parking lot to help out this year. Tom Trakes, from San Jacinto Wildlife Area reported that the volunteers, mostly hunters that utilize San Jacinto, were on hand to help out and eagerly headed out to the ponds to work on their assigned blinds.

Some of the Volunteers (Thanks guys!)

This work party was primarily tasked to build, or rebuild several blinds throughout the wildlife area for the upcoming season. Six new blinds on Marsh-U, Marsh-W, A-2, Walker-4, Walker-8 and F-1 were built. Many blinds were brushed up with palm fronds primarily provided by the volunteers.

Some of the work in progress

…And some of the results

Due to the number of volunteers they were able to get a lot done in a short time and then it was off to Casa Mexicana for another great lunch. Tom wanted to remind hunters that there would be one more volunteer work day, on Saturday, September 26^th, to finish brushing up some of the blinds and “fine tune” things for the season. Tom wanted me to remind everyone that they are still in need of palm fronds for the next blind brush-up day. Even if you can’t make the work-day if you have some palm fronds you can drop off prior to the work-day the staff at SJ will be happy to make arrangements to receive them. Just give them a call at (951) 236-3040 if you want to drop some off.

Lunch!

After the September work-day the next thing on the calendar for San Jacinto Wildlife Area is opening day of the waterfowl season on Saturday, October 24^th! Everything is looking great for the season ahead. The water is already flowing into the ponds and many ducks are already in evidence around the wildlife area area.

Pic ducks

Hope to see you some time during the season at San Jacinto.

 

Gear Review (Update) – Cartblind (Formerly Duck & Bucks Cart Blind)

Update 5/9/21 – The Cartblind website is now down.  We’ll leave the link below in the post on the outside chance someone decides to buy the business and start it up again.

Attention!! UPDATE 7/28/19 – We here at SoCalHunt have been made aware that the Cartblind Business is for sale and it appears that they are out of business. Although their web site is still active they don’t appear to have any items in stock and are advertising the business for sale. We will leave this review up for anyone who may run across a used Cartblind for information purposes only or on the outside chance someone buys the business and re-opens it.

Today SoCalHunt is revising an old gear review for what used to be called the Ducks & Bucks Cart Blind.

SoCalHunt originally posted this review in December of 2010 and it is still one of the most clicked on reviews or reports on the SoCalHunt blog so I felt an update was in order.  There have been a few changes over the years at the company, including some updates to the carts and a change in the name, so I figured it would be a good time to revise the review.  As far as the performance of the product it is still living up to everything I said about it in the original review so there won’t be a lot of changes in this review, just more of an update as far as the name of the product and the web address and such.  I will say that it is some of the best money I’ve ever spent on any hunting equipment for the marsh and I still feel that way.

Look! Out in the pond! It’s a boat, no it’s a cart, no it’s a blind….no it’s the Cartblind!

The Cartblind is a great combination of what a waterfowler needs out in the refuge marsh. It consists of a large decoy sled with wheels attached (which are easily removable) and a telescoping pull handle to pull the whole contraption with. There are also shoulder straps attached to the pull handle and to the sled that allows most of the weight to be carried on the hunter’s shoulders as the cart is pulled. Once to the hunting site there is a full camo cover that makes the cart into a very comfortable hunting blind.

The real beauty of the Cartblind is that you can load it at home, bungee everything down and the next time you have to take anything off of it is out at your blind or hunting site. Gone now are the days of loading everything in your truck, including the folded up decoy cart, arriving at the parking area, taking out the decoy cart and putting it together in the dark, loading all the decoys and equipment on it, bungeeing it all down, walking out to your hunt site, taking everything off the decoy cart, humping the decoys, guns and other equipment across the pond (usually 3 or 4 trips back and forth across the pond) and then repeating this in reverse order to go home.

The way we have used the Cartblind over the last few years is that we load it up at home with decoys, two smaller decoy sleds (which we find handy in putting out and picking up the decoys), blind bags, seats and whatever else we’re taking and then it goes in the back of the truck. When we arrive at the parking area for our hunting site we pull the cart out of the back of the truck, tuck the shotguns and camera box in under the bungee straps, extend the telescoping pull handle, throw the shoulder straps on and off we go to our hunting site. The 18 inch diameter, 4 ½ inch wide, airless tires make pulling the cart very easy.  One tip we’ve learned over the years is to cross the straps over each other across the chest so they don’t slip off your shoulders.

When we arrive at our hunting site, if we have happened to draw an island blind, instead of taking everything out of the cart and schlepping it across the water in 3 or 4 trips back and forth, the cart becomes a boat. We just push it into the water and it floats, even with all the equipment loaded on it.  It is rated to float about 200 pounds. We have found that, once it is in the water, it is easier to get out of the pull handle and push it from behind.

This has a couple advantages. First you can keep the (now) boat stable, even if it is loaded a little unevenly. Second you can push down on the rear of the boat which keeps the bow of it high so no water splashes in, and third, it actually assists you in wading through a muddy pond bottom as, by pushing down on it, it takes a lot of your weight off your feet so you don’t sink in the mud as much. Once you get to your hunt site, whether you had to cross the water or not, if it is a free roam area or there is no adequate prepared blind, when the cart is empty, with a few minor adjustments, it becomes a very comfortable blind.

To make the cart into a blind there are 4 “feet” that pull out and adjust for height at the end of the cart (which will become the bottom of the blind). Once these are adjusted (between 15 and 22 inches) to the proper height the cart is tipped up on end. When this is done the camo blind cover falls into place. The only other adjustment that is needed to complete the conversion is to adjust the telescoping pull handle to become a rear support for the blind. When used as a blind there is a back and butt cushion which makes it very comfortable to sit in. Our blind also came with a middle camo cover (not shown in our pictures), which you wouldn’t want to use for duck hunting, that would make it a good deer/turkey blind. In addition, if you move the top camo cover to the bottom and lay the cart/blind down it can be utilized as a layout blind also. If you find yourself in a shallow pond and the wheels are digging into the bottom the wheels can be easily removed by pulling a spring steel pin (no tools necessary) and just pulling the wheels off.  It might be a good idea to buy a couple more of these pins at the hardware store and carry them in your blind bag just in case you drop one in the field.

The only real disadvantage I have found with the Cart Blind is that it will only accommodate one person when utilized as a blind (so you’d have to take turns or flip for it I guess, LOL).  Although, in an area like San Jacinto, which has mostly prepared blinds, you normally wouldn’t need to use it as a blind.  Also it would be a two man job to load it or unload it from your truck, which is the way we originally handled it, but I solved that a few years ago by making ramps, such as a gardener uses to get his lawnmower in and out of his truck, which makes it a snap for one person to handle now.

The Cartblind comes in five different configurations now, which is a change for the original.  There are configurations for a “Buck-Cart” (for use a a ground blind for deer or turkey), a “Duck-Cart”, obviously for duck hunting, an “Ice Fishing-Cart”, for use as an mini ice fishing house (which I don’t think we here in Southern California have to worry about), a Goose-Cart”, for use primarily as a layout field blind, and a “4 Season Cartblind” which, near as I can tell by the illustration on their web site, looks like the old style “Bucks & Ducks Cart Blind”, which is what SoCalHunt has.  The “4 Season Cartblind” is going for $399 and the others are priced at $499.  It appears, as of the writing of this update, that only the “4 Season Cartblind” is in stock as they are asking a $199 deposit on the other four to “pre-order”.  Check it out at…

www.cartblinds.com

…for further information or to order one.

DFW Commission Sets 2015/16 Season Regulations

The California Fish and Game Commission, during their August 5th meeting in Fortuna, California, adopted waterfowl season dates and regulations for the 2015/16 waterfowl season.

Regulations adopted for the Southern California Zone (which will cover San Jacinto Wildlife Area):
Seasons:
Ducks and Geese: October 24, 2015 through January 31, 2016.
Special Youth Hunt Days: February 6 and February 7, 2016. (San Jacinto’s Annual Youth Hunt will be February 6th, 2016).
Limits:
Ducks: Daily bag limit: 7. Which may consist of 7 mallards, of which only 2 can be female; 2 pintail; 2 canvasback; 2 redheads; 3 scaup. (Scaup may only be taken November 7th, 2015 through January 31st, 2016 – so be careful the first two weeks of the season again).
Geese: Daily bag limit: 25! Of which 15 may be white geese and 10 may be dark geese.
Possession Limit Ducks and Geese: Triple the daily bag limit.

“Electronic” Spinning wing decoys (AKA – mojo’s) will be allowed from December 1 until the season ends (statewide) – non-motorized / wind powered mojo’s are allowed all season.

The regulations that most affect San Jacinto hunters are the fact that, again, scaup cannot be taken the first two weeks of the season. Also, last season the canvasback limit was 1, this year its up to 2 cans a day. Although geese aren’t a big concern at SJ, as far as going over limit, this year’s regulations up the limit on geese to an amazing 25 (WOW!) of which 15 may be white geese and 10 can be dark geese.

So, regulations are set, bird numbers, in general, are good, well over the long term averages, and San Jacinto is looking good for the upcoming season. Now, all we need for a great season is some decent amount of rain. Come on El Nino!! Hope to see you all out at good old SJ!

This above information is provided as a general guide only. Please check the California Department of Fish and Wildlife website at:

https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Regulations

…or printed regulation book (available soon at most license agent locations) for official information and/or for regulations in other waterfowl zones in the state.