The California Fish and Game Commission, during their April 16th meeting, adopted changes to the waterfowl season dates and regulations for the 2020/21 waterfowl season.
Regulations adopted for the Southern California Zone (which will cover San Jacinto Wildlife Area):
Seasons: Ducks and Geese: October 24, 2020 through January 31, 2021.
Special Youth Hunt Days: February 6 and February 7, 2021. (San Jacinto’s Annual Youth Hunt will be February 6th, 2021).
Limits: Ducks: Daily bag limit: 7. Which may consist of 7 Mallards, of which only 2 can be female; 1 Pintail; 2 Canvasback; 2 Redheads; 2 Scaup. (Scaup may only be taken November 7th, 2020 through January 31st, 2021 – so be careful the first two weeks of the season this year).
Geese: Daily bag limit: 23 of which 20 may be White Geese and 3 may be Dark Geese.
Possession Limit Ducks and Geese: Triple the daily bag limit.
Black Brant (Although a “sea goose” I’ll add this because occasionally a few seem to show up at San Jacinto): November 19, 2020 – December 15, 2020. Daily bag limit: 2 per day. Possession limit triple the daily bag limit.
“Electronic” Spinning wing decoys (AKA – mojos) will be allowed from December 1st until the season ends (statewide) – non-motorized /wind-powered mojos are allowed all season. (NOTE – As far as I could find this was not mentioned in the season regulation changes at the Commission meeting so I’m listing the dates based on last season’s regulations (assuming no changes). This has been December 1st for as long as I can remember but check with the official regulations once they are posted on the DFW web site or the printed regulation books when they come out, probably in a couple of months but still well before the season).
Last season one of the regulations that most affect San Jacinto hunters were, of course, the extended end date for the season which gave us one more hunt day. This season January 31st happens to be the last Sunday in January. The federal framework allowed for the season to end on the last day in January and it just so happens that January 31st is the last Sunday in January, which is the traditional end of the season, so no extended season this time. Another change this season is that the Scaup limit was dropped to 2 birds (it was 3 last season). Also, the Brant seasons will be reduced from 37 days to 27 days. Not a real big concern for SJ hunters but there’s a very slim chance one will show up at SJ so it would behoove you to know what they look like. Other than that, most other regulations stayed pretty consistent with last season’s regulations.
So, there it is. The regulations are set, and as of this writing, Tom and the entire SJWA Crew are working hard to get San Jacinto Wildlife Area in excellent shape for the upcoming 2020/2021 waterfowl season. Hopefully, our present “quarantine or lockdown or restrictions” (whatever you want to call it) will end soon and the hard working staff at SJ can get a couple of cleanup days scheduled to assist in getting things ready for the season. When (if?) any of these clean up/work days get scheduled try to pitch in and help if you’re able – Info will be posted here on SoCalHunt when I receive it. AND Mystic Lake is still there and still nearly full with the addition of some water from the last series of storms. This should be a big help to enhance the hunt results at good old SJ!
This above information is provided as a general guide only. Although they haven’t updated it to the newly adopted regulations yet when they do, probably in a month or two (still well before the season) please check the California Department of Fish and Wildlife website at:
https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Regulations
…or printed regulation book (available probably not long after they update their web info at most license agent locations) for official information and/or for regulations in other waterfowl zones in the state.
Now, all we need is to get some weather up north at the right time this year, hopefully early in the season, to drive the birds down to us and we can all look forward to another fantastic season at San Jacinto Wildlife Area.
SoCalHunt 