The average take of waterfowl at the Wister Unit of the Imperial Wildlife Area took its usual Sunday nosedive as compared to Saturday’s average. Green Wing Teal climbed into first place for most birds bagged with Ruddy Ducks coming in at the second spot. The Wister Staff reported that the results for Sunday, 11/8/20 were as follows:
87 adult and 5 junior hunters harvested 7 Northern Shoveler, 4 Mallard, 5 Gadwall, 4 Widgeon, 11 Pintail, 17 Green Wing Teal, 9 Cinnamon Teal, 4 Redheads, 3 Ring Necks, 1 Scaup, and 13 Ruddy Ducks. There were 9 Snow Geese checked in at Wister on Sunday. Also, 5 Coots were downed at Wister on Sunday. This showed an average harvest of 0.85 ducks per person or, with the Geese and Coots included, 1.00 waterfowl per gun. Out of 104 reservation cards issued 25 hunter arrived on time to claim their spot.
Wister is open for waterfowl hunting on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays only. You can put in for reservations online 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 the night before at 10:30 pm, with sign-up for the drawing between 7:30 and 10:30 pm. The ALDS can be accessed through the DFW website 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 arrival at the refuge. These can be purchased online 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 season. 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 Wister Staff at 760-359-0577.
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