The conclusion of the 2020/2021 waterfowl season at San Jacinto Wildlife Area showed some interesting stats for the number of birds harvested and the per hunter averages.
4802 adult and 382 junior hunters (5184 hunters total) harvested a total of 1548 Northern Shovelers, 463 Mallards, 917 Gadwall, 202 Widgeon, 385 Pintail, 1652 Green Wing Teal, 1311 Cinnamon Teal, 183 Redheads, 38 Canvasbacks, 160 Ring Necks, 25 Scaup, 301 Bufflehead, 10 Goldeneye, 11 Wood Ducks, 0 Blue Wing Teal, 9 Mergansers, and 495 Ruddy Ducks. In addition, there were also 2 Canada Geese, 0 Ross’ Geese, 12 Snow Geese, and 2 White Front Geese taken at San Jacinto this season. 756 Coots were also checked in for the 2020/2021 season at SJ. This figured out to a total of 7726 Ducks and Geese or, with the Coots included, 8482 waterfowl taken for the season. The per gun average take for 2020/2021 season came out to 1.49 Ducks and Geese per hunter or, with the Coots added in, 1.64 waterfowl per hunter.
In comparison to last season there were 335 more adult hunters this season over last and there were 59 more junior hunters for a total of 394 more hunters accommodated in 2020/2021 season compared to the 2019/2020 season. (This includes the Junior Hunters from the Junior Hunt and the Veteran/Active Duty Military personnel for the special military post-season hunt). 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 +165 Northern Shovelers, -61 Mallards, -187 Gadwall, -90 Widgeon, +151 Pintail, +114 Green Wing Teal, -198 Cinnamon Teal, -10 Redheads, +19 Canvasbacks, -164 Ring Necks, -9 Scaup, +129 Bufflehead, -9 Goldeneye, -8 Wood Ducks, -15 Blue Wing Teal (0 this season), -14 Mergansers, -1 Whistling Duck (0 this season), -1 Surf Scooter (0 this season), and +165 Ruddy Ducks.
For the Geese numbers there were -2 Canada Geese, -6 Ross’ Geese (0 this season), +2 Snow Geese, and -2 White Front Geese.
There were also +396 Coots bagged this season. This was a total of -33 Ducks and Geese taken compared to last season and, with the Coots included, +363 waterfowl taken this season compared to last season. The per hunter averages were -0.13 Ducks and Geese or, with the Coots included, -0.05 waterfowl this season over last season.
In contrast to last season, these numbers show a slight downward trend in general although some species take was up and other were down over last season. There were also more hunters this season than last and also more Junior Hunters which brought the per hunter bird average down a bit. Hopefully, we’ll get some good rains between now and the end of our rainy season to keep Mystic Lake filled and we’ll get some well-timed weather up north early next season to send the birds down to us. We can also optimistically hope there will be a great spring hatch up north and the numbers will rise for the 2021/2022 season.
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