Good Turnout for San Jacinto’s Volunteer Blind Clean-Up Day, Saturday, March 12th, 2022 Gets Much Accomplished

20 volunteers were in attendance bright and early on Saturday, March 12th at the San Jacinto Wildlife Area check station parking lot for the first post-season volunteer clean-up day of 2022. The main goal of this work day was to clean-up the hunting area’s blinds. Much was accomplished and all the area’s blinds received a good going-over. The most common thing picked up in and around the blinds, unsurprisingly, was spent shotgun shells but there were other items as well that ranged from just general trash to mylar balloons and even a boogie board from Mystic Lake. Tom Trakes of San Jacinto Wildlife Area told me that each volunteer came back with at least a half bag of “stuff”, if not more.

After putting in all that hard work all morning most of the volunteer crew, and the SJ staff gathered at Marcello’s Pizza Restaurant in Nuevo for a well-deserved lunch, (each person responsible for their own bill).
Once again, Tom and his team at San Jacinto would like to thank everyone who came out and worked hard to start the process of getting things ready for the upcoming waterfowl season. SJWA couldn’t be maintained as well as it is without the volunteers who come out and lend a hand.

There will probably be at least two more blind brush-up/work days to finish getting things in ship shape for the coming waterfowl hunting season. The next one will likely be scheduled sometime in August and the one after that in early September (of course the dates are still to be announced). Watch SoCalHunt for info on these upcoming work days when the dates are announced. Also, there will be a special work day coming up where the current permit booths will be replaced by new, carport-like covered booths at the upland self-check in across Davis Road from the check station and in the dog training area further down Davis Road nearer to The Ramona Expressway. There will also be one added over in the Bridge Street area which will really be nice if you decide to hunt rabbits or dove in that area as you won’t have to drive up Davis Road to check in and out from that side of the wildlife area. Funds for these new permit booths will be provided by a GoFundMe account in honor of SJWA regular James Honeyfield who recently passed away. Watch SoCalHunt for an announcement of when that work day will be as soon as it is scheduled.

In preparation for these upcoming work days palm fronds are needed. If you can get a hold of any palm fronds any time before the work days you can drop them off at San Jacinto. Just call Tom at 951-236-3040 and he’ll make arrangements for you to drop them off. Please make sure you don’t bring in the type of palm fronds with the thorns on their stalks, unless you’re willing to strip off the thorns first. Those things wreak havoc with waders if the thorns aren’t removed. Watch SoCalHunt for the “official” announcement and details of the next blind brush-up/workday. Also, hopefully, SJWA will have a Hunter’s Education Class scheduled soon. Watch SoCalHunt for the announcement of the Hunter’s Ed Class in the near future.

Okay, I did this last year and I’m going to do it again…here I go back up onto my soapbox. Please…please try to pick up your empty shells, and any others’ shells you might find in and around your blind when you go hunting, along with any other miscellaneous trash. The best way to keep our hunting privileges at SJWA, or any other place for that matter, is to keep the area as clean as possible. I would hate to see any restrictions on our hunting privileges because some anti-hunting big wig from Sacramento sees a bunch of shells strewn about our hunting areas. It would be kind of hard to deny that hunters left all that litter behind when most of it is shotgun shells. Empty shells are still a majority of the trash picked up on the clean-up day and there’s really no excuse for that or really any other trash for that matter. So, ‘nuff said about that.

Looking forward to seeing everybody that can make it to the next work day. Watch SoCalHunt for the announcement when the date is set.
(check the photos below for some “action shots” from the clean-up day)

Second Annual San Jacinto Wildlife Area Veterans/Active Duty Military Hunt, Saturday, February 12th, 2022, A Great Success

The last hunt of this past waterfowl season found 66 Veteran and Active Duty Military personnel reporting for duty at San Jacinto Wildlife Area at 0300 for the second annual Veteran/Active Duty Military special hunt.

The military personnel were treated to a breakfast of coffee, hot chocolate, coffee cake, and doughnuts. The California Waterfowl Association (CWA) supplied each Veteran or Active-duty Military member in attendance with a hat and a tribute coin to start off their day. The Veterans/Active Military then dispersed over San Jacinto Wildlife Area to await start time horn. Hunting was absolutely outstanding on this day and for the second year in a row, the Veterans/Active Military beat the wildlife area average take by more than two birds a person with an average harvest of 4.24 waterfowl per hunter! (Hunt results for the Veteran/Active Military Hunt can be found here… https://socalhunt.wordpress.com/2022/02/12/hunt-results-for-san-jacinto-wildlife-areas-military-vets-active-duty-hunt-saturday-2-12-22/ )

At noon our Vets and Actives gathered at the SJWA workshop area for a great lunch of tri-tip with all the fixin’s, Macaroni, and potato salads (provided by Robert Hartman, his wife, and his daughter – whose son/brother is a Coast Guard member). Tom Trakes’ daughter provided a military-themed cake for dessert. During the lunch break, Diane Barr of Stars & Stripes Service & Therapy Dog Training did a demonstration of basic obedience, advanced obedience, urban obedience, and tasking. Stars & Stripes Service & Therapy Dog Training is a non-profit organization that helps disabled veterans and first responders train their dogs to help them with tasks that they may need help with.

As is usual, San Jacinto Wildlife Area hosted a great salute to our Military Veterans and Active Duty Military heroes. If the per hunter average bird count for that day is any indication it looks like military service teaches our military personnel excellent marksmanship.
(here’s some photos of the event below)