The end of the 2022/2023 season at the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge revealed the following stats for the number of birds taken and the hunter averages.
397 adult and 11 junior hunters (408 hunters total) checked in a total of 71 Northern Shovelers, 17 Mallards, 33 Gadwall, 7 Widgeon, 41 Pintail, 255 Green Wing Teal, 59 Cinnamon Teal, 2 Ring Necks, 2 Bufflehead, 2 Blue Wing Teal, 1 Merganser, and 5 Ruddy Ducks. In addition, there were 5 Ross’ Geese, 271 Snow Geese, and 2 White Front Geese bagged at Sonny Bono this season. 7 Coots were checked in for the 2022/2023 season. This worked out to a total of 773 Ducks and Geese or, with the Coots added in, 780 waterfowl. The per hunter average take for 2022/2023 figured out to 1.89 Ducks and Geese per hunter or, with the Coots included, 1.91 waterfowl per hunter.
This is where I would usually compare this season’s counts and averages and the + or – on the number of each species taken this season compared to last season but due to fact that this is the first season SoCaHunt has reported on Sonny Bono’s results, obviously we have no stats from last year to compare to.
So, there you have it, the year-long stats for the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge. Hopefully, next season is even better. All we need now is for the breeding populations up north to do their thing and hopefully we’ll get the weather needed to drive the birds south early in the season and things will improve next season.
SoCalHunt 