BY JIM NIEMIEC
NILAND – Duck hunting should offer up pretty good gunning come opening weekend. There was a decent hatch of local puddle ducks, and word being passed on by refuge managers, is that small flocks of new ducks are arriving daily.
Heavy rain that fell during the passing of hurricane Rachel , left some runoff rain in storm basin ponds and this week’s weather will hopefully cool off weather conditions. IF, the predicted storm moves through, it could set up a mild Santa Ana Wind condition.
Cris Crecelius, supervisor at Wister, (760) 359-0577, filed the following report.
“The Wister Refuge received about a half an inch of rain from last week’s hurricane that blew through the Imperial Valley and roads got pretty muddy, but they are now drying out rapidly. Water delivery to the refuge was halted for a while by the water district. The refuge area is seeing good numbers of local ducks and early migratory waterfowl. As of today, all ponds should be 100% flooded and all blinds will be available by the opener. The Wister staff has been working diligently since early spring mowing, discing, planting, irrigating and other duties in preparation for this season,” stated Crecelius.
Carlos Guitierrez, manager of the San Jacinto Wildlife Area, (951) 928-0580, told WON the following, “Everything is set for opening weekend, except we still are awaiting the final word on whether Mystic Lake will be open to hunting. We got lots of rain, but not enough to make a difference yet, it has evaporated at a fast rate and is more of a mud flat with the hot windy weather. There was a good local hatch of puddle ducks and new birds are now just starting to arrive.”
Kern National Wildlife Area (661) 725-2767, currently has about 1,000 acres flooded and ready for the arrival of new ducks. This popular refuge was holding over 4,000 ducks as of late September and more ducks are arriving in this part of the flyway.
This WON Senior hunting writer checked on some wetlands and pastureland this past week, while on a fly-fishing trip up and down the state. There were good numbers of Canada geese feeding in alfalfa fields, which bodes well for this coming season. Did not see a lot of puddle ducks on the wing or on resting ponds, with the exception of spotting good numbers of mallards. The white goose (snow and Ross’ geese) season will not open until Nov. 4 for Imperial Valley. According to the latest report from Jonathan Shore, refuge manager at the Sonny Bono National Wildlife Area, there are currently NO white geese on the federal refuge, but Shore expects the first arrival of new geese to be on the next full moon. For some reason, the Union Tract did not shoot all that well last season even though there was plenty of grass and alfalfa around blinds.
