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DUCKS SLOW IN ARRIVING
BUT IT WON'T BE MUCH LONGER
By: Ron Wilson
December 4, 2003.... So far this year
hunting ducks in California has been miserable! I have hunted nearly every
weekend since opening day and done a lot of looking and not much seeing!
One weekend we managed
8 mallards both days, but the majority of weekends have been setting out
the decoys, drinking some coffee, looking at the sky and then picking up
the decoys and going home.
Several area hunters are having the same unsuccessful outings as we are. I
guess the old saying, “its not duck hunting time until mid-December,” is
true. But for the avid duck hunters’ waiting is not an option. They want
to be in the grasslands when the birds get here. They keep going with the
dream that they’ll be here tomorrow or the next day.
Any smart duck hunter would be doing other things, like hunting local
honkers or pheasants or chasing sturgeon in the delta. They’re on the bite
this time of year.
”Oops” I forgot, I’m not sure there is such a thing as a smart duck
hunter! I mean anybody who would leave a nice comfortable cozy warm bed at
3 in the morning to go play in the wind and rain definitely has to be a
brick short of a load!
Speaking of that shy brick I was out last Saturday and Sunday. Windy
weather Saturday with lots of teal and diver ducks flying, but the elusive
mallards just weren’t interested in our spread. We managed 5 teal. ]
Sunday the weather was perfect, wind with spitting rain. But there were
very few ducks in the air. The teal seem to have moved through and
continued south over night.
With this week’s upcoming storm maybe, just maybe, the birds will show up
in numbers and we can bag a limit for a change. With the bird count higher
than last year they have to be hanging out somewhere!
For the last couple weeks I have heard that Mendota was the place to shoot
ducks. It seems they flew over the grasslands and headed further south
than they should have!
Something must have encouraged them to head further south than normal. It
can’t be the water because we have plenty here. The amount of food is the
only other factor it could be.
This Wednesday my sources said it looks like the waterfowl have finally
started moving in. Reports from all over the valley indicate that hunters
are harvesting ducks again! No great migration, but compared to what we
have seen, this is a godsend!
If this upcoming storm dumps on the valley for 3 or 4 days look for the
action to break wide open. There will be waterfowl everywhere! |
