Duck Hunting in southern California

[jduckhunter]

A few weeks ago, my son and I took a drive over to El Centro, California to see if we could shoot a couple of Cinnamon teal. It was a lovely drive of 2506 miles one way. We saw some pretty amazing landscapes and a few awesome sunrises and sunsets. And we didn't have to worry about wearing masks until we hit some of the more liberal states and even than we didn't always wear them. I guess if looks could kill we would have both been in trouble, but luckily, we both have pretty thick hides.
Any way the duck hunting was a bit slow, but we did manage to shoot a couple of nice cinnamon and green wing teal and even a few shovelers. Hunting ducks in 70+ degree temperatures is not what we are used to, but we adapted very quickly. It was the mud surrounding the ponds that presented the toughest challenge, some of it seemed bottomless and could really give you a problem if you lingered too long in one spot. All in all, it was a pretty amazing trip!

 

[cpr0312]

Awesome! Congrats and thanks for sharing!

 

[CoElkHunter]

A few weeks ago, my son and I took a drive over to El Centro, California to see if we could shoot a couple of Cinnamon teal. It was a lovely drive of 2506 miles one way. We saw some pretty amazing landscapes and a few awesome sunrises and sunsets. And we didn't have to worry about wearing masks until we hit some of the more liberal states and even than we didn't always wear them. I guess if looks could kill we would have both been in trouble, but luckily, we both have pretty thick hides.
Any way the duck hunting was a bit slow, but we did manage to shoot a couple of nice cinnamon and green wing teal and even a few shovelers. Hunting ducks in 70+ degree temperatures is not what we are used to, but we adapted very quickly. It was the mud surrounding the ponds that presented the toughest challenge, some of it seemed bottomless and could really give you a problem if you lingered too long in one spot. All in all, it was a pretty amazing trip!View attachment 448135View attachment 448139View attachment 448134View attachment 448138

Did you hunt the Imperial Wildlife (Wister) area?

 

[jduckhunter]

Did you hunt the Imperial Wildlife (Wister) area?

No, it was some private property that we were assured that it was alright to hunt on. And it must have been ok cause we didn't have any trouble.

 

[BourbonTrail]

Nice teals!

I’m glad you found a way to enjoy El Centro, it was always 120 in the shade when someone (the wife) wanted to visit San Diego.

 

[gillettehunter]

The cinamon teal have nice coloration. Long drive for less than stellar hunting. While in Louisiana recently there was a bit of talk about the lack of waterfowl in that area. Thanks for sharing.
Bruce

 

[Red Leg]

Long way for a spoonie, but I trust the cinnamon teal will be mounted. Killed one at Johnson's Bayou in South Louisiana around 1971 or 72. Pretty amazing thing in that part of the country. Had it mounted and it made it through perhaps three moves in the military. Congrats on a pair of wonderful things.

 

[jduckhunter]

The cinamon teal have nice coloration. Long drive for less than stellar hunting. While in Louisiana recently there was a bit of talk about the lack of waterfowl in that area. Thanks for sharing.
Bruce

Thanks Bruce yeah, the cinnamon teal are pretty flashy birds and yes it was a long drive, but we are used to long drives. We didn't have a lot of shooting, but we got did get our target birds so we're counting this trip as a success.
I just got back last night from the Texas gulf coast a few friends and I went down there for a couple of days of duck hunting. It was just a fun shoot for me with no targeted species. We had a little more shooting than we did in CA, but it still wasn't great there were plenty of ducks, but low water levels and the lack of bad weather combined to keep the birds from flying very much.

 

[jduckhunter]

Long way for a spoonie, but I trust the cinnamon teal will be mounted. Killed one at Johnson's Bayou in South Louisiana around 1971 or 72. Pretty amazing thing in that part of the country. Had it mounted and it made it through perhaps three moves in the military. Congrats on a pair of wonderful things.

You bet they will be mounted I was on the phone with my taxi this evening. Thinking I'm getting 2 drakes and one hen mounted together flying on a mount involving reeds and driftwood. Something like this.

 

[Firebird]

Congrats on a successful trophy duck hunt-very prime birds and will make great mounts

 

[Hunt anything]

Great birds, I have a buddy that hunts the Central Valley and his goal is to shoot an eurasian widgeon that he sees quite often but no shots yet. I want to get back out west for Barrow’s goldeneye and to Alaska for king eider that would complete my collection of all North American ducks .

 

[Deleted member 40394]

Long drive. I plan to hunt Texas next year for puddle ducks and divers. Never been as far as Missouri. The place in Texas I plan to go to shot a cinnamon teal a few weeks ago.

 

[Bearbait1]

I used to shoot lots of cinnamon teal on lake mead near vegas when I was forced to live in that miserable part of the world. Thats the only place ive hunted where they were common.

 

[jduckhunter]

Long drive. I plan to hunt Texas next year for puddle ducks and divers. Never been as far as Missouri. The place in Texas I plan to go to shot a cinnamon teal a few weeks ago.

In Texas last year we found quite a few cinnamon teal in the lake at Choke Canyon State Park

 

[Hunt anything]

How was the crossing into the peoples republic of California? I’ve heard it’s almost as bad as customs in some African countries with background checks for ammo and that sort of thing.

 

[jduckhunter]

How was the crossing into the peoples republic of California? I’ve heard it’s almost as bad as customs in some African countries with background checks for ammo and that sort of thing.

We had no trouble at all, we did get stopped at the border and were asked some silly questions about transporting fruits, vegetables and firewood. We answered no to all their questions and were on our way. We were warned in advance to bring plenty of ammo because a nonresident isn't allowed to purchase ammo in Cali.

 

[Hunt anything]

That’s good I haven’t hunted there since the 80’s and 90’s for ducks in the 90’s and bear and blacktail deer in the 80’s before they closed bear to non residents. Bear may be open to non residents now I just don’t know.

 

[Deleted member 40394]

We had no trouble at all, we did get stopped at the border and were asked some silly questions about transporting fruits, vegetables and firewood. We answered no to all their questions and were on our way. We were warned in advance to bring plenty of ammo because a nonresident isn't allowed to purchase ammo in Cali.

They stop everyone that enters that place?

 

[Rubberhead]

I'm, slowly, working on the Duck Slam and a cinnamon is on the list...I'm trying to do it DYI entirely in my home state of South Carolina. Of course, killing all 32 species of ducks in the slam entirely in SC is somewhere between illegal and impossible because the harlequin is illegal everywhere except 1/year in Washington state and 4/year in Alaska. And, a Barrow's goldeneye has never been recorded anywhere in either of the carolinas. I'm at 25 now with a Black-bellied Whistling Duck and Common Mergansers as the most likely to get me to 27. I'm going to allow myself to travel to finish things out if I can get to 27. Here's my total right now - everything except the Cackling Goose and Tundra Swans were taken in SC...

As far as documentation goes, I've got a video pick-up of every species (except greater scaup but I'm working on that) and have every species documented in the USFWS wing survey. I'm not dong taxidermy - I'm trying to get a "magazine quality" photo of each bird with something meaningful to the hunt like gun, calls, decoys, etc and I'm going to bind them into a hard back photo gook for the coffee table. Five of the last 6 species I've added were killed over decoys that I made from old Herter's bodies and painted myself...

 

[jduckhunter]

They stop everyone that enters that place

If only they could stop some from leaving.

I'm, slowly, working on the Duck Slam and a cinnamon is on the list...I'm trying to do it DYI entirely in my home state of South Carolina. Of course, killing all 32 species of ducks in the slam entirely in SC is somewhere between illegal and impossible because the harlequin is illegal everywhere except 1/year in Washington state and 4/year in Alaska. And, a Barrow's goldeneye has never been recorded anywhere in either of the carolinas. I'm at 25 now with a Black-bellied Whistling Duck and Common Mergansers as the most likely to get me to 27. I'm going to allow myself to travel to fini. sh things out if I can get to 27. Here's my total right now - everything except the Cackling Goose and Tundra Swans were taken in SC...

As far as documentation goes, I've got a video pick-up of every species (except greater scaup but I'm working on that) and have every species documented in the USFWS wing survey. I'm not dong taxidermy - I'm trying to get a "magazine quality" photo of each bird with something meaningful to the hunt like gun, calls, decoys, etc and I'm going to bind them into a hard back photo gook for the coffee table. Five of the last 6 species I've added were killed over decoys that I made from old Herter's bodies and painted myself...

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Good luck getting that slam Rubberhead, I'll be pulling for you! My count stands at 39 of the Big 41.