The previous post-season high for pintail was in 2007 with 1,275 total pintail banded.  Our pintail banding efforts are a partnership with California Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) which is critical to the support of Adaptive Harvest Management for pintails.  Our totals so far are: 2,396 pintail, 553 American wigeon, 29 wood ducks, 19 green wing teal, two gadwall and one mallard for a grand total of 3,000 total banded birds!  Along with the new bands we have also captured 22 pintail that were previously banded.  Of those recaptures, 7 were previously banded in the exact same spot by our crews from earlier years, and 6 were originally banded in Canada!  We even had one recapture where three of the numbers were worn off completely which we will send in to the BBL to have it acid etched to reveal the missing numbers.  We could not have had such success without the help and cooperation of DFW, our trusted volunteers and most of all a hard-working banding crew!  We still have a few weeks left before the birds head back north to the breeding grounds!

Youth Hunter Summer Camps (Level 1) - California Waterfowl brings you exciting, outdoor summer camps for young people (who want to get a hunter education certificate) at the Grizzly Ranch Conservation Education Center.  The Level 1 camps are scheduled for June 10-14, June 24-28 and July 15-19 including hunter safety, safe gun handling and shooting skills in shotgun, rifle and archery as well as wildlife conservation activities like duck banding.  Overnight lodging, food, ammunition, targets included, early registration discount of $50, see http://m.calwaterfowl.org/calendar for more information and to register. 

Youth Hunter Summer Camps (Level 2) - California Waterfowl brings you exciting, outdoor summer camps for young hunters (with hunter education certificate) at the Grizzly Ranch Conservation Education Center.  The Level 2 camps are scheduled for June 17-21, July 8-12 and July 22-26 including hunting skills, shooting in shotgun, rifle and archery, fishing as well as wildlife conservation activities like duck banding.  Five days of fun for new, young hunters and outdoor enthusiasts.  Overnight lodging, food, ammunition, targets included, early registration discount of $50, see http://m.calwaterfowl.org/calendar for more information and to register. 

• Archery - can be used for hunting or for sport
• Bowhunting Certification (prerequisite to bowhunting in some states)
• Fishing (fishing license required)
• Gyotaku - the ancient art of documenting trophy fish without harming the meat
• Home canning and preserving
• Hunter Education (prerequisite to obtaining a hunting license)
• Kayaking and boat driving
• Rifle - can be used for some hunting, as well as sports such as biathlon
• Sewing with leather
• Shotgun - can be used for some hunting, as well as sports such as trap, skeet and sporting clays
• Orienteering (navigating wild environments)
• Wildlife photography

The Gray Lodge Wildlife Area provides critical habitat for both waterfowl and hunters, but when drought strikes, that habitat is in jeopardy. We can't create more water when the rains let us down, but a $1.5 million grant to CWA from the state's Wildlife Conservation Board will help maximize Gray Lodge's water efficiency, allowing wildlife area managers to re-use substantial amounts of water.

This major grant, awarded on Feb. 22, will fund three projects:

- A new recirculation pump and pipeline will allow habitat managers to recover 70% to 80% of all water that would otherwise leave the property at its lowest point. This water can return to 4,100 acres to increase food production and flood brood ponds.

- Gray Lodge's Eastern Recovery Canal, which CWA began building in 2015, will be extended to help recover 1,600 acre-feet of water from 450 acres of habitat.

- Unit 36 will be smoothed out to raise the lows elevations, which require more water for flooding, and bring down the highs, increasing the areas that can be flooded to improve waterfowl food production.

Spring turkey and pig hunts in the CWA Hunt Program are now available online, including the junior turkey opener on March 24. The application deadline is THIS Saturday, March 10!

Apply today!

http://m.calwaterfowl.org/hunt-program-desc

Time is running out to fill out a 2018 Public-Land Hunter Survey. Let your voice be heard and be automatically entered into a random drawing for a Stoeger 12ga shotgun. Survey results will be made available to all California Waterfowl members and shared with state and federal decision makers to better communicate hunter preferences. 

 

Click here to take the survey.