Nor Cal WLA's for the pheasant opener...

L

lowyder993s

New member
For the pheasant opener i was drawn:

Sat:
Grizzly Island #130
Mendota #17

Sun:
Grizzly Island #74
Gadwall Unit North Grasslands #7
Grey Lodge #95
Mendota #86

Any ideas on these places? Haven't hunted most of them in 25 yrs since living in San Jose. I'm wide open and can split the units up or stay at Griz. I'm bringing waders...as I recall at Grizzly, I fell in a 5' deep slough about 2' across. That SUCKED! TIA. Oh, bringing 2 vizsla's along
 
I live about 20 miles east of Mendota and the bird numbers are pretty bad, I would take Grizzly over it even though I've never hunted Grizzly.

Graylodge is pretty good and you might get a turkey pointed if you hunt the right areas and lots of quail are a bonus. Gadwall can be good and if you have a type A season pass you could hunt Los Banos and Salt Slough also.

I would hunt Grizzly then make your decision from there.
 
The numbers at Gray Lodge are so depressed that they've actually planted birds there the last two years at least. They used to shoot 1,400 roosters there on opening day and last year they got something like 300+/- for the whole season. Almost the same number of turkeys as pheasants were shot there last year.
The former area manager of Mendota, now retired, has been trying to do habitat work on Gray Lodge to improve pheasant numbers but lack of water when the chicks need it due to mosquito abatement district requirements and money has limited its success.
They've also converted a large area that held consistent pheasant numbers to the NW of lot 6 on the East side to big sheetwater duck ponds. The money is for ducks and the areas are going that way at the expense of upland birds.
You've got a tough choice due to the areas being so far apart. Grizzley Island can have good hatches in some years. You ought to give the area a call and yes they have deep ditches and really foul smelling mud from the brackish water!
 
I would go Grizzly as well....they killed more wild roosters at Grizzly last year than any other wildlife area in the state. Gray Lodge was No. 2.

You might make a trip up to Gray Lodge on Sunday as it's a beautiful refuge in the fall and a nice place to hunt .... Also remember that Grizzly is first come and first served -- even with a reservation. And they do limit the number of upland hunters into the fields. All the serious Grizzly Island pheasant hunters I know with reservations will be in line at the check station Friday afternoon/evening so they get onto the upland fields.

Also, it was a good wild pheasant hatch last year so there will be birds at both refuges. The state of California does not plant any wildlife areas with pen-raised pheasants -- the only exception being for some junior/women's/novice/ apprentice hunts, none of which are held at Gray Lodge to my knowledge.
 
Last edited:
Sporting Days said:
The state of California does not plant any wildlife areas with pen-raised pheasants -- the only exception being for some junior/women's/novice/ apprentice hunts, none of which are held at Gray Lodge to my knowledge.
Click to expand...

That was always my understanding too but Andy Atkinson, the Gray Lodge, Oroville and Spenceville areas manager apparently took some of the proceeds from the rice lease on Pennington Road and bought pheasants that were planted at Gray Lodge and Howard Slough at least the last two years due to the poor production and resulting poor hunting opportunities on both areas. The planting wasn't done as part of any special hunts. Area managers have great latitude in what takes place on the areas they are responsible for. Ask at the check station at Gray Lodge. When they checked your birds it was to see if the nostrils indicated a planted or wild bird giving them an indication of what the return on the plant was. I don't know how many were planted but I doubt it was many spread over two big areas and I don't know if they did it this year.
Where did the information come from about this year being a good production year? Not saying it's wrong, just curious because that would be a nice change from the long term trend and especially so in a "dry" year like this one was in the spring. Too dry, too wet it's hard to play it in the middle and get a lot of production.
 
Wow...surprising info about the Gray Lodge plants, Calamari. The good pheasant hatch info is anecdotal -- from duck hunting friends who say they have been jumping pheasants left and right when walking to and from their blinds/ponds at the wildlife areas.
 
Last edited:
I don't want to damper anyone's spirits but has anyone been out quail hunting? Numbers are down and I expect much of the same for pheasants but I'm down here around Fresno so maybe it's better up north.
 
Sporting Days said:
Wow...surprising info about the Gray Lodge plants, Calamari. The good pheasant hatch info is anecdotal -- from duck hunting friends who say they have been jumping pheasants left and right when walking to and from their blinds/ponds at the wildlife areas.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean about the plants but if the wild birds are in the tank I'm happy Andy and Steve Cordes are concerned and trying to make a better hunting experience for those that hunt the WAs.
As far as being anecdotal info about the production I'd class it as pretty darn good stuff. That was always the way it was in the good years. Pheasants everywhere in the dark.
I didn't do it this year but last year and for the two years before, the retired Mendota manager, a retired DFG unit biologist, a good friend of us all and myself would take our dogs and go to the brood strips he'd installed on Gray Lodge in August and count the number of young, immature hens and roosters and adults by flushing what we could find in the vicinity of the strips. All the dogs were good hunters and the manager brought two Labs so we tore the cover up pretty good. We didn't find many birds even with the brood strips being there to get the young onto invertebrates as soon as possible and thus allowing them to transition to carbohydrates.
One year 6 of us went to the closed zone of Little Dry Creek close to Butte Creek and did counts for comparison to the brood strips I guess. It was in two fields of head high, thick Smart Weed that was full of birds but almost impossible to walk through. It was so thick the dogs were walking on top of the stuff about 2' above the ground. We didn't get a good count there because they just ran away from us but there were definitely more than in the Gray Lodge hunting area with the strips. I don't know and none of them did either why the pheasant population went into such a swoon after the high water mark of the 1990s.
The retired manager felt a big problem with the pheasants was the exploding population of turkeys and was instrumental in getting them available for hunting. It's only been a couple of years but if it helps the pheasants there should be a start to improved numbers. Maybe what your friends are seeing is the beginning of a trend. Lets hope so.
 
Last edited:
qh, I didn't go quail hunting this year but live in a subdivision east of Auburn in the foothills with quail in the yard. The covey size this year is definitely lower here but that's often a function of the number of cats people put out at night. Cat numbers are up so...
 
Quail numbers aren't off bad around here but I think that has more to do with the number of carry over birds from last year then good broods this year. I spent some time early spring at Merced NWR (still not sure why we can't pheasant hunt there) and Los Banos. I heard good numbers of roosters crowing early on but never saw much of anything for broods. The staff at are less than helpful at both places and just say "Pheasants? Not many around anymore."

Pheasant numbers were a bit off last year from what I saw in my travels and I don't think our dry spring helped them out this year either.

I don't know why more upland habitat isn't worked on at our NWR's and WA's. The guys at Mendota laughed when I asked if there were many quail out there, they said go to the hills for quail. I said "Really, I have to go to the hills to hunt VALLEY quail?" I laugh everytime I hunt my spot 5-6 miles north of there and flush hundereds of quail everytime.
 
quail hound said:
I don't know why more upland habitat isn't worked on at our NWR's and WA's.
Click to expand...
The money in WA budgets is tight and being eroded in Gray Lodge's case by the local mosquito abatement district's demands. The Gray Lodge manager told me that their demands for compensation has doubled every year for several years and was 25% of his operating budget year before last. He expected if the rate of increase doesn't stop that his entire budget will go to them in a few years.
They also won't allow him to flood up in the spring for returning waterfowl that incidentally helps young upland birds by providing a feather edge along the water for them to use for feeding. They've actually filed and gotten approval for Cease and Desist orders from the local courts to stop Andy from putting water on the area in the spring.
The money he does get from grants is mostly for waterfowl habitat from sources like the North American Wetland Conservation Act(NAWCA). That was the source for the funds to construct that canal you see on the east side that brings Feather River water to Gray Lodge and to convert uplands to wetlands. The Upland Bird stamp money helps with pheasants but it has to go to a number of different bird species throughout the state.
 
I understand budget constraints but there are alot of things that could be done for very little money on these areas to help pheasants and quail. One spot in Los Banos comes to mind that is so thatched no green grass has grown in years. If they would let me I'd tow my old Massey 30 the 60mi from my house and run a disk over the spot in the spring for free.
 
qh I know what you mean and I bet there are a bunch of other people with skills and equipment like you that would be willing to help. When I've asked about the subject of volunteer help like manning the check station during the low volume first week of pheasant season so there would be more shoot days there was no support for it from the area managers I've discussed it with. Resistance to change, giving up control, liability who knows what but they all get vague smiles on their faces and change the subject. Getting a piece of private equipment, privately onto the public's property is more problematic in that accidents can happen and claims made. Private leases of parts of the wildlife area for grain production and grazing done somehow with the operators equipment being used so it's possible I assume.
Maybe that field provides habitat that is important to something other than upland birds? It's easy to forget these areas are to protect and enhance all plants and wildlife and not just those subject to consumptive uses.
My apologies to the OP for the thread hijacking.
 
I also apologise to the OP for the hi jack but I hope he enjoyed the conversation as much as I did. We need more of these types of interactions with other hunters with boots on the groundIf we are going to help upland game, not just folks lamenting that the hunting "Ain't what it used to be." :cheers:
 
I agree with QH...wouldn't take that much, I don't think, to improve the upland habitat at some of the WAs. I mean a little habitat work at Gray Lodge could boost the wild pheasant population substantially -- and would be way more cost effective and mission appropriate than buying and releasing commercially raised pheasants.

Gray Lodge and other WAs should leave that job to the many private licensed pheasant clubs or community hunting organizations like Richvale, Knights Landing, Willows, etc.

I'm thinking a local Pheasants Forever chapter would be a good vehicle to get some habitat work done at the WAs. The WAs might not have such an issue partnering with Pheasants Forever -- or do they also have issues with partnering with DU and CWA?
 
calamari said:
My apologies to the OP for the thread hijacking.
Click to expand...

No problem...VERY intersting discussion. I'd inadvertantly unsubscribed myself. Looks like the choice was right; although a real Bonzai run for pheasant. I left San Diego @ 1 p.m. on the friday before the opener...making it to Faifield at midnite thx to LA traffic. Got to the motel 6 and put in a 2nd story room w/ outside terrace for access. 1 of my dogs got out of the elevator and spooked being 1 floor up. Thought he was following behind...got the 1st one in the room and then went for a walk about to find the dummy; these dogs NEVER leave my eyesight. Found him on the grond floor and drug his azz up and across the veranda to get 3 hrs sleep. Got to Grizz and took lot 14. 8 to 10 other dogs I could see and about 3x hunters.
1st shot wasn't till well after 8...maybe a 1/2 hr. Did a long slog to the other side w/ them double teaming a rooster next to a ditch. I farmed that one. Another guy's setter put up another rooster at about 50 yds; farmed that too. I know; I suck. Looking about a 1/4 mile out in the field saw a rooster light. 20 minutes later; the dogs pinned him and i DID get that one. When I got back to the lot only 6 birds had been taken. Guy at the shack checked mine and it was a wild bird. Great plummage and sharp azz spurs. Family was out of town so I bombed back Sat. afternoon and had the bird for dinner sun. night. Sorry about all the writing for just 1 bird. About a $500.00 bird when all is calculated in. Thx for the help guys, and the info on the politics of the WA's.:cheers:
 
lowyder993s said:
About a $500.00 bird when all is calculated in. :
Click to expand...

Glad you had an adventure and never do that calculation. It makes it hard to defend the sport to anyone but especially yourself.:)
Most of the wild life areas in the north had poor openers. Only 8 birds total shot opening day at Howard Slough for example from what I was told.
Some of the planted birds apparently make it for awhile. I shot a planter that had spurs that were almost 3/4" long and sharp as needles so it had made it for at least a year and maybe two. They hadn't planted anything on Gray Lodge or Upper Butte Basin for the opener.
 
$500 per bird sounds about right to me.:D I've only taken 3 wild birds this year but one was an old hook spur I was pretty proud of. I plucked him and roasted him up for thanksgiving.:cheers:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top