I've bought one every year since they became available for the wildlife areas but last year was the first time I didn't go enough to make it worth while. You have to go to 10 wildlife areas to make it be a little better than break even compared to 2 day passes. In the past I've gone to as many as 3 in a day but the incentive isn't there anymore. I should have hunted ducks more last year I guess.
Who's buying a Class A season pass?
- Thread starter calamari
- Start date
quail hound
Moderator
I will, if nothing more than as a donation. Its nice to jump from refuge to refuge anyways,.:cheers:
Last year I broke even, just with the help of duck. When I purchased my license the passes were not yet available because of the drought. Did they open it up? I'm with Quail Hound, I'll at least donate. The other way I look at it is that it's a pain to remember to keep buying them. It's easy enough online now but still something I have to pay attention to.
I am not leasing a duck blind again this year, so I will use the Class A season pass more than 10 times. The November and early December doldrums for duck hunting are a perfect time to pheasant hunt the refuges and scout for some water with food and cover that might pan out for duck hunting later in the season. Heck, I usually end up kicking up a mallard or two while we hunt along the edges of the tulies in November anyway. Even though pheasant hunting seemed akin to self immolation for me last year, I went anyway to get the dog out and was pleasantly surprised several times when I stumbled on to holes in the tulies where mallards were working and holding. I doubled back to the car, grabbed the half-dozen decoys I always keep in the back and had some very pleasant AND lonesome afternoon duck hunts.
Like you I've had great duck shoots in the afternoons on blue bird days when everybody else left to watch the game. Even a couple birds coming to you when half the refuge is empty makes for a great day in my book.:cheers:
I had to pinch myself last season when that happened. I barely even had to call and I had the greenheads coming in on a string to the hole. Sometimes they made a couple of passes and I was just waiting for someone to shoot in the distance and flare them. Never happened and I scored a couple of doubles even!
I have come to love November on the refuges. If I can't make it to Oregon, Montana or North Dakota during that time period, then hanging out on a sunny California day in the wetlands pretty much by myself is a decent second place activity. Either that or if there has been any rain (which of course there hasn't been in a quite awhile) we head for the hills and chase after chukar and quail on BLM or National Forest land. Another activity akin to self-immolation, particularly in the case of chukar hunting. No matter what, the dog enjoys the hell out of the hunting and I have to admit, it ain't too bad for me either.
I have come to love November on the refuges. If I can't make it to Oregon, Montana or North Dakota during that time period, then hanging out on a sunny California day in the wetlands pretty much by myself is a decent second place activity. Either that or if there has been any rain (which of course there hasn't been in a quite awhile) we head for the hills and chase after chukar and quail on BLM or National Forest land. Another activity akin to self-immolation, particularly in the case of chukar hunting. No matter what, the dog enjoys the hell out of the hunting and I have to admit, it ain't too bad for me either.
It's a very good bargain when just comparing it to the day passes but it's not so much if you actually want to shoot a bird or two at least up in the North Valley. You get access to beautiful riparian/wetlands at the prettiest time of the year which is probably enough reason to go a lot.
OK, Charlie, I'll buy one
As a reference, my Calif. resident's license with all the endorsements for birds costs me a little over $100 more than my out of state license that provides access to over 3 million acres of land. I'm not complaining, just giving a point of reference.
Calisdad
New member
Don't forget, included is the privilege of getting up at 4am to secure a place in line. It's a fashion show of all the latest and greatest camo combinations.
I seriously need to do some out of state bird chasing. Until we can get the California Pheasant Hunter listed as an endangered species not much is going to happen on the habitat improvement front.
I seriously need to do some out of state bird chasing. Until we can get the California Pheasant Hunter listed as an endangered species not much is going to happen on the habitat improvement front.
ditchparrot19
Member
I guess I'll buy one this year, mainly because I've got the 1-year-old Lap pup that'll have fun out there whether or not we ever run into a single pheasant.
quail hound
Moderator
I went on the dfw website last night and they still aren't for sale, hopefully they just let us assume our own risk and but one soon.
I bought my license and tried to get a Class A season Pass and they still aren't available. The reason stated on the stores machine was that because of the drought, wildlife areas may not get any water which affects how they are going to deal with access through year long passes. Doesn't sound good at all.
I spoke with the manager of grizzly Island as well as a couple of wardens. They said the season passes should be available. It has more to do with how many ponds in the refuges that will get flooded. If they decide to flood half of them then people might just give up. Those 2 percent chances at getting a reservation at places like Delevin will go way down if they cut back on the amount of hunter's allowed in. If a bunch of people bought early only to find out they cut back severely they might have a bunch of angry "customers"!
This gets to the heart of the pheasant hunting opportunities on the wildlife areas. Hunting on the areas is all about duck hunting and not upland hunting for an introduced exotic species. There is very little funding and no public funding I'm aware of just for pheasants on the wildlife areas. The Upland Game Bird Stamp money is not used to benefit pheasants alone. Pheasants benefit only because if you help native upland birds like quail or doves they get some benefit too. They plant safflower with that money they don't build brood strips for pheasants.
Equating pond flooding with the yearly pass is not really a good comparison. The yearly pass has nothing to do with the reservation system. If you have hunters drop out of the refuge hunting system, a percentage of the ones that remain will still want to buy yearly passes. The ones that would remain would be the more hardcore duck hunters and therefore probably a higher percentage would hold a yearly pass. Most of the entrants to the wildlife areas use a season pass.
The DFW License Branch took gas in the past over their program for yearly reservation applications because you paid for the whole year even if there was a late opening of the areas due to a late rice harvest. Now you only pay for the shoot days left in the season when you apply so you can wait to see if there is a late opening or only apply in November for the last three months of the season.
I assume their stated concern is that having a reduced capacity due to a lack of water will devalue the season pass but what I have also been told is that season passes are not well liked in the department because they cost the department money. If you had to "spend" a day or two day pass each time you entered a wildlife area over the course of a year the department would get more money and actually the hunting would be better too because people wouldn't be as likely to enter late in the day and spend a pass to only hunt a couple of hours. The result would be fewer guys on the areas late in the day and better duck hunting in the last hour of shoot time like it used to be. Now guys hunt the morning flight leave and go to work or fish or whatever and come back just for the end of the day and with the season pass incur no extra expense for this behavior.
If they only flood half of the ponds and cut the capacity in half there will still be lots of guys in the sweat line ready to fill openings. It's been over a decade since I used the reservation system due to the slim odds of getting drawn but I'm able to hunt all that I want using the lottery and sweat line system.
If they don't issue yearly passes there will be way more angry customers than they'd have from the reduced capacity brought on by the drought.
Well explained. I see your point. I just received last year's odd sheet for reservations. It's amazing how many people apply for those prime spots. I use the reservations to attempt to get in a prime place or two during the pheasant and duck season. I'm not sure I want to drive north hoping I get lucky. I would rather take my chances locally where I know I could get in. And unfortunately I don't have the funds this year for a club so I'm back to refuge. On another note, I'm going to push harder to find some Quail.
You've described the hard part about the unattached hunter. I've been retired for 21 years so, and don't spread this around, I don't have a lot of better things to do than sit in the parking lots of the refuges trying to get lucky in the lottery.
Unless the duck hunting gets really good you can almost always get onto Gray Lodge before shoot time. The bad news is that the pheasant hunting is double tough for all the known reasons. There are a lot of turkeys and some quail there so if you want your dog to get a snoot full of bird scent GL will show the pooch a good time. You might find some crippled ducks too as a bonus. I always feel better about the sport if I do.
I can't wait for the day that I don't have anything better to do! My wife would tell you that hunting is all I talk about and that I need more "us" time! I tell her to come with me, it's just like walking the dog! She's not buying it. On another note, I'm going to do GL. I've heard good things about the place. It's on the list!
The guys in the DFW office don't get out much, do they? The annual passes work great for getting people through the lines quickly before sunrise.
I don't care what they do. I show up late to pheasant hunt on the refuges and usually get in somewhere. If I have buy a stack of day passes, than that is what I will do.
The hatch was likely terrible this year and pheasant hunting here in California after my North Dakota October hunt seems anticlimactic. After a day of crashing through chest high star thistle, contending with mosquitoes and 80-degree heat, all for a flush or two, eventually puts the dog out. She just stops sometimes and looks at me, as if to say "why the hell are you doing this to me?"
I agree about the lack of management for the pheasants. The funny thing is that if the refuges worked on trying to hatch ducks, instead of just giving them winter habitat, the pheasants would prosper too. Of course they would never admit it, particularly the Feds, because of their position on non-native species. If they allocated some water to a decent late winter - early spring shallow flood up, they would get that healthy insect-laden upland grass that duckling and pheasant hatchlings need to survive.
I don't care what they do. I show up late to pheasant hunt on the refuges and usually get in somewhere. If I have buy a stack of day passes, than that is what I will do.
The hatch was likely terrible this year and pheasant hunting here in California after my North Dakota October hunt seems anticlimactic. After a day of crashing through chest high star thistle, contending with mosquitoes and 80-degree heat, all for a flush or two, eventually puts the dog out. She just stops sometimes and looks at me, as if to say "why the hell are you doing this to me?"
I agree about the lack of management for the pheasants. The funny thing is that if the refuges worked on trying to hatch ducks, instead of just giving them winter habitat, the pheasants would prosper too. Of course they would never admit it, particularly the Feds, because of their position on non-native species. If they allocated some water to a decent late winter - early spring shallow flood up, they would get that healthy insect-laden upland grass that duckling and pheasant hatchlings need to survive.
That is pretty much what a DFG guy told me. He told me pheasant are a non-native species so they don't get the same attention that the ducks do. The refuge I hunt does plant mylo and grain in some of the upland fields so I would hope that at least provides some feed for the pheasants.
One change I like at the refuges (at least the ones I go to) is that they stopped selling the day passes at the check in station. It has sped up the lines. You no longer Uncle Bill digging through his pockets trying to dig up $1.75 in change. I don't buy the annual passes cause they aren't worth it for pheasants only. I can only go hunting so many days with work.
One change I like at the refuges (at least the ones I go to) is that they stopped selling the day passes at the check in station. It has sped up the lines. You no longer Uncle Bill digging through his pockets trying to dig up $1.75 in change. I don't buy the annual passes cause they aren't worth it for pheasants only. I can only go hunting so many days with work.
quail hound
Moderator
Bingo enzinn! When talking about upland habitat talk about all the other wildlife that benefit from healthy uplands and don't even bring up pheasants.