Who's buying a Class A season pass?

[quail hound]

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.

I've seen the milo at Salt slough for a few years and have never shot a bird that had a stitch of it in their craw and never put up a bird out of it, the latter is probably because a lot of people walk it I imagine. The Sudan plots on the other hand usually produce a few flushes. I'm glad they plant it though because at least there is some soil disturbance going on which I'd like to see more of as some fields get very rank over the years.

 

[enzinn]

I am not a biologist, so I could be dead wrong about this, but I think the chicks need insects when they first hatch. And in California they hatch during the what is ostensibly the beginning of our drought season, which makes it hard to find that green grass with all the insects in it.

The same goes for ducklings. That is why the high dollar private duck clubs manage for both spring conditions and winter conditions. If they can hatch their own mallards and imprint them with food, self-imposed closed zones and staggered shoot days, who needs migrators? And I for one have had some wonderful pheasant hunts on areas that abut those clubs with the birds that leaked out into the nearby tule patches.

As a sweeping generalization our California refuges primarily manage for the winter habitat. I don't know if it is a money issue or just an attitude issue, but that is state of things as of now.

 

[calamari]

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.

In the northern valley refuges the local Mosquito Abatement Districts use the refuges as their cash cow. Gray Lodge was sued by one of them (they have two districts with authority over their land) to prevent spring flood up on a bunch of normally flooded ponds and DFG didn't do it. The area manager told me a few years ago that almost 25% of the area's funding goes to pay the Abatement District to kill the invertebrates that all young birds need early in life. He expected it to do nothing but increase over time.
Vector Control Districts have powers like FEMA and can force people to do all sorts of things that they may not want to do and may be a bad idea from a wildlife standpoint while also making them pay the district to do it.
Research West Nile Virus mortality rates and see why the big bad bug is not that large a crisis over time.

 

[enzinn]

I think they do the same thing in the Grasslands for the same reason.

Doesn't really seem to make a damn difference though later in the year. You can bank on 80-degree days thick with mosquitoes by the water at the Grasslands refuges in mid-November. Sometimes all the way through December.

I have seen figures of around 1% of people infected manifest serious problems. I have never seen per capita estimates of infected people, so I don't know if infection is on the rise, static or in decline.

Just one more coffin nail in the management of our refuges and the overall decline of our uplands and wetlands habitat and wildlife.

 

[quail hound]

One story I like to tell is about the time I was at Merced NWR reading a placard about how important mosquitos are as feed in the spring at the exact same time mosquito abatement showed up to spray. I believe that's called a double whammy when your paying someone to make it harder to raise broods.

 

[calamari]

There are still mosquitos in the north but nothing like what I've seen in the past. I can remember finally understanding why people and animals can go crazy from those things after one day early in the season at Gray Lodge.
There used to be clouds of non biting midges too but no more. I talked to an abatement employee one time about a spray plane we'd seen that morning flying in the dark over rice fields near Thermalito and he said they are able to use infra red devices before sunrise to find swarms of insects and concentrate on those areas after the sun comes up. Very efficient but very non-selective too.

 

[NewmanCA]

I've seen the milo at Salt slough for a few years and have never shot a bird that had a stitch of it in their craw and never put up a bird out of it, the latter is probably because a lot of people walk it I imagine. The Sudan plots on the other hand usually produce a few flushes. I'm glad they plant it though because at least there is some soil disturbance going on which I'd like to see more of as some fields get very rank over the years.

I've gone through the milo patches several times over the past couple of years. A couple times I was the first person through. I haven't ever kicked a bird out of it. At least the Milo I've walked through at the refuge, In between the rows are pretty clean so I suspect even though the milo is fairly tall, any birds in there are just running ahead into the dense cover in front of the mylo.

Last year we walked through the thick grain fields and I flushed a lot of pheasants.

 

[NewmanCA]

I am not a biologist, so I could be dead wrong about this, but I think the chicks need insects when they first hatch. And in California they hatch during the what is ostensibly the beginning of our drought season, which makes it hard to find that green grass with all the insects in it.

The same goes for ducklings. That is why the high dollar private duck clubs manage for both spring conditions and winter conditions. If they can hatch their own mallards and imprint them with food, self-imposed closed zones and staggered shoot days, who needs migrators? And I for one have had some wonderful pheasant hunts on areas that abut those clubs with the birds that leaked out into the nearby tule patches.

As a sweeping generalization our California refuges primarily manage for the winter habitat. I don't know if it is a money issue or just an attitude issue, but that is state of things as of now.

I've read the same thing. I am no biologist either. I've just read a lot of material on it over the years. I've read if the insects aren't there the chicks starve. One article I read stressed the importance of broadleaf weeds. They are a food source for insects and they also provide cover for chicks from overhead predators. Broadleaf weeds are taken out by herbicides, on private property anyway. I've been told by several people that they have seen a lot of roosters along the duck clubs in Gustine so I can believe that. Some of those duck clubs provide good winter and spring cover.

 

[calamari]

It's good to remember that they're called wildlife refuges and not duck, or pheasant or dove or quail refuges. They plant food crops on the refuges for a lot of different wildlife and not just game species. I've been told they even plant some for Sand Hill Cranes in that the grain attracts other food sources for the Cranes to utilize. Migrating songbirds are a large user of the food plots too. One area only cuts half of its safflower before the dove opener and cuts the second half late in the year for other wildlife.

 

[quail hound]

I understand that. I was saying that in my experience pheasants don't use the milo, not that they were worthless or a waste of money. As Newman said, the ones I've seen were very clean so I'm sure that has a lot to do with it. Some of the crested wheat plots I've hunted have been great and I've even shot a rooster with a grain or two of it in their craw.:cheers: I'd like to see a little Alf Alfa on the areas, even just strips, lots of wildlife seen to enjoy a good Alf Alfa field.

 

[NewmanCA]

I have noticed an overall decline in the mosquito populations at the refuge. during the summer months they would come in a big bunches. I used spray repellant and you could see this cloud of mosquitos trying to follow me. I don't see that anymore. There are still a good number of mosquitos around and I would not hunt the first pheasant day with spray repellant,

 

[calamari]

I'd like to see a little Alf Alfa on the areas, even just strips, lots of wildlife seen to enjoy a good Alf Alfa field.

Water. Alfalfa takes a lot of water to grow which is usually in short supply anyway and can result in the abatement district going into a tailspin since there is often flood irrigation involved. I doubt you'll ever see sprinklers on a wildlife area in Calif.

 

[quail hound]

Water. Alfalfa takes a lot of water to grow which is usually in short supply anyway and can result in the abatement district going into a tailspin since there is often flood irrigation involved. I doubt you'll ever see sprinklers on a wildlife area in Calif.

If you're going for maximum yield that's true but if you just wanted good brooding cover it could be achieved with much less water and usually alfalfa can live up to 8 years without being reseeded. A good "heirloom" variety would work well I think.


http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=17721

 

[NewmanCA]

If you're going for maximum yield that's true but if you just wanted good brooding cover it could be achieved with much less water and usually alfalfa can live up to 8 years without being reseeded.


http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=17721

We are growing alfalfa on our place although I am not an expert on it. Got someone else doing most of the work. Alfalfa not only needs water but other things as well to keep it vibrant. Dodder can become a big problem weed and choke out alfalfa. Usually after a few years grasses and other weeds will take over an alfalfa field. If the alfalfa is not taken good care of, it could be sooner

 

[calamari]

Both ducks and pheasants like to nest in alfalfa. The areas occasionally plant Trefoil ( a lugume that looks a lot like Vetch to me) as a cover/nesting plant but if alfalfa was better they'd plant that instead I think. The problem with alfalfa is that it is so attractive to ground nesting birds that when it's cut the crop results in a decimation of the bird populations. One of the reasons they don't have the delta island pheasant hunts anymore is low bird production which came about shortly after the adjacent landowners planted alfalfa. Maybe not connected but quite a coinkadink.

 

[NewmanCA]

Both ducks and pheasants like to nest in alfalfa. The areas occasionally plant Trefoil ( a lugume that looks a lot like Vetch to me) as a cover/nesting plant but if alfalfa was better they'd plant that instead I think. The problem with alfalfa is that it is so attractive to ground nesting birds that when it's cut the crop results in a decimation of the bird populations. One of the reasons they don't have the delta island pheasant hunts anymore is low bird production which came about shortly after the adjacent landowners planted alfalfa. Maybe not connected but quite a coinkadink.

We started hunting Delta Island pheasants in the early 70s until they disappeared. The dropoff was dramatic beginning in the early to mid 90s. I also noticed that the dropoff occurred about the same time the sugar beet fields were disappearing. Not sure if there is a link there. The first alfalfa cutting occurs during nesting season.

 

[quail hound]

Why would you cut during nesting season on a wildlife area? Do an early spring cut before nesting, flood after if necessary, let it go through summer, and let a sheperd graze after most brooding is done. Even if it's gone to seed its decent grazing for sheep and that takes care of the fodder problem and new growth will start with the winter rains. Maybe I'm thinking it's easier than it really is, I don't know.

 

[NewmanCA]

Why would you cut during nesting season on a wildlife area? Do an early spring cut before nesting, flood after if necessary, let it go through summer, and let a sheperd graze after most brooding is done. Even if it's gone to seed its decent grazing for sheep and that takes care of the fodder problem and new growth will start with the winter rains. Maybe I'm thinking it's easier than it really is, I don't know.

I was referring to alfalfa on private property and why it doesn't make good habitat for pheasants in private ag areas. I know a bit of what goes into growing alfalfa commercially and am aware of certain weeds and pests that can really damage alfalfa. On a refuge you couldn't do the cultural practices we use. I couldn't tell you how the alfalfa would turn out using other accetable alternatives available at a refuge

 

[calamari]

Why would you cut during nesting season on a wildlife area? Do an early spring cut before nesting

I think that birds nest a lot earlier and later than you may think. I see courtship flights in ducks at the start of duck season in the fall and they go on throughout the hunting season. I've seen wild mallards mating in October. California's weather is so mild and it produces so many ducks in the state that they'd be at risk at almost anytime there is a green cover crop available to them.
I doubt that they would cut alfalfa if it was DFW that planted it but because of their limited budget they have to make as much money as they can from any commercial crop that gets planted on their areas. They don't plant the rice you see on Gray Lodge or Howard Slough for example. It's leased to a farmer who will harvest it when it's the most beneficial to them. DFW doesn't have to have or lease equipment to farm their land but they also have to give the farmer that does a chance to make a profit.

I'm thinking it's easier than it really is, I don't know.

Robert, I went to some trouble to put you in touch with the retired area manager for Mendota so you could ask these sorts of questions and "get smart" about what concerned you. I've asked you at least twice if you ever got in touch with him to talk about your concerns and you never replied to my emails. Blame yourself for not knowing.

 

[NewmanCA]

I think that birds nest a lot earlier and later than you may think. I see courtship flights in ducks at the start of duck season in the fall and they go on throughout the hunting season. I've seen wild mallards mating in October. California's weather is so mild and it produces so many ducks in the state that they'd be at risk at almost anytime there is a green cover crop available to them.
I doubt that they would cut alfalfa if it was DFW that planted it but because of their limited budget they have to make as much money as they can from any commercial crop that gets planted on their areas. They don't plant the rice you see on Gray Lodge or Howard Slough for example. It's leased to a farmer who will harvest it when it's the most beneficial to them. DFW doesn't have to have or lease equipment to farm their land but they also have to give the farmer that does a chance to make a profit.


Robert, I went to some trouble to put you in touch with the retired area manager for Mendota so you could ask these sorts of questions and "get smart" about what concerned you. I've asked you at least twice if you ever got in touch with him to talk about your concerns and you never replied to my emails. Blame yourself for not knowing.

I apologize. I must have overlooked a couple of emails. I wouldn't purposely ignore any emails you might have sent me. I will go back tonight and go through my messages