Wildlife area historical pheasant averages

calamari

Member
You may have seen this or I may even have posted this before but the DFW site has pheasant harvest numbers from the 96 season to the 2010 season when they stopped including pheasant take in their posted take listings. You can go back and see how many birds were killed on the refuges and how much the take changed from year to year.
Go to the archive of hunt results and then down to the bottom of the page to see year to year comparison. They used to include pheasant take until it got both too bad to show and not a thing they wanted to promote.

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/waterfowl/shoot/
 
I forget when the season went from 3 or 4 weeks to 6 weeks but it may have been at the beginning of the archived results. Doesn't make any real difference because even in the good years very few birds were shot at the season's end due to low hunter numbers on the refuges at the end of the season.
 
I think it was right around 2000 when the season was lengthened.
 
The season was extended in 2003. Not any birds killed by end of season anyway. Where we are the birds are so spooked by season's end and many are pushed off of the refuge boundaries. Get lucky on occasion late season.
 
I forget when the season went from 3 or 4 weeks to 6 weeks but it may have been at the beginning of the archived results. Doesn't make any real difference because even in the good years very few birds were shot at the season's end due to low hunter numbers on the refuges at the end of the season.

Some days near the end of the California season, I am the only guy hunting pheasants at some refuges.

I know from personal experience that even at the refuges where they still post pheasant harvest outside of the check station, the numbers are sometimes wrong (i.e. they have posted zero take for days where I checked in one or two birds).

It doesn't matter in the end. There is so little interest in California pheasant hunting, both for hunters and the refuge system, the omission of posting or incorrect check station tallies is immaterial.
 
It was really noticeable the past couple of years at the check-in station. Even for the pheasant opener, the number of duck hunters was much greater than the number of pheasant hunters. I didn't mind it much as it felt like I had half the place to myself. I have a feeling the weather was favorable for better numbers this year. Funny thing, I went to Walmart and they finally stocked the shelves with upland load but they just stocked lead load. This season I believe you can only use lead for pheasants at game bird clubs so it's no good stocking the shelves with shells we can't use
 
Funny thing, I went to Walmart and they finally stocked the shelves with upland load but they just stocked lead load. This season I believe you can only use lead for pheasants at game bird clubs so it's no good stocking the shelves with shells we can't use
it's my understanding that the individual stores don't actually order what they stock. It's sent from their distribution centers and the local stores just display the stuff. That's why you find lures for Redfish and Atlantic Barracuda in Calif. stores.
Everybody should check the regs themselves but I think Newman is right. It's steel for EVERYTHING on the refuges and only game bird operations and dove, quail and snipe on other than refuges still allow lead for awhile.

https://cdfgnews.wordpress.com/2015/05/14/nonlead-ammunition-requirement-approaches/
 
it's my understanding that the individual stores don't actually order what they stock. It's sent from their distribution centers and the local stores just display the stuff. That's why you find lures for Redfish and Atlantic Barracuda in Calif. stores.
Everybody should check the regs themselves but I think Newman is right. It's steel for EVERYTHING on the refuges and only game bird operations and dove, quail and snipe on other than refuges still allow lead for awhile.

https://cdfgnews.wordpress.com/2015/05/14/nonlead-ammunition-requirement-approaches/

I think you guys are right on the steel. I just stopped using lead altogether years ago to avoid my own confusion when going to state and federal refuges. And when I factored in my fuel bill, my cocktail tab, dinners, etc., the cost of the one to three expensive non-tox shotshells was a very small fraction of the overall expenditure. I figured if I was going to work all day to get one crappy shot at a rooster, I was going to throw the best shot and pattern I possibly could, given all the other costs and the rare opportunity at a doable rooster shot these days.

I must admit, though, I do appreciate using lead shot for pheasants in the Midwest. It still seems to pattern and penetrate the best of any material for my guns when it comes to pheasant hunting.
 
I am still using my first shotgun that was a Junior High present from my Grandmother 40 years ago. The barrel it came with was not recommended for steel shot so I was really fortunate to find a used barrel online that was. A new one was impossible to find, all sold out everywhere.

The sports counter person at Walmart told me the store manager was responsible for the ammunition purchases but I wonder how much she really knows because it isn't part of her job. For some reason, they stocked a few boxes of 20 gauge steel shot for doves. The price was about the same price as lead shot.
 
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