I like the assigned ponds early in the season. Later on, I switch to the free-roam areas later in the season. Assigned ponds work early because the local birds are used to the blinds and will work into the ponds. As the season progresses, they get wise to the ponds and don't work in as easily.

Colusa is one of the better free-roam refuges because of the way the ponds are set up. This refuge is managed very well and gives the free-roam hunter plenty of ponds without hunters moving in too close.

This is also a great afternoon refuge. Many days the birds will hold up until the afternoon and then fly out of the closed zones and start working. I've had some great afternoon mallard shoots early and late in the season.

This refuge is small and easy for older waterfowl hunters to walk to the blinds and free-roam areas. The ponds have a good solid base for easy walking, and the cover around the ponds is perfect.

Many hunters use deer-carrying carts to carry out the decoys, stools, and dog tables. I put my dog table on the bottom of the cart, an Otter sled on top of the dog table, and put the decoy bag and spinning-wing decoys and batteries in the sled. When I get to my pond, everything is floated out to my blind.

Be sure and buy the deer-carrying cart with a wide axle base. It will prevent the cart from falling over when it gets in the ruts on the road to the blind.

For more information, call (530) 934-2801 or check out www.fws.gov/ sacramentovalleyrefuges/r_colusa.

GRAY LODGE
It's been said, that Gray Lodge is one of the jewels of the Pacific Flyway. With its 9,100-acre natural marsh setting and the rich agricultural farmlands surrounding the refuge, it's a paradise for waterfowl.

Back in the late 1960s, one of the Gray Lodge wardens named Barney said his dad owned one of the ranches that sold to the state for the refuge. One of his dad's stipulations was that his two sons must be able to work as wardens there.

My hunting partner and I would sit in the sweat line every weekend of waterfowl season and talk with Barney, who would tell us stories of how great the waterfowl hunting was back in the 1950s on his dad's ranch. Back then, the place was a high-dollar gun club, and the skies were black with ducks and geese. He said the ranch was a natural marsh and they had to ride horse and buggy out to the main road in order to get to town when the rains started.

It may not be as good now as it was back then, but a person can still shoot a lot of ducks and geese on Gray Lodge.

There are no assigned ponds or blinds. All the hunting areas are free-roam. There is an east and west side to the refuge. The key is to walk as far back as you can stand on either side of the refuge and get a pond to yourself.

The more popular side to hunt is the west side. The closed zone is on that side, so people want to hunt close to the closed zone.

Hunting in the afternoon can really pay off when you just drive in and set up. Some of my best hunts have been in the afternoon by myself.

Decoy carts are great for walking way back in to get away from the crowds. Anytime I hunt pressured areas, I use super mag decoys. I want the working birds to pick me up first. A decoy is just an attractor and the bigger the better.