Between trips to the mall looking for Christmas gifts, California waterfowl hunters should take advantage of the holiday break in business and pencil in a couple of December duck or goose hunts.

Dan Yearraguire with the California Department of Fish & Game says that for hunter success among waterfowlers nationwide, California's total state duck and goose harvest usually ranks No. 2, right behind Louisiana's, with an occasional "slip" into the top five.

"More ducks die in California than in 45 to 48 of the other states," Yearraguire says. "It's the primary wintering area for the Pacific Flyway."

California hosts about 40 different species and subspecies of waterfowl and provides vital winter habitat for about 60 percent (annually estimated between 4 million and 6 million birds) of the waterfowl population in the Pacific Flyway.

"It's very hard to characterize the different populations by type of ducks," Yearraguire explains, "especially in any sort of 'black and white' sort of way. Pintails start arriving in late August, and some stay here until February. Others pass right by us and go right to Mexico. We have a fairly healthy, robust breeding population of ducks within our state. It's a big state, and it's not all quite built out."

Although Central California receives most of the publicity for good waterfowl hunting, Southern California rates a close second.

Southern California duck hunting is usually defined as the region south of Tehachapi. But many hunters from Southern California travel north of that line to the Kern National Wildlife Refuge near Delano in the San Joaquin Valley. Still others head for the Salton Sea, where the Wister Unit of Imperial Wildlife Area is located.

For waterfowl hunting purposes, Yearraguire defines Southern California, as that area south of a line from the ocean near the bottoms of Monterey, across Kern and Indio counties to the Nevada state line. And in this area fact, some of the top state and national lands open for waterfowl hunting include Kern National Wildlife Refuge, as well as the San Jacinto Wildlife Area and Imperial Wildlife Area (more commonly referred to as the Wister Unit) found well south of that line.

SAN JACINTO WILDLIFE AREA
The entrance to San Jacinto Wildlife Area, located in Riverside County, lays one-half mile north of Lakeview on Davis Road, on the east side of Perris Lake.

San Jacinto is the first state wildlife area to utilize reclaimed water to enhance its wetlands. The wildlife area consists of 9,000 acres of restored wetlands including ponds and freshwater marsh. Pumps lift water levels in the fall, before the ponds and marsh are eventually drawn down following the waterfowl-hunting season.

"The best hunting is in December," says San Jacinto WA manager Tom Paulek. "We have a full complement of pintails, gadwalls, green-winged teal and shovelers. We have geese, too -- primarily Canada geese."

Hunting at San Jacinto WA is done from site blinds. Among the most popular are those found in the "B" pond area.

"It's just one of the better hunting locations. We don't have an official closed zone," Paulek says, referring to locations where no hunting is allowed. "Probably, the size of the ("B") pond and the available vegetation hold key roles in why the area is so good. I would definitely put out decoys, but you don't need a whole lot. A couple dozen is plenty. Calling in the birds is a good thing, too, if you know what you are doing."