Have a junior hunter? Or just a youth you would like to introduce to our hunting heritage? Starting with opening day of the 2011-12 waterfowl season, California Waterfowl will host 13 youth hunts at Grizzly Ranch in the Suisun Marsh.  These junior waterfowl hunts include guided and unguided hunting opportunities.  The guided hunts are designed for those families who need assistance with waterfowl identification, duck calling, and decoy placement. Youth hunting opportunities at Grizzly Ranch will be filled via first-come, first-served registration.  Secure, online registration is available now. All youth participants will receive a Sprig membership, overnight accommodations, breakfast, and lunch.

These youth hunts are sponsored by Cabela's, Columbia, Federal Black Cloud, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Tanglefree.

Click here to register your junior hunter now.

Here's a great opportunity for ladies to try hunting with a minimal commitment in time and money.  For $200, you get hunter safety, learn to shoot sporting clays and get a guided pheasant hunt all in a little over a day and a half of your time.  The fee includes certified safety and shooting instruction, hunting license, upland stamp, ammunition and your guided pheasant hunt.  We'll even provide a gun for you if needed.  Note:  We will be doing the 4-hour Hunter safety course format so there is self-paced, online work that is required prior to the camp weekend.     

Click here for more information and to register.

Field Biologists and dedicated volunteers worked through the summer heat in the Suisun Marsh, Delta, and North Sacramento Valley to capture and mark a total of 4,822 waterfowl.  The top species banded include 3,810 mallards and 900 wood ducks.  In the Suisun Marsh, our field crew captured and banded nearly 1,400 mallards.  Nearly 80% were hatch-year birds, which bodes well for early season success in the Suisun Marsh this fall!  Banding stations at Mandeville Island and in the North Sacramento Valley captured high numbers of molting adults at trap sites this summer.  That usually suggests that the nesting season was longer than average. The longer the nesting season, the greater the chance to grow ducks!

Since 1985, the CWA-CDFG preseason mallard banding program has now marked over 200,000 birds.

With the 2011 State Legislative Session wrapping up this week, several key bills affecting waterfowl interests are currently being considered. These include:

SB 328 (Kehoe) would help ensure that the wildlife values of a conservation easement are protected, to the extent possible, should a public agency attempt to condemn the easement. Many duck clubs are currently under conservation easements, and SB 328 would make it more difficult for a public agency to condemn these private wetlands for incompatible uses such as roads, electrical lines and other infrastructure.

This bill is supported by California Waterfowl and California Outdoor Heritage Alliance, and is currently on the Governor's desk.

SB 436 (Kehoe) would allow non-profit conservation groups like California Waterfowl to manage endowment funds on behalf of the state and to acquire land or easements for mitigation purposes. This bill would permit the more efficient use of land management dollars, and result in greater conservation benefits to waterfowl and other wildlife species.

This bill is supported by California Waterfowl and California Outdoor Heritage Alliance, and is currently on the Senate Floor.

AB 809 (Feuer) would require a permanent registry of long guns - including all shotguns and rifles. Under AB 809, those who purchase, or even transfer a shotgun or rifle will be required to permanently register that firearm by submitting their name, address, place of birth, phone number, occupation and sex to the California Department of Justice.

AB 809 is opposed by California Waterfowl and California Outdoor Heritage Alliance, and is on the Senate Floor.