For the Fowlers Podcast
Introducing "For the Fowlers," a new waterfowl hunting podcast based in Northern California. Our goal is to dive into every aspect of this sport we're so passionate about.
We aim to create a valuable resource for new hunters, helping them get into the sport, while also engaging experienced fowlers with our stories and those of our guests.
For the Fowlers Podcast
Ep. 8 Season Check-In: Rice to Refuges, Sac Valley to SoCal
Cold mornings, fog breaks, and the first real push of birds set the stage for a statewide check-in that connects Shasta and Modoc to Kern and the Salton Sea. We trade opening-week optimism for practical tactics: when to leave work early, how to read those fickle mid-morning flights, and why rice flood-ups are quietly reorganizing the whole game. You’ll hear why mallard-focused hunts demand a different plan, what GPS-banded birds reveal about short-hop movements, and how a simple shift in hide and spacing can turn a “dead” sit into a fast, clean shoot.
George calls in with dog training progress, force fetch tips, and a candid look at Pleasant Grove blinds ramping up as water arrives. We dig into 28-gauge pros and the reality of premium shell costs, plus a couple of December targets that should showcase motion decoys and smart spreads. Then Landon breaks down boat hunts on tidal water, early-season greenhead success, and the kind of discipline it takes to pass gray ducks when you’re living for mallards. He lays out a clear read on wigeon, gadwall, and why spinners help—right up until they don’t.
Finally, Colin brings the Southern California vantage point: Kern’s tight quotas, Worcester’s learning curve, off-refuge wins in the hills, and what the Salton Sea promises when weather and timing click. Expect teal surges, pintail stacking, and the kind of December that rewards patience and precision. If you’re saving days for when it turns on, you might be right. If you’re grinding now, take notes on wind, fog, and the exact minute birds commit—because those patterns repeat.
Join us, compare your logbook, and get ready for a December run that could go hot and heavy. If you enjoy the show, follow ForTheFowlers on Instagram, share this episode with a hunting buddy, and leave a quick rating or review wherever you listen. It helps more than you think.
What's up guys? Welcome to another episode of For the Fowlers. I'm Brandon.
SPEAKER_03:And I'm Caitlin.
SPEAKER_04:What's up, Caitlin? How you doing, man?
SPEAKER_03:Oh, I'm doing good. Just trying to stay warm up here. It's getting a little cold.
SPEAKER_04:Nice, man. Well, here we are the Sunday after Thanksgiving. How was your holiday?
SPEAKER_03:It was good. I went up and visited some family up in Tahoe. Well, I guess we're supposed to be talking waterfowls, so that's kind of the spoiler there. I seems like every year on Thanksgiving I tend to book myself with the family. It's kind of a a little family time before I disappear for the next 60 days.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I'm kind of in the same boat. You know, five, six years ago we started hosting Thanksgiving here at our house. And, you know, and actually I had plans to go out hunt the refuge on Wednesday, but I know these guys are gonna, the listeners are probably give me some shit, but I ended up getting pretty sick over last week. So I was like, yeah, I can't go out because I had family coming and everything. So I had to kind of make sure I was good to go there. But yeah, I mean it's good as well. Well for me. Go ahead.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and I'm with you. For me, it's like November is a good time to not burn some of those fame favors with the wife. You know, it's we call it slow Vember. I mean, there's definitely been birds to get to go after. You can't shoot them from the couch, but on the flip side, it's a good time to finish up some of those honeydews as well, because for the most part, it's not going to be lights out.
SPEAKER_04:Well, I'll tell you what, man, and this episode's kind of all about the season and review thus far. And I will tell you that looking on kind of Instagram, Facebook, you know, just texting some other hunting buddies. Guys were getting into them this past week, and I saw a lot of guys on Wednesday, and then even some guys that got some Thanksgiving morning hunts in. And I don't know if it's this thick fog that we've been having, but guys are getting into the birds for sure. There's some some nice pictures out there.
SPEAKER_03:I've had to silence the couple of group chats I'm in because normally it's not a whole lot of success over the Thanksgiving break. And so I didn't obviously schedule any hunts, and I was getting a lot of pictures from buddies of mine hunting their private clubs. But some of the guys hunting them, even my rice blinds were getting birds, and I was pretty surprised. But that's you know, a good foreshadowing of things to come.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, that's exactly how I was looking at it. Is and you and I know we got some good hunts coming up, and you know, December and January is only going to get better, but we got some pretty fun hunt opportunities, you and I, coming up in the next few weeks that I know I'm really looking forward to. A spot that I've never been to, that I've been putting in for a very long time. Um, I think you've hunted it one time, right? Once or twice? Once? Yeah, one time. Yeah, so it'll be good to have you along on that one to kind of you know show the way. And I know we've been doing some research on it, so you know, yeah. Historically, it should be a good hunt. So I'm looking forward to it. But yeah, this season so far, it's been kind of hit and miss for me, but it's definitely starting to pick up. Obviously, it's kind of a slow start. You know, we talked, we did we both didn't hunt opening weekend, but you know, shortly after that had a couple opportunities, some where we just kind of watched the sunrise and some where we thought it was gonna be a slow day, and we ended up getting into them. And uh, and I know you had more than your fair share of hunts, especially some of your opportunities on some of the private property that you've been hunting. You've had a pretty good season so far, right?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so uh I mean, just getting into my past couple weeks, it it's been it's been good. I live up in Shasta County, so I've been making the trek up to Modoc County and Lassen County to try and find some of the the birds that are staged, so to speak, before they make the final jump down to the valley, or at least that's my my goal. And I've had some pretty good some pretty good success. I've had some bad days, but what's pretty cool is starting off early in November. I went up to a a public refuge up here at Ash Creek, and I I left work just based on the conditions. And it's kind of a unique refuge. It's a huge refuge. It's been under a lot of uh work from CWA over the past five or six years. Um and you can get into some birds there, and you can definitely waste a lot of time there. Um, I'm probably 50-50, but I had a probably one of my better afternoon hunts. Really got into some birds. It was a crazy bit crazy flight for probably like from two o'clock to three o'clock. Uh three to four. And then it did shut down, but luckily we weren't being picky at that time, which is something we I've tended to do in the afternoon hunts because I like to try and find those, you know, those greenheads, those mallards at the end of the day. But just getting out there, we we wanted to shoot some birds. I wanted to get my dog on some birds. And again, this was early November, and we walked out with, you know, a little who did we have as two of us. I think we had eight or nine birds between the two of us. So good hunt, especially given the circumstances of leaving work early and just getting up there to shoot. But then again, I saw the exact same weather pattern about four or five days later, did the exact same thing, cut out of work early, drove up there, and I stared at the the sky. And it was so crazy because as soon as shoot light uh changed, and this was right after daylight savings time, I kid you not, hundreds, if not thousands of birds all of a sudden start flying over, landing in water. So it's like they know right when that uh right when legal shoot light is called, they know when to fly.
SPEAKER_04:For sure. Yeah, man, it's uh it's been interesting. I've had some conversations with some other hunters, and they're kind of echoed the same thing with just kind of the changing weather, you know, changing shoot lights, shooting patterns, all those different things that you know we're just trying to do kind of stay one step ahead, you know.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I mean, I've been I've hunted with kind of back to that. I've hunted with some new people that I've met, hunted a new property way up in Modoc County, and I was super unique hunting up there, had a ton of success. But it's been it's for my the story of my season's kind of been hot, hot and heavy and quick. Definitely want to hit those birds early. There seems to be a lot of them for me. And then it does shut off. And I mean, most of my opportunities, I mean, when it's shut off, it's like a true November day at SAC refuge. Like there's not a bird to be seen. So I think like it's been a combination of being in the right spot, but also shooting well and just being out, you know, taking the advantage of the birds that when the birds come in.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. Yeah, I'd kind of echo that. You know, I feel like I, you know, got out there pretty quick this season, like you said, kind of hot and heavy, you know, just especially with the podcast, just trying to kind of get out there and uh, you know, get some birds on the strap and kind of see what's going on, be out there with other fellow uh hunters and listeners and just kind of know what what the flight's doing, you know. But it has been a little bit of a weird start to the season, you know, whether it was that storm that we had right before the bounce of the state opener, some different, you know, temperature fluctuations, different things like that. You know, it's been slow, you know, but like I said, it's starting definitely starting to pick up. You know, it's been cool seeing all the different guys, different success. You know, we've been talking about it on here the last couple of weeks. The rice fields are starting to flood up just out here by my house here, out in like the Pleasant Grove Sanky area. You know, they're flooding up those ponds and you know, tons of birds are are loading in. I was traveling for work the other day and just you know, landing back into Sacramento and just looking out the window and seeing all the fields just flooded up, and like I said, just tons of birds starting to raft up. So uh hopefully those guys start to you know pick up and you know get an opportunity to get out there and uh take advantage of their leased properties.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, kind of echo that. It seems like guys who have good good access on some good property, especially in the valley, have been getting into birds, like we kind of talked about at the beginning of this. I got some good pictures. My rice is kind of just getting going. I know one of our blinds I haven't even been out to, that's kind of the the more southern blind, but my blind partner definitely manages that. But the northern blind where I put my spread out, it seems like birds are starting to trickle in. It was pretty cool to see, you know, my blind partner went out there with his family, and it's kind of a Thanksgiving tradition, and they got some birds. So that's good to see for me. And I've this is just a I think it's a personality thing. I've had to scale my November expectations in rice because I have just had too many sunburns out there, just looking at the sun, trying to hopefully shoot one. So tomorrow, what is it? Yeah, tomorrow starts December, and excited to start getting out there and see that that swing on the rice and get some of those hot, heavy widgen work in and maybe get my a couple pintail. I still haven't shot more than one pintail uh this year. So that's beyond frustrating for me because I've I've swatted them away from me years prior, and here we are, and I haven't shot more than one pin tail.
SPEAKER_04:So, once again, my goal this season, I want to do the three pintail and four spoonie on a strap. That's I want to I want to go check out that limit one day.
SPEAKER_03:You know, that'll be good. I don't know if people will be proud of you, or for me, the seven spoonie limit is still the the crown jewel Drake spoonies. I mean, that's obviously, but yeah, the three pintail with the four spoonies, that might be a close second for me.
SPEAKER_04:For sure. So we'll run on, man. Well, I know you and I chatted a little bit about this episode. I'll I'll let you jump off here in a sec, but yeah, looking forward to this one. We're gonna have a few other hunters on here, some other listeners, some guys that you know we've actually met on Instagram that you know kind of listen to the podcast and you know, just kind of will check in with them. They kind of hunt all over. Looking forward to my conversation a little later with a hunter from Southern California, so it'd be cool, kind of cool to get his perspective. We've been kind of chatting back and forth, and we're actually gonna try to get a hunt together probably later next month when I'm down there. So that'll be cool. Yeah, I've never hunted Southern California, so that might be pretty cool.
SPEAKER_03:But uh yeah, man, that'll be a unique experience for sure.
SPEAKER_04:So I'll let you jump off, Caden, but I'm gonna get our uh first uh caller in, our first guest on, and uh I'll chat with you this week and I'll for sure see you next week and on that hunt.
SPEAKER_03:All right, sounds good. Take it easy. See ya.
SPEAKER_04:All right, we got George on here. Uh if you guys remember, uh I met George earlier, I think what last year, but we caught up again this past uh opener over uh at uh Sanborn Slough, so it's been kind of cool connecting with him. But uh George, appreciate you coming on for the Fowlers, man. Uh how's the season going so far?
SPEAKER_02:It's it's going. I mean, the birds are definitely moving around in Calusa. So we went up there on Friday, we got eight for three people. Not too bad. Got to work work goose a little bit. She's get slowly getting there. I've got my father-in-law out, got ahead and shoot some more ducks, and then we've just been hunting around Pleasant Grove locally. And we went yesterday, one bird for three people, so it's pretty rough. But as it gets a little colder and the weather starts coming in, pleasant grove is usually pretty decent. You can get a couple limits pretty early.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, kind of a few things to unpack there. Uh, first off, how's Goose go doing first full season, right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, she's doing good. We're about halfway through hold conditioning and force fetch.
SPEAKER_04:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:So she's getting it pretty well, and then she'll be sitting in a kennel next to the check or next to the the pit blind probably most of December, getting used to gunshots and watching the other dogs work, so then she can't run away or break too quick and get shot or something. It kind of gives her a safe place to sit and observe and watch other other working dogs work.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, was that was that you that was telling me you're you're gonna send her off for about a month or so?
SPEAKER_02:I was I was going to and I got four buddies that have only trained their dogs by themselves.
SPEAKER_04:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:They said they're gonna help me out, and I bought a whole kit a whole force fetch hold conditioning program from Lone Duck Kennels out of New York. 150 bucks for 14 videos start to finish on hold conditioning and force fetch, and that's all she needed. So instead of sending her off and be without my dog for a month, I figure I'd keep her and we'd just learn it together.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, for sure, man. I've seen it work both ways where you know I I know plenty of buddies that have done their own training and and those dogs are absolutely fantastic, and and in in my experience, just kind of talking with them, I feel like you know, when you do the training yourselves, you know, you do about 98-99% of the work, then you kind of send them off to get them finished for that final percent, but you'll be just fine. Goose is a great pup. Father-in-law is enjoying in the waterfowl season?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, he's enjoying it a lot. He hasn't been any any in any bad weather yet. Any no rain or anything, just a little bit of wind. But we're slowly working them up to we're gonna hunt the marsh in January, and it's it's gonna be raining. It's a pretty pretty sure thing, so I told him you better get some rain gear, bud.
SPEAKER_04:That's awesome. Well, I'm sure he's uh got a like a sitka jacket or something, or some sitka package you guys can win at a banquet or something like that, right?
SPEAKER_02:Oh yeah, we just won the NorCal Guide Sportsman Association dinner. We uh actually won the winner take all table, fifteen thousand dollars worth of stuff.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, man, that's awesome. Yeah, it's funny. I was was it last week, two weeks ago, I ran into you at uh Sportsman's and uh you were doing all the paperwork and all that stuff for all the fun toys you won.
SPEAKER_02:Oh yeah. Seems like every dinner we're getting something fun to leave with.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Well, I was telling you uh before we uh jumped on the air here, you know, I know a handful of buddies that hunt kind of the Pleasant Grove, Sankey, Riego area, and then I know that's kind of where some of your properties and blinds are. Tell me a little bit about that. Like I know it's kind of a later start to the season, but you know, when did you guys get water? Have you been able to hunt it much? How's that all going?
SPEAKER_02:We've had water pr we've had water, I'd say for the last like two weeks, two, three weeks, we've had water. We've hunted it twice. We got kind of a late start. Everybody was either deer hunting or doing family stuff. So we got the blinds brushed and the decoys set, and we're slowly doing it. We're we're doing a kids hunt this Thursday before Thanksgiving. We're taking all the little kids with us.
SPEAKER_04:Sure, but that'll still be a lot of fun. Yeah, it's actually, you know, I was looking at the weather for this upcoming holiday at Thanksgiving, and yeah, you're you're right. I mean, the weather's supposed to be okay, but it's gonna be damn cold.
SPEAKER_02:Oh yeah, yeah. We'll be out Thursday morning, and then we're gonna hunt Saturday, Sunday. So hopefully we start seeing more birds, hopefully by the weekend.
SPEAKER_04:Right on, man. And uh what are your kind of plans for the rest of the season? I know we'll check back in with you, but what you got any uh fun hunts coming up or anything you're looking forward to besides just you know the blind and and whatnot?
SPEAKER_02:We're gonna hunt with uh John. I wish I could say his last name correctly. He owns Hydro Ducks. We met him up in Sandborn. I hunted with him like a pre-hunt kind of thing at his house, but we're it looks like the middle of December when they can start running all the battery operated stuff and we'll get to see his whole hydro duct system work. So we'll be out there middle of December and then January 3rd. I'll we're gonna be up in Petrero Hills, the new club CWA box.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I got a blind out there for their lottery thing where you got to buy a hunt for 300 bucks.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, that uh first come, first, first, first come, first serve uh one, right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so I got the one of the last Saturdays they had available January 3rd. Nice, good. So those two those two hunts will be kind of looking forward to those, but then it nothing be ton with your buddies every weekend in the same blind, hanging out with the kids and getting away from everything and just enjoying each other's time.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, well, I hear you on that one, but just uh little friendly heads up just in case the spot opens up. You know, my birthday's January 3rd, so uh perfect. We'll keep that in mind. Yeah, yeah. No, we'll run on, man. Well, look forward to hearing about that. We'll have to uh connect. Um I'm excited to hear about that property. I've heard some great things about it. Yeah, keep us posted, let us know how that goes.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, we'll for sure. And then we'll hopefully the next call we do will be from the blind. The listeners can hear some gunshots go off at people trying to hit the ducks.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, for sure, for sure. Cool, man. Well, uh, before we let you go, I know you guys are really big into supporting all the different uh associations and whatnot. You you going to any more banquets this season or anything upcoming?
SPEAKER_02:Ducks, the Ducks Unlimited dinner, January 9th, the Blue Goose in Loomis, California, and then the sponsor, sponsors only dinner for CWAs in Fairfield in February.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:That's pretty much it. Oh, one other thing I like to tell everybody is I did switch to a 28 gauge this season for for a little bit. So it's a little bit of a learning curve. It's like shooting a BB gun, though. So that's a fun kind of fun.
SPEAKER_04:So you said for a little bit, so you're still figuring that one out.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I don't like the$67 a box for shells, but we'll get we'll get past that.
SPEAKER_04:Right on. Well, yeah, it's funny. I'm gonna be going to a banquet coming up here pretty soon. The uh Pocket Greenhaven one is week after next, or actually, I think it's next week. Uh next week. And you know, it's funny, I got my eyes on uh 28 gauge, so we'll see what they have available at the auction there. So uh there you go. Cool. All right, man. Well, hey, uh, I appreciate you uh jumping on real quick and good luck the rest of the season, man, and and we'll uh check in and see how everything else is going. Right on, thank you. All right, see ya. Yep. All right, guys, we got Landon Acevedo here. Landon, how you doing, man?
SPEAKER_01:Good. Actually sitting out here hunting as we speak, so not taking any days off this year, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, that's awesome. Well, for the listeners out here, uh, you know, Landon and I, uh we sure are a mutual buddy, but uh that's how we got connected. But uh he hunts uh kind of all over Northern California and he brings kind of an interesting perspective. He used to be a guide, or I think you're still you still have probably your guiding license, but you know, you used to guide up in Sack Valley, even did some guiding up in Idaho. But I figured it'd be kind of cool to get his perspective on how the season's going so far. So how how are things going so far for you this year, Landon?
SPEAKER_01:You know, it's been it's been kind of like most years, I would say. I've I've heard I heard from a lot of guys early that it was tough, but I I think there was it was really spotty. The beginning of the year was actually pretty good for myself and the couple guys that I was hunting with. Got into some tidal water that I've never hunted before. I mean, you hear about it, guys are in kind of the same stuff year after year, but we ended up finding some birds out there and had two or three good shoots early hunting out of the boat, and then just kind of waited for the crowds to disappear on the refuges. They're always there for the first week and a half, two weeks, and then kind of went to work on on those birds out there after that.
SPEAKER_04:So yeah, so uh and not burning any spots here, but you're based down kind of in the grasslands area, but you hunt kind of all over. It seems like you kind of have the opportunity to kind of follow the migration. So you kind of hunt wherever you have wherever you have your opportunities. So uh I know lately you've been spending some time up in the Sac Valley, but also in the grasslands. But uh, where have you been spending most of your hunts this year? Has it been kind of balanced?
SPEAKER_01:Um, I as of late, it's been kind of balanced. Usually, usually early on, I spend all my time in the grasslands. It's just a shorter drive. I can get out and and look around and familiarize myself with the areas a little bit more. It's not really a secret to the people that know me, but I kind of I kind of focus on the mallard thing. I literally go out pretty much every every day that I hunt throughout the season. The goal is to go out and try to get my hands on a few mallards. So my reports sometimes aren't the most accurate because there's a lot of gray ducks and other stuff around and a lot of whistling ducks, and sometimes I pass on those to to try to do what I like to do. So, but yeah.
SPEAKER_04:No, no, that's awesome. It's it's funny. I was kind of checking out your Instagram uh the last month or so and obviously saw a lot of greenheads on there and thinking, I'm like, man, where's this guy hunting? And I was thinking you were almost kind of doing some out of out-of-state hunts, but no, that that's awesome that you know you have that discipline and you know what you like to shoot, and that makes it more fun because I'm sure you'd have no problem filling the strap, but hey, you know, if you get a few of the birds that you're actually pursuing, that's freaking awesome.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean, and and every once in a while I definitely go out and and do that. I've had a a few shoots here in the last couple weeks where we've just gone out and gone regular duck hunting and whatever whatever comes in gets it. But I mean, yeah, it it just kind of depends. Usually if I usually if I get invited somewhere on a reservation that's just holding a bunch of ducks, or or if I draw something, I'll try to I'll try to take a couple guys or a guy or whatever and and kill ducks just like everybody else, but the mallard thing is kind of what keeps me going.
SPEAKER_04:So speaking of those mallard hunts, are there any hunts this year that uh stand that in particular stand out to you want to share?
SPEAKER_01:I mean yeah, every every it seems like everybody kind of kills them on opening day, but on opening day this year we hunted out of the boat. A couple of new guys that I hunted with this year, their names are Mark and Tony, but Mark's got a boat and he's been doing the boat thing for a while, and we kind of talked the last couple seasons and we finally hooked up for a hunt together this year, opening day, and we went out and sat there, sat there for a while in the morning. We ended up killing 21 greenheads, so it was a good day. That's a great day. It's it's definitely definitely tough. A lot of the I think a lot of people underestimate the the mallard hunting thing because a lot of times those ducks live in stuff that you have to have a really good dog or it's not even worth going. I mean, even hunting out here where I'm at this afternoon, uh you're sometimes you knock down a bird and you're looking for them for 15, 20 minutes, especially if they don't go down dead. So but yeah, going back to that hunt, I mean uh it was cool. Uh it seems like especially here in California, these these birds start out in big groups and at the beginning of the season, and then they kind of start to to break up and and move in like smaller family groups or even pairs early on just because of where they're living and that kind of thing. And it uh opening day almost kind of reminded me of the Idaho days, just because you see the big wads of mallards flying around and and you can trick a big group like that. It gets increasingly tougher every week throughout the season to uh to call in a mob. So it's nice getting out there early and having a couple of good shooters with you and being able to knock down four or five, maybe even six if you have a couple guys with you out of one group. So it was cool. I mean, we didn't have a lot of ups that day, but it was pretty effective, pretty efficient. We didn't have to chase birds all over the place too, too bad.
SPEAKER_04:So for sure. Well, you know, you're talking about kind of some of the movement and the way birds are working these days. Uh, have you noticed any patterns out there as far as birds, you know, kind of moving down early, late? You know, what are you seeing out there?
SPEAKER_01:I mean it's it's tough, man. I think I I think everybody everybody has the science to look at and and everybody can kind of formulate their own their own opinion on how the birds move and stuff. But I mean, I I really think these ducks kind of move back and forth, like even between the Delta region and the Sack Valley region daily or or every few days, even. I know I've had the opportunity to talk to some guys that are in on the banding projects and stuff, and and they have the ability to access the GPS data, and it it's amazing how often these birds move locations, or sometimes they will just freeze up and stay on a location, even for weeks to a month at a time where they're only moving short amounts. But I I really think a lot of, especially the mallards in California, kind of figure out a spot where they're happy, and the smart ones figure out a way to get to and from those spots when they're not gonna get killed, and they just kind of live that. I mean, I I think I think mallard hunting in California is is honestly just as difficult as telling a big buck or anything else. I mean, of course, duck hunting is a little more simple. You get to see the birds in the air and you get to call them to you, but the smart ones, man, they there's a reason, there's a reason that that they live as long as they do. I think they say something like if a bird makes it up and down its flyway for the first two seasons, it has between an 80 and 90 percent chance of dying from old age rather than getting shot. So it's amazing how quickly those birds get educated that quick and how successful they are at living afterwards. I'm gonna have to take a break here for just a couple seconds. I've got something coming.
SPEAKER_04:No, do it. Let's go for it. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:All right, Brandon. We can keep going. I I think I was talking about just like upcoming reservations and that. Yeah, yeah. Any hunts you got coming up? Yeah. Okay, yeah. So anything coming up. I've got I've got a good number down in the grasslands for opener for sprinters here on Wednesday. So we'll try to make something happen there. It seems like I mean, I guess I guess all ducks, but really that's a really effective tool sometimes when you're trying to do the mallet thing. So I'm excited for that one. I'll definitely be focusing on that on on Wednesday. And then other than that, I'm just trying to think here where else I've got a decent one. Gosh, I think every I I just came off of I just came off of a couple good hunts up here in the North Valley. Uh like I said.
SPEAKER_04:No, and and you don't gotta share all you know what you have coming up. You know, we can we can talk offline on that one. But I'll I'll leave you with this one. Or the last question I have is, you know, kind of you mentioned we're getting ready to start, you know, robo duck season, spinner season. Uh, what's your prediction for this December? You think it's gonna continue to pick up? It's obviously getting a lot colder out there, you know, whether it's you know, Sack Valley, grasslands, what do you, what do you got? What do you think?
SPEAKER_01:I would say definitely. There's a lot of widgeon and a lot of Gadwall showing up right now. It's kind of funny. I I would say that the number one bird that I've been seeing the most of here in the last couple weeks is widgeon. Uh, usually the teal get here first, and and everybody has everybody kind of knows, quote unquote, when the ducks are here because the teal shoots start getting good down on the clubs and all that kind of thing. But I've been seeing a lot of wigeon, and the thing with wigeon and gadwall and starting for spinners is usually they're they're pretty easy to trick when the spinners come out. So I'm thinking it'll definitely pick up here. And again, kind of relating back to the Idaho and the stuff like farther north than here. We really need the cold weather to stick around up there, if not down here. Only because I think up there, even you see a little bit of reverse migration, like stuff deadlocked and the birds get out of there, and then it seems like there's something, whether it's infinitial or what, but it's almost like they come and they know when it warms up a little bit that they can come back and they can be back up. When I was doing my stuff up in Idaho, we would see that we would see that very regularly. It got really cold, new birds would show up when it got really cold, but then they would get out of there when stuff kind of deadlocked and froze over. But then hunting on the floor a lot of times was just as good as hunting when it was really cold, or or we had a storm or anything like that. So that doesn't help or relate to the stuff in California 2 too much, but I would say at least the stuff like for for what little mallards do still migrate in the Pacific flyway. I think a big part of it is just having the stuff up above deadlocked and really, really cold and and kind of forcing their hand to get down here. But overall, the overall duck numbers have been pretty good, it seems like, especially this last week and a half. Like I said, I had a a really, really good shoot this last Saturday, and it was a fog break, which in my opinion is pretty much the best, the best conditions you can ask for, both for mallard hunting and for just regular duck hunting. If that fog breaks at the right time late in the morning, and and those birds are tired and hungry from flying up in the fog, or even if they're not hungry, but they just want to get down and rest. I mean, you can make something out of nothing in a hurry, that's for sure. And so I think as long as we have those those right conditions, I think that the duck numbers are here. I would say that that hunt that I had last Saturday, I saw definitely in the 10 to 15,000 bird range. And I know that's hard to fathom. Everybody's driven through like the closed zone at their local refuge, and you see a ton of ducks, and you're like, how many is that? Actually, but it was it was a non-stop, non-stop flight of ducks from the rice south of the refuge for at least two hours, two hours and 15 minutes. And I mean yeah, that's incredible. The numbers are here, it's just it's the old telltale sign for California. You don't always need the weather to bring them down, but you need the weather to redistribute them and to get them moving because all these ducks are getting smarter every year, they're in their patterns, and there's a reason that they're alive.
SPEAKER_04:Absolutely. Yeah. Well, right on, man. Well, I'm gonna let you get back to the hunt, but I really appreciate you coming on here and just kind of checking in, letting us know how the season's going. Uh, we'll have to check back in with you in a few weeks and kind of see how December goes for you and everything. But yeah, man, until then, uh, I look forward to maybe we can get a hunt together this season or something. But look forward to connecting with you next time I'm down in your neck of the woods. Sounds good. Yeah, maybe let me know. Cool, man. Hang hang tight for a second, Landon. Okay. See ya. All right, man. So we're recording now. Cool. All right, so we got our next guest on here, Colin Oger. I'm pumped to have Colin on for the Fowlers because uh Colin is based down in Southern California, um, specifically the LA area, and he does most of his hunting in soap. So, Colin, welcome to For the Fowlers, man. What's up, man? Thanks for having me. Absolutely. So, as you know, this episode we're kind of checking in with some hunters, and uh, I know you've been pretty active on Instagram following the For the Fowlers page and commenting on the podcast. So, first off, man, we really appreciate the support with the podcast. But we just want to check in and kind of see how the season's going for you so far. How are things going down in Southern California?
SPEAKER_00:Well, just from what I've listened to some people up there, it seems like it's about the same down here, man. I was just I kind of keep track of my my hunt stats over the years, and there's a bunch of different apps that do it, but it's just nice being able to look back and opening weekend was a was a slower start, and we just weren't seeing the numbers of birds that we have even the last two years. And I kind of chalked it up to like, well, we opened last year, I don't know if you remember, we opened like a week later. Yep. So I thought maybe that had something to do with it, but I started comparing the numbers, and I am significantly behind this year from the previous two years, and I have some theories about it. And most of it's probably just justifying it, but it's been slow, man. It's been slow.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I'm kind of curious because like you know, the conversation up north has been, you know, birds were all kind of loaded up. Obviously, a lot of those local birds, and we had some kind of like a real early migration. You get the teal that come down and everything. But I don't know if you remember or paid attention to the weather up north, but we had a pretty good little storm the week of the opener, and that just kind of pushed the birds out, right? And so obviously, you get that Saturday morning, that opening day success. The averages weren't quite as good as we all expected, but people still got into it. But you know, I hunted later that week and just the averages died off. You know, I hunted that Wednesday and then that following weekend, and everything just kind of died off, and and it's really been kind of slow to rebound up here, so yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So that's about the same here. Like I know Kern is typically the furthest north that I'll go to hunt, and I I want to say they were super low on water, and I think they only gave out five or six resis, and their quota was like 50 or 60 hunters, yeah. So they their average was like a 4.7 or something like that, which was pretty insane. But uh, I think the last time I looked, which would have been a week or two ago, they were averaging like and they're you know, their quota is still pretty low, but they were averaging like two birds down to like one and a half is kind of where they're at.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, and and you and I were talking uh kind of offline here, and I know I want to have you on for another episode just to kind of talk about Southern California hunting. We'll dive more into it, but like you know, when you talk about the current and stuff like that, what what kind of birds are kind of hanging out there on the opener? What are people mostly shooting out there? Do you know by chance?
SPEAKER_00:So curn is pretty much the only place if you're in SoCal, it's the only place you're gonna see like big numbers of big ducks. Okay. That that early in the season. Uh it's all there the big two are always gonna be spoonies and and green wings. They'll get a lot of cinnamons like the first month or two, but then it's there's gonna be a lot of pintail, you'll always see like a handful of mallards, a lot of redheads for some reason. And you know, widget, too, lots of widgeon. Nice.
SPEAKER_04:Um, yeah. So, you know, I was gonna ask you kind of the overall vibe of the season so far. Uh, it doesn't sound like it's better, but maybe not worse. Is it just kind of a weird start? Is that kind of how you compare it to previous seasons?
SPEAKER_00:I would say it is worse, but not it's not a bad thing. It's just kind of it is what it is. Uh my theory is that so the last two years it's been dry and down here. Like I know last year you guys got a ton of rain up there, and we were like single digit inches of rain all last winter, which is like not great for wintering habitat, but it does one thing really well and like consolidates the birds. And last last year, it's like if you could find the little spots where they were at, I was averaging like four to five birds a hunt last year. It was the best season I've ever had.
SPEAKER_04:Nice, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And I think it had a lot to do with like there was less water, a lot of people stayed home because there was less water and it was it was pretty warm all year. And and this year, I mean, thankfully, we got a ton of rain. It rained for four or five days straight last week, and we're probably gonna get a couple more of those. So birds are super spread out. I think it's also everything seems to be a couple weeks behind, where I think a lot of birds are kind of hanging out further north, Oregon, Washington. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_04:For sure, for sure.
SPEAKER_00:Um, and we were shooting like you guys were probably shooting locals. We we get a normally we get a huge push of green wings and spoonies and teeth, like all of that stuff, and I just haven't really seen it. There's guys getting into some birds, but it's pretty it's been slower November than the last two years.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, that's kind of in the story up here, too. I mean, you know, uh I've been talking about it on the podcast, you know, rice fields are starting to flood up, so guys are getting more and more access to their public land. It's kind of spreading the birds out a little bit. Um where I live, I just kind of live right outside Sacramento here. And uh I was literally driving through the rice fields here in like the pleasant grove area, it's called, and they're they just started flooding about a week ago, and yeah, the birds we're getting new birds down here already. So yeah, even last night, man, just nothing but specs flying over the house all night. You know, so they're they're heading they're heading your way, they'll be there shortly. So uh there you go. Yeah, so you know, obviously we we bet on Instagram here, and I follow your page. Remind me what's your Instagram again?
SPEAKER_00:It's uh the Instagram is called the Sweat Line.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, the sweat line. So yeah, guys, go check it out. Follow Colin on the sweat line there. But but I wanted to uh just kind of check in with you. Sorry, who's Colin? All right, so uh wanted to check in with you. Like any hunts that you want to share? I mean, I've been kind of following along on Instagram, but anything stand out that you want to share so far this season?
SPEAKER_00:Or well, it's been it's been slow. Opening day was actually not bad, man. We were kind of uh uh off it, not nobody in the in the crew pulled a resie, and it's because we only really have like three refuges to choose from, it can get pretty hectic. Sure. Sanacinto has like 50 spots, and you'll you'll typically see 300 people, like 300 groups, I mean, in the in the parking lot, so it's pretty discouraging. So we decided to go off refuge and just like not a very ducky spot, but national forest, and sometimes there's birds. And three of us were like scratched out seven and got a couple mallards and a couple pintails, so we that was like probably my favorite hunt of the of the year so far.
SPEAKER_04:Nice. Well, good for good for you guys. That's that's always kind of fun when people kind of do their own thing and get away from break away from the crowd and everything. So good for you and your and your buddies for sure.
SPEAKER_01:Um, that was a good one.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, so you you mentioned those three refuges, you know, which uh refuges or which areas seem to be kind of holding birds lately.
SPEAKER_00:So I unfortunately have not been down to Worcester yet. I've I've sworn off San Jacinto indefinitely. I'll I'll never go back there, but I mean, power to you if you if you can hang tough in there. But uh usually Worcester the numbers are very misleading. So if it's if it's averaging, which I just looked up the numbers, they're aver they average like 1.7 this last hunt day. So that means there's probably a handful of pawns for people that have done their time down there that they're they're shooting limits. It's gonna be and you know there's a dude on Instagram, he's a guide down there, the Salt and Sea Guide Service or something like that. Dude, there's probably millions of birds that end up on the sea. It's mostly teal, but they get a lot of widgeon and spoonies and stuff. It's you like December, you know, is is when stuff really starts going. So that's gonna be what I'm looking forward to pretty soon.
SPEAKER_04:Nice, and and we'll dive more into this on your uh SoCal episode, but I I'm curious, you said you swore off San Jacinto. What's kind of the quick story there?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I'll tell you this. They set off a fog horn at shoot time. Okay. I kid you not, dude. In an effort to stop people, the place is small enough that a dude dude will just stand in the middle of the refuge with like a fog horn and he lets it rip at shoot time, and that's when World War III takes off.
SPEAKER_04:That makes sense. All right.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, there's no close, there's no closed zone at that refuge, so you get about 15 minutes of mayhem shooting ducks that you can't tell what they are, like 60 yards in the air, and then it's over. Crazy.
SPEAKER_04:Crazy. I hate it. Yeah, for sure. Well, right on, man. Well, so what what kind of birds are you guys seeing most most out there right now? What's the fight? What's the flight been looking like or the migration? What's it been looking like out there?
SPEAKER_00:A lot of green wings. I've actually not that many spoonies this year, which is kind of tough because that's usually like makes up a big percentage of our birds down here, but lots of cinnamon, more cinnamon this year than I saw last year, which is nice. And I I I haven't looked at all those numbers, but my guess would be like green wings and the cinnamons are gonna be the the leading birds here. Pretty soon, I'm we're gonna start seeing the pintail harvest really take off because they all kind of a lot of them will kind of winter around that salt and sea area.
SPEAKER_04:For sure. My one uh one of my hunts this year, one of my goals is to get my three pintail and then just fill the strap. You mentioned the spoonies. I'd love to just use my three pintail and fill the rest with spoon. I think that'd be a pretty fun little picture there. Oh man.
SPEAKER_00:I know, and and there's enough Hank Shaw recipes out there that you can figure out what to do with spoonies.
SPEAKER_04:So for sure. So well, Renault, man. Any hunts coming up that you're looking forward to?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I'm probably gonna do do a little rip up north this weekend with a buddy and and try and hunt like a type C area Friday and Saturday, and just get we're tired of hunting in short sleeves, you know. We need to go north where it's cold.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I hear you on that. Well, we were talking before we started recording here. It's definitely cooling down when you get this far north, that's for sure. So you know, we'll connect again um as the season goes on, but what's kind of your prediction for the rest of the season, or or heck, maybe just this next month? We'll we'll check back in and see if you're right. But what are you thinking? What's what's going on?
SPEAKER_00:Here it is. Here it is, man. Because the you know, they did the beep pop survey, and and there's like 49% more mallards, and like all these the widgeon was up, like all these birds are up. The birds are out there, they're just not here yet. I I really think that December and January are about to be Western. Like it's I think it's about to get really, really hectic. So I I've been trying, I've gone out a lot less. After the first couple hunts didn't go the way that I thought they would. I decided like I'm just gonna save my days because I I really think it's about to get hot and heavy.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, no, I I I get that same vibe for sure. So uh well, let's fingers crossed that we're both right there. And famous last words, dude. I we say it every every fucking year. I feel like we say the same thing. Oh, big time, big time. I was thinking about it the other day. It was one of our episodes where we're talking about like how duck hunters are the most optimistic, right? And honestly, I'm not gonna say it's been a bad season so far, it's just been different. That's all I'll say. Yeah, there's nothing like that, like 15 minutes before shoot time when you're like, today's the day, dude. Oh, exactly, exactly. I mean, I uh a hunt recently, it was the same thing. You go into today's the day and shoot light, nothing's really flying. And I'm just like, what's going on here? And then yeah, sure enough, about it about 45 minutes to an hour in, it turned on. So there you go. Yeah, we'll take it. So we'll run on, man. Well, hey, I appreciate us connecting here once again. Guys, follow Colin uh on Instagram at the sweatline. Um, we'll tag him on our post here on Instagram as well when we uh get this going. But yeah, Colin man, good luck the rest of the season. We'll check in with you and uh have a happy Thanksgiving. Yeah, thank you, sir. You do the same. We'll uh we'll talk soon. Sounds good, man. Hang tight. All right. All right, that was our last guest of the episode. Really appreciate everyone coming on and uh sharing their reviews so far of how this season's going for them. We're really excited to see all the pictures on Instagram and Facebook and all the different social medias. Great stuff seeing guys get into birds this season. Love seeing uh, you know, all the different pictures and whatnot. But uh yeah, don't forget to follow us on Instagram at ForTheFowlers and uh please continue to rate and review us on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, and anywhere else you may be listening to our podcast. We really appreciate it. So hope everyone had a great holiday. Happy Thanksgiving once again, and we will chat with you soon. Bye.