By Chad Love

Many California waterfowlers started their season this weekend, but as it turns out, our Golden State brethren take a kinder, gentler approach...

From this story in the Mountain View Patch:
The sound of gunshots alarmed some runners and cyclists on Stevens Creek Trail yesterday but, it turns out, the bullets were recreational. From around the Bay Area, hunters headed to the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge early Saturday as duck hunting season began a half hour before sunrise. At one salt pond, where the Stevens Creek Trail met the Moffett Bay Trail, about 33 hunters had signed in before noon, and some of the "early birds" were already calling it a day. There were also plenty of cyclists, runners and walkers passing by on the trails. One hunter said there was room for everyone and there have been no incidents in the past.

But here's the good part...

Eldon Hoge, a member of the hunting and conservation club Ducks Unlimited, was one of four men heading out on Saturday. They had come from all over the region: San Mateo, East Palo Alto, Hayward and Redwood City. The men had arrived at the refuge the night before at 2 a.m. and after a few hours they had only caught three ducks, a disappointing morning. The quota is seven per person. "On a good day we would have caught 28," he said.

I was watching bird dogs in Texas this past weekend so I missed my area's waterfowl opener, but you can be sure I'll be out there Saturday "catching" as many ducks as the law will allow me to catch. I have to admit, though, I'm still trying to figure out that whole post-catch release option. Last year I tried to release a few of the ducks I caught as sort of a goodwill gesture to the hunting gods, but every time I threw one up in the air the darn thing just came right back down. Am I doing something wrong? Can someone help me out here?

Comments (12)

from Sayfu wrote 1 year 30 weeks ago

Looks like political correctness lives on in Caleeefornya. It makes Nancy Pelosi proud. She probably witnessed the opener in the Bay area flying over the National Widlife Preserve in Air Force One costing the tax payers $75,000 and hour. True story though. I downed a mallard one time stone cold dead I thought. My second shot downed another one. I had jumped them on a canal ditch, and shots were at fairly close range. I picked up the second duck, and went over to pick up the first one, after laying my gun down, and it got up and flew away. A steel shot must have dinged it in the head, and knocked it out. It appeared unharmed flying off.

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from huntnfishnut wrote 1 year 30 weeks ago

This is part of the new catch and release program. Havn't you heard. Later this month Oscar Meyer will be opening a new livestock dayspa at their slaughterhouse... I mean "bed and breakfast".

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from idduckhntr wrote 1 year 30 weeks ago

I caught a coulpe mallards, with a load of #3s.

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from GERG wrote 1 year 30 weeks ago

P\C my achin ass!!!!! Caught? Are you kidding me?

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from jeffisutherland wrote 1 year 30 weeks ago

Earlier this season in Manitoba, I caught my full limit in two hours on a nice Saturday evening. Ducks kept trying to land in a slough that was no wider than a double car garage and at the deepest point it was about 4 inches of water. We had to stop shooting but they were still coming in!

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from shadbuster wrote 1 year 30 weeks ago

Give me a break! This guy is not being politically correct, that's the way he talks, caught, bagged, got, downed, I've heard hunters use all these terms before doesn't mean they are being PC. You guys should be politicians, jumping on every little word someone says and twisting it around.

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from Sayfu wrote 1 year 30 weeks ago

shadbuster....It is coming out of kooky Caleeefornya you know. The ducks don't even fly right down there. They all fly left.

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from GERG wrote 1 year 30 weeks ago

Shad, caught? wth? He killed,havested,took ducks! Caught gives the implication that he may let them go. Kinda against the law, its called wanton waste. Besides where the hell would a dead duck go if you let it go? LOL

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from shadbuster wrote 1 year 30 weeks ago

As said it's just the way the guys talks, when he says caught, he means killed,I've heard people use it like that before and in other parts of the country besides CA. They only thing this guy did was not speak properly, but since when did you need to be a literary scholar to get a hunting license? It's kinda like when you say I bagged a deer, nobody with any sense is going to really think you went up to a live deer and put in a bag.

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from Sayfu wrote 1 year 30 weeks ago

Shad..Now I get it. Kinda like the way you can interpret the word "IS"

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from GERG wrote 1 year 30 weeks ago

Point taken Shad, caught just rubs me wrong.

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from Sayfu wrote 1 year 30 weeks ago

He did make a good point? "Bagged" means to have killed something in most states I've ever been in...but "caught"?? Go ask your neighbor what they think "caught" means. I'd bet most outdoorsMEN, or outdoor persons to be Caleeefornya politically correct never heard it to mean killed, except maybe Shadbuster.

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from jeffisutherland wrote 1 year 30 weeks ago

Earlier this season in Manitoba, I caught my full limit in two hours on a nice Saturday evening. Ducks kept trying to land in a slough that was no wider than a double car garage and at the deepest point it was about 4 inches of water. We had to stop shooting but they were still coming in!

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Sayfu wrote 1 year 30 weeks ago

Looks like political correctness lives on in Caleeefornya. It makes Nancy Pelosi proud. She probably witnessed the opener in the Bay area flying over the National Widlife Preserve in Air Force One costing the tax payers $75,000 and hour. True story though. I downed a mallard one time stone cold dead I thought. My second shot downed another one. I had jumped them on a canal ditch, and shots were at fairly close range. I picked up the second duck, and went over to pick up the first one, after laying my gun down, and it got up and flew away. A steel shot must have dinged it in the head, and knocked it out. It appeared unharmed flying off.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from huntnfishnut wrote 1 year 30 weeks ago

This is part of the new catch and release program. Havn't you heard. Later this month Oscar Meyer will be opening a new livestock dayspa at their slaughterhouse... I mean "bed and breakfast".

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from idduckhntr wrote 1 year 30 weeks ago

I caught a coulpe mallards, with a load of #3s.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from GERG wrote 1 year 30 weeks ago

P\C my achin ass!!!!! Caught? Are you kidding me?

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from shadbuster wrote 1 year 30 weeks ago

Give me a break! This guy is not being politically correct, that's the way he talks, caught, bagged, got, downed, I've heard hunters use all these terms before doesn't mean they are being PC. You guys should be politicians, jumping on every little word someone says and twisting it around.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Sayfu wrote 1 year 30 weeks ago

shadbuster....It is coming out of kooky Caleeefornya you know. The ducks don't even fly right down there. They all fly left.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from GERG wrote 1 year 30 weeks ago

Shad, caught? wth? He killed,havested,took ducks! Caught gives the implication that he may let them go. Kinda against the law, its called wanton waste. Besides where the hell would a dead duck go if you let it go? LOL

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from shadbuster wrote 1 year 30 weeks ago

As said it's just the way the guys talks, when he says caught, he means killed,I've heard people use it like that before and in other parts of the country besides CA. They only thing this guy did was not speak properly, but since when did you need to be a literary scholar to get a hunting license? It's kinda like when you say I bagged a deer, nobody with any sense is going to really think you went up to a live deer and put in a bag.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Sayfu wrote 1 year 30 weeks ago

Shad..Now I get it. Kinda like the way you can interpret the word "IS"

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from GERG wrote 1 year 30 weeks ago

Point taken Shad, caught just rubs me wrong.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Sayfu wrote 1 year 30 weeks ago

He did make a good point? "Bagged" means to have killed something in most states I've ever been in...but "caught"?? Go ask your neighbor what they think "caught" means. I'd bet most outdoorsMEN, or outdoor persons to be Caleeefornya politically correct never heard it to mean killed, except maybe Shadbuster.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

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All submitted comments are subject to the rules set forth in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.