“The shooting of waterfowl has not been this year what it formerly was no doubt the gradual increase of population and the setting up of localities near the former feeding grounds of the birds has much to do with it. The sport has been so poor that the shooters are discouraged. They will have to be satisfied if they kill half of what they use to.” (Breeder and Sportsman 1882).

“Not many years will pass before the hunting as it is now known will pass from these marshes, and it behooves those who love the sport to make the most of the present.” (Solano Republican 1915)

These dire predictions were not incorrect. Rather they reflected the accurate observations of the authors. Hunting is not what it was in the “good old days”. Each generation recalls the greatest of its hunting experience and is quick to delete the forgettable.

A review of the facts and trends are in order to determine whether waterfowl hunting in California is in its final years. Factors range from politics and changing populations, to progress with trends reflected in declining and increasing numbers. In 1954 California hunters purchased 214,456 federal duck stamps. In 2004 only 72,093 stamps were sold. Decreased hunter opportunity is reflected by the declining success and participation of the unattached hunter. The idea of seeking and receiving permission of a farmer to hunt on his land is almost laughable.

A dilemma of redistribution of waterfowl and the possibility of cessation of the sport confronts the average hunter. In 1991 California passed the Rice Straw Burning Reduction Act. The transition from burning to flooding and subsequent decomposition of rice stubble has produced a boon of 300,000 acres of wintering habitat for waterfowl. Much of this land is not hunted and this has the effect of diluting waterfowl populations. Rice culture in California is far more efficient than in the past. The Rice Experimental Station at Biggs began an accelerated research program in 1991 to improve rice varieties in California. The newer plants are shorter by 12 inches or more, which keeps them from lodging (falling over), renders them easier to harvest and, most importantly, leads them to mature in only 130 days instead of 160. Crop depredation is prevented by harvesting before large numbers of migrating waterfowl arrive on the scene. Laser-controlled leveling equipment now produces fields that are more uniform in depth, and the resulting rice crop is almost a solid upright stand. Ducks don’t like to fly into such an unharvested field; they prefer to land in potholes or areas where rice has lodged and swim into the adjacent rice to feed.

Refuges were originally established to prevent this depredation. The charter of the refuges has changed. Refuge managers and staff of the state and federal wildlife areas are no longer focused on waterfowl and crop depredation but on all wildlife. Fewer of the current Department of Fish and Game employees grew up hunting and fishing. They fully endorse the recent court decisions that an endangered salt harvest mouse has as much if not more import than a mallard. The number of bird watchers far exceeds the hunters at state and federal refuges. The environmental movement and concomitant public support has lead to the creation of even larger refuges and the establishment of more inviolate sanctuaries.

Economic prosperity, ease of travel and more leisure time has permitted some enthusiastic individuals to acquire large tracts of land, retain excellent habitat managers and develop “super clubs.” Hunting disturbance is purposely kept to a minimum. With all their biological needs satisfied, waterfowl congregate in huge numbers vacuuming in passing flocks. The rich getting richer is as American as apple pie. Hunters in the storied old clubs in the Butte Sink are feeling the pinch of this increased competition.

Waterfowl nesting is also hampered by a decrease in adequate nesting cover with contiguous brood habitat. Government programs to subsidize nesting in California will be hampered by the burgeoning state deficit, general bureaucratic bumbling and the pork always associated with government. Rice farmers in general are short sighted. They are more than willing to rent blinds to hunters for significant income but are not willing to embrace programs that would so sustain their rents.

Fallowing land for nesting habitat or the cultivation of vetch are two examples. Vetch is a nitrogen fixing plant that replenishes the soil while providing the ultimate in nesting habitat.

By the year 2020 the human population in the Central Valley will increase by 20 million. In the West, men fight over whiskey and kill over water. The competition for this limited water resource between humans and waterfowl can have only one outcome.

With a few notable exceptions, the sons of hunters are not replacing their fathers’ passion for the sport. There are many more opportunities for recreation and amusement for young people that are not as time-consuming or strenuous as hunting. Wii consoles and other electronic games can be played from the comfort of a couch by our progressively obese youths.

California has been the most “progressive” of all states. Based on ballot initiatives, California voters have decreed mountain lions can no longer be regulated by the California Fish and Game Department. Leg hold traps have been banned and we are only an election away from having “blood sports” deemed illegal. The indefensible practice of “flighted mallards,” releasing tame birds from a hilltop which are shot as they fly to the pond below, provides ammunition to the anti’s. The anti-hunters grow in number and argue with emotion rather than logic. The proposition that hunters sustain the resource with their license fees and other contributions such as providing vital habitat is being brushed aside. “You only support them to kill them.” Out of a population of 38 million, the remaining 70,000 duck hunters will eventually lose the battle.

One organization created to perpetuate duck hunting has lost its focus. As with many organizations its goal has evolved to sustain itself. In an attempt to provide the demands of all constitutes the leader of this group has lobbied for large bag limits and excessively long seasons. The killing and numbers posted to demonstrate harvest appears to be his goal. The past doctrine of terminating hunting in mid January to allow the pair birds some respite before the breeding season has been abandoned. The warnings of Aldo Leopold’s graduate student, Hans Albert Hochbaum, go unheeded. This myopic view has prevented this organization from admitting that hunting could be additive in mortality rather than compensatory. The Monterey sardine, passenger pigeon, and bison would argue differently.

These views may be the pessimistic ramblings of a hunter who wishes for the “good old days,” but I doubt it.