Kern Topped 32 Ranked California Areas in Ducks per Trip, 69% Above Gray Lodge

IReservation Choices

Kern Topped 32 Ranked Areas and Led Gray Lodge Every Season

We count one adult or junior waterfowl hunter checked in for one day as a trip and CDFW divides by that count for its printed average. To get ducks per trip, divide total ducks by total trips. The series starts with the 1996-97 season comparison on the former Fish and Game site.

Gray Lodge drew the crowd. It recorded about 295,000 trips over the 28 seasons, more than any other area in these tables. Kern had about 70,000, or 24% as many. The area hunted most and the area with the best ducks per trip have been different places.

IIA Short List

Kern Finished Top Five in All of the Last 10 Seasons

Our ranking covered the 32 areas with at least 20 seasons and 10,000 trips. Kern took first at 2.98 ducks per trip and the Gadwall area followed at 2.85. Little Dry Creek took third at 2.69, followed by Delevan at 2.59 and Freitas North at 2.40.

A long average can mask a decline, so we also ranked each of the last ten seasons (2014-15 through 2023-24) separately. Kern finished in the top five in all 10 and took first in 8, averaging 3.16 ducks per trip over that stretch. Gadwall reached the top five in 9 and averaged 2.97. Delevan reached the top five in 9 as well at 2.68, with far heavier traffic. It had about 177,000 trips over the 28 seasons.

Little Dry Creek averaged 2.45 ducks per trip over the last ten seasons compared with its 28-season average of 2.69. It reached the top five in only 4 of those last ten. Gray Lodge sits 22nd of 32 at 1.76 and did not reach the top five in the last ten.

IIIYear by Year

Delevan and Little Dry Creek Topped the All-Area Rate Every Season

A hunter planning ahead needs to know how often an area tops that season's all-area ducks per trip, something one long average cannot show. We counted how many seasons each area did that. Kern beat it in all 28, as did Delevan and Little Dry Creek. Gadwall beat it in 26 and Mendota in 23. Just 7 of the 32 ranked areas topped the all-area rate in 20 or more seasons.

Kern also finished in the top five in 27 of the 28 seasons and took first in 12. Its worst finish was 11th in 2012-13. Gray Lodge topped the all-area rate in only 3 of the 28 seasons. Sacramento sits third in trips and beat it in 11.

The all-area rate varied sharply too. It stood at 1.76 ducks per trip in 1996-97 and reached its high of 2.44 in 2022-23. At 1.54 the 2023-24 rate matched 2002-03 for the lowest of the 28 seasons. Kern still took first that season at 2.80, while Gray Lodge dropped to 1.19.

IVComparing the Valleys

The San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys Finished Even

Kern and Gadwall at the top make the list look like a San Joaquin story. The tables do not support that view. Pooling every area in each valley puts the San Joaquin Valley at 2.11 ducks per trip and the Sacramento Valley at 2.10. Six of the top 10 areas are in the San Joaquin and four are in the Sacramento.

The gap within each valley is wider than the gap between the valleys. Mendota in the San Joaquin produced more ducks than any other area. Its 608,341 ducks on 282,347 trips come to 2.15 ducks per trip and 10th place. Los Banos averaged 1.67 in that same valley. The ranked Sacramento Valley areas range from Little Dry Creek at 2.69 down to Llano Seco at 1.66. Gray Lodge is near the bottom at 1.76. As a group the Suisun Marsh and Delta areas trailed at 1.44. Island Slough and Goodyear Slough rank last at 0.87 and 0.96.

VChecking the Tables

An Area's Rate Shows Its Results but Promises No Bag

Ducks per trip averages every trip an area logged and tells nothing certain about one party's day. Areas vary in size, water, hunt days, reservation systems and the number of hunters they admit.

CDFW printed 114 labels in 25 reports, including total rows. We matched the area labels to 40 areas. Older tables include pheasant and snipe hunters among hunter visits, so we counted only waterfowl hunters. Most seasons show up in two consecutive reports, and 92 of 824 repeated area-seasons differ between printings. We took the newer printing. Our summed area counts come within half a percent of CDFW's printed season totals in 19 of the 23 seasons with a printed total. Our sums differ in 1999-00, 2004-05, 2011-12 and 2012-13. CDFW's printed duck total for 2012-13 repeats the figure it printed for 2010-11. We put the 8 areas with fewer than 20 seasons or fewer than 10,000 trips in a separate table. The region groups are our own. The series ends at 2023-24 because newer daily files do not yet reconcile.

VIChoosing Reservation Days

List Kern, Gadwall and Delevan Ahead of Gray Lodge

Our read is that a California hunter with a few reservation days should choose by area and set the valley aside. Kern and the Gadwall area belong on the card first, followed by Delevan with top-five finishes in 9 of the last 10 seasons on heavy traffic. Gray Lodge had the most trips at about 295,000 but sits 22nd of 32 at 1.76 ducks per trip and beat the all-area rate in only 3 of 28 seasons, so it follows those three on the card. Check the newest CDFW season table before booking, because our series stops with 2023-24.