Spent a few days in Commiefornia this week to cross the cinnamon teal off of the bucket list. Flew in to San Diego and stayed there for a few hours before heading to the Imperial Valley to check in our air bnb. The imperial valley is a very interesting place. Lots of agriculture and feed lots. A lot like West Kansas/East Colorado without the snow and cold temps. It is basically a bowl surrounded by mountains that are 4000 ft in elevation. The places we were hunting are below sea level. All of the water is in manmade irrigation ponds/lakes for agriculture and comes from the Colorado River. This is because they only get about 2 inches of rain per year, so irrigation is what allows farming.

The cinnamon teal is unlike any bird I have hunted before. This is a combination of the habitat and their behavior. We are accustomed to ducks roosting on water, flying in the morning to go feed and then going back to the roost or somewhere else to loaf all day. Cinnamons don't do that. The edges of these ponds have extremely thick reeds/cat tails that the cinnamons and other ducks live in. They roost/feed/loaf all in the same place and hardly ever fly. The only effective way to hunt them is to float the edges of the reeds in kayaks and shoot them when they jump up. Even then a large portion won't even jump up when you float by because they feel so safe in the reeds. Decoys aren't really of any use for them, just miles of paddling.

3 of us went and we all were able to get multiple stud drake cinnamons. I also got a beautiful shoveler and a greenwing. We also shot gadwall, mallards, and a merganser.

What surprised me the most was how eat up this place is with coyotes. You hear them howling at eachother all day long. The tracks cutting the corners of the roads look like cattle trails there are so many of them. A blind man could catch a hundred coyotes in a couple weeks out here. Talked to some locals and they have lots of issues with them around the feed lots and large fields where people bring thousands of sheep to spend the winter. Those guys sure wish they could trap them. One farmer I talked to was cutting hay and said he had shot 8 of them off of the combine that day.

Overall I was extremely impressed with California. They have stupid laws like no lead shot even for upland game, gotta pay 10 cents for grocery bags at the store, etc etc, but like any liberal state they are controlled by the voting of their cities. All the folks I dealt with in the valley were normal hard working conservative men that anyone here would be proud to meet. When you think California you think liberals and Los Angeles, what I experienced was far different.

Nice trip for sure

Thanks for sharing. Awesome experience

California is probably the most beautiful of the lower 48 states, the natural wonders are countless; just too bad so many fruits and nuts live there.

I could not agree with that Waggler. I grew up there and couldn't leave fast enough. The inter-mountain states are far more scenic IMO.


But those pix sure bring back memories. I used to hunt ducks and geese on Salton Sea and doves and pheasants in the surrounding fields.

Salton Sea is a pretty interesting place if you are into geology, hydrology, and even archeology

Thanks Coondagger

Thanks for sharing.

Are these public waters or do you pay to get on them?

That Cinnamon is beautiful!

Interesting-Thanks for posting.

I guess what I was referring to is the variety. From deserts to alpine to Mediterranean, incredible coastline especially the 100 miles of Big Sur coastline, the remote northeast corner of the State, the coastal forests of the northwest corner, and lots more. There really is no comparison anywhere.
Still couldn't live there though.

I'll agree about variety for sure. But there are in fact two very scenic places IMO. Yosemite and the Smith River canyon along highway 199.

Cool bird never seen one for real. I like your boats too.

Mac

So what other ducks are on your bucket list and where do you have to go to get them?

That is a STUD Cinnamon!! Congrats man!! Seen one in Arizona and a lot of them in Washington last Spring. I know the locals behind us thought we were crazy for stopping and taking pics and videos. Glad you were able to cross it off your list. That Spoonbill looked about as prime as I’ve seen even during the Spring. Stud Greenwing too!
Your trip reminds me of the time we had Redheads and Can’s show up on a farm pond here. We’d go in and shoot one of each and get out. Called some buddies that had never shot either and took them…one of each and out.
Great write up and pics! Congrats again!!

Thanks Wanna Be! I was tickled with that spoonie, I’ve never killed one anywhere near that pretty before


It is all public water, some of it is draw hunting that you apply for and can hunt a certain day of the week



We were not far from the Salton Sea. Definitely an interesting place. My first time seeing geothermal power plants too

There’s a list of “the 41” North American waterfowl species, I’m 5 or 6 away from having them all

Still need King Eider, Harlequin, and Barrows Goldeneye which will all come from an Alaska trip

Also still need my tree ducks (Fulvous and Black Bellied Whistling Ducks) which will come from Florida but we did kill a couple black bellies in Texas last year

Then I need to kill a Common Eider which will be done in Massachusetts. That’s a fairly easy one I just haven’t done it yet.

The Alaska trip is the big one. Only a couple places in the world you can kill a King Eider

Wow! I'm jealous. That is a stud bird. Just got back from Cape Cod eider hunting. Got limits both days. Sad part is, a King was mixed in with some, and we all missed. Just waved goodby. Lol. Congrats!

That’s so cool. I know of a few that have them all and even one gentleman that has “43”. He got a Spectacled and Steller Eider before they were declared Endangered. He has them in a glass case. In fact you may know or heard of him. His “trophy” room or house is unbelievable.

I wish those suckers stuck around enough for me to take a shot at them. Nice birds

Curious how your inflatable kayaks held up. First trip? Had them a while? Looks like you gave them a good test

Congratulations, that is really an awesome bird. The story is great also, cool to know how things are different across the country.
Good luck on your Slam, hope you keep posting pictures as you work your way down the list.

Cinnamon Teal is a dream bird to kill

Those are actually a local guy’s that we used. Not mine personally. He has had them for years and years, they are extremely durable. He did a DIY hunt in Alaska to kill his king eider and harlequins. Those blue kayaks have been in Bristol Bay of the Bering Sea killing ducks

Over the years we’ve had hunters take a few in Saskatchewan, I’ve never had the good fortune to take one myself. Really pretty birds.

Osky

They're a pretty easy duck to shoot in central CA in the late season when they are on their way back up. When I guided in NE California they would breed in the valley and float on the spring creek all day eating mayflies 40 feet from my boat, but they usually left before our opener in mid October.

They are a beautiful duck, but funny thing is that their bills are "almost" like those of a spoony when compared to a blue wing or a green wing.

I shot my first one in the late 70's as my last bird of the day right before closing time on the last day of the season. It was a great afternoon shoot with 6 drake pintails and the cinnamon.

Post a photo of the mount if you get the chance.

Pete

We are lucky enough to have a taxidermist in our part of the state that has won multiple world championships in waterfowl taxidermy. Here is a teal trio mount that he did. Going to try to kill a stud blue wing this year and get him to mount me a trio like this

Are you forgetting Pacific Eider? May as well get that in Alaska too.

Pacific Eider and Common Eider are one in the same

Does that make the Aleutian green wing teal and a regular green wing teal the same? Aleutian teal and Pacific eiders are colored differently than the common variety. They may be the “same” but they are different.

The Aleutian teal are recognized as different and not included in the 41, I don’t make the rules

I’m certainly not going to turn down the opportunity to shoot a common Eider in Alaska labeled as a pacific.

Just like I won’t turn down the opportunity to shoot pacific Brant even though I’ve shot Atlantic Brant

I'll admit it, I don't know my ducks. But when I was guiding caribou hunts on Adak Island (far west Aleutians) I had several hunters who would go shoot some ducks; Lots of harlequins, teal, etc..

After one of my hunters got home to California he called me all exited; his taxidermist informed him that a couple of the ducks he shot were some sort of Asian teal. I guess other Asiatic ducks make their way to Adak also.

I have shot Eurasian widgeon and tufted ducks on Adak. I saw some diver ducks I could not identify. Still not sure what they were. Definitely a mixing area of Asian birds.
Coondagger be sure to apply for an Emperor Goose Non-resident permit. Alaska drawing permits . Only 25 non Res permits a year, but what a dream bird. If you ever want to do a DIY hunt for Alaska waterfowl PM me. I have done it all. I can point you in the right direction on maybe even set you up for a good hunt.

Thank you for the offer sir, I will shoot you a message!

I agree the emperor is definitely worth applying for, that is a gorgeous bird. A tufted duck is an awesome accomplishment, one I will probably never have a shot at. Congratulations on those birds!