Seminar series is designed to help bird hunters find
public land places to hunt doves, quail, and chukar
This fall is shaping up as one of those epic bird hunting seasons with good quail and chukar hatches already being reported across the region, and dove numbers remain at very high levels.
So these are the questions you should ask yourself: Do you have enough good places to hunt doves, quail, and chukar on public lands in Southern California? Do you know where the springs and guzzlers are located in our local deserts and mountains? Are you positive you are hunting on legal hunting ground when you go out? Do you believe there are more good places to hunt gamebirds than there are upland bird hunters left in the region?
If you answered “no” to any or all of these questions, Jim Matthews, a long-time newspaper outdoor writer and editor of the highly-acclaimed Western Birds newsletter, is conducting a pair of where-to-go bird hunting seminars at Redlands Shooting Park in Redlands to help you answer “yes” to all of those questions.
The first of the two $60 seminars will be from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, July 8, and this will be followed by a 10 a.m. to noon event on Sunday, August 13. Seating is limited, so pre-registration is recommended.
These sessions are designed to help beginning, intermediate, and even veteran hunters find more places to hunt gamebirds and help them be more successful in the field.
Matthews started his where-to-go, bird hunting newsletter, Western Birds, and this series of seminars because he was frustrated over the lack of information available on public land hunting and wanted to help hunters get into more birds and cash in on the region’s bird hunting bounty.
“The number one question I field at outdoor shows, seminars, and over the telephone is a simple one: ‘Where can I go hunting for doves, quail, or chukar?’ There are variations on the question, but the theme is the same. Hunters want to find places where they have a chance of finding birds on public land where they know it’s legal,” said Matthews.
“The question comes from beginning hunters who are just starting out and don’t have a clue where to find game birds. And it comes from veteran hunters who have lost their spots to urban sprawl or just want a few new places to try,” said Matthews.
The questions have been peppering Matthews for years. So in 1996, he started the bird hunting newsletter, which is a detailed scouting report, giving precise, where-to-go information for hunters. Guzzler locations are mapped and GPS coordinates provided. It is like your best hunting buddy giving you a map with Xs on it where he found birds.
But Matthews felt the word still wasn’t getting out, so he began a series of detailed seminars designed to give hunters the resources to give them confidence while in the field and provide that “where-to-go” information.
“The most-often spouted lament I hear – often from veteran hunters who should know better – is that there’s no place left to hunt in Southern California anymore – or that the hunting isn’t as good as it was 10, 20, or 50 years ago. That is simply laughable. I like to say there are far more good places to hunt upland birds in Southern California than there are bird hunters today. When we have good hatches – and this looks like one of those years – our hunting can be as good as any place in the United States, and far better than most places.
“For example, I helped out a couple of bird hunting guides from Wisconsin a few years ago. They hunt hard in Wisconsin for ruffed grouse and woodcock, and then move to Kansas for bobwhite quail and pheasants, and then finish the season in Arizona hunting for Mearn’s quail, scaled quail, and Gambel’s. They wanted to shoot their first mountain quail.
“What they did was set a personal daily record for number of birds moved, seeing literally hundreds of birds – valley quail, mountain quail and chukar in canyons draining the east side of the southern Sierra Nevada. They said it was arguably the best hunting they had ever had – and these are veteran hunters with well-trained bird dogs who hunt some of the best bird country in the United States. The best bird hunting they’d ever had was here in California, and it’s all right here in our backyard,” said Matthews.
Matthews’ seminars are designed to open up this bird hunting mecca to all hunters. The classes give hunters the tools to find literally hundreds of public land spots in this region. The session will cover the correct maps to use so hunters know they are hunting legally. They provide information on how to find desert water sources – from springs to stock tanks to gamebird guzzlers. They direct hunters to specific locations where Matthews has found good bird numbers. And he shares a lifetime of hunting knowledge and tactics gathered in this region. All of this information can optimize hunter’s scouting time and make him a more successful bird hunter.
Cost for either seminar is $60 per family (all members in the same household), and it includes a trial two-issue subscription to Matthews’ Western Birds hunting newsletter, which he calls the “most detailed scouting report published in the world.” Everyone who attends this event is encouraged to shoot a round or two of trap, skeet, or sporting clays after the seminar as a tune-up for the upcoming bird seasons.
For more information about the seminars or the Western Birds newsletter, call Matthews at 909-887-3444 or go to his website at www.OutdoorNewsService.com. An information flyer and registration forms for all the seminars are available on Matthews’ website and from Redlands Shooting Park.