Who Don't like Rice?

Colusa Rice Fields Part I:

Leaving at 3 in the morning only meant one thing to me, who needs sleep?  I text Cliffy and let him know my situation "hey if you're up and want to leave early come on by I'm not going to bed."  Cliffy shows up a little earlier and I did not spend the few hours waiting  to my advantage, it hurt.  I make it maybe 45 minutes down the road before I pass out, it's then I got my 4 hours of sleep.  I awake a little hung at some gas station in South Medford, what a beautiful city.  Next stop is the Liquor Expo just over the border to buy some provisions at rock bottom prices.  We make it there just as they are opening at 8 a.m. Cliffy hands the keys over to me and with visions of an afternoon slay in the goose fields I put the pedal down and in a little less than 4 hours we are now in Colusa, an hour before our scheduled arrival time.  Gives us some time to choke down a burrito and have the state of CA bends us over for a 4 day hunting permit.  $105.00 worth of bending over.  The great state of Idaho for example only charges $35.00 for 3 days.  We hook up with Cliffy's buddy Brennan and we follow him outside town about 15 miles through farm land to the duck club. 

Mt. Shasta on the ride down

The duck club consist of lets say eight "teams" we'll call them.  Each "team" consist of four guns for as you all know equals 32 hunters.  Each team also has some kind of trailer at this space along the rice farm, Brennan and Kevin's being the largest of them all.  Equipped with a small kitchen, three beds, a head, a huge fire pit, a Little Red Ranger ATV, and a deck off the back over looking the rice fields.  Each team is responsible to set up one of the blinds with decoys and maintain with grasses.  In the morning the team leaders meet a hour before kill time and have a drawing at the "club house".   The club house is where you are suppose to check in and out of and log what you killed and where.  The first person picks which blind they want and so forth until everyone has a blind for the day, this way you're not hunting the same blinds every day and you get different looks.  The blinds are "pit" blinds dug into the ground, some are island like in the middle of flooded fields and some are between the rice fields on the burm.  Most house 3-4 people very comfortably they have small fences lined with grasses that pop up and down. When you arrive at the blinds the decoys are already set up with about 10 dozen decoys.  Each blind is approximately 500 yards apart.  There are also a few fields that have not been flooded strictly for geese, from my impression are just open to anyone who wants to hunt the as long as they are a part of the club.  You travel on ATVs along the water ways from 1-2 miles.

Nearby, the 4,500-acre Colusa National Wildlife Refuge is one of six refuges in the Sacramento Refuge Complex located in the Sacramento Valley of north-central California, and is considered one of the most important wintering areas for waterfowl in North America. Pheasant and waterfowl may be hunted during certain times of the year. Other local refuges include the Delevan National Wildlife Refuge near the town of Delevan and the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge near the northern border of the county.

California is the largest producer of short and medium grain rice in the United States. In total, the state's rice industry produces more than 2 million tons of rice annually making it the second largest rice growing state.   Over 95 percent of the California's rice is grown within 100 miles of the State Capitol. For the rural Sacramento Valley communities of Colusa, Butte, Sutter and Yuba counties.