Daily drawings are held for the Tule Lake NWR spaced-blinds, Sump 1B and Frey’s Island hunt areas only. All other hunt areas on the Tule Lake Refuge are free roam and do not require registration. The daily drawing will be held each afternoon in the Refuge Visitor Center at 4:30 p.m.; hunters may begin filling out party information at 4:00 p.m. Any blinds remaining after the drawing will be available on a self-serve basis; sign up will be located outside the Visitor Center. Drawings will be conducted daily through November 30, hunting in these areas changes to free roam beginning December 1.
General Rules
1. A minimum of one party member must be present at the drawing; hunters may not enter party cards into the drawing where they are not a party member.
2. Hunters may not be listed on more than one party card.
3. Persons may not be added to a party after the draw is completed, this includes youth and non-hunters.
4. Party cards must contain the full name, city and state of each hunter and non-hunter or youth.
5. Party cards for Sump 1B and Frey’s Island must contain license plate numbers of vehicles that will be on site.
6. Sump 1B/ Frey’s Island
a. Only Ten hunting parties are allowed in the Sump 1B.
b. One motor boat is allowed per party.
c. No Argos or UTV vehicles are allowed.
d. All party members must hunt together over one set of decoys; party members may not spread out into sub-parties.
7. Spaced-blinds
a. No more than one party is allowed per blind site.
b. Parties must actively hunt using waterfowl decoys.
c. Parties must set up and hunt with in a 100-yard radius of the post; no loaded firearms are allowed outside this area.
d. In areas with no posts hunters must pick a spot to set up and hunt within 100 yards of this area, no loaded firearms are allowed outside this area.
8. Vehicles are allowed in all of the spaced-blind fields, including UTVs and Argos. Hunters are allowed to pick up and drop off party members, decoys and equipment only, they must park in the designated parking area. UTVs may be parked near the hunt blind as long as they do not interfere with other hunts.
a. Driving into fields is at the hunter’s risk, the Refuge takes no responsibility for damage to vehicles or equipment.
b. Directional stakes are placed to reduce these risks.
9. All hunters are required to complete their harvest card and drop it at the check station or drop boxes located at Frey’s Island and Sump 1B.
a. Hunters who do not turn in harvest cards will automatically go the bottom of the draw list on their next visit.
b. Staff will collect the harvest cards and process stats each morning. Results will be posted at the check station daily and to the web two times per week.
Drawing Process
1. Staff will prep for hunters at 3:45 p.m.
a. Place party cards and pencils where hunters can access them, a table or the VC counter will work best.
i. A single color of card is used. We no longer separate the yellow Sump 1B/Frey’s Island party cards from white spaced-blind cards, all cards will be the same and all areas will be available to draw in one session.
b. Place the blind board or map where everyone can see it during the draw, this ensures hunters can see what has been taken as the drawing progresses.
c. Have both blue and green harvest cards ready; make sure to have a sharpie and a date stamp with the next day’s date ready.
i. Prepare 10 blue harvest cards for Sump 1B numbered “S1B-1” through “S1B-10”, this will help ensure only 10 parties are drawn for this area.
ii. Green cards will be for spaced-blinds and will be filled out with blind numbers and dates as blinds are chosen during the draw.
d. Do not pre-date harvest cards. Each day is a different draw and the number of people drawing for this area changes, pre-dating cards is wasteful when areas are not selected.
2. As hunters arrive, they will take a party card and complete the information requested, then turn the card into staff.
3. As cards are turned in, staff is to make sure all requested information is completed. Party members who are present for the draw must show their recreation pass, hunting license, state waterfowl validations and Federal Stamps. Party members not present will be checked in the field by enforcement.
4. Approximately 10 minutes before the draw, staff will read the “Spaced-blind Script” which informs hunters of the rules, regulations and other information specific to hunting the draw areas.
a. “Other information” may consist of blinds that have been closed due to harvest, poor road conditions, or anything else that will affect hunters in the field that is not part of the standard printed materials.
5. Once all party cards are completed and turned in, Refuge staff will shuffle the cards in plain sight of the hunters and call on a hunter to “cut the deck”. Once the cards have been cut, staff will call the name of the first person on the first card.
a. Hunters choose blinds in the order they are called.
b. Staff will write the blind number chosen on the party card and mark the blind taken on the blind board or map.
c. Each party will be given a harvest card with the next day’s date stamped on it, the number of party members and the blind number written on it. Having the correct date is very important, if the date is not correct hunters can be ejected from the field by enforcement.
d. Complete one party at a time until all parties have been drawn.
6. Once all parties are drawn and hunters have left, the draw results will be sent out to enforcement.
7. At this time, staff will clean up and put draw supplies away and are done.
Harvest Statistics
Hunters are to complete their harvest cards and return them to the check station or other designated drop off point at the end of each hunt day. Harvest cards will be collected and stats calculated each day and posted at the check station by Refuge staff. Stats will be posted on-line twice per week.
Staff are required to check all harvest cards with the party cards to ensure all parties turned in their harvest cards. If a party does not turn in their card, they will not be eligible to draw the next night. If a specific party or hunter does not turn in their cards on a regular basis staff is to inform enforcement.
Additional Information
A draw procedure checklist and the Spaced-blind Script will be printed for use at the front desk. These documents will contain the above information as well as additional information relating to shoot times, bag limits and other regulations. Signs will be hung at the check station to ensure hunters know where and when the draw takes place. This is a new process and many hunters will be confused or upset, please be patient with them, it will get easier as the season progresses
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