1) Volunteers: The success with the guzzler program relies heavily on volunteer help. We've come a long way over the past few months repairing old guzzlers. The Game Warden's office is very thankful for the contributions of the Sportsman’s Club. In the past, we have had very productive Monday morning guzzler runs. We will no longer have Monday morning guzzler runs. Instead, we will transition to Saturday volunteer opportunities in the coming months. I'll publish these dates at a future Sportsman’s Club meeting. Volunteers wishing to help the guzzler program can do so any day of the week by coordinating with Aivars Berzins (atberzins@aol.com or phone 760-720-3729) or myself (Mike Tucker 760-725-3360).
2) Horno Canyon Spring Fed Guzzler: With a lot of volunteer ingenuity and persistence, the Horno Canyon guzzler is almost operational again. We replaced the holding tank, drinker, and plumbing last week. However, we were unable to hook into the spring line as the pipe connections are corroded. We broke a wrench trying. We'll attempt to tap into the line at another location. This guzzler, once repaired, will provide year round water with little maintenance to small and big game.
3) A Dry Year: Several of our rain-collecting guzzlers no longer have water. Last week I visited two concrete guzzlers along the old El Camino Real. I have recorded quail activity at both guzzlers in the past. Last week, only one of the two guzzlers still had water. Quail tracks were EVERYWHERE around the guzzler with water. The empty guzzler had no sign of quail activity in the area. My goal for next year is to have year round water at all the guzzlers. We'll accomplish this by regular water deliveries, installing rain collecting roofs, and refinishing the concrete catchments (which currently are full of cracks and do not collect water efficiently).
4) Refinishing the Concrete Guzzlers: We can do this work only during the fall and winter due federal and base regulations. I originally planned on doing this work on a weekend camp-over, however, this doesn't seem feasible as it would require 10 volunteers at one time (which is hard to do during the hunting season). Instead, we'll refinish guzzlers one at a time whenever we can get four volunteers together on one day. Refinishing these guzzlers will allow the catchments to collect about 300% more water. This means they will not go dry during the summer. I have done this work in the Mojave and it is a great experience for volunteers. Our oldest concrete guzzler was built in 1949 by the Camp Pendleton Sportsmans Club. Once we refinish these guzzlers they'll be good to go until I get to be about Jim Post's age.
Fiberglass Repair-We also need a volunteer with experience or interest in repairing fiberglass to help fix up our tanks and drinkers before we put them back into the field.
This program is extremely important for providing a potential source of water to wildlife especially with the dry season approaching. If you can volunteer for these projects please call the Warden’s Office @ 760-720-3360 or email: michael.j.tucker@usmc.mil.
