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About

Every year, California's Department of Fish and Wildlife publishes thousands of pages of hunt results, reservation records, and wildlife data. It's scattered across PDFs, spreadsheets, and agency databases. Almost nobody reads it.

We do.

OutdoorStats turns 20+ years of public wildlife data into clear analysis that helps you hunt smarter, understand trends, and see what's really happening on California's public lands.

What You'll Find Here

Practical guides — How California's refuge system works, how to get a reservation, what to expect your first time out.

Data analysis — Which days produce the best hunts? How does weather actually affect success? Are fewer people hunting? We answer these with data, not opinions.

Refuge deep dives — Historical trends, success rates, and draw odds for individual areas like Gray Lodge, Sacramento, Wister, and all 40 state-managed waterfowl hunt areas.

Interactive tools — An interactive refuge map today, with draw odds explorers and weather overlays coming soon.

What's Coming

We're starting with California waterfowl because that's where our deepest data is — 28,000+ daily hunt records across 21 seasons. But this is just the beginning. On the roadmap:

  • Upland game (pheasant, quail) analysis
  • Deer zone trends and draw odds
  • Fisheries — salmon runs, steelhead harvest, angler success rates
  • Weather impact tools
  • Expansion to other western states

Our Data

Every number on this site comes from a primary source:

  • Hunt results — Extracted directly from CDFW season summary PDFs, cross-validated for accuracy
  • Reservation & draw records — Obtained via public records requests from CDFW's ALDS system
  • Weather — ERA5 reanalysis data matched to each hunt area's coordinates
  • Location metadata — Sourced from the CDFW Lands Viewer and USFWS refuge records

Who's Behind This

OutdoorStats is built by a data engineer who spends too much time thinking about duck hunting. The goal is simple: bring the same analytical tools we use in tech to the outdoor pursuits we love.

Get in Touch

Questions, corrections, or data requests? Email hello@outdoorstats.com.