Duck Hunters Worried Multimillion-Dollar Business Could Dry Up In California's Drought

RANCHO CORDOVA (CBS13) — With the start of duck hunting season on Saturday comes worries from hunters that the drought could dry up their multimillion-dollar sport.

Britt Broadhurst, the duck hunting expert at Sportsman's Warehouse in Rancho Cordova, says he's concerned the drought it drying up the store's dollars.

"We are definitely seeing the effects of it," he said.

The lack of water in the region's rice fields and ponds is keeping waterfowl away, as well as tourist dollars.

Waterfowl hunting is big business and it has a ripple effect on other industries. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, hunters spend $900 million a year nationally on a variety of goods and services from food, transportation and lodging to hunting equipment.

Waterfowl hunting also supports more than 27,000 jobs and generates millions of dollars in income for workers.

"Ammunition sales will be down. Duck decoy sales are already down for the year as well as the popular shotgun sales,"Broadhurst said.

Ducks Unlimited, a nonprofit that advocates wetland conservation, says the 1 million ducks that fly through the area could be crammed in like sardines in the limited available wetlands, encouraging rampant disease.

"There's places for them to land but they're crowded," said Mark Biddlecomb. "Higher temperatures generally increases the likelihood of botulism."

A wet winter, he says, could increase the ducks' chances of survival tremendously.