For $5.6 million, you can blast ducks before work - Sacramento Business Journal:

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million, you could be hunting duckxs at dawn on your own estateethis winter, and then be back in downtowjn Sacramento in plenty of time for One of the area's pioneer families is sellingb the title and huntin rights to 2,119 acres in the Yolo literally a stone's throw from Interstatw 80 and a short commute from Sacramento or Davis. The newly named Swanston Duck Club consistws entirely of grasslands that are occasionally floodedd insidethe bypass, just north of the Yolo Causeway. For the $5.6 millioh asking price, you get to own the land and huntit -- and that'd about all. The property is protected as a wildlife refugr and floodcontrol zone. It can'g be developed.
It can't even be The buyer won't get mineral, oil or certaimn water rights. But during duck season -- roughly from October throughgJanuary -- the owner gets some of the most convenienft hunting in the Centrao Valley. Rather than driving to remote duck blindd in the Delta orSolanlo County, or to some marshy swamp in Colusaz or Butte counties, this land is just west of West "It's the convenience," says Gordonh Stromer, who owns Stromer Realty Co. of Californiaq in Yuba City and is marketinfthe property. "You could go hunting in the morningf and be in the office by8 Honk! Quack!
Every autumh and winter, hundreds of thousands of ducksa and geese funnel through the Central Valleuy on their way south. The migratoru path is called thePacificd Flyway, and it goes righ over the would-be Swanston Duck Club. Earlietr this year, heirs of the Swanston family soldthe U.S. Departmenr of the Interior a conservation easement on the SwanstonjDuck Club. The Swanston land along with the 3,700-acrer Vic Fazio Yolo Wildlifd Area just to the south nowcomprisee 5,700 acres of preserved, interior wetlands.
The asking price workws out to $2,650 an acre, and Strome expects a group of friendsw to put together their own private duck club on the whole Or perhaps it will be sold in six parcelas of as small as 320acrex apiece. Stromer pointed out that some membershipds to exclusive duck clubs in the Buttes Sink gofor $16,000 an acre. "Therd are some duck clubs wher memberships are a couple ofhundred bucks, and there are quite a few of them wherew it's more than $1 million to be a said Fritz Reid, director of conservatiohn planning for Ducks Unlimited in Ranchoi Cordova. "The duck club membership is worthy whatever someone is willing to payfor it.
A locatiom close to Sacramento isfairl attractive." Same rules apply: Areas where the public can hunt are limited. There are 18 state or federap hunting areasin California, and they're often full. Hunters without reservationas have to hope they get selected in daily drawinga at the refuges during hunting Belonging to a private duck club gets a huntet easier accessto ducks, but the same states and federal laws still "Different species and different seasons have differeny bag limits and they apply on private property as well as in the state said Troy Swauger, spokesman with the state Departmeng of Fish & Game.
"You still have to have a huntingh license, bag limits still apply, and you have to have passeed a huntersafety class. If you'res from out of state, their hunter safetgy class is valid, but you stil need a California license." in California a hunter's code says that huntingb occurs onlyon Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, said Ducks Unlimited' s Reid. Water, no lodge: "One of the things interesting aboutt this is that it is in theYolo Bypass," Reid "Being the Bypass, it's gointg to be under water sometimes, and that doesn'tg allow for a lodge." Stromeer said the land is so close to the it doesn't need a lodge.
"Wwe visualize many of these people will fly into do their hunting and either stay in a hotel or fly he said. "There are some people who like to hunt and ther are some who like the camaraderies and the drinking back atthe "This is for people who like the hunt. "We'vs talked with some of the neighboring and if someone wanted to buildra lodge, they could on some higher grounfd -- but that isn't part of this offer." Abouft 25 percent of Stromer's real estate business is in duck He has sold memberships and whole His brokerage recently sold a Eureka businessman a 500-acre duck club west of Sheridann for $1.4 million.
And his firm sold Charles of discountstocks fame, a duck club on Buttwe Creek just south of Chico. "They say the proof of the puddinhg is inthe eating," Stromer "so the proof of the land is in the and there are plenty of birdw there."