Woodland, Yolo County and a trained retriever

Woodland is the Yolo County seat, with 61,854 residents and a median age of 36.6 (Census ACS 5-year 2024). It sits in the middle of the county where many Sacramento Valley waterfowl hunters hunt.

A top-five waterfowl county

In CDFW's 2024 Waterfowl Hunter Survey, 5.52 percent of respondents named Yolo County for waterfowl hunting, placing it among the five most-named counties (alongside Colusa, Merced, Butte and Glenn). The survey reports where people hunt, not where they live.

For a Woodland hunter, that means a dog gets used in places with real competition for birds and for space in the blind.

Fitting training into a hunting year

The off-season training calendar shows what to work on between January and September. Woodland owners who start in spring tend to have a dog ready by the opener.

After training, a calm dog in the duck blind is the goal. Richard calls the aim a "team player" dog.

Before you drive out

Hastings Island is an hour away. Google lists the hours as Monday and Wednesday through Sunday, 8 AM to 2 PM. Call first; drop-off is set by phone, with Wednesday to Saturday preferred. Ask about drop-off, pick-up and whether a lesson on pick-up day suits you.

Neighbors

Davis is next door; read the Davis page for the Yolo Bypass facts. The wider valley is on the Sacramento Valley region page.

What survey numbers mean for a dog

Colusa, Merced, Butte, Yolo and Glenn make up the top five counties in the CDFW survey. A dog from Woodland lives in the middle of that map. The refuges and habitat page shows the ground between your home and the larger refuges to the north.

When to call

Spring and summer are good months for ordering training ahead of the October opener, but Richard decides the plan for each dog. He likes dogs on the books a month out and recommends six weeks, and calling in June leaves more choices than calling in September, and the booking FAQ explains how the first conversation goes.

Three things to ask Richard

These three questions shape the rest of the conversation. The Basic Waterfowl Program page describes how a dog moves from basics into field work.

• Whether your dog's breed and age fit a starting point such as Puppy Camp, which he likes to begin at 5 to 7 months, or the Basic Waterfowl Program.
• How many weeks the dog would stay inside the program's published range.
• What a handler lesson on pick-up day would cover.

A Yolo County reminder

Whatever the survey shows, the hunt that matters is your own. Bring that to the call, so Richard can tell you how your dog's training should line up with where, when and how you hunt.