Hunting-dog owners in the Delta, Solano and Contra Costa

If you live in the Delta, Solano County or east Contra Costa County, the training ground is a local drive and a handler lesson fits into an ordinary week. The table above lists every town we have drive data for; the rest of this page covers the ground around Rio Vista, the clubs nearby and how owners plan their visits.

The drive to Rio Vista

Isleton is the nearest town at about 15 minutes, then Suisun City and Antioch at about 30 minutes each, Fairfield at about 33 minutes, Vacaville at about 44 minutes and Stockton at about 44 minutes. Davis and Walnut Creek are both about 56 minutes away. By road, even the farthest towns in the table, Roseville (about 93 minutes) and Folsom (about 95 minutes), sit in the day-trip range.

Those figures come from OpenStreetMap routing with no traffic, measured to Rio Vista, so allow extra time at commute hours and when Interstate 80 or the Antioch Bridge backs up.

Where hunters in this region hunt

Suisun Marsh, next to Suisun City, is roughly 116,000 acres and the largest contiguous brackish wetland in California; state and private duck clubs manage most of it for hunting and wildlife (Water Education Foundation, Aquapedia, updated May 2024). Our Suisun Marsh page covers it in detail.

Grizzly Island Wildlife Area, about 11 miles from Fairfield, is about 12,900 acres on 10 parcels, with about 7,900 acres open to hunting. CDFW asks that dogs be on a leash of 10 feet or less when not actively hunting, and it holds a free Junior Pheasant Hunt on the second weekend of the season. Read the Grizzly Island page before you visit with a dog.

The wider Delta, from Isleton to Antioch, is waterfowl and upland country of its own; see hunting dogs and the Delta.

Where Richard trains

Richard Gebhart trains at Hastings Island Hunting Preserve in Rio Vista, Solano County, and owners bring dogs to him from all over California for board-and-train. Retrievers are sometimes trained at Denverton, near Suisun City. The Hastings Island page explains how the ground is used.

Because the preserve is a short drive from Solano and Contra Costa towns, owners here have the easiest time with handler lessons, where you learn to run your own dog alongside Richard. Call before you drive out; Google lists his hours as Monday and Wednesday through Sunday, 8 AM to 2 PM.

Clubs near Rio Vista

Several retriever clubs hold hunt tests on Solano County grounds. The California 2026 trial and hunt test calendar (read October 27, 2026) lists Sagehen's Retriever Club and the Golden Gate Labrador Retriever Club at Denverton, the Marin Retriever Club and the Norcal Golden Retriever Club at the California Retriever Training Association property in Suisun City, and the Golden Empire Brittany Club at Hastings Island Hunting Preserve itself.

Dates change every season, so use the California hunt test calendar page and AKC Event Search to confirm one before you plan around it.

Planning training from here

For a first call, tell Richard your dog's breed and age, whether you hunt ducks, upland birds or both, and what you want the dog to do by season. Local owners often combine board-and-train with weekend visits; Richard decides the plan for each dog, and program lengths and weekly rates are published.