Hunting-dog owners in the Sacramento Valley and foothills

Hunters in the valley and the foothills live beside the ground that makes California a waterfowl state. The table above covers every town in the region with a drive time; below are the refuges, the clubs and the plain math of getting a dog to Rio Vista and back.

Drive times, tier by tier

Davis (about 56 minutes), Woodland (about 61 minutes), Elk Grove (about 62 minutes) and Sacramento (about 69 minutes) are within an hour or so. Roseville (about 93 minutes), Folsom (about 95 minutes) and Auburn (about 105 minutes) take under two hours, and so do Yuba City (about 109 minutes), Marysville (about 112 minutes), Placerville (about 117 minutes) and Colusa (about 119 minutes).

Farther north and east the trip becomes a long drive: Willows is about 2.2 hours, Oroville about 2.4 hours, Grass Valley about 2.3 hours and Chico about 2.9 hours. For those towns, plan the drop-off and pick-up as a long day; call Richard about timing.

The refuges in your backyard

The Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge complex is five refuges and three wildlife management areas, nearly 70,000 acres, and Sacramento NWR alone is 10,819 acres. Waterfowl numbers there regularly peak at over 500,000 ducks and 250,000 geese from late November to December, and hunting is offered at the Sacramento, Delevan, Colusa and Sutter refuges (USFWS). Colusa NWR is 5,077 acres, one mile southwest of Colusa.

CDFW wildlife areas fill in the map. Gray Lodge, near Gridley, is about 9,200 acres and reports more than a million waterfowl a year; Upper Butte Basin is roughly 9,600 acres around the Butte Sink; Oroville is about 11,800 acres; and Spenceville, in the foothills, is roughly 11,900 acres with valley quail, dove and designated dog training areas. All acreage is from each area's own page, read October 27, 2026.

Two sites near Sacramento carry dog restrictions. The Yolo Bypass page lists no dogs, and Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge and Cosumnes River Preserve do not allow pets, so owners with dogs plan their field time elsewhere. See the full list on the refuge data page.

What the hunter survey says about the valley

CDFW's 2024 Waterfowl Hunter Survey (June 2025) found that 42 percent of respondents named Sacramento Valley counties as places they hunt, and four of its top five counties are valley counties: Colusa (13.19 percent), Butte (8.71), Yolo (5.52) and Glenn (5.49). Respondents could name several counties, and the survey reports where people hunt, not where they live.

Clubs and tests in the valley

The California 2026 trial and hunt test calendar lists Sacramento Valley Retriever Club, Lassen Retriever Club and others at Clear Creek Sports Club in Corning and at Anderson, the German Shorthaired Pointer Club of Northern Sacramento Valley at Quail Point Hunt Club in Zamora, the Northern California Brittany Club and Monterey Bay English Setter Club at Spenceville, and the Tamarin Spaniel Field Trial Club at Gray Lodge. The California Retriever Training Association is based in Cameron Park.

Check the California hunt test calendar page for how to confirm a date on AKC Event Search.

Planning board-and-train from the valley

Dogs come to Richard from all over California, and the valley is the closest part of the state to Rio Vista. A typical plan is a drop-off at Rio Vista, one or more handler lessons, and a pick-up when the dog is ready to hunt (ask Richard). Call Richard about drop-off and pick-up from your part of the valley, and see board-and-train for how the program works.