GILBREATH BROS DUCK CLUB

[Duckfan]

Hi everyone...

I was just thinking about hunts from a long time ago. I wondered if the GILBREATH BROS DUCK CLUB still existed near Kern?

My dad was a member several decades ago and used it as a backup if he couldn't get on at Kern.

Just wonder if anyone here had any info or history on the place. No idea if it is even still down there. My dad and I hunted it on a somewhat circular pond. Blinds had swing overhead covers. We never did all that great but it was a place to hunt on those days when sweating onto Kern wasn't going to happen.

Dusty Baker used to bunt there too as I remember....

 

[MarDiosa]

Duckfan, I used to be a member there back from 2000 to 2005. Me and 8 other personal friends used to have the place. A good friend of ours is married to the property owners daughter. Let me tell you the place shot absolutely awesome for ducks and we'd shoot our share of geese there also. Now they use it for the grandkids and friends of the family. Our friends still get to hunt there on occasion. I'll try to post some old photos up of the club when we were hunting there.

 

[Duckfan]

cool.....would love to see any pictures.


It was the first and only club my dad bought into - for just a couple of years. But, we thought we were liv'n the life - having a spot any time we wanted.

 

[MarDiosa]

Duckfan, here you go. Sorry it took so long, been out on the water fishing. This place shot absolutely awesome for us. The few times it was slow at the club we walked/hunted Kern and got to know the refuge pretty well. Enjoy the photos...

 

[ilovesprig]

Nice pics Tony..........................Who's the ugly guy in the last shot........................... :lol:

 

[calisnowhunter]

which one are you talking about steve :lol:

i see alot of ugly guys

 

[meatgetter]

Nice pics! Finding a club like that these days is either $$$$$ or years of searching!

 

[Duckfan]

THANK YOU!!!

Man, that brings back memories. They still have those overhead swing blind covers!!!! That's what they had when we were there 30 plus years ago

You have obviously enjoyed some great shoots there. Hope you continue to get the opportunity to hunt there.

Again, thanks for the 'trip down memory lane'

 

[fish dog]

While I've never hunted there I seem to recall the name. I believe that the old American Sportsman's Club (kind of like what Wilderness Unlimited is now), which I was a member of back then, had at least part of Gilbreath Brothers back about 35 or so years ago (give or take a couple).

 

[Huntducks]

Back in the 50's and 60's you could pay by the day to hunt.

And yes the ASC did lease some blinds out there, that was the last time I hunted it.

Nice pictures I had no clue the club was still hunting.

 

[Arise]

QUOTE
They still have those overhead swing blind covers!!!!


We have them at my club. Don't use em much but they are still functional.

 

[Danny Bell]

Duckfan,

WOW, Did your post really take me back !

My Dad was a member of Gilbreath Brothers Duck Club from the early 50's thru the late 60's. I was born in 1958, but can remember going up to hunt every weekend during the season back to age 5 or 6. I remember Vern and Elmer Gilbreath. Dad had a 50's vintage Airstream that he kept at the club. Again, I was very young but remember the hunting to be phenomenal, until the State put in the Kern Refuge. If I recall, they didn't hunt the Refuge in the early days and it made hunting on the private clubs take a nose dive. When that happened, Dad moved the trailer down to Wister (Salton Sea) around 1966-67. The hunting at Wister in those day was "off the charts". Back to Gilbreath...I also remember incredible pheasant hunting around Lost Hills and Kettleman in those days. We use to hunt the cotton fields. I could write volumes on the memories from the Gilbreath days.

I've attached a photo of Dad back in 1953 that appeared in the L.A. Times, written by their sports editor, Lupe Saldana. He use to hunt Gilbreath's frequently.

The 2nd picture is of a Kit fox my older brother got in 1959 at Gilbreath's. They had the duck picking area off from the trailers and the foxes and coyotes would come up at night to scavenge. This was way before the Kit foxes became threatened.

Thanks for the (blast from the past) memories,
Danny Bell
p.s. Dad was Bill Bell. And yes, how could one ever forget the concrete sunken blinds with the pivot tops.View attachment 57482View attachment 57483

 

[Danny Bell]

Duckfan,

Here is the (2) pics from The Gilbreath Duck Club Days.

Regards,
Danny BellView attachment 57499View attachment 57500

 

[KID CREOLE]

Duckfan, here you go. Sorry it took so long, been out on the water fishing. This place shot absolutely awesome for us. The few times it was slow at the club we walked/hunted Kern and got to know the refuge pretty well. Enjoy the photos...

Looks like a typical day at Kern 15 years ago, wow have times changed? Nice pics Tony

 

[ilovesprig]

Danny,

Thanks for sharing the history of the club.........Always wondered about it when I hunted Kern in the 70's.........A lot of great hunting history going down the tubes nowadays..........

 

[Skeet]

Love them old photos :smiley_10sign:

 

[Danny Bell]

ilovesprig,

I see you are from Escondido. I grew up in Valley Center then went to Orange Glen H.S, class of 1976. Dad and I used to hunt Lake Henshaw back in the late 60's, early 70's. It could be very good. Three dollars for boat/motor rental and we would motor out to Monkey Island and set up our spread. Lake Henshaw used to be huge. Last time I saw it, it was a puddle in comparison. Is there still waterfowl hunting at the lake ? Also, Palomar and Julian used to be good deer hunting. I've been gone from there since 79.

Danny

 

[ilovesprig]

Danny,

We still hunt near Monkey Island at times.........Still good fowling too........ Since 1980.......... :2:

.

 

[Danny Bell]

ilovesprig,

Nice pics and thanks for sharing, really brings back childhood memories. Back in the day, you couldn't see the end of the lake, it seemed endless. Drought sure is a devastating thing. At least there is still hunting on the lake. We used to get a lot of Mallards, teal, widgeon and sometimes geese. Specs used to like Henshaw.

Danny

 

[Duckfan]

Danny

Thanks for stories and pictures of Gilbreth

There are so many great stories of hunts past. Love reading them. Back in the 60's, we hunted Kern when you walked in and had a ton of land to hunt ducks. So many good times there, at Mendota, Wister and the Salton Sea itself.


Never hunted Henshaw or any lake in SoCal.

Thanks to all posting up memories