2015-2016 Season Log

[Rick]

I'd love to have your "dribs and drabs".

Let no duck pass unhailed for just as long as there's a chance of him hearing you. I'm the asshole whose call everyone would like to shove somewhere unpleasant. And it works for us.

Worked for this old boy back before the Mudhole was that, too.


"If Obrey saw it, he hailed it."

Those between he and me, they didn't do so good.

[DComeaux]

I agree. Blake and I hail at every bunch every time until dizzy, always have. Some days they turn and drop, today they didn't. Yesterday it worked.

We've watched some big bunches drop on a blind across the big ditch and road to our south this weekend and It appears they're educating many groups. Unless we're not seeing lower birds during the volleys,the shots are called way too early. We did see a bird (1) fall for what seemed like a minute from one of the dozen or more bunches they've had and shot at this weekend. If left to work undisturbed and they don't finish they usually head in our direction. They still do, but at a frantic pace and climbing rapidly after those salvos. They did this with a 4 or 6 bird flock of specks this morning.

I'm not complaining, just sharing an observation. Nothing we can do about it,but it sure makes it tough when it's slim pickins.

[Rick]

Date: 11/16

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: heavy

Wind Direction and Velocity: SE nil to moderate

Temperature: cool

Barometer: 30.07 steady and soon to fall

Moon phase: waxing 24%

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: least birds seen to date

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Thankfully very good, with even a couple pairs of mottleds tripping up

Hunters: 2, George and Bill on first trip from GA

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Lost a mallard we didn't get him after soon enough but made a looooong tracking job on a chin shot mottled.

Special Equipment: spinner and mmm

Curses: just no birds

Kudos: Nice guys who brought masks.

Birds By Species: 2 bw teal, 2 gw teal, 1 mallard, 2 mottleds and 2 shovellers

Photo Ops: Chin shot mottled that still managed to lead a quarter mile chase:


Lagniappe:

[DComeaux]

Hopefully you'll get a push with this front for Thursday's hunt. Georgia.....are they hunting with you for a couple of days?

[Ericdc]

Hopefully you'll get a push with this front for Thursday's hunt. Georgia.....are they hunting with you for a couple of days?

Extended forecast for where I hunt in far northeast LA. Wish we would have a better wind for opener Saturday.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1447701797.136877.jpg

[Rick]

Hopefully you'll get a push with this front for Thursday's hunt. Georgia.....are they hunting with you for a couple of days?

Georgia guys were on their last of three days, been hunting our stuff in Thornwell.

And we could sure use some sort of push from somewhere. Was on your end still fighting piss poor water control on two farms across from you, and dropped the recharged pump battery off at your place while there. Your water is lower, if anything.

Then took the pup to the marsh to dress the blind and service the Go-Devil. And saw zero ducks or geese in those travels, other than a small handful of mottleds.

[DComeaux]

dropped the recharged pump battery off at your place while there. Your water is lower, if anything.

Thank you! And that's good to hear with the rains we'll have with this front.

[Rick]

Date: 11/17

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: heavy

Wind Direction and Velocity: southeast moderate to strong

Temperature: warm

Barometer: 29.76 falling

Moon phase: waxing 33%

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Not a whole lot moving but more than yesterday and enough.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Still having good luck pulling most of what flies within hailing, except some high flights that showed reflex response but wouldn't fight the wind for a look.

Hunters: 2, father and grown son regulars, Harold and Mark

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Were doing our best to kill poor Peake with tipped mottleds and a long fly-off gray he plainly saw fall when none of us had. He wanted to go, so I let him and was rewarded.

Special Equipment: spinner and mmm, might mention the spinner drill has been the same as always: on for teal, off for big ducks

Curses: Can't kick at all.

Kudos: Mark and Harold have become favorites, and we had a big time.

Birds By Species: 1 bw teal, 2 gadwall, 4 gw teal, 2 mallards, 3 mottled, 1 ringneck and 5 spoons

Photo Ops: A tipped mottled that led the coyote on "a merry chase or hill and dale":


A gray we'd not seen bleed out way down the way, but the coyote did:


An odd, perhaps hybrid, mottled:


And a better view of its two white bars:


Lagniappe:

[DComeaux]

NICE! I'm off the rest of the week and hope to get a few in the morning.

[Ericdc]

Rick my friends north of grand chenier have reported big teal flights the last few mornings.

[Rick]

NICE! I'm off the rest of the week and hope to get a few in the morning.

Some specks were killed in a blind we had near you this morning. Say "had" because Doug just leased it out. Grrr...

[Darren]

That gray was probably stone dead when Peake found it; can't tell you how many times over here we've shot up grays over the blocks and watched them fly off a ways before falling like a rock a ways off. May not have a pile of mallards yet but any morning with a blind's limit of mottleds is mighty fine!

[Rick]

Rick my friends north of grand chenier have reported big teal flights the last few mornings.

That may well be where they went, because a dozen has become a big bunch of GWs here. Our teal are mostly coming in singles and pairs these days.

[Rick]

That gray was probably stone dead when Peake found it; can't tell you how many times over here we've shot up grays over the blocks and watched them fly off a ways before falling like a rock a ways off. May not have a pile of mallards yet but any morning with a blind's limit of mottleds is mighty fine!

We watch ducks bleed out fairly often, but this one behind the dog stand canes from me. Just saw Peake with his head hooked around the end of the canes and plainly anxious to go. I'd been giving the mottleds a pass most days, but started single quacking them the past couple days to put some weight on skinny straps. But I'll soon have them all wise to that trick and have to fall back on less reliable ones if I don't lay off. Just don't have as many in the marsh as we once did.

[Darren]

Where I set up the youth hunter on Saturday I figured if nothing else he'd get a mottled duck since the area was surrounded in their favorite puddles. Sure enough pairs were skirting us from the get-go but later he got a chance on a small group of them, maybe a family?....there were 5 in the wad I think. Hoping to capitalize on our abundant mottleds when we open this weekend before they really start avoiding anything that looks like decoys.

[Rick]

Ok, homeboys, what's wrong with these pictures (other than focus and not enough telephoto)?

[Ericdc]

Ok, homeboys, what's wrong with these pictures (other than focus and not enough telephoto)?

Beats me?

[DComeaux]

I don't see it, Rick.

[Rick]

Lack of blues. When I first saw them, my thought was "egret," because everything I could see at that distance without magnification was white. Were three little bodies on that farm, each with the same profoundly white dominant mix.

Was a time when virtually all Louisiana snows were blue phase, which is why no one called them "snows" when I moved here in the mid '80s. They were still "blues," at least in my part of SWLA, though they had moved north from the deep coastal marsh and started mixing with snows, presumably from Texas where the white phase was as strongly predominant. Were probably six or eight blues for every snow at that time 30+ years ago. Over time, that mix had become more equal and the white-bellied blue offspring of mixed matings that we once thought quite a trophy became common.

Can't help but wonder if the above mix is an anomaly or more evidence of shifting waterfowl populations.

[Ericdc]

I'll have to make note of what the flocks look like up here in northeast LA, but it's usually heavy on the Caucasian side.

[Darren]

Some buddies killed some stud eagle-heads the other day in Venice, one banded. Interesting observation, though, I'll have to keep an eye out when we see some flocks passing high.

[Rick]

Date: 11/18

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: heavy to clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: nil to very light NW?

Temperature: cool to warm

Barometer: 29.83 rising

Moon phase: wxing 44%

Special Notes: had been a system of high winds and hard rains last night

Waterfowl Activity: Don't know if they were worn out from flying in the rain or just generally sparse. but there wasn't nearly the flight my once a year hunters needed at the Mudhole. Seemed much less shooting in the marsh, yet three of the four blinds to my east limited and the other had 14. Far west blind bettered us, too...

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Birds worked about as well as our crowd control problems let them.

Hunters: 2, Austin and Greg

Guns:

Malfunctions: Couldn't get Greg's A-5 to cycle with any of three makes of shells, lubrication or a ring check (only had buffer left in it.) Might not have been shouldering it snugly enough, though he didn't think so.

Dog(s): Easiest day Peake's had in a while, which was good, as he's already looking weary.

Special Equipment: Spinner and MMM

Curses: Just not enough shooting ops for my guys to get used to getting under way in a timely manner, much less start hitting.

Kudos: Super nice guys who claimed to be along for the family trip and seemed genuinely happy with how the hunt went. (At least until they got back and saw how the rest of the gang did.)

Birds By Species: 2 bw teal, 2 gw teal, 1 redhead and 1 ringneck

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe:

[Ericdc]

Could better shots have limited?

[Darren]

Far west blind bettered us, too...

Yikes! That's not too often huh? Sounds like they still had a good time and got what they wanted out of it

[Rick]

Could better shots have limited?

Better hunters might have. Had crowd control as well as gun and shooting issues and were getting underway so late I couldn't help much.

Nice guys I felt awful for, but without enough flight to waste working out the kinks, it went like it went. At least they'll probably not be upset that I'm booked by others tomorrow.

[Rick]

Date: 11/19

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: nil to light NE

Temperature: cool

Barometer: 30.08 rising

Moon phase: waxing 55%

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: even less than yesterday on our end

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Only two mallard chances were banged out by other shooting on the marsh.

Hunters: 2, Harold and Mark

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): easy morning

Special Equipment: spinner and mmm

Curses: no birds

Kudos: nice folk

Birds By Species: 2 bw teal, 1 gadwall, 3 gw teal, 2 ringnecks and 1 spoon

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe:

[DComeaux]

One more morning of this stupid weather to go. Frontal passage by noon on Saturday.

[Ericdc]

One more morning of this stupid weather to go. Frontal passage by noon on Saturday.

Yea but they have 9:30 curfew