2015-2016 Season Log

Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby Ericdc » Thu Nov 19, 2015 7:55 pm

Had to pump blind out. Nobody's fault just a lot of rain

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Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby Rick » Fri Nov 20, 2015 4:50 am

DComeaux knows something about that.
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Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby Rick » Fri Nov 20, 2015 12:40 pm

Date: 11/20

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: moderate to fairly strong NE

Temperature: cool

Barometer: 30.13 rising

Moon phase: waxing 66%

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Better than expected with no more weather change than a good breeze, with some of each about. Also seeing more presumably new geese headed south to the Gulf.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Very good when not banged out by shooting upwind. (Turned out that the blind that shot the most by a good margin only killed eight with all that racket. Grrrr...)

Hunters: 3, Eric, Tim and Gavin

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Peake had an easy morning with everything dead in or near the pond.

Special Equipment: spinner and MMM

Curses: Not a one.

Kudos: Great guys who hid and shot well enough to make what seemed a pretty slow morning pay off nicely by quitting time.

Birds By Species: 1 bw teal, 1 gadwall, 8 gw teal, 3 mallards, 1 pintail, 7 ringnecks, 2 spoons and 1 wigeon

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe:
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Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby Ericdc » Fri Nov 20, 2015 12:52 pm

Jack shooters! Bet that was fun
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Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby Rick » Fri Nov 20, 2015 1:36 pm

Most all of the jacks fell in one volley, which in itself was fun to watch. One of those "Whoa!" moments.
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Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby Rick » Sat Nov 21, 2015 11:42 am

Date: 11/21

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: heavy clouds, stormy, impending to heavy rain

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE to N nil to moderate, but never really blowing

Temperature: cool

Barometer: 29.96 rising

Moon phase: waxing 75%

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Not like when it's right, but enough moving that it should have been pretty quick.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: very good for a rain day, when they usually fly pretty crazy

Hunters: 2, annon

Guns:

Malfunctions: Second single shot A-5 this week. Had it since he was 12, didn't know what was wrong, wouldn't take my 20.

Dog(s): Guest dog that "has hunted the marsh and done great". Today he did a bunch of stuff "he's never done before," including absolutely leveling our cover. (So I'll be cutting four big bundles of cane and going back out to the marsh in the rain this afternoon.) Would have been done and out before the real rain if we'd had the old deaf coyote, instead of a dog that just acted deaf. Might have been worth the misery just to be reminded of how blessed I've been with my guys.

Special Equipment: spinner and mmm

Curses: Aside from the gun and dog woes, my ears are still ringing.

Kudos: Was peacock proud of how gracefully I handled it, but as the dog man's buddy told someone at the camp, "It's a good thing it was raining, and _____ couldn't see Rick crying."

Birds By Species: 1 bw teal, 7 gw teal, 2 mallards, 3 pintails, 1 ringneck, 2 spoons, 1 wigeon and 1 wood duck

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe:
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Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby DeadEye_Dan » Sat Nov 21, 2015 3:13 pm

Hats off to you guys that do this professionally.
We have occasion to take guests now and again, and if they are too much of a pain...well, "I think it's going to be too windy" or "looks like I have a boat full, but I'll let you know if something opens up"
Cover your ears, Darlin'
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Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby Ericdc » Sat Nov 21, 2015 4:05 pm

Bad slow for us on east opener. 1 blue winged teal. Saw a bunch high headed south ahead of front.

Tomorrow's weather is perfect though, so hoping for redemption.
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Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby Rick » Sun Nov 22, 2015 5:03 am

I'm surprised it wasn't better up there, as we sure seem to have gotten a little bird bump here. Saw several bunches of super high southbound ducks yesterday morning and had more lower ducks heading north than expected while I was working in the marsh yesterday afternoon. No way of knowing how much of the later was just birds returning to the rice after escaping the weekend crowd this morning. Usually takes a few days to see our East Zone/Arkansas opener bump.
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2015-2016 Season Log

Postby Ericdc » Sun Nov 22, 2015 5:06 am

Rick wrote:I'm surprised it wasn't better up there, as we sure seem to have gotten a little bird bump here. Saw several bunches of super high southbound ducks yesterday morning and had more lower ducks heading north than expected while I was working in the marsh yesterday afternoon. No way of knowing how much of the later was just birds returning to the rice after escaping the weekend crowd this morning. Usually takes a few days to see our East Zone/Arkansas opener bump.


It just wasn't our day, other blinds in our area had quick limits. Hoping to see more workable ducks today. Hail called way too much for an opening day yesterday with a 0.0% success rate. High clouds no good.
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Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby Rick » Sun Nov 22, 2015 12:06 pm

Date: 11/22

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE whipping

Temperature: cold

Barometer: 30.25 rising

Moon phase: waxing 86%

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Pretty sweet flight for a while, but the big ducks were high.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Was a screaming hail call morning with surprisingly good result given the shear above and super wind below - but getting them in the hole before someone upwind shot was a whole 'nuther matter.

Hunters: 2, Phil and Sid

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Was sweet to have my old deaf coyote out there.

Special Equipment: spinner and mmm

Curses: none whatsoever

Kudos: Great guys who hid and shot well.

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

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe:
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Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby SpinnerMan » Sun Nov 22, 2015 1:00 pm

I love to read your logs, but damn you personally shoot a shitpile of ducks.

If only, you weren't so far away. I'd love to be able to shoot the numbers and variety a few times a year.
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Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby DComeaux » Sun Nov 22, 2015 3:16 pm

Rick wrote:Date: 11/22
Was a screaming hail call morning with surprisingly good result


My face is sore without your results.
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Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby Rick » Sun Nov 22, 2015 7:53 pm

SpinnerMan wrote:I love to read your logs, but damn you personally shoot a shitpile of ducks.

If only, you weren't so far away. I'd love to be able to shoot the numbers and variety a few times a year.


I'm blessed to get to hunt where I do and doubly blessed with how it's gone so far this season, given how most of the region is still waiting on birds. Have a really nice older fellow who struggles some with both crowd control and shooting the next couple mornings and may not sleep tonight worrying about the bottom falling out and not being able to put big, slow birds front and center for him. Want it to be as it should be so badly that it probably won't.

May not ever forget him telling his wife "I made Rick say a bad word." after one of last year's hunts. Hope not to let that happen again, regardless.
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Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby Deltaman » Mon Nov 23, 2015 9:24 am

Rick wrote:
SpinnerMan wrote:I love to read your logs, but damn you personally shoot a shitpile of ducks.

If only, you weren't so far away. I'd love to be able to shoot the numbers and variety a few times a year.


I'm blessed to get to hunt where I do and doubly blessed with how it's gone so far this season, given how most of the region is still waiting on birds. Have a really nice older fellow who struggles some with both crowd control and shooting the next couple mornings and may not sleep tonight worrying about the bottom falling out and not being able to put big, slow birds front and center for him. Want it to be as it should be so badly that it probably won't.

May not ever forget him telling his wife "I made Rick say a bad word." after one of last year's hunts. Hope not to let that happen again, regardless.


Like Spinner, really enjoy reading your daily reports. Thank You for taking the time to share, and know that it is not easy to be as consistent as you are, especially when dealing with customers that may or may not make the hunt enjoyable :thumbsup:
"It ain't what you don't know that gets you in trouble. It's what you know for sure, that just ain't so"
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Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby Ericdc » Mon Nov 23, 2015 9:29 am

Sunday was a little better for us in the rice in northeast LA, finished 2 small groups in the decoys and killed them all but 1. Did a poor job on calling the shot on a bigger group of gadwall, they were "right" but 2 in my party didn't know where they were. Reminded me that when conditions are right, we can put them where we want them.
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Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby Rick » Mon Nov 23, 2015 1:08 pm

Date: 11/23

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE moderate

Temperature: Cold enough my man had trouble pushing shells into his magazine.

Barometer: 30.33 rising

Moon phase: waxing 93%

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Much slower than I'd wished for my hunter with few little ducks on our end but enough big ones to save the morning.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Duck Gods smiled, and the birds we could work without interruption could not have come prettier.

Hunters: 1, long time regular, John, who's had to cut back to a couple of one day trips

Guns: Sweet 16

Malfunctions: third single shot A-5 in the blind recently, but we got it slicked up and running right after the first couple hiccups.

Dog(s): Peake was the man tracking one chipped greenhead I thought lost for hundreds of yards before chasing it down and making another seriously long mark that resulted in a briefer track and chase.

Special Equipment: spinner and mmm

Curses: Didn't see enough game to make limits likely with any crew.

Kudos: John was really on his shooting game and more than held up his end. That, and what didn't get banged out by others couldn't have worked prettier in the sun.

Birds By Species: 5 mallards, 1 mottled, 2 ringnecks, 1 shoveller and 1 speck (All the ducks, save a hen ringer, were drakes.)

Photo Ops: The result of a very long search and track over flooded flotant where scent was plainly badly broken:
Image

Everyone talks about the "green," but I'm partial to the orange, too:
Image

A dog's gotta do what a dog's gotta do:
Image

Hero shot:
Image

Lagniappe: Guess my rig must look a little weak, as John asked if I didn't think loading the pond with decoys would be helpful? But most everything, except the speck shot low over the top, finished front and center to make the point that it might just be OK as is.
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Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby DComeaux » Mon Nov 23, 2015 2:07 pm

Guess my rig must look a little weak, as John asked if I didn't think loading the pond with decoys would be helpful


I would think the rain we've received lately has your water up and he remembering the low water years making it look fuller.

You have any openings? I really need to shoot something.
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Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby Rick » Mon Nov 23, 2015 6:22 pm

Wish it was mine and I could just say come on, but I've no idea what my schedule is, other than Christmas eve and New Year's day being my grandkid's days. I just show up in the morning and take whoever's there for me. Well, other than refusing to take Saturday's Lab again on Sunday - which Doug and the fellow's host were crazy enough to try to get me to do. (Told them I'd be the bad guy and tell him, myself, or they could find a more diplomatic course, but it wasn't going to happen.)

Been hearing about all the ducks piled up on what was Dixie Rice land that the new owner is using for reserve, but Marsh and I took a ride by much of it and found it disappointing. You'd think it was still Summer in Klondike.
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Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby DComeaux » Mon Nov 23, 2015 7:45 pm

You'd think it was still Summer


HA! That was my exact thoughts over the last week or so. It is far from mid November like, that's for sure!
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Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby Rick » Tue Nov 24, 2015 3:26 pm

Date: 11/24

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: cloudy

Wind Direction and Velocity: east moderate

Temperature: cold

Barometer: 30.28 rising

Moon phase: 98% waxing

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Pretty good flurry of mostly little and hauling ducks early, then nothing seen for very long stretches.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Early little ducks were more problematic than usual.

Hunters: 2, Harold and Mark again

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Peake failed to hit on a chipped spoons scent in broken marsh, perhaps because I was unable to call the deaf dog off one that fell dead, the retrieval of which may have been what let the crip make good his escape.

Special Equipment: spinner and mmm

Curses: didn't have many ops to start with and a crowd control issue spoiled a sweet chance or two

Kudos: Nice guys who know it isn't always so slow.

Birds By Species: 3 gadwall, 2 gw teal, 1 mallard and 1 shoveller

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe:
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Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby Rick » Wed Nov 25, 2015 12:34 pm

Date: 11/25

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: Easterly moderate

Temperature: cool

Barometer: 30.17 rising

Moon phase: full

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Same as it's been the past few mornings: slooow.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Cole hid better than most men, and the birds worked pretty, with everything shot at front and center.

Hunters: 1, Doug's 8yr-old great grandson, Cole

Guns:

Malfunctions: Cole's little 20 was gummed up beyond cycling initially, but cycled after I broke it down and oiled it.

Dog(s): Lost a chipped spoon and a "dead" gray, but did catch Cole's paddle-wheeling and diving greenhead.

Special Equipment: spinner and mmm

Curses: Just the lack of birds and lost ones. That, and were in the boat picking up when four or five specks came looking for a place to put in.

Kudos: Just a fun morning when we were sure Cole hit a few in the air and learned some things about getting birds to work and shooting them safely.

Birds By Species: 2 gadwall, 3 mallards, 1 ringneck and 1 shoveller (and 2 "Can I shoot your friends?" gallinules)

Photo Ops: Calling practice (us guide hide our faces behind our camouflaged off arm while watching ducks):
Image

First greenhead ever - and in the air:
Image

Hero shot:
Image
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Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby Ericdc » Wed Nov 25, 2015 12:44 pm

Rick I'm not seeing your pics.
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Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby DComeaux » Wed Nov 25, 2015 12:53 pm

I can see them on my PC, Eric. If you're on another device you may not as the pics are in photo bucket. I've heard of issues like that before.

Rick, that is awesome! That little dude is on the right track.
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Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby Ericdc » Wed Nov 25, 2015 1:33 pm

Pics have been working until recently
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Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby Darren » Wed Nov 25, 2015 3:14 pm

Yea seeing pics fine, great morning Rick!
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Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby Rick » Wed Nov 25, 2015 7:22 pm

Bumped into these guys SW of Gueydan this afternoon:
Image

Image

and got all inspired to try one of our spots for them, which didn't go well. But it was the first time I've had the pup out when I'd not shot all of my ducks in the morning, so I worked a nice bunch of grays and popped one to reward him for his patience. Young Marsh was steady until sent, had marked the fall well and made a nice retrieve to hand.
Image

Image

Would that I thought he'd handle to blind falls so well while hunting...
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Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby DComeaux » Wed Nov 25, 2015 7:36 pm

That's some awesome pictures, Rick. I'll be out there in the morning.
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Re: 2015-2016 Season Log

Postby Rick » Wed Nov 25, 2015 7:49 pm

Those specks were on the Big Four school section, but saw quite a few workable ones while chatting with a couple of your neighbors after servicing the pump.
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