2015-2016 Season Log

by **Rick** » Sat Dec 19, 2015 12:22 pm

Date: 12/19/15

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: light to moderate ENE

Temperature: Upper 30s, low 40s

Barometer: 30.51 flat

Moon phase: waxing 62%

Special Notes: second split opener

Waterfowl Activity: Scads of birds coming out of the rice/north, mostly high but plenty of teal low early on.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: In addition to the teal we should have finished quickly on, I broke down more high pintails than in recent memory, only to lose them. Not sure what the story was, only that my five, I think pretty, refurbished pintail decoys weren't enough to seal any deals, and I should have been calling overhead shots, instead of trying to shoot them front and center landing. Group of specks came pretty, and we've no excuse for not killing more.

Hunters: 2, Long time regulars, Tommy and grandson, Hunter

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Peake had it pretty easy, but did remind me of what a pain it is to handle a deaf dog.

Special Equipment: spinner and mmm

Curses: Otter ate most of one teal and the head of another.

Kudos: Just a real nice day with nice gfolks.

Birds By Species: 2 gadwall, 15 gw teal, 2 mallards and 1 shoveller

Photo Ops: Hunter and Tommy

Lagniappe:

by **Rick** » Sat Dec 19, 2015 5:10 pm

Addendum 12/19: had an old-timer's moment, was 13 greenwings - and 1 speck

by **Ericdc** » Sat Dec 19, 2015 5:17 pm

Sure Rick, y'all just had a couple extras

by **Rick** » Sat Dec 19, 2015 5:20 pm

That's what the otter thought.

by **Ericdc** » Sat Dec 19, 2015 5:22 pm

2nd split opener for us in northeast LA found us with low 30's clear and dead calm till about 8 then becoming light southerly. Had so many specks do the almost but not quite and we "tried" one just to make sure I wasn't misreading their distance only to watch him fly off.

Had 3 green wings come pretty and killed 1 young speck. No wind cost us several specks and a few pintails. Just took their time too much only to get banged out by blinds south of us. Ducks were very nervous today. Was encouraged by the numbers, just do few workable ducks. Mostly very high and south bound or what I would call seasoned vets who have found a safe zone south of us.

by **Rick** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 12:05 pm

Date: 12/20/15

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: cloudy

Wind Direction and Velocity: East moderate

Temperature: low 40s

Barometer: 30.36 steady

Moon phase: waxing 73%

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Bottom fell out sooner than expected and there were no big flights of anything from any direction.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Less shooting in the marsh made working what was around easier, which was good because all of our big ducks had to be broken from way the hey up. Had me thinking about breaking out my over-bored MVP, but it didn't come to that.

Hunters: 2, Tommy and Hunter again

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Peake went on a tear and ate the noses off both gadwall.

Special Equipment: spinner and resoldered MMM

Curses: none

Kudos: We were blessed with enough birds to make a nice hunt for nice people on a morning when many struggled.

Birds By Species: 2 gadwall, 5 gw teal, 6 mallards, 2 pintails, 1 ringneck, 1 shoveller and 1 wigeon

Photo Ops: Hunter and Tommy's hero shot:

One of the gadwalls Peake defaced:

And speaking of things eaten, it's no wonder Hunter's grown so much since his first hunt with us:

This was he when Tommy first brought him five years ago:

Lagniappe:

by **Rick** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 11:38 am

Date: 12/21

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: heavy w/ a touch of periodic drizzle

Wind Direction and Velocity: light and variable

Temperature: mid 60s

Barometer: 30.06 flat

Moon phase: 82% waxing

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Spooky quiet at LST, then a nice little teal flight w/scattered high big ducks. Big ducks I'm told wouldn't work seemed everywhere while we were packing up and on the way to the boat house.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Birds mostly came sweet while we hunted, but the struggling crew I moved into my blind at 8 killed just 4 more before the 9:30 curfew, so they may have shut down there, too. Know blinds said they were stubborn.

Hunters: 2, Tom and Eric, who've hunted with us annually for decades.

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Peake had a pretty easy morning.

Special Equipment: mmm and spinner

Curses: can't kick at all, especially given the givens.

Kudos: Was great to see and hunt with the guys again, and didn't hurt that they shot well.

Birds By Species: 1 bw teal, 4 gadwall, 10 gw teal, 1 mallard and 2 spoons

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe:

by **DComeaux** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 12:29 pm

You're rolling along...... The rice isn't nice.

by **Rick** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 3:05 pm

"...didn't hurt that they shot well..." was the secret to our success this morning. When six fell from the first greenwing flight, I figured we were going to be OK.

But there's no question we've held one of the hottest hands for ducks in our area the past couple seasons. Three ago, though, I was very close to ready to swap for an ag land spot with better speck chances, and I still get to feeling that way at times.

by **Ericdc** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 3:08 pm

Rick wrote:"...didn't hurt that they shot well..." was the secret to our success this morning. When six fell from the first greenwing flight, I figured we were going to be OK.

But there's no question we've held one of the hottest hands for ducks in our area the past couple seasons. Three ago, though, I was very close to ready to swap for an ag land spot with better speck chances, and I still get to feeling that way at times.

I wish u could take off and come north for specks. We've got quite a few around, would be good to hunt with someone who knew how to handle them and learn.

by **Rick** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 3:13 pm

I don't know how much I really know about them, but it eats my lunch to be limited to trying to work them to the messes that pass for speck blinds at our camp these days. Or to take the trouble to straighten one up only to find it looking just like the last 85 places that shot at 'em when I return to it.

by **Ericdc** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 3:15 pm

We had so many get banged out Saturday. I was sitting there saying, come on geese get in here quicker before someone shoots.

by **Rick** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 6:44 pm

Turn of conversation gave me the itch to go try to hide one of our blinds and maybe shoot a speck for the pup. Was reminded that wet grass bundles are heavy and geese don't move worth a flip in the rain.

by **simplepeddler** » Tue Dec 22, 2015 5:47 pm

Rick wrote:Date: 12/20/15

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: cloudy

Wind Direction and Velocity: East moderate

Temperature: low 40s

Barometer: 30.36 steady

Moon phase: waxing 73%

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Bottom fell out sooner than expected and there were no big flights of anything from any direction.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Less shooting in the marsh made working what was around easier, which was good because all of our big ducks had to be broken from way the hey up. Had me thinking about breaking out my over-bored MVP, but it didn't come to that.

Hunters: 2, Tommy and Hunter again

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Peake went on a tear and ate the noses off both gadwall.

Special Equipment: spinner and resoldered MMM

Curses: none

Kudos: We were blessed with enough birds to make a nice hunt for nice people on a morning when many struggled.

Birds By Species: 2 gadwall, 5 gw teal, 6 mallards, 2 pintails, 1 ringneck, 1 shoveller and 1 wigeon

Photo Ops: Hunter and Tommy's hero shot:

One of the gadwalls Peake defaced:

And speaking of things eaten, it's no wonder Hunter's grown so much since his first hunt with us:

This was he when Tommy first brought him five years ago:

Lagniappe:

1
Great history there

by **Rick** » Tue Dec 22, 2015 5:59 pm

simplepeddler wrote:Great history there

I've been blessed with a very big "family".

by **Ericdc** » Tue Dec 22, 2015 6:00 pm

Rick wrote:
simplepeddler wrote:Great history there

I've been blessed with a very big "family".

Hunt today?

by **Rick** » Tue Dec 22, 2015 6:12 pm

Date: 12/22

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: super dense ground fog

Wind Direction and Velocity: zip to barely Southerly

Temperature: 64

Barometer: 29.87 flat

Moon phase: 92% waxing

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: No way of knowing with such dense ground fog, except that we saw precious little.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: I trilled a teal whistle virtually the entire time, trusting that it helped make something of nothing.

Hunters: 2, new to me but not the camp, Tom and Kevin

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Peake did a nice job with a barely tipped fly-off teal that "went thata way" in the fog.

Special Equipment: spinner and mmm, the later of which had its switch housing broken open by the folks I turned my blind over to after yesterday morning's hunt. No good deed goes unpunished...

Curses: Couldn't see pecans, broken switch and both that and today's crew were mighty hard on my brush. One of my guys was old enough to need all the head start he could get, so I didn't say anything about either laying their guns over the front of the blind and mashing the cover in front of it. Already cut replacement canes but will need an early start tomorrow to make it right.

Kudos: Nice folks, and we didn't scratch.

Birds By Species: 6 gw teal, 3 shovellers and 1 ringneck

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe:

by **Ericdc** » Tue Dec 22, 2015 6:15 pm

Other guide didn't tell you about broken switch?

by **Rick** » Tue Dec 22, 2015 6:20 pm

Date: 12/22

Time: afternoon

Location: South of Gueydan

Cloud Cover: impending rain

Wind Direction and Velocity: southerly moderate

Temperature: warm

Barometer:

Moon phase:

Special Notes: Was out there still trying to make a screwed up blind look respectable enough to eventually pop a goose for the pup, added a load of grass bundles and stayed just long enough to shoot a mallard for a patient pup and get out before the coming t-storm.

Waterfowl Activity: Nothing moving nearby other than a lone mallard.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Was good enough to work as he should.

Hunters: Just Marsh and I.

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh was well behaved but didn't appear to know what was where until he heard the bird splash down. Waited until sent and retrieved it to hand.

Special Equipment:

Curses: Sure would like to get the poor pup on birds, but he's just not ready to bet paying guns' hunts on.

Kudos: He did as well as he could, and we beat the downpour to the truck.

Birds By Species: 1 mallard

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe:

by **Rick** » Tue Dec 22, 2015 6:24 pm

Ericdc wrote:Other guide didn't tell you about broken switch?

No, but he had little chance to, as I was already at the house when he got to the camp yesterday, and he didn't work this morning. And he may not have even known, as it hangs where someone may have kicked it against the side of the blind getting out behind him.

by **simplepeddler** » Tue Dec 22, 2015 7:06 pm

Rick wrote:
simplepeddler wrote:Great history there

I've been blessed with a very big "family".

.......

I'll bet......hunted with Mr. Buddy McCall this weekend........something may have come up about a winning photo and 50 bucks.......LOL

by **Rick** » Tue Dec 22, 2015 7:23 pm

You have me at a loss. Maybe I'm just getting old or he's referencing Rick Hall the artist from Lake Charles, because I can't put a face to that (albeit familiar sounding) name or a story to the reference.

by **simplepeddler** » Tue Dec 22, 2015 7:38 pm

He is banker.........He posted a pic that you took in a photo contest and won......claims the next year when he hunted with you again you asked for your fair share of the winnings......

Nice gentleman........bout 60ish........

by **Rick** » Tue Dec 22, 2015 7:50 pm

Ohhhh....I'm thinking it might have been the first LA Sportsman photo contest winner which was of a crew with some geese "shot in SE Texas"...and wondering if he told you the whole story? That's going way back, so the statute of limitations has probably run out on the alleged incident. Was my fault, not theirs.

by **simplepeddler** » Tue Dec 22, 2015 9:33 pm

yep............whole story......now it makes sense for both of us.......
Great guy......his son is in the lease with me in Clayton, La.

by **Rick** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 12:28 pm

Date: 12/23

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: cloudy (had rain rained most of the night)

Wind Direction and Velocity: Southerly strong

Temperature: warm 70+

Barometer: 29.61 flat

Moon phase: waxing 96%

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Very few big ducks seen, but the greenwing flight was flat unreal with wave after wave of big bunches coming through.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: High ones blew on by, low ones ate us up.

Hunters: 2, father and son, Chris and Jarrod

Guns:

Malfunctions: Both had some trouble getting used to new guns, but tons of opportunity to work them out.

Dog(s): Wore Peak to a nub chasing tipped birds and snagging them in distant open water. Not keen on the later given rising water temps and chance of gators.

Special Equipment: spinner and mmm

Curses: none at all

Kudos: nice folks and neat day.

Birds By Species: 16 gw teal, 1 mallard and 1 ringneck

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe:

by **Darren** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 12:44 pm

'Ol fashioned teal shoot 'em up!

by **Rick** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 1:17 pm

May not fire a shot tomorrow...(DComeaux's going to be in da blind.)