Duck Season 2017-2018

[Darren]

Sat. 11/11/2017 - Coastal Zone Opener
Delacroix - South Blind
Johnny, Ray and I with Harry
NE Wind 5-15+, clear skies, upper 50's to start

Hopes were high after seeing so many yesterday and it didn't leave us much to complain about today. Shooting was already started while we tossed decoys at 20 minutes to LST. Had grays dropping in early and often with plenty teal and some dosgris, hot and heavy to start, got us to 12 by 6:15 or so but then slowed. Shooting was hot and heavy all around us, clearly lots of ducks moving.

Grays tough to finish as usual with all the shooting, but then had some work us and finish nicely so was a toss up. Couple other times we should have let them work more but tried them probably too early. Had 16 on strap for the local radio segment field report at 7:45 or so, then was able to wrap it up at 8:15 with a green wing trio. Tried holding off on the hoards of dosgris but ended up taking a few when nice chances afforded, and glad we did, otherwise we might still be out there.

(18) 6 GW teal, 2 BW teal, 3 dosgris, 6 grays, 1 wigeon

IMG_5528.JPG

IMG_5538.JPG

IMG_5539.JPG

North blind on the lease had three hunters: 10 grays, 6 GW teal. Said they didn't have a lot of chances, but when birds came, it was in big wads. Great reports all around here today

[Darren]

Sun. 11/12/2017
Delacroix - South Blind
Johnny, Ray and I with Harry
NE Wind 15-25+, heavy clouds and some rain

Rain woke me up this AM before alarm did, thankfully it slackened before we had to shove off. Water up about 8 or 10 inches from yesterday with the persistent NE winds, shin deep in the blind, marsh flooded. Slow for us to start while others banged away but steadily started getting some ops and shot pretty well. The dosgris are around in astounding numbers, we've never seen anything like it. Their prevalence and our lack of grays in traditional numbers had us put down all the dogs the law allows, a blind limit of 9. Picked up a few of our usual suspects and added a redhead to our season species tally. Had two crip grays and 1 GW get away from us with all the floods, no scent for Harry to work with. I'm always wanting wind but it really was just too much today; grays wouldn't work in it, just stayed up, and made shooting ops on little ducks tougher than usual.

(17) 9 dosgris/scaup, 5 GW teal, 2 grays, 1 redhead

IMG_5553.JPG

IMG_5554.JPG

IMG_5560.JPG

IMG_5563.JPG

IMG_5567.JPG

North blind had something like 15 or so I think; mostly GWs with a couple grays and few spoons and dogs. Have tentative plans to try it again on Wednesday but going to see how weather shakes out.

[DComeaux]

I hope to get a few red head drakes this year.

I've seen a few flocks of those come by, and we took that one hen. I still have not had a good chance to see what big ducks are around. We're too busy early and we get out.

[Deltaman]

Darren, we saw a ton of do gris and redheads in the marsh South of Venice too. Must be their year! Know what you mean about the grays working in strong wind, and I think it gives them too much time to study the decoys, and leads to more fading off.

[Darren]

Darren, we saw a ton of do gris and redheads in the marsh South of Venice too. Must be their year! Know what you mean about the grays working in strong wind, and I think it gives them too much time to study the decoys, and leads to more fading off.

Today they apparently worked well.

Note to log: Ray and 2 friends hunted North Blind and finished with 17 (13 grays, 4 dosgris)

Said grays started slow but steadily trickled as it got later

I'm planning to try it again on Thursday

[Darren]

Thurs. 11/16/2017
Delacroix - South Blind
Beau and I with Harry
ENE (0-1+), clear skies, 60's

Story of this hunt was the bugs, specifically our most feared, the gnat. Was the worst we've ever seen it, and without a breath of wind, it was beyond misery. So much so that we opted to call off the hunt only about an hour into it, around 7:15. Between the swatting, were able to get our blind limit of redheads from first wad in and down a few grays with a bonus dosgris. Not much out and about today with the stale, calm weather but had a few nice ops. Had one gray get away from us after flying 400 yards before falling, and Beau missed one feet down front and center on a decoying pair. Couldn't take it any more, packed it up and headed in early. Was still a good time and got the new floor deck installed to this blind pre-hunt. So far the Higdon Pulsator butt is a winner, easy to use, and durable. Might have to put another one on order today.

(8) 4 redheads, 3 grays, 1 dosgris

IMG_5577.JPG

IMG_5579.JPG

Try them again Saturday and Sunday

[DComeaux]

Gnats are nasty, especially the no-see-ems.

[Rick]

At least there were birds...

[Deltaman]

When you say gnats, I am assuming no-see-ums? Little bastards are horrible, and to date, have not seen them in any numbers in Al like I've seen in MS and LA. Couple of the locals in LA where we hunt, rub in Victoria Secret's Amber Romance on them when they get bad. I've also been told that you can tuck dryer sheets in the clothes around your body for relief too, but have never tried. Damn things are relentless, but glad ya'll at least killed some birds before they ran you off

[Darren]

Most common reference is just "gnats" in my stompin grounds, but yea got to be the "no-see-um's" yall speak of........but you can see them. They're t-tiny and get under gloves and sleeves, and I just wish I could accurately describe the magnitude of which we dealt with them without grossly underplaying it. If you click on the pictures and then zoom you can make out the swarms. If weren't my blind, we'd have had to set it on fire.

There really wasn't much for ducks, though surely we flared our share with the continuous swatting/waving of hats. After the hunt we made a loop on the lease and jumped very few, think they're just off of us right now. Need a shuffling of the deck. The grays we did get were beautiful, fully committed, front and center, no coaxing needed. Marine forecast below we are very much looking forward to and I've got my name penciled for the new kidney blind in Sunday's big north wind, perfect for that location, tighter pond with different orientation than the south blind.

Couldn't pay me to go back tomorrow with the no-wind forecast for tonight and tomorrow AM knowing the gnats will be out in force again.

Capture.JPG

[Darren]

Nice stud gadwall

Two good ones like that today, third was a hen.

[DComeaux]

MS and LA. Couple of the locals in LA where we hunt, rub in Victoria Secret's Amber Romance

I couldn't help but laugh at this...Would be the best smelling blind partners I've ever had.

[Darren]

MS and LA. Couple of the locals in LA where we hunt, rub in Victoria Secret's Amber Romance

I couldn't help but laugh at this...Would be the best smelling blind partners I've ever had.

Many swear by this, I've never really tried it, though we do have some at the camp. Have to believe today it wouldn't have mattered because they were swarming so bad when not actively feeding on us

[Darren]

Sat. 11/18/2017
Delacroix - South Blind
Johnny and I with Harry
Wind ZERO to eventually 10-15+ late in morning, 60's to start, mostly clear; front approaching later today

Front too far off to help us much this morning, just another dead calm morning to start with not much activity. Gnats were out again though not near what it was on Thursday. Didn't help that I left new feeder butt gadget at the camp, may have helped sell a gray or two more than we did but overall just not much traffic. Lost one dosgris that dove on us, and should have had maybe 1 more gray we let get out that shouldn't have.

(3) grays

IMG_2355.JPG

IMG_2356.JPG

One of the many mergansers to visit

IMG_2354.JPG

Kidney blind - 5 ducks (grays, mottled, dosgris)
North Blind - 12 ducks (dosgris, GW and BW teal)

We are in kidney blind for tomorrow in what should be the conditions I set it up for. We'll see

[Rick]

Weird, we saw merganzers this morning for the first time in a long time. Pair of drakes passed wide and later a pair of hens dropped in and visited for a while.

[DComeaux]

MS and LA. Couple of the locals in LA where we hunt, rub in Victoria Secret's Amber Romance

I couldn't help but laugh at this...Would be the best smelling blind partners I've ever had.

Many swear by this, I've never really tried it, though we do have some at the camp. Have to believe today it wouldn't have mattered because they were swarming so bad when not actively feeding on us

Avon skin so soft used to be the thing. Blind smelled like a brothel, so I'm told.

[Darren]

Sun. 11/19/2017
Delacroix - Kidney Blind
Anthony, Will and I with Harry and Cole
Wind 20-25+, gusty behind frontal passage overnight, low 50's to start, mostly clear

Camp was rocking this morning when I stepped outside to a howling wind from the north. Will and I bumped our way down to the blind and anthony met up with us coming from another launch. Wind had beat up the blind pretty good over night so cover wasn't great but fairly decent, had to hustle to get dekes out on time. Not the crazy flight we'd hoped for behind the front but overall saw fair many birds of variety of species, including first buffleheads of season and some snows. Downed our share but lost three, strapped 10, had chances for 15-17 or so with good shooting. Packed it up at 9:00 with the water about bottoming out with concern of whether we'd get the boats out, birds still flying. Good thing we did, was a muddy mess that took us some time and required pushing some boats from out the boats. Really like my first go in this new blind I built back in teal season. Planning to keep hitting it, but needs an overhaul on the brushing.

(10) 4 dosgris, 2 GW teal. 1 BW teal. 3 grays

IMG_5615.JPG

Cole coming in with stud gray passing a faux stud gray

IMG_2363.JPG

IMG_5621.JPG

Waiting on official tally from nearby North Blind that had two hunters. We watched some nice large groups of grays drop in there as that pond is long known for, but word was they were staying at iffy range and we didn't see them fall in piles. Hoping to try one more time somewhere before turkey day

[Darren]

Update:

North Blind had 3 grays and 1 dosgris for the morning; the big wads of grays were dropping in but staying out on edge of spread
Bunkie blind off to slow start: 3 teal strapped, 2 teal and 2 specks downed in the stubble, said to be on edge of the spread, and lost

[Deltaman]

Variety, the spice of life! Glad ya'll killed some birds Darren!!!!

[Darren]

Wed. 11/22/2017
Delacroix - Kidney Blind
Johnny and I with Harry
Wind 10-25+, gusty behind frontal passage overnight, low 50's to start, mostly cloudy

Hoped we'd see some numbers today behind front but still not seeing a whole lot. Had surprisingly nice few early teal ops but either let them pass in hopes of working them back or shot very poorly on the one wad we did try early at too-close range. Made up for it on next and final wad, 4 of 4 stayed with us. Grays were largely absent most of hunt and the dosgris have moved on too. Still managed to down our 12 and should have easily left early with limits but lost 2 buffleheads that dove and 1 gray in ugly stuff across the pond, and just didn't shoot well overall.

Should have been more grays on the tally but they would not get all the way in like we really needed with so much wind, and it's got me thinking thats at least partially my fault with regard to the decoys. Think we need to put them extra close on big winds and also shift them to our left slightly as they seem to favor wanting to finish just to our right in kind of a cove. Even had 2 come in and land on that approach as I cased my gun with Johnny coming back with the boat........grrrrrrrrrr.

(9) 4 GW teal, 2 grays, 2 buffleheads (first of season), 1 dosgris

rounding up our lone dosgris

IMG_5634.JPG

IMG_5645.JPG

IMG_5651.JPG

Looking like water is going to get low this week so tentatively pulling the plug on a planned outing for Saturday. Off to Gueydan on Sunday for Mon & Tues hunts

[Deltaman]

Glad ya'll killed some birds Darren!!!!! Heard thru the grapevine that the birds that were so thick below Venice on the opening weekend, had pretty much moved on, and not much showing up to replace, so glad to see that you still have some birds.

[Darren]

Glad ya'll killed some birds Darren!!!!! Heard thru the grapevine that the birds that were so thick below Venice on the opening weekend, had pretty much moved on, and not much showing up to replace, so glad to see that you still have some birds.

We are pretty thin on them ourselves as of that last entry and slow hunt I heard of over the weekend. A buddy went to Venice Saturday and had good hunt but said overall not many ducks, and definitely not usual Venice.

[Darren]

Mon. 11/27/2017
Klondike, La fresh marsh
Johnny and I with Isaac W. & Boomer
Wind basically zip to eventually picking up to 5 or so late morning, crystal clear, 40's to start but warmed quickly

Annual trip down this way, food and company has been great as usual. Figured it could be a tough go this AM with the lack of rice pressure and no weather. Overall saw very few ducks compared to the norm in this area but had nice morning just taking what was offered. 6 birds hit the pond, 6 different species and enjoyed some good dog work rounding up a couple of long off crips. Only ended up losing one REALLY long off greenhead after a valiant effort in some ugly thick stuff.

(5) 1 GW teal, 1 ringneck, 1 pintail, 1 spoonie, 1 mallard + 1 speck

Boomer after long chase on our wayward spoon

IMG_2402.JPG

IMG_2404.JPG

Short retrieve on the speck

IMG_2401.JPG

IMG_5674.JPG

IMG_5677.JPG

IMG_5679.JPG

Try 'em again tomorrow, likely with similar conditions.

[Darren]

Darren - we are seeing less and less ducks with each passing front. Our ducks are moving with the fronts and nothing coming in with or behind the front.
The ducks that are still in our area have found the "safe" spots and are not moving much.

Hearing a similar story around here. Fella at G&H mentioned someone making a helicopter flight yesterday around the area and found good many ducks, just tucked and tight.

[Ducaholic]

Need a good low pressure system that rides up the flyway clashing with an arctic front and 3-4 inches of rain to shake things up.

[DComeaux]

Darren - we are seeing less and less ducks with each passing front. Our ducks are moving with the fronts and nothing coming in with or behind the front.
The ducks that are still in our area have found the "safe" spots and are not moving much.

This is exactly what we're experiencing as well. They're all sitting around with little umbrella drinks down south.

[Darren]

Tues. 11/28/2017
Klondike, La fresh marsh
Nick T. and I with guide Bryce
Wind E/SE 5-10+, got better as morning went on, 40's to start, mostly clear with few clouds

Different blind in same marsh under fairly similar conditions from day before. Did seem to see more birds overall than day before and had our chances to make a fairly hefty strap but didn't connect on all we should have. Got but one on a group of just about perfect grays, and had a few other iffy big duck ops we didn't shoot on including a wad of pins that broke super nice only to edge off on what seemed the final approach, was in the process of picking out a drake.....jinxed it I guess! Missed a few ringers and teal here and there but also connected on some nice shots to get what we did. Pretty morning, good time had by all. Wraps up my annual trip down this way with the usual good food and company.

(7) 2 mallards, 1 gray, 2 ringers, 1 GW teal, 1 BW teal

IMG_5683.JPG

IMG_5686.JPG

IMG_5689.JPG

Back in home stompin' grounds for the weekend with some weather coming through so hope we see some new faces.

[Deltaman]

Thanks for the reports Darren. Nice variety of birds!