2014-2015 Preseason...

[DComeaux]

That's good news!

[Darren]

Just as in The Price is Right....."Come on dowwnnnnnn!"

I can tell you that I've heard very 3rd and probably 4th hand, very unconfirmed from anyone I trust, reports of big numbers of grays and teal in marshes south of you having shown with this front. Yea. Is what it is. But I'll listen

[Rick]

Fellow who saw the specks helped one of the Cherry Ridge guides pick up in mid week and said they didn't see a teal. And I spent another long morning in the rice today without encountering anything of interest. Which doesn't mean someplace, somewhere hasn't loaded up.

[Rick]

The coyote and I saw and/or heard maybe a half dozen, mostly far and wide, bunches of specks on our Klondike hike this morning. Only close bunch "snuck up on" me while I was watching Peake get his endorphin fix pushing through alligator grass in driving water, but the glimpse I caught before bowing my head and continuing to walk as though they held no interest to me gave the impression they (5 or 6?) were all clean-breasted birds of the year, which would be odd for early arrivals. Let them get pretty far out from the potential danger they'd just flown over before trying to call them back, but failed at that. Not sure whether their not missing a beat meant they knew what was up or just thought a whole lot less of my call modification than I do...

[Rick]

8/25:

Took the big mudboat out to my Nic d'Aigle project this morning and remembered to take a couple photo's of it:




Basically an inboard with, in this case, a Chevy 350 "keel cooled" by circulating water through channels built into the bottom of the hull. They've stick steering that works great in the direction the prop's torque pushes and sucks in the other.

Also remembering Olly's video of a ride in the Mobile Bay(?) marsh, I shot one of the ride out - as best I could while trying to operate the throttle with my knee, which was plainly a skill I lack:


Hopefully, more than doubled the pond's width by poisoning beyond the single pass wide brown strip a crop duster had knocked back:


On foot and towing my supplies in a decoy sled. How much was accomplished remains to be seen, but it's certain a couple hours or so of slogging around in the midday, "feels like 115 degrees," heat pretty well stomped an old hillbilly's arse:

The coyote and I tried to take a ride out to see how much good the above project had done this morning and found all the adventure we wanted just cutting a rut down the main trail (straight past our little side trail, thank you very much) to the "lake" where I could get the mudboat turned back around and retrace said rut to the boat shed I never should have left. Would like to think that enough to put an end to the ill begotten notion of recreating a pond it took two hurricane surges to open the last time, but the big cheese's mind works in strange ways, so we'll see...

Meanwhile, our newly arrived specks went unseen during our morning travels.

[Ericdc]

Had some coots on my pond on north Louisiana the other day, first ones I've ever seen there, along with a few teal. They were gone the next day

[Rick]

Had some coots on my pond on north Louisiana the other day...

Only one I've seen to date was on the flooded farm road to our marsh.

[Rick]

Been way too much like Summer the past however many days with very little waterfowl of any sort seen on our morning hikes through the rice, much of which is now being drained for second crop ripening and harvest. So after an uneventful pass there, I made a swing by the crawfish pond where I filmed some teal, and did some hunting, last month, just to remind myself what ducks looked like. Kind of hoped there would be some specks dining on the duck salad with them, but pintails were the only new species I could pick out of the mob of blue-wings and mottleds.

Here's some shaky video shot with the sun on the wrong side of the birds:


Should take another crack at it this afternoon, when the light's right.

[DComeaux]

That's really good to see. Blake and I will be out at our place early in the morning to fix the washouts that have formed on the entrance road at the pump. It's getting hard to get in and out with a trailer, and the erosion needs to be stopped.

I hope we see a few birds.

[Rick]

That's a tight parking spot at best, but it would seem like you ought to be able to get help from the parish with that ditch. Just don't know who you'd have to talk to.

Went back late yesterday afternoon hoping to catch good light on the pintails that wouldn't leave John's piece in the morning, but it was barren of all but a few shorebirds. Guess the airstrip next door must have had work. (And marveling at what possessed the big cheese to rent a crawfish pond next to an airfield for hunting.) Making a pass through Creole this afternoon for some pee wee football at South Cameron and will be watching to see what's showing on that end.

[Rick]

Making a pass through Creole this afternoon for some pee wee football at South Cameron and will be watching to see what's showing on that end.

The part of that drive south of the Intracoastal is largely bordered by marsh used as a migration barometer by many here in SWLA, and that marsh was as barren as I've ever seen it. Even the usual mottleds were AWOL both going shortly after noon and returning in late afternoon. And to add insult to injury, a "dead" kamikaze grebe jumped up from the middle of the road and whacked the car. Never, ever saw one on the road before, dead or alive.

Cooler weather this morning and coming this next week, so perhaps things will get duckier soon...

[Ericdc]

So you weren't on highway 27 in between the intracoastal and little chenier road.

[Rick]

Yup, and beyond. I was driving but told Sweet Chereaux, "You better watch the road, 'cause I'm watching the marsh."

[J.M.Molnar]

RICK !! I am so glad you got video... I am so grateful that you are still able to post logs.. This kind of helps make my hunting season..

[Rick]

Hey, John. Tickled me to see an old friend in the "face" and "purchase" threads this morning.

And some mighty shaky, poorly lit video it is. Think I made it a whole year without drowning an every-day-carry camera, but the most recent bought the farm during September teal, and I've been price-watching on Amazon before springing for its replacement. So that was shot with a camera I've pretty well forgotten how to use. (Been carrying what was my very first belt-caseable P&S most days and can't remember or figure out how to make it shoot video at all.)

Little matter, though, as there's been precious little of interest to shoot anything of as yet.

Did you guys have some early goose fun?

[Ericdc]

Watched 2 groups of teal come in to pond this morning at daylight. One group was green wings for sure.

[Rick]

That's a good thing. This morning's cool breeze had me hoping for a speck show, but I only saw a couple bunches, both of which were very high, and one was headed north.

[Darren]

That's a good thing. This morning's cool breeze had me hoping for a speck show, but I only saw a couple bunches, both of which were very high, and one was headed north.

They're already headed back!?? Oh no!

When passing the Welsh area on I-10 yesterday evening around 5:00p I saw two monster wads of teal get up from what's likely Bin There's farms and cross the interstate headed south. Neat way to liven up my drive from the day's worksite in TX

[Rick]

When passing the Welsh area on I-10 yesterday evening around 5:00p I saw two monster wads of teal get up from what's likely Bin There's farms and cross the interstate headed south...

Headed home to the Welsh sewage pond. Yum.

Haven't seen it for myself but have heard that Thornwell finally loaded up with mostly teal the past couple days. Buddy who has a mess of them behind his place was going to go bump them to see how many geenwings were with them, but I've not talked to him since. Guess I'll share some video from the last time he told me I ought to come take a ride:



Took one last stab at getting to the marsh pond we've been trying to create where there doesn't want to be one yesterday morning and ended up having "an adventure" that included backing the mudboat out, never a good thing, and especially not in a too shallow run choked with black dirt and cutgrass, but was pleased to see several nice flights of specks passing during that debacle.

[bill herian]

"Aye tol'ya!"

[Rick]

An' don' ya know he's tol' me he tol' me a time or three since.

[Rick]

Did a little boat and trailer fiddling at the big marsh boat house this morning and took a ride in the marsh to see what's down after. Had heard second hand reports of lots of teal in the marsh to our north, but ours was nearly barren: maybe a dozen or so mottleds, couple of bluewings and three wood ducks that have probably been there a while. Just one bunch of 10 or 12 grays that seemed likely new arrivals.

[Darren]

Hurray grays! Have heard of a few showing on our end but haven't been out there and probably won't until Halloween weekend. The coots are my migration barometer about this time. I'm seeing quite a few folks starting to talk about specks really showing in Arkansas, though.

[Rick]

Darren, deer opened here yesterday and not having a good place to shoot one, I walked my rifle around the protection levee for a section of land that includes a lot of flooded pasture that usually holds early ducks, hoping to at least see some of those. But a handful of coots hanging out with the gallinules were the only likely new arrivals there. Did find 18 or 20 spoons in the crawfish pond where the above teal an pintail videos were taken later in the morning.

I'm not seeing many specks around Klondike yet, but finally got to call in a little bunch this morning. Or I at least got to turn them and have them coming pretty when my "coyote" came running up to see how I was doing. He's usually pretty good about stopping to watch the action and mark falls when he's out and I call, but not this morning. Still tickled to get to try one of my self-modified toneboards and all the more so that the birds liked it to turn from way the hey out.

Trying to work up the gumption to go sit in the sun and watch grass grow in a spot a deer is highly unlikely to pass this evening. We'll see...

[Ericdc]

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Got what appears to be a young 11 point on camera up here in jackson parish but he will probably show up one morning when I'm in the pit blind, and I can accept that. I just hope to kill a couple for the freezer.

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[Rick]

I went last evening, but didn't see anything like those or, for that matter, any mammal. My usual slim chance has been made that much slimmer by a half section or so of very tall set aside that's escaped the plow so far. Hope to see it gone and what deer are taking advantage of it pushed into a much smaller piece of wooded jungle they'll occasionally venture out of for a taste of poke salad, which is also in short supply due to the grass on the levee road bordering it having been left high enough to shade it out all Summer. Not a high percentage operation in the best of years, but the quiet out there still makes it a pleasant way to spend the last hour of a day - until the mosquitoes come out and try to eat your eyeballs.

[Ericdc]

Yea I really enjoy the quiet of an evening on the deer stand after work. Had a few Mosquitos Saturday morning for our primitive opener but nothing like down there.

[Rick]

Had my best unsuccessful deer hunt in a very long time last evening. Was nestled back into willow boughs at the edge of a grass road separating a wooded jungle from a set-aside field grown up in tall indigos, when a little buck stuck his head out of the jungle not 15yds from me to check the road and immediately locked onto the odd shape in the willows. Only had one foot long spike without so much as a bump on the other side, but any bone showing makes them potential backstraps and burger here.

What made him so neat was how incredibly alive his eyes were at the distance between us and how long our moments or minutes of electric prey and predator bond lasted before he made the right decision and slipped back into cover. Holy crap that was fun.

Then, to ice the cake, a pair of coyotes worked their way down the road: the female hungry and hunting, the male plainly satiated and patiently loafing along with no apparent interest, whatsoever, in her little detours. Eventually they came as close as the deer had been before spotting my unsettling shape and shifting back and forth on the road for several minutes trying to make sense of it before proceeding or fleeing. Both had traded their thin Summer coats for luxurious ones and were flat beautiful. Eventually, the male eased into the woods, right where the buck had shown and stuck his head back out, as if playing peek-a-boo, a few times before disappearing for good. The female stayed in the road and finally eased close enough to catch my scent, but instead of clearing out immediately, ran a short way down the road, stopped and began barking, not like a coyote but more like a dog than any of her kind I've heard. When she tired of trying to get a rise out of me, see also left the road, though interestingly to me in the opposite direction of what seemed surely her mate.

Great hunt.

[DComeaux]

That's what I call taking it all in. Good read!

[Ericdc]

Good stuff rick.

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I had a successful hunt Thursday evening. Looking forward to some fresh pan sausage.