2014-2015 Season Log....

[DComeaux]

Nice hunts! Funny you say that about the blind setup down that way. The one and only time I've hunted in that general area was in an absolute monster of a Hilton, just like the one you were in, but much larger and elevated off the ground/water. The pond I hunted, sadly, wasn't even a pond anymore due to erosion but looked a lot like where you were though I was much closer to Grand Chenier. Glad you did some shootin!

We're back after them Wed and Thurs I think

On this section they are trying to get the marsh to fill back in by building berms across a large expanse of open water. These berms have been in place for 8 years now. With that, they have added control structures to divert fresh water from White lake, so I was told, into this marsh while trying to keep salt water out. I did notice some coon tail floating around that was probably pulled up by the poule d'eau, so it may be working. They have also noticed a decrease in salinity. There's been a lot of erosion of theses berms over the years though, as there is more open water now, at least from what I saw this weekend, then what was captured in this photo from 2012. Stretching 3 or 4 miles south of these berms and open water is a normal vegetated marsh to the gulf. It was an interesting place to hunt.

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[DComeaux]

1/21/2015
Weather - temp upper 50's - wind NE light to moderate late - heavy overcast with fog early to clear later
Billy and I
Birds - 1- spoon

Had a few mallards around and a good mess of specks this morning. All birds are decoy shy and the specs were landing in our north pond near the middle of that section. Bill and I picked up all of the decoys and we'll have just a hand full of coots and the mm on one side and a half dozen mallards spread out on the north side in the morning. The 4 specks decoys will be on the north side as well. We'll see what happens.

These were on the ground just across the street from our place very near the road when we came out. We watched good numbers work this area this morning and I hope to be carrying 4 of these by the neck in the morning.

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[Rick]

Hope the de-duck-blinding turns the trick for you. Know I envy the opportunity to work specks. (And look forward to trying my own hand again next week.)

[DComeaux]

Hope the de-duck-blinding turns the trick for you. Know I envy the opportunity to work specks. (And look forward to trying my own hand again next week.)

I hoping to make the blind disappear and hope this works. I'm too lazy to do what I should or what I would have done at a younger age. We did work a few bunches and a couple of pair but they just wouldn't cross the decoys. We did have a pair that worked over the blind but they were iffy on height so we passed on those.

[Rick]

Hope it goes a planned and you can get your specks before today's rain shuts them down.

[DComeaux]

1/22/2015
Weather - temp upper 50's - wind E 5-10- overcast
Billy and I
Birds - 2- mottled ducks

Didn't see the amount of birds, ducks or geese, as we did yesterday but did notice flashlights in fields around us where no one's hunted all season. There were specks in the air around us 30 minutes before LST apparently pushed from their roost. I did get some ducks to actually break, cup and give us a look but they didn't commit. It was nice to see that, for a change.
I think I'm going to work tomorrow and save a vacation day. Saturdays hunt results will determine whether that will be my last hunt for the season,or not.

When we left the blind I took a ride on our west levee to put out a test crawfish trap just for shizz and giggles and to take a look at the drain gates. While riding, Ellie was out in front of the bike and suddenly put the brakes on and dove into the reeds along the pond. She chased this thing that we couldn't see in the pond and ended up back at the levee 20 or 30 yards from where she entered. When we pulled up she was frantically searching in the thick brush at the edge of the pond, we couldn't see her. When she came out of the tangles she had a mottled duck in her lips. This bird had a fresh wing tip break and I'm not sure where it came from. We did shoot at a bunch of four or five that worked to our west but I didn't notice a bird go down. It may have drifted over from one of the other fields around us shooting at everything that came over. Regardless, it ended up in the back of my truck.

The single I took at the blind

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Ellie's bird added

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[Darren]

Nice mottleds! I'll take 'em however I can get them!

[Rick]

Sorry the speck hunt didn't go as planned but still think you were on the right track with trimming the heck out of your duck decoys. Can only guess how snake bit you must feel. Expect to be over there marking (or trying to) the end of the pump intake in the next few days.

[DComeaux]

Sorry the speck hunt didn't go as planned but still think you were on the right track with trimming the heck out of your duck decoys. Can only guess how snake bit you must feel. Expect to be over there marking (or trying to) the end of the pump intake in the next few days.

HEY! There's water in that ditch! It's nice to see open water. I found a shoepick on the levee. What a waste!

[DComeaux]

1/24/2015
Weather - temp upper 30's - wind - Light NW clear
Justin, Blake and I
Birds - nada, ZIP, ZILCH!

Turn out the lights, the party's over. Well, it never really began. I may speck hunt next Saturday but I do need to go back out there cause we forgot the MM battery. I may even try to catch some crawfish with drop nets if it's warm enough. Never did get the blind to stop leaking and on top of not having ducks we had to bail every morning. This will be on the to do list once the ponds are drained and dry, if we're hunting there again for 2015-2016.

These were very near the road on our drive out near our place. There was more of this all the way out.

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[Rick]

Getting ready to load waders and a pirogue and go either clear the pump or at least mark the intake's end, so they can dig out in front of it with a hoe. But I'll have no good way to get your battery back to the truck. (That's right, I'm too damn old and lazy to carry it that far.)

Wouldn't let Doug think you might keep trying to repair that blind. Would make him replace, rather than repair, it.

[Darren]

Sorry to hear of the bum hunt but great pics if nothing else. thanks for sharing them

[DComeaux]

Getting ready to load waders and a pirogue and go either clear the pump or at least mark the intake's end, so they can dig out in front of it with a hoe. But I'll have no good way to get your battery back to the truck. (That's right, I'm too damn old and lazy to carry it that far.)

Wouldn't let Doug think you might keep trying to repair that blind. Would make him replace, rather than repair, it.

Thanks for the offer, but I'll get the battery next weekend. It's a heavy one. If I'd known you were headed out there we would have stayed to help you!

[Rick]

Was considerably deeper than anticipated, but I managed. Just don't believe scooping out in front of the intake will turn the trick, given how tight that jewel was seizing, it would sure seem something is in the intake pipe or pump casing, itself.

[DComeaux]

Was considerably deeper than anticipated, but I managed. Just don't believe scooping out in front of the intake will turn the trick, given how tight that jewel was seizing, it would sure seem something is in the intake pipe or pump casing, itself.

I agree. There is, or was something floating around in there, it seemed. Edgar told me he was going to try to back wash the well using the bucket of the excavator and I'm not sure of the results. It may be costly to put it back together not knowing if it's clear.

[DComeaux]

This years numbers are 257 birds short our first years total at this place, which was 4 years ago. We did see a lot of ducks, mostly during the first split and a week or two into the second split, they just didn't stop or use the fields in our area like they would the first and second year. During the mid to latter part of the second split we didn't see the big flocks moving like we did earlier in the season, it was pretty much empty skies. The speck numbers are good and seem to have stayed consistent through the years.

Teal season - 7 hunts 20 BW teal

Regular season 28 hunts
10- Gadwall
15 - Mottled Ducks
20- GW teal
9- Shoveler
6- BW teal
12- Mallards
5- Pintail
4- Hooded Merganser
2- Scaup
2- Red head Hens
6- Wood Ducks
2- Wigeon

Total for the regular season is (93) ducks with (25) specks and (2) blue geese. Total duck numbers including teal season is (113).

[Darren]

Dave,

any thoughts on why mottleds are second to only GW teal on your harvest? Is there a big nesting population around you or in the marshes south of you?

thanks for maintaining the log, loved keeping up with it.

[DComeaux]

I'm not sure, Darren, but we've had Mottled's every year at this place and this year they were thick in the first split. They did disappear for a time during the second split but we started seeing them again during the last couple of weeks, though not in those big numbers. I held water into late spring either last year or the year before and flushed some from our ponds that acted as if they were nesting. We also have managed marsh just 3 or 4 miles to our south that probably keeps them around. I'd love to take a banded mottled just to see where they come from. I can sure tell when it's a new group to the area, cause they work so GOOD!

[Steele22]

Nice season man, looks like some fun hunts

[Rick]

I'd love to take a banded mottled just to see where they come from. I can sure tell when it's a new group to the area, cause they work so GOOD!

My guys took six banded mottleds from a piece down on the Gueydan ditch not too far west of you one year, and the only one I ever heard back from was banded in Gilchrist, TX. Not sure why, but we shoot very few mottleds in my marsh blind, just five this year, and when one comes easy in the late season, it's more likely a true black or Mexican mallard.

[DComeaux]

I'd love to take a banded mottled just to see where they come from. I can sure tell when it's a new group to the area, cause they work so GOOD!

My guys took six banded mottleds from a piece down on the Gueydan ditch not too far west of you one year, and the only one I ever heard back from was banded in Gilchrist, TX. Not sure why, but we shoot very few mottleds in my marsh blind, just five this year, and when one comes easy in the late season, it's more likely a true black or Mexican mallard.

I did hear or read that we get an influx of these from the Texas coast. I assume this was told by banding info.