WaterfowlForum.Net

9/13/2014
Weather - Frontal passage -Low 70's - wind north 10 mph -low overcast. Comfortable morning in the blind.
Hunters - Blake, Bill and me.
Birds - 8 BW

I was sure we'd scratch this morning as it was SLOW early and didn't get a shot until 7:30. The blind to our east however, did a good bit of shooting right at LST and beyond. We took what we had over the decoys but did see quite a few large groups throughout the late morning that didn't want to play. We had set a time of 9:30 to quit and had three make a beautiful approach to the decoys right at that time. They didn't leave.

Nice!

Good deal

9/14/2014
Weather - temp 69 - wind north 5 to 10 mph -low overcast. Another comfortable morning in the blind.
Hunters - Justin, Blake, Brody and me.
Birds - 2 BW

We had a couple of groups zoom in and land in the decoys right at LST, but the heavy overcast made for low light conditions at that time. With the wood ducks we've been seeing in the area, I decided to pass until we could positively identify our target. A lot lower numbers seen this morning and very few shots heard. Starting to look like a rewind of last season, for us anyway.
I had a geyser form between my legs in the blind this morning. Luckily I had some JB water weld with me to partially plug it. I'll try a more permanent fix next weekend.

Hey thanks man, looks like your crew got in the teal good too. Good lookin hunt

DComeaux wrote: I had a geyser form between my legs in the blind this morning. Luckily I had some JB water weld with me to partially plug it. I'll try a more permanent fix next weekend.

I've had good luck with Quick Steel followed by a coat of 5200.

Rick wrote:

DComeaux wrote: I had a geyser form between my legs in the blind this morning. Luckily I had some JB water weld with me to partially plug it. I'll try a more permanent fix next weekend.

I've had good luck with Quick Steel followed by a coat of 5200.

Thanks. This thing has pressure. Will your method work?

Sometimes. Pressure can help the putty expand on the upstream side of the hole, as can a toothpick so when it hardens (5 mins?) it has a grip on both sides of the hole. But a QS patch may not hold up to the floor's flexing, which is where the 5200 comes in. With the leak stopped by QS, you can dry the surface, wire brush and then apply 5200, which makes a tight, flexible, long lasting patch when it's cured.

9/20/2014
Weather - temp 70 - wind north 5 mph - Clear.
Hunters - Justin,Brody and me.
Birds - 0 Didn't fire a shot

Just a few teal seen this morning. Had some shooting to our far east and south east. Not much else to say, empty skies.

Bummer! Hope they show back up for you this week

9/21/2014
Weather - temp low 70's- wind north light - Clear.
Hunters - me and only me.....
Birds - 1 BW

The rest of the crew decided that their to do list was more inviting than a trip to the blind. I don't blame them as the bird numbers are still extremely low in our area.

My view of the sunrise this morning and my one BW. I did have a little rocket make a low pass from right to light over the decoys, but I didn't notice it until it was mid spread. My shot was behind and I didn't attempt another as I didn't want to shoot over Ellie.



Ellie had to spend her time watching egrets, Ibis, black birds and many other things besides blue wing.

That was me last teal season, kept going but had to be solo because no one wanted to go, and that was in the first week!

Hope the last week picks up for you bud

hudson wrote:Hope the last week picks up for you bud

Yeah, me too hudson, me too. Thanks!

Good luck for your next (and last of season) three days, hope you've got a few to play with. I'm figuring our tides are going to stay high on my end so may be a tough weekend to close it out but pretty determined to go anyway. I wasn't expecting much today, and didn't see much, but was worthwhile when three about plopped in my lap when unexpected.

9/26/2014 Afternoon
Weather - temp low 80's- wind NE light - broken clouds
Hunters - Blake and Me
Birds - 2 BW

After a nice trip out with Rick and the gang that morning, the indabros left for a night fishing trip and Blake and I spent the afternoon in our blind. Pretty much the same as it's been for the past outings, not much in the area.

9/27/2014 Morning
Weather - temp mid 70's- wind NE light - broken clouds
Hunters - Blake and Me
Birds - 3 BW

A few more birds seen this morning, but it was the same ole same ole....

Our view of the sunrise that morning





Blake with the birds

9/27/2014 Afternoon
Weather - temp mid to low 80's- wind NE light - broken clouds
Hunters - Keith and Me
Birds - 3 BW

Very few birds around but we managed to get some shots. We had the opportunity for more but screwed up on one group that passed over the blind at high speed. They might have made a turn back at us....?????? Keith has the third bird in his left hand as it had lost it's head due to my awesome shooting skills.

9/28/2014 Morning Last day of teal season
Weather - temp mid 70's- wind NE light - Overcast occasional light drizzle
Hunters - Paul and Me
Birds - 4 BW

We were able to catch a couple of birds that thought the ole out of the blind picking up decoys flyby trick would work. Paul had a trio come by while I was in the decoys and was able to get one out of that bunch after a scramble. We were grabbing the final stuff near the blind for the walk out when a single came from the south, crossed the blind levee, and headed north over that cut. I scrambled to get my calls out of my bag and was able to turn it around for another pass. I managed to get two shells loaded once it turned and took that bird.
I sure hope this teal seasons migration is NOT a sign of things to come for our regular season. We'll find out on the morning of November 15th.

11/15/2014 Regular season opening day
Weather - temp upper 30's- wind NE 5-10 - overcast skies
Blake Justin Bennett and me
Birds - 1 speck 2- gadwall

Beautiful duck hunting morning! Started out a little unorganized in the blind early but that was expected for opening morning. Whirligig died not long after it was turned on. I tried using the one that had smoked a bit during teal because it just happened to come back to life last night..... wrong decision! The water thrasher (mallard machine) worked great. The specks were thick and constant all morning and we were able to interest a couple of groups of these that just didn't finish. Too much shooting to really work anything.
We did see quite a bit of ducks as well but couldn't get them to play. I tried getting really aggressive with the calling, staying on them hard later in the morning which seemed to work great, as the last couple of bunches broke immediately and dropped on in. We had ducks over the deeks feet down on several occasions and nothing fell. We should have had at the least 9 or 10 ducks today! Poor,poor shooting.

11/16/2014
Weather - temp 58- SE winds 10 - 15 gusty - Overcast
Blake Brody and me
Birds - 1 black duck? 2 - mottled ducks 3 - GWT 1 gadwall 1 - shoveler

Impressively LARGE groups of pintail along with others moving in from the north this morning, with some forming a tornado just south of us to join a big group of specks on the ground. Goose movement was heavy, with snows and tons of specks moving all morning in front of this weather. We did pass on a couple of groups of specks that looked just a bit high until we came up from under the blind brush. We'll get em next time.




So, what do I have here?

In my opinion, the bird with coloration on the bill like a hen mallard is a hen mottled duck. If the brown on the bodies is similar, they are mottled ducks. The black duck has a darker body with less brown. Either way, great score.

11/17/2014
Weather - temp 48 on arrival and falling wind north 20-25 gusty - Overcast for entire hunt clearing later.
Blake Tim and me
Birds - 3 - mottled ducks? 3 - Shoveler 3 - BWT 1- mallard drake 1 - gadwall 1-pintail 1- hooded merganser (Blake's bird) 2 - Specks

It was a COLD in that wind. Large flocks of ducks again this morning with same amount of goose traffic. Missed opportunity's on a few flocks of green wing. Pulled the whirilgig out after teal traffic slowed which seemed to help with working big ducks. Finding it tough to get the birds to fully commit.
We have a lot of mottled ducks in the area and we took another darker bird as yesterday without white on the leading or trailing edge of the speculum. It was with a pair of mallards.



He got a little excited today.

Back when Art Brazda was alive and the senior flyway biologist for the feds, he told me the light speculum trim was a roughly 60/40 trait. Don't recall which way it's skewed, but some mottleds have it, some don't.

Looks like you had a good opener!

Rick wrote:Back when Art Brazda was alive and the senior flyway biologist for the feds, he told me the light speculum trim was a roughly 60/40 trait. Don't recall which way it's skewed, but some mottleds have it, some don't.

Thank you, Rick!

11/18/2014
Weather - temp low 30's on arrival wind north 5-10 - High broken.
Blake and I
Birds - 2 - mottled ducks? 1- mallard hen

Later movement and not near the numbers we've been seeing. Specks were pouring just a few hundred yards south of us as they've been doing, but today there were LARGE groups of pintail and mallards joining them. They just didn't want to play. Mottled ducks are thick around us and are actually working, which is neat.

Blake with the birds



A neat sunrise this morning. This picture really doesn't do it justice.

11/20/2014
Weather - temp mid to upper 40's wind north light to none (YUCK) - high scattered clouds
Blake and I
Birds - 2 - mottled ducks 1- mallard hen 1 -mallard drake 2 - Wood ducks (pair) 1- speck

We arrived to the sounds of a large mass of geese and ducks that were just across our south canal, which is only a 1/4 mile or so from the blind. The mass was spooked about 8 minutes till LST ( I checked) and we had mallards, mottled's and teal landing in the decoys. They didn't stay for the dance. We had the opportunity's to reach our two man limit, but I think the shock of actually having birds work as they should screwed up up our aim. IT WAS PITIFUL!
We have a lot of Mottled ducks in the area and this is the 1st time that I can remember having to be cautious when a flock of birds works us not to drop a mottled, as we've reached the limit on those pretty quick lately. We had some large groups work us this morning. Please excuse the video quality, I'm an amateur that's trying.




Yesterday (11/19) with the forecast being extreme clear and no wind we decided to run to the marsh to catch a few red fish for the grill. We ended up catching our limit in 20 minutes and decided to shoot a little video afterwards. There is a clip of a wad of green wing we came across while running the marsh. They were in the pond you'll see just inside the cut when we arrived, and I couldn't get to the camera fast enough to catch them leaving. What I captured was just a small part of what was actually in that area.

DComeaux wrote:IT WAS PITIFUL!

Just like kites?

Tickled to see you're getting into them. The reds, too.