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Rick wrote:

DComeaux wrote:IT WAS PITIFUL!

Just like kites?

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

Oh yeah, just like that. Hahaha!

Cool video Comeaux. Interesting to see how different it is just a state a part. Keep watching half expecting a bass to come in the boat

11/21/2014
Weather - temp upper 50's wind SE light early - high scattered clouds
Blake, Lanie and I
Birds - 1 - mottled duck 2- Pintail (pair)

This was Lanie's first duck hunt and first duck, a pintail hen. She was really excited as were Blake and I. The hen came in as a single and floated over the blind offering a perfect shot for this first timer. The bird movement was terrible this morning and I hated that for Lanie. I wanted sooooo much to have birds for her! What little duck flight we did have this morning ended around 8:50 and I ended the hunt around 9:15 for lack of movement. As usual, were were unloaded, calls put away and a pair of mottled ducks worked the decoys. Not a couple of minutes later a pair of gadwall wanted to play. Despite the slow morning, I think we have a new duck hunter among us.

Not having the mid section of the property plowed this year is really going to lower our speck harvest numbers. Those birds are thick again this year, but the place is just not inviting.

11/27/2014
Blake, Brody and Hope made a quick morning hunt
1- Pintail

11/28/2014
Weather - temp upper 30's to low 40's wind SE none to light - severe clear
Justin, Brody and I
Birds - 2 - wood ducks (pair) 1- mallard hen 1-gadwall 1-shoveler hen

Not many ducks in the area. Was able to break down a few high mallards during the morning that got bumped by our neighbors to the east shooting at snows in the stratosphere. GRRRR! The specks are starting to respond well but just won't finish right. I'm sooooo missing the goose blind this year. My old azz would be in there every morning!

Stripped the goop blob from the blind floor and put the quick steel in it's place. it seemed to have slowed the flow A LOT after keeping pressure on it by hand for a while. I'm hoping as it cures it will close it off completely. We'll see in the morning. I have more to add if need be.

Justin and Brody



This little drake was sporting nice headdress for his hen this morning.

QS alone probably won't hold it long, as it won't flex with the floor. Before you leave Sunday QS it well enough to stop the leak entirely, dry and clean the area around it and goop it good with 5200. Should be ready to rock and roll then - until the next new gusher...

Rick wrote:QS alone probably won't hold it long, as it won't flex with the floor. Before you leave Sunday QS it well enough to stop the leak entirely, dry and clean the area around it and goop it good with 5200. Should be ready to rock and roll then - until the next new gusher...

Yeah, I need to really dry that spot before the 5200 application. The first attempt proved to me that it doesn't like flowing water.

11/29/2014
Weather - temp low 50's to start the morning wind SE light early - scattered clouds
Justin, Blake and I
Birds - 2 - wood ducks (pair) 1- wigeon hen 1- Bw hen 6- specks

The ducks were pretty much absent today, so thank God for the specks! We were in the middle of a bid body of geese, one to our near SE, and one to our NW, which provided us with a constant flow of back and forth low movement of the specks, and man did they work beautifully this morning. They were very responsive, breaking down to an excited cluck and ending up feet down over the blind into the wind.
We left around 9:00 with geese still pouring into fields around us. MAN!, I sure hope they don't get pushed out this evening.

One happy fat man!


Ellie returning with one of those wonderful birds. She did well with a short mark turning into a long trail into some hopefully soon to be gone dense vegetation.



Blake and Justin at the blind


Justin and I with another stringer shot. What a satisfying morning! My ears are still ringing with the sounds of specks and snows.


A short video of birds joining the wad of geese to our near SE as we were getting out of there.

Says your video is private, might want to use "unlisted" if you don't want them public and still want to share. I do.

But in any event, I'm tickled to hear you had such a sweet one.

Rick wrote:Says your video is private, might want to use "unlisted" if you don't want them public and still want to share. I do.

But in any event, I'm tickled to hear you had such a sweet one.

I fixed it. I thought I had made it public, guess not.

11/30/2014
Weather - temp mid 50's to start the morning wind SE light early - scattered clouds
Justin, Blake, Brody and I
Birds - 1 - GW hen 1- Blue goose (Blake couldn't resist) 7- specks

Geese were still there and loud when we got out of the truck this morning. We also heard a few mallard hens in the mix and had hopes for some of those this morning. We'll, the specks didn't disappoint but took a little more coaxing, and most just didn't set up as I would have liked for good shots. We had the opportunity to take that one bird to make the limit, just didn't make it happen.

The duck situation is pretty poor in our area, and what we do see just don't want to fully commit. I'm hoping our plans to open up the cuts this week will happen. I want to add more decoys and I haven't deployed or used the whirligig since opening weekend. The new to us MM seems to catch their eye, we like it.

My camera fell to the blind floor today with about 6" of water down there (we still have a leak) and I hadn't noticed it as I was in the process of retrieving a bird. I hadn't zipped the water proof floating case completely so water got into the pouch and it quit working at the blind. After a little drying time and attention at home, it came back to life. Fingers crossed!


Little Ellie has a time with those big boys . We did have a few that seemed extra large this morning. Heavy birds.



The boys with the birds


Rack of birds


A little video of what we watched and heard this morning. Excuse the quality.

You're on a roll.

Rick wrote:You're on a roll.

I'm so thankful for the specks, and hope the duck situation can pick up just a bit. If I can get what we've been able to break down to commit, I'd be happy.

12/6/2014
Weather - temp mid 60's - wind Sw light - Overcast with heavy fog
Bennett, Jason and I
Birds - 1 - Pintail drake 4-specks

The fog had the specks a little cautious this morning, but I was able to pull some in that worked beautifully. Actually worked quite a few bunches that made several passes, they just didn't get low enough before they found us in the blind. TOO MANY EYES. I was able to get the young man a few specks over the blind, he just didn't connect.
The ducks are not there. Very few seen this morning in that heavy fog. Our ponds are now LARGE with lots of open water, and i'm really looking forward to playing with the spread numbers and configurations during the second split. I'm trying to get what we've been seeing and breaking down to fully commit. It may not work, but it's better than doing nothing.

My regular crew had work or plans for today, and it will only be Brody and I tomorrow. The wind just shifted to the north a bit ago and it should be cool and windy in the morning.

Bennett and Jason with our birds

No bugs on that.

12/7/2014
Weather - temp 50 - wind NE 15-20 - Overcast
Brody, Hope and I
Birds - 1-speck

We may have seen two dozen ducks in total this morning, and the geese weren't in the area. I got the attention of a couple of flocks of specks but only a pair worked within range. Today was the last day of the first split with a two week break. I'll be at the blind next weekend to try again to stop the leaks. I'm tired of bailing. I sure hope we get some ducks in our area for the second split.

Nice specks last week! Hope your ducks come back with the 2 week layover, keep after 'em!

Thanks! I'm glad we had the specks,It kept it interesting.

12/20/2014
Weather - temp 50 - wind N 10-15 - Heavy Overcast
Blake and I
Birds - 2- Gadwall (pair) 1- Mallard Hen 1 - Mottled duck 1-speck

I'm just a little disappointed of how the morning turned out as far as numbers seen and birds taken. We did see a fair amount of high big bunches coming from the south, but nothing wanted to play. Took the speck early and it worked beautifully, I thought this was a sign of things to come. It didn't happen. Strange morning as far as bird response goes. The specks weren't very vocal.

I do believe I see a pattern forming for us this year of better hunts on clear or partly cloudy days as opposed to the weather we had this morning. Not something I've known or remembered for ag fields.


Blake with the birds

12/21/2014
Weather - temp upper 40's - wind light E to NE - Heavy low Overcast
Blake and I (hunted until 11:15)
Birds - 2- Red Head Hens? 1- Mallard Drake

Not many ducks around this morning and the specs just kept moving north following the snows in the fog. My neighbor shot at the least a box of shells at the high snows and specks, which was a wonderful thing when you're trying to work birds. We did miss on a couple (2) of opportunities on mallards.

After some research I'm still not 110% sure that these are Red Head hens as I've never had the opportunity to take any, but man they sure look like one. and of course out of the twenty or so that buzzed us we just had to drop two hens.

Look pretty redhead-hen-like to me

Shot a pair a couple weeks back but drake wasn't anything to brag about

Redheads.


Jealous of you guys still hunting

Definitely redheads.

Thanks guys! I know ring neck and scaup and was pretty sure these were red's, just wanted confirmation. Neat little birds, and I would have loved to have taken a drake out of that bunch.

12/26/2014
Weather - 50's - wind East light to moderate - Overcast occasional mist
Blake and I (hunted until 10:30)
Birds - Didn't even think about shooting

Might be time to make a move, or just give it up. Got some thinking to do.

Our best ag land blinds struggled today, too. Looked like everything's headed for Gulf. But that will reverse with the weekend rain.

DComeaux wrote:12/26/2014
Weather - 50's - wind East light to moderate - Overcast occasional mist
Blake and I (hunted until 10:30)
Birds - Didn't even think about shooting

Might be time to make a move, or just give it up. Got some thinking to do.

Hope you're giving it a shot in the rain this weekend! Stay on em

heres you a pic to compare too.. Maybe that helps?

Steele22 wrote:

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1419654589.197114.jpg

heres you a pic to compare too.. Maybe that helps?

I would have liked a drake from that bunch!

12/27/2014
Weather - temp 60's - wind light E to SE - Heavy low Overcast FOG
Blake and I
Birds - 2- green wing hens 2- Blue geese

The blues were an accident. I broke down a small bunch of specks that made a turn to the west on our north side. We lost sight of them as we were down in the blind under the brush and the first geese to appear over us from the west took some steel, it just happened to be these blues. I hadn't seen this bunch of low blues approaching while working the specks and everything looked gray in that fog this morning.

I hope this front pushing through tonight gives us something to shoot at in the morning.