Duck Season 2014-2015

[Darren]

Sat. 11/15/2014 - East Zone Youth Hunt
Michael and David M., 1 youth shooter, age 12
SE La public marsh
clear skies, wind N/NE 10-15, temps in 30's to start

Scouted these birds yesterday afternoon and was glad to see they stuck around. Grays were landing right off the bat, trouble was getting them off the middle of the pond to give us a swing, but enough did and David put them down. Had his 6 grays by 7:00am. I was also able to put 4 snows right over the spread, not 4 feet off the water, but unfortunately a crooked barrel prevailed. Passed on some dosgris and spoons, held out for the grays. Saw a lot of birds in a lot of places so looking forward to getting back out here to scout some more next week and open up next Saturday.

6 grays

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David guarding the dekes

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And with his trusty "guide"

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Other notes: while on a retrieve I saw why the birds are using this area so heavily.....coontail matted across the surface in there, feathers everywhere. This grass is nowhere to be found in our other area. Also, started out with the Mojo gadwall but when grays weren't getting right, pulled it. After that, they came nicely.

[Rick]

Good on the both of you.

[DComeaux]

Good to see you have birds!

[Darren]

Sun. 11/16/2014
Delacroix Island/Hopedale marshes - St. Bernard Parish
clear to pt cloudy, 50's to start, wind 0 to 15 from the SE
Scott C. and I, Scott's retriever Zeus

This area did well yesterday so I joined Scott there this morning for my first gun-toting hunt of the new season in the Coastal Zone. Per the usual in this area when the birds are in, shooting began 25+ minutes before LST, folks likely blazing away at the green wings. We listed to others around us shoot for a good while without hardly seeing a duck for first 15-20 minutes of shooting hours but eventually started getting a trickle and made for a nice morning and a mixed bag. Those that came worked us really well and made easy work for Zeus as we shot pretty darn good with what we were offered. It was dead calm to start but wind picked up nicely and had our spread looking good. We also ran 4 gadwall Wonder Duck's that had me really liking what they were doing and birds seemed to like them as well, or at very least didn't mind them, and that's much more than I can say for the typical spinners of late.

Ended up with 4 GW teal, 2 BW teal, 2 spoons (both mine ), pair of mallards and 2 grays for our 12 at around 7:30am.

Mallards were a real treat in this area, typically very rare in this tidal marsh. These marshes did really well overall for opener and today it was clear there were still a good many birds around with all the shooting.

Zeus coming in with a gray

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...and with his first greenhead of his young retrieving career

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Zeus and I with our big haul

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[Flightstopper]

This front must have done a number on the mallards because we NEVER see them where we hunt but shot 6 Friday.

[Darren]

Thurs. 11/20/2014
SE La public marsh
clear to pt cloudy, 40's to start, wind ZERO to maybe 3 from the SE
Ben L. and I

Headed to some pot holes that often have traffic when our usual spots do not but they really weren't in there today. Some had some GW teal traffic early, really early, like 20 min before shooting time but we only had a couple of chances and still while pretty dark and early. No grays to speak of in this area which is really strange considering how many are being reported in parts surrounding it.

1 GW teal

[Rick]

Folks here who'd had grays were commenting on their disappearance the past couple days, so maybe they've all headed north for the openers there this weekend. Mallards, too.

[Darren]

Folks here who'd had grays were commenting on their disappearance the past couple days, so maybe they've all headed north for the openers there this weekend. Mallards, too.

Post-hunt went back out in the marsh but in same area of my youth hunt last weekend (East Zone) and found the grays to still be there, saw a bazillion there yesterday afternoon too. Also a lot of mallards today there.....we'll see if they stick around for the opener this weekend......

[Rick]

Hope they do.

[Darren]

Sat. 11/22/2014
East Zone opener - SE La public marsh
Raymond, Johnny and I
ENE Winds 5-15+, temps in low 50's to start, pt cloudy

Finally saw a few birds in this area yesterday and this morning they didn't disappoint. We were bombarded by green wings from the start and wrapped things up around 6:20am with our 18 birds on the strap. Put out plenty of decoys today and may scale back slightly tomorrow. Was mostly teal today but had chances on big ducks just tough to get them down with all the shooting going on.

3 mallards, 2 spoons, 1 gray, 12 GW teal

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Mallards coming on in

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[Flightstopper]

Nice shoot

[Bad17]

Good deal guys.

[Rick]

Glad it worked out. Now send the teal on west, we've been missing them something awful.

[Darren]

Glad it worked out. Now send the teal on west, we've been missing them something awful.

Couldn't keep them out this morning but told the guys very early on that we needed to make hay with them while the flight was on because I wasn't sure what we'd be left with once they quit. Sure enough we needed them because when it shut down around 7:30 or so (we were just hangin out having a snack), it was over. Quite a few spoons out there as well but some west of us shot redheads, pins, wigeon and a lot of grays. Tomorrow will be interesting with the weather coming through

[Darren]

Sun. 11/23/2014
SE La public marsh
Raymond and I
SE/S/SW Winds 5-20+, temps in upper 50's to start, thunderstorms then int. light rain

Weather window appeared iffy at best but Ray and I opted to give it a shot. It was looking ugly right before LST and for first 20-30 mins of shooting time we really couldn't see beyond 60 yards or so, steady rain, water way up from day before. As such, no surprise that the hoards of green wings were no-shows with the ponds now far too deep for them to feed like they had been. Missed a few chances with the limited vis and also had some tough shooting ops with the wind but had enjoyable hunt. Knocked down 7, lost one bird, a hen mallard that dove on us behind the blind never to resurface. Also had a gray crip off a ways but we found him on way out, still very lively, and swimming under water.......never ceases to amaze me how well many ducks can swim under water, almost as if they were built to do so.

Saw a lot of birds but most staying high and not working us too well so we opted to pack it up around 8:30a so Ray can rest for the night shift and I can get back to town. Others had some great mornings, many coming out around the time we were leaving (missed all the "fun" in the fowl weather) and reported easy limits in areas just west of us. We noticed quite a few birds trafficking in that direction. It should be noted, however, that we really had only half-way set up, opting to park the boat very close to the blind for an easy getaway if we had to bail on the hunt, never hid the retrieving pirogue properly, and also only put out a few dekes whereas I think a larger congregation would have helped get the attention of passing flocks.

1 gray, 1 mallard, 1 mottled, 1 dosgris (lesser scaup), 2 GW teal

mottled

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strap before our wild gray duck chase

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[DComeaux]

Good to see y'all have some birds this year!

[Darren]

We may not shoot much in the morning with the forecast little to no wind but there was a pile of birds in front of our blind this afternoon when we want out to do some brushing.

[Darren]

Wed. 11/26/2014
SE La public marsh
Johnny and I
W/SW Winds ZERO to maybe 3+ mph, temps in low 30's to start, clear skies

Loads of birds in our general area and in our pond the afternoon before but this morning had zero wind to move them. Still had a fair teal flight that gave us a few chances, though was better for our buddy's blinds to the north of us. We missed a few chances and a few shots but put together a nice strap, just had to wait a while for them. Overall still saw good numbers in the area but hard to get them to commit with the lifeless decoy spread; forgot the jerk string at the house.

1 spoon, 1 green head, 1 gray, 1 pintail hen, 3 GW teal, 1 BW teal

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We'll give 'em another shot on Saturday, Happy Thanksgiving

[DComeaux]

Nice hunt, Darren!


I'll be out at the blind Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I hope we have some birds in our area.

[Darren]

Sat. 11/29/2014
SE La public marsh
Anthony, Raymond, Ella and I
upper 30's to start, clear skies, no wind.....again, low water

Pushpoled our way out to where we had been going but not a whole lot to show for it. Jumped some birds out the pond on our arrival but they never came trickling back. Green wings were largely a no show today with only a few blazing-fast passing chances that we didn't jump on. Had but a few chances and didn't really make the most of what we had, could have put a few more on the strap but overall very slow and others in the vicinity and the region reported the same.

First hunt with the wonderduck but grass was so thick it's rippling effects were minimal and the grass kept fouling the kicking feet. Ray and Ella snoozed a good while mid-hunt, missing out on absolutely nothing. Try 'em again Wednesday this week. Though not excited about what appears to be a stale weather pattern, this area has done well in the past on warm days with water levels higher than usual so who knows.

1 mallard, 1 mottled, 1 gray - all drakes today

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[Darren]

Took a ride out to our marsh this afternoon to see if we had anything hanging around and was pleasantly surprised. Looked like some new coot rafts as well as good numbers of green wings and mallards throughout the area, some grays as well. Wasn't much in front of our blind but plenty scattered throughout the broken marshes of the area. Fog in forecast tomorrow and no wind but we'll just go see.

[Rick]

That's about right, you're coming here and the birds are going there.

[Darren]

Wed. 12/3/2014
SE La public marsh
Raymond and I
N/NE wind 5-10 (hooray!), clear to partly cloudy, low 50's to start

Despite the fog advisories and all the warnings, not a hint of fog this morning and even a decent wind to boot! Set up where I scouted yesterday and had nice little trickle flight to the area with most decoying well. Had usual spread of grays, coots, mallards and a couple wigeon, teal and spoons along with the new Wonderduck. Worked some nice groups of grays that did their usual circle 50 times before moving on and had plenty that committed, done by 6:55am. Flight shut down after we finished and only saw a few on our way out so not sure if that was a lull or just the only flight of the day. Raymond plans to return tomorrow, i'm off to see Rick and Peake in Klondike.

6 grays, 3 GW teal, 2 redheads, 1 woodie drake

While we often see and hear many woodies in the area, its rare for us to get one during a hunt. This one was first bird of the morning

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Ray with the haul

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[Ducaholic]

Nice hunt!

[Rick]

Indeed.

[Deltaman]

It's the old "you don't know if you don't go" , and glad ma nature smiled on you and kept the fog out of the equation. Ya'll had a great hunt Darren, thanks for sharing!!!!!

[DComeaux]

Nice hunt Darren!

[Flightstopper]

Good stuff

[Darren]

It's the old "you don't know if you don't go" , and glad ma nature smiled on you and kept the fog out of the equation. Ya'll had a great hunt Darren, thanks for sharing!!!!!

I'd still be willing to bet that fog would show up given the weather we've had lately, forecast again for tonight and tomorrow Am. A buddy is going back to that area tomorrow, I'm in SW La marsh for next two mornings.

[Darren]

Thurs. 12/4/2014
Klondike, La marsh
Johnny and I joining Peake and Rick at the office
N/NE wind 0 to 5, maybe; mostly cloudy, 50's to start

Stepped outside the camp this morning excited to see a slight breeze and no fog. Started slow for first few minutes but kept us interested pretty steadily and we kept picking off a few here and there at an enjoyable pace. Quite a few birds in the air at times, though also tough to work them down with other blinds' shooting. We were the first blind out the marsh today, wrapping up our 18 by about 7:30. Really nice morning and the breakfast just as good on return to the camp, Peake did great job rooting up what we downed in the grass. Mallards really started working well just as we were wrapping up, try 'em again tomorrow.

Variety pack today:
1 wigeon, 6 spoonies, 1 ringneck, 4 GW teal, 4 grays, 2 greenheads

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Report from back home was heavy fog and only a few birds taken