WaterfowlForum.Net

Saw a pod of maybe a dozen little birds diving like grebes this morning and was surprised enough by so many together to put the glasses on them to double check. Turned out to be ruddys or masked ducks, which are something we very seldom encounter in our area. Also saw my first flight of greenwings for the new season.

Funny thing happened while stopping cuts today:


Would have been "just right" if not for so much rotten ground between him and the nearest grass road by the time I got the gun and made the stalk. Had I had the rifle in the field with me, like I'd gone back and forth with myself over, I could have shot him darn near at the truck. More fun the way it went, but I'd still be kicking myself if I'd not been able to relocate him.

SWEET! Tender vittles.

Are those horse flies on his hind quarter?

Congrats. Had fried deer steak tonight, our rifle season opens Saturday.

Ericdc wrote:Are those horse flies on his hind quarter?

They were on him when I got to him and stayed with him part of the way to the truck. He may have been glad to get the relief.

Absolutely sucky day, largely doing a farmer's job for him and getting BSed about needed water control parts that flooding can't commenced without. So I headed for the marsh to weedeat fourchettes on the flotant, which, for those who've not tried floundering around on flotant in waders on an 80-something degree afternoon, sucks plenty in its own right. And my day was topped by finding said flotant around our Mudhole laced with plenty big enough gator trails like this one:


Son of a bitch.

Dang Rick! That would worry the heck out of me, especially with the warm weather we'll have for opening weekend.

We need some weather

September teal season dog rules will be in effect pending significant temperature change. Which will be a first for us in the regular season. Have had plenty of warm big duck days, but the water that matters is usually much cooler by now.

Rick wrote:Absolutely sucky day, largely doing a farmer's job for him and getting BSed about needed water control parts that flooding can't commenced without. So I headed for the marsh to weedeat fourchettes on the flotant, which, for those who've not tried floundering around on flotant in waders on an 80-something degree afternoon, sucks plenty in its own right. And my day was topped by finding said flotant around our Mudhole laced with plenty big enough gator trails like this one:


Son of a bitch.

DAMN! I'd be mighty tempted to bait'em up on a hook and kill said bastage......... and never say a word about it to anybody

Was marsh retriever appreciation day, as I spent six hours on the flotant he fights every open season day weed-eating every fourchette he's apt to run into, save a very few in places I was pretty sure I couldn't climb back out of after breaking through. Not sure how many times I did stretch it too far and ended up belly button, or titty, deep, but it was way too many and climbing out of such predicaments doesn't seem to be getting any easier with experience. Have to hand it to the dogs that work the stuff.

Tickled me to see my nearest marsh neighbor's armada assembled at the boat house:


Knew he used a lot of decoys but found that display pretty graphic. Makes me feel like a piker with my sack of ducks, sack of poule d'eau (coots) and sack of specks.

Did see a few more ducks in the marsh today, including some jacks (ringnecks), but nothing to make me wish I were taking youth hunters tomorrow. Hopefully, the predicted rains will stir what is around for the kids.

Deltaman wrote:DAMN! I'd be mighty tempted to bait'em up on a hook and kill said bastage......... and never say a word about it to anybody

Never know but what lightening will get him.

Rick wrote:Was marsh retriever appreciation day, as I spent six hours on the flotant he fights every open season day weed-eating every fourchette he's apt to run into, save a very few in places I was pretty sure I couldn't climb back out of after breaking through. Not sure how many times I did stretch it too far and ended up belly button, or titty, deep, but it was way too many and climbing out of such predicaments doesn't seem to be getting any easier with experience. Have to hand it to the dogs that work the stuff.

Tickled me to see my nearest marsh neighbor's armada assembled at the boat house:


Knew he used a lot of decoys but found that display pretty graphic. Makes me feel like a piker with my sack of ducks, sack of poule d'eau (coots) and sack of specks.

Did see a few more ducks in the marsh today, including some jacks (ringnecks), but nothing to make me wish I were taking youth hunters tomorrow. Hopefully, the predicted rains will stir what is around for the kids.

Taking some youth tomorrow?

Nope. None I know of scheduled through the camp, and I'd not want to discourage my own grandkids with the hunts they'd likely have on our stuff this weekend.

Another day in paradise. Started it checking to see if a makeshift overflow held and it hadn't. But I got to call in several groups of specks waiting for a track hoe to come do the job right, then again while waiting for the operator to go back to town for a fuel filter (a common theme with equipment fueled by the camp tank). Then a cold downpour caught us without rain gear just insure we were enjoying letting the machine do the labor.

Still raining when I went back out a bit ago to see if the overflow needed adjusting, but a slicker, finding the water depth right and a few sweet bunches of greenwings doing their crazy in the rain thing made that more fun than misery.

Might add that I heard but two little youth weekend volley's all morning and have to hope other areas saw more duck traffic during the pre rain hours most kids were apt to be out.

Rick wrote:Another day in paradise. Started it checking to see if a makeshift overflow held and it hadn't. But I got to call in several groups of specks waiting for a track hoe to come do the job right, then again while waiting for the operator to go back to town for a fuel filter (a common theme with equipment fueled by the camp tank). Then a cold downpour caught us without rain gear just insure we were enjoying letting the machine do the labor.

Still raining when I went back out a bit ago to see if the overflow needed adjusting, but a slicker, finding the water depth right and a few sweet bunches of greenwings doing their crazy in the rain thing made that more fun than misery.

Might add that I heard but two little youth weekend volley's all morning and have to hope other areas saw more duck traffic during the pre rain hours most kids were apt to be out.

Weather not looking pretty for next weekend either.

Our ducks fly in the rain, so that's it's fine by me. Just a PIA right now.

Rick wrote:Our ducks fly in the rain, so that's it's fine by me. Just a PIA right now.

Ours do as well, they just don't seem to finish as well.

They may fly crazy in it, but they fly.

This morning was the most encouraging I've spent in the field this Fall, with the most specks (albeit mostly high) and ducks I've seen to date. Still not a lot of migrant big ducks, but scads of greenwings and even some mallards to let us know they're coming.

Plenty of freshly flooded habitat all over the state should be bringing them. They seem to know when fresh food has been flooded.

Long day in the barren marsh, but the Mudhole's nearly ready for another season. Duck decoys are out, blind's mostly brushed, and I even built the coyote a little underwater platform to ease his way when retrieves out the back mean going through the boat and across flotant that's been notched so badly with use it no longer supports him well enough that getting back in the boat wasn't a struggle. Should be a relative breeze now.

Final brushing and putting a few speck decoys on the blind's island is all that remains of my personal field preparation, knock wood.

Rick what about the pup? Not quite ready for the grind?

Ducaholic wrote:Rick what about the pup? Not quite ready for the grind?

You mean my poor neglected pup, Marsh? Through no fault of his own, his handling isn't up to it. Been trying to keep Peake in shape for the work, so they both go afield with me whenever feasible, and I end up feeling guilty giving Marsh the training time he needs while the old dog looks on. Tell myself that once the season's underway, and Peake's working every morning, I'll not feel bad about leaving him at home while the pup and I get serious about training. We'll see...

Know today's sun seemed to bring out every alligator in Klondike except the one I wanted to see struck by lightening, so marsh dog work is going to be very limited until temps drop. Didn't see pecans for ducks in the marsh this morning either, so that may not be an issue.

(That's the doom and gloom prediction. We'll probably do fine this weekend with what gets pressured out of the ag lands. After the weekenders leave the field, however, it could well be doom and gloom.)

The above set me to thinking about the pup's neglected education, so I took him for what was supposed to be a quick ride in the marsh and ended up spending a goodly while there introducing him to working very short retrieves off the front of the Mudhole dog stand, then boated across the pond and let him work some longer throws across what's by far the most flotant he's seen:


Finally went to the gator-safer water of the East Blind and introduced "the bug" to working open water from a boat, which he took to as readily as the rest:


Shame he hasn't had the attention he deserves, but I think he's going to be fine in time. (Aside from being the ugliest dog I ever owned, which he doesn't seem apt to grow out of.)

Ugly?

Ericdc wrote:Ugly?

Straight from the spare parts bin: collie head, hound ears (that flip back and funnel in crap, instead of keeping it out), hare feet (with front index toes that apparently won't flex), Barbados coat (that catches every grass awn it passes) and a monkey tail. And he got nicknamed "the bug" by moving like some crazy insect, seeming too loose in the front and too tight in the rear.

But he does have a great personality.

Coot83 wrote:Would he be classified as a sedge color?

He was more red or "sedge" as a wee pup, but is what would be classified as mid range "dead grass" now.