Duck Season 2016-2017

[Darren]

He made one retrieve yesterday that had me particularly proud and hopeful he's in process of shaking what's been an occasional bad habit. Spoon fell about 250 yards to our east, just 10 yards or so off our levee. Came bolting back just as fast as he made the haul there and didn't check up until at the blind when previously had a propensity to just get the bird to nearest land instead of my hand at times, especially longer runs.

That one coupled with the two involving diving crip teal that he went 2 for 2 on rounded out a great morning for him. Plainly has a ton of fun in the fields vs. the marsh, though I wonder if he misses at least doing a little bit of swimming. He enjoyed cozying up with Uncle Johnny in the lulls

IMG_3379.JPG

[DComeaux]

He made one retrieve yesterday that had me particularly proud and hopeful he's in process of shaking what's been an occasional bad habit. Spoon fell about 250 yards to our east, just 10 yards or so off our levee. Came bolting back just as fast as he made the haul there and didn't check up until at the blind when previously had a propensity to just get the bird to nearest land instead of my hand at times, especially longer runs.

Ellie had this quirk in the rice and would not always come to hand, but would drop near the blind. At our current set up she has no choice but to climb the stand and drop to hand at my side. All season she has done this and I thought maybe this set up would help stop this unwanted habit. Yesterday, hunting the end of the location road, she would make it to me but would drop just short of me (couple of feet). At the blind in the rice, it was mostly at an arms reach away, once I got up on the seat. She would, on occasion, return quickly and drop to hand, especially if she had multiple retrieves waiting and she knew it.

With that said, she has saved me a lot of work, especially this year, and what was sure to be lost birds over the years. Nothing better then finding a crippled, lively mottled on an overgrown farm that you know would be a lost cause without that nose. Watching her disappear into thick vegetation and minutes latter emerging with a bird in her mouth is a really rewarding feeling after a chipped bird shot.

[Darren]

I will hope to work on it a bit, somehow, this offseason, while also showing appreciation for so much he did right for us that saved me a lot of paddling/poling/walking. Gave us a lot of enjoyment watching him have his fun

[Darren]

Wed. 1/25/2017
Bunkie - Gold Dust Rd.
Raymond and I with Harry
Winds SSE 5-10+ temps upper 50's to low 60's, fairly heavy clouds, rain coming in later today

Conditions looked promising as we walked out to the blind this morning with much more wind than what was let on at the camp porch. Sure enough had a flurry of activity dark and early but as usual the shooting ops were tough against the dark/treeline backdrop. Picked off a scant few and then it shut down on us by about 7:15. The few birds that came looking thereafter were very wary and would hardly give a second pass after the first look. A few grays and spoons lit way out on our pond or the one behind us, clearly hip to the game. Pulled mojo very early on with hopes its absence would help our cause, nope. Had another strong goose flight and even managed to turn one wad of 8 specks but that was with mojo still spinning and they soon lost interest. Opted to pack it up around 8:30 with some decoys to gather up from all over the field, and flared exactly zero ducks the half hour we were splashing around in the spread.

(3) 2 spoons, 1 GW teal

Had nice night at the lil camp, just walked on out to the blind this AM. Ducks or not, awfully hard to beat.

IMG_3397.JPG

another perty bull spoon

IMG_3398.JPG

IMG_3399.JPG

Packing it up!

IMG_3406.JPG

There's a couple of guys going this weekend but I'm hanging it up. Have gotten to go far more than I should have been allowed thanks to my wife and I'm eager to be home and not running the roads. That, and just not so mad at them any more......until later this spring when that will certainly come back.

Got plenty of offseason projects including work at this camp, working on a whole lot of decoys that need various patching and rigging for this spread, and also likely some work on the Delacroix lease. Crunch and post numbers later on

[Darren]

Tallied our season take below per species:

57 Green wing teal
20 blue wing teal
86 grays
3 mottleds
14 spoonies
1 dosgris (lesser Scaup)
3 redheads
5 ringnecks
8 mallards
3 wigeon
1 specklebelly goose

200 ducks total, including teal season; *Teal season 14 blue wing teal on 3 hunts
186 without the September teal season, on 20 regular season hunts for an average of about 9.3 ducks per hunt.

Thankfully only had one scratch hunt and it was when the field was locked up in ice on arrival during the great freeze of the January 7th weekend.

Harry got another ~135 ducks under his collar in his 2nd season, including his first goose. Accounted for a couple of hunts without him and a few birds here and there we picked up ourselves, fell in our near the blind, or where he was denied the retrieve for failing to do it on his first go, etc. Already feeling better and not nearly as tired as I had been tried to squeeze in the midweek hunts and go to work, etc.

Looking forward to fishing but also just being daddy for a while

[DComeaux]

That camp shot is awesome! Make's me want to be there right now.

[Darren]

That camp shot is awesome! Make's me want to be there right now.

No electricity unless you bring it with you, and no running water, but it's as special of a place I've ever come across and had ready access to; easier to walk to the blind than take an ATV. We sat around that fire and listened to specks LOW all over us. Should be able to get you up there next season. Looks like our small crew is, as of right now, pretty serious about sprucing up the place so I plan to get back up there before too long and get to work.

[Darren]

Not hunting over the weekend let me throw this little season recap video together:

[Deltaman]

Tallied our season take below per species:

57 Green wing teal
20 blue wing teal
86 grays
3 mottleds
14 spoonies
1 dosgris (lesser Scaup)
3 redheads
5 ringnecks
8 mallards
3 wigeon
1 specklebelly goose

200 ducks total, including teal season; *Teal season 14 blue wing teal on 3 hunts
186 without the September teal season, on 20 regular season hunts for an average of about 9.3 ducks per hunt.

Thankfully only had one scratch hunt and it was when the field was locked up in ice on arrival during the great freeze of the January 7th weekend.

Harry got another ~135 ducks under his collar in his 2nd season, including his first goose. Accounted for a couple of hunts without him and a few birds here and there we picked up ourselves, fell in our near the blind, or where he was denied the retrieve for failing to do it on his first go, etc. Already feeling better and not nearly as tired as I had been tried to squeeze in the midweek hunts and go to work, etc.

Looking forward to fishing but also just being daddy for a while

Nice variety of ducks Darren, and Thank God for Gray ducks and Teal!!!!!! One thing is for sure...........you married the right gal

[Darren]

No doubt she was a saint to let me run the roads like I did. I owe her big time

Note to tally above, I omitted two specks that should be on there for 3 total for the season.

[DComeaux]

Thats a neat clip of your season. We've (Blake) been filming bits of action, but It would almost take dedication to just that. If you forget you have this on your head your viewers can get motion sickness, not to mention missing a good deal of the action. Once we settle into our new place, I may take the time to do one right.

[Rick]

Neat mixed clip, but might want to slow the stills down a hair to give we old farts a chance to focus. Though I must say the fast teal footage was my favorite part. Miss them already.

[Darren]

Most were set at 0.5 sec, though some clusters ran at 0.30 sec/photo....yea really too fast. Fear not, can be played as many times as it takes to see all the photos you can stand

It's probably the best clips of working teal we've had so far, hopefully next year's coverage improves.