2016-2017 Season Log

[DComeaux]

Very Nice!!! How's marsh's enthusiasm in the mornings, with his rigorous work schedule and all?.... And Peak, how's he doing?

[Rick]

Very Nice!!! How's marsh's enthusiasm in the mornings, with his rigorous work schedule and all?.... And Peak, how's he doing?

Marsh likes his job, and is always ready to go - knock wood. Peake, well, he's plainly been missing work more with the cooler weather than he did early on. But he does get a trip somewhere wet to "work" most every day and usually "me and he" time. And still gets in the middle of Marsh's training sessions when I take them both.

[Rick]

was that a gadwall with purple on the head or just the angle?

The drakes are getting their purple iridescence now and this one was pretty buffed out.

[Bud]

Nice dog.

[Rick]

Bud, I'm guessing you came too late to meet Bud, my first Chessie, but know you had to have hunted with the second, Chien, which this, my fifth, often puts me in mind of personality wise:

[Bud]

You have a way with dogs, Rick. Marsh is destined to become another good dog, as he is presently showing. I've already gotten used to his unique colors, and I feel a lot of chipped birds will see that face before they become part of suppertime. Thanks for sharing the picture of Bud.

[Bud]

You have a way with dogs, Rick. Marsh is destined to become another good dog, as he is presently showing. I've already gotten used to his unique colors, and I feel a lot of chipped birds will see that face before they become part of suppertime. Thanks for sharing the picture of Bud.

The picture saved as Chien2, so is that Chien? I hunted over him more than any of yours. You look mighty young in that picture, so...I remember the truck and the kennel, too. How did you guys fare this morning?

[Rick]

That's Chien. This was Bud:


I was even younger in his time:


Second pic was targeting mottleds in a place you would have liked.

[Rick]

Date: 12/23

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: fog early then cloudy and misty

Wind Direction and Velocity: easterly light to moderate

Temperature: warm

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Wind change brought teal with it.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Teal whistled non stop to advertise as long as we had fog and it paid off nicely. Which was good as crowd control made finishing big birds tough.

Hunters: 3, grandfather David and grandson and cousin Saunders and Hunter

Guns:

Malfunctions: One of the boys was using David's semi-auto and he struggled with a pump.

Dog(s): Marsh had another good morning.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Can't kick.

Kudos: Real nice morning with real nice people.

Birds By Species: 4 bw teal, 2 gadwall, 11 gw teal, 3 mallards and 1 ringneck

Photo Ops: Hunter, Sauders, David and some snooty soul:

[Rick]

Date: 12/23

Time: midday

Location: south of Gueydan

Cloud Cover: partly

Wind Direction and Velocity: moderate SE

Temperature: warm

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: very little moving, with a few north-south flights to our east and west-east ones to our north.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Birds would break and drop sweet - until they got to our little round pond saying "GUNS HERE!!!" Which all but the only single we saw refused to cross.

Hunters: just Peake and I

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Peake wasn't nearly as into it as I'd expected and retrieved his bird "dutifully," rather than with apparent pleasure.

Special Equipment: 5 Deception specks

Curses: I'd gripe about the lack of birds if one weren't so plainly enough.

Kudos: I'll not feel so bad about his not getting to hunt as I have been - as long as I still get him out to play in the water.

Birds By Species: 1 speck

Photo Ops: Can't say Peake was tickled to be in the blind:


Or enthused about working again:


Lagniappe: Some of my very hardest working and best gun dogs, dogs I once expected to fight retirement, have plainly said "Enough." and been fine with it, and Peake can be added to that list. Still loves getting out and remains crazed about being in the water working his old tail off in one manner or another. But when "treated" to this hunt, he was plainly put out when motioned from the crawfish pond to be he was digging away at to get in the blind and even balked at getting in. Then when his bird fell he broke to get to it, then slowly picked it up and returned with it as though disappointed that his reflexes had tricked him into thinking it was something special. And when the speck was in hand, he tried to return to the pond, rather than our hunt. Reckon he's done with it, whether I'm done with his hunting or not. Little doubt we'll give the birds another go or two together, but it will be for me more than he. He'd really rather we just went to water and let him swim or push it.

[Rick]

Marsh looks pretty unhappy that somebody slipped a ringer into that strap of fine table fare.

The "butterballs" are very good here. More apt to get a strong gadwall or mallard.

[Rick]

Date: 12/24

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: light fog to clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: SE light

Temperature: warm

Moon phase: waning sliver

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Had a surprisingly nice show of plainly new birds.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Sat back and watched as Warren John do most of the calling and tried not to whine when he let stuff go by, but the ducks that looked like they wanted work did with little help from me. And a teal was nice enough to land hand hold still for Ethan.

Hunters: 2, youngest grandson Ethan and his dad, Warren John

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh made a looong track to and chase to nab a chipped greenhead.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Not a one.

Kudos: A very proud Ethan popped his first duck, and it couldn't possibly have been a sweeter morning to have them out there.

Birds By Species: 6 gw teal, 6 mallards and 1 ringneck

Photo Ops: Hero shot:


Lagniappe:

[Ericdc]

Very nice. My nephew had a milestone hunt today also. First specks


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[DComeaux]

Nice hunt Rick.....Wish you would share your dabblers with us.

Marsh looks pretty unhappy that somebody slipped a ringer into that strap of fine table fare.

The "butterballs" are very good here. More apt to get a strong gadwall or mallard.

Huh. I've dulled a pocketknife trying to skin one over this way.


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We skinned a few this morning (scaup) and they weren't bad at all. Pretty, light colored breast, and a lot of fat.

[Ericdc]

Marsh looks pretty unhappy that somebody slipped a ringer into that strap of fine table fare.

The "butterballs" are very good here. More apt to get a strong gadwall or mallard.

Ringnecks not scaup right? I've always been told ringnecks were good on the table. We don't get any divers in our area.


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[Darren]

Butterballs/ringers....thumbs up!

Scaup......not so much.

Nice hunt, Rick. All reports on my end been very slow this week from my lease to our public grounds. Most opted to go fishin this morning and piled up the trout

[Rick]

Marsh looks pretty unhappy that somebody slipped a ringer into that strap of fine table fare.

The "butterballs" are very good here. More apt to get a strong gadwall or mallard.

Huh. I've dulled a pocketknife trying to skin one over this way.

No one ever said ringnecks were easy to skin. Skin's apt to tear before the fat lets go. But plucked, they look and taste like a...well, butterball. Did have a skanky one once in NW Ohio that turned me against them until I came down here, but can say much the same of gadwall. Like 'em fine here, but not necessarily elsewhere...

[Rick]

Nice hunt Rick.....Wish you would share your dabblers with us.

We had new/tame ones out of nowhere this morning, so maybe you will Monday.

[Rick]

Ringnecks not scaup right?

Exactimondo. Had a fellow who hunts the Basin down by the Wax in camp a few days ago insisting our ringnecks were dos gris. Told him maybe "dos noir" but definitely not dos gris. He just looked lost, as, apparently, is the language of his grandparents.

Know some of the old Cajuns called them canard noir, same as the mottleds, but would think there were other french names to differentiate them.

[Rick]

Date: 12/25

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: fog

Wind Direction and Velocity: southerly light to moderate+

Temperature: warm

Moon phase: new

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Much less of everything moving than yesterday's sweet show.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Thankfully good

Hunters: 1, buddy hunt with friend, Bobby

Guns:

Malfunctions: Bobby's badly bent barrel, harder he tried to straighten it, the worse it got.

Dog(s): Marsh had an easy morning

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: If Bobby had spilled a box of shells in the blind, they'd of missed its floor.

Kudos: FInally hit his last one.

Birds By Species: 2 bw teal, 3 gw teal, 3 mallards, 3 ringnecks and 1 shoveler

[Rick]

Date: 12/25

Time: mid morning

Location: South of Gueydan

Cloud Cover: clear, dammit

Wind Direction and Velocity: SE strong

Temperature: hot

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Fog had been broken too long when I got there, and post fog flight was just ending. (Passed birds putting in at or very neat Jarren's blind.) Slooow by the time we had Charlie and Agnes out and got covered up.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Sweet until they'd get to the pond, then usually sour. Did bring a trio of blues to the deck, but they bumped up at the round hole, too, and I got tail feathers.

Hunters: just Marsh and I

Guns: Ancient SBE

Malfunctions: broken carrier spring plunger

Dog(s): Marsh

Special Equipment: 2 speck decoys

Curses: Had three specks dead to rights, but the gun broke after I shot the young one.

Kudos: At least it didn't break when I feathered the blue and keep me from getting any of my "sure thing" double on specks.

Birds By Species: 1 speck

Photo Ops: Pup's prize:


Lagniappe: Though I tried not to press Bobby for more time than his wife already was, it was killing me not to be set up on ag land when the fog broke and specks would be anxious. Stayed patient but must admit growling to myself more than a little while watching specks fly as I was driving under clearing skies. So I figure God got me for not having sense enough to relax and enjoy, regardless, by breaking my gun. That, and the tender young bird I picked out first for our table was chock-a-clock with pin feathers.

[Rick]

Date: 12/26

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: fog for a good long while then clearing

Wind Direction and Velocity: fairly stiff southerly

Temperature: warm

Moon phase: new

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Little of this, little of that all morning which added up to much more than I expected after similar weather for so long.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Very good, even the jacks worked to burrs better than lately.

Hunters: 3 brothers: Mike, JJ and Mark

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh cost us some shooting and made his own job a lot harder by turning off my handling on two crips that were making time while he thought he could hunt them up blindly better than I could handle.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Only the pee poor job I've done with Marsh's training.

Kudos: Good time with guys who hid well and didn't flatten our cover.

Birds By Species: 4 bw teal, 2 gadwall, 5 gw teal, 5 mallards, 6 ringnecks and 2 shovelers

Photo Ops: Mike, JJ and Mark in a classic tailgate shot:

[Darren]

Hard to find anything wrong with that, especially given this stale weather. Hoping to bring a change with us later this week, in camp Wednesday afternoon.

[Rick]

Hard to find anything wrong with that, especially given this stale weather. Hoping to bring a change with us later this week, in camp Wednesday afternoon.

Could be "interesting" if it's a hard NW wind Thursday morning, as predicted. That's the devil for bringing finishing birds square over the back of the blind, instead of around the hunters' end like N or NE. But we'll just have to take what comes and see how it goes...

[Darren]

Hard to find anything wrong with that, especially given this stale weather. Hoping to bring a change with us later this week, in camp Wednesday afternoon.

Could be "interesting" if it's a hard NW wind Thursday morning, as predicted. That's the devil for bringing finishing birds square over the back of the blind, instead of around the hunters' end like N or NE. But we'll just have to take what comes and see how it goes...

With Isaac Thursday and you Friday I believe, should be more northerly to NE by then. Oh yea I've done the rippin NW at the mud hole, and seen first hand the beautiful straps it can result in.