2016-2017 Season Log

[Darren]

...from those pictures of Clark's blind before second split started it looked promising

Any thoughts on why the oak island crew is lit up with little birds but takes very few of the big ones in comparison to its neighbors? They overfly? Just not the habitat (seems similar to me!?), OR not the callers to haul them down and in?

[Rick]

Decades ago, Francis told me Oak Island camp's marsh was "like a different country than Percy's (now Cherry Ridge)". As for the teal, folks who've seen a lot of birds were going out of their way to watch the evening flight coming off the north end of Mallard Bay Co. and/or next door's unharvested rice on Creole Bell last winter. "Epic." Having never hunted it or even been on it when the birds are down, I'd only be guessing about their big duck situation, but their marsh, in general, or at least what I've seen of it picking eggs, doesn't offer much more than potholes in the canouche, most of which are hunted or very near those that are. So it probably doesn't offer birds reason to do more than traffic over it. More like our west end than our east - or Cherry Ridge.

RE: Clark's blind, it's definitely in a different country than any other I've ever seen.

[Darren]

More like our west end than our east

That's kind of what I was wondering myself, maybe it hunted like your west end as just that pothole among the marsh rather than shows of water that more readily draw the traffic to work more closely/lower.

[Rick]

Haven't yet talked to anyone from the Chapman crew to their west. Or had the presence of mind to ask Clark how Cherry Ridge finished - but it may be meaningful that he's not made a point of telling me. Just had to be better than their first split, though.

Had coffee with Clark this morning, and remembered to ask how their season went. Said, "Two words: 'shitty' and 'phenomenal,' depending on the split." Said everyone was getting good shooting most of the second split.

[Ericdc]

Sounds like our season although it ebbed and flowed the whole 60 days from bad to pretty good. Ending on good streak helps a lot though.


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[Darren]

Haven't yet talked to anyone from the Chapman crew to their west. Or had the presence of mind to ask Clark how Cherry Ridge finished - but it may be meaningful that he's not made a point of telling me. Just had to be better than their first split, though.

Had coffee with Clark this morning, and remembered to ask how their season went. Said, "Two words: '****' and 'phenomenal,' depending on the split." Said everyone was getting good shooting most of the second split.

A couple of neighbors at the Shell Beach camp spent a couple of mornings at Cherry Ridge in 2nd split, very strong hunts from the piles I saw. Mudhole-like straps!

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[Rick]

The first pretty much has to be a Clark's blind photo, which bears little resemblance to most Mudhole shots. The second, maybe on a good day.

[Ericdc]

Any y'all see the hail in pecan island from storm earlier this week. Unreal!

https://www.google.com/amp/klfy.com/201 ... rland/amp/


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[Rick]

That part missed us, but flooding from water being backed up by the Corps of government geniuses' version of water control may not.

[Ericdc]

Lot of water coming down the calcasieu this morning on our way to Rockefeller for a mediocre crabbing trip. Couldn't tell if mermentau was high or not, not familiar with how normally looks.

Several pair of blue winged teal in Rockefeller.


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[Rick]

Sweet Chereaux was down there crabbing with the kids this morning. Said they had a nice boat ride, but it went as expected given conditions.

[Darren]

Lot of water coming down the calcasieu this morning on our way to Rockefeller for a mediocre crabbing trip. Couldn't tell if mermentau was high or not, not familiar with how normally looks.

Several pair of blue winged teal in Rockefeller.


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Would have bet a fishing pole that a large wad of birds we saw Saturday morning was a pack of blue wings. Too far away for positive ID but the flight pattern, bird spacing, and size sure screamed "teal". Oh no! They're extra super early this year, and just when we pushed season back a week.

Hope they hustle north soon to get the breeding effort rollin'

[Rick]

Seems like we've been seeing them come back through in more noticeable waves than usual this spring. That, or it's just the way happenstance has rigged my chances to encounter them. Haven't seen a teal the past few days but have had a lot of fun working black-bellies on our rice country runs.

[Rick]

Interesting approach, that. I've been party to sinking and weighting pallets and hay bales to build on with grass clumps but never anything that ambitious.

Am thinking about poisoning the live cane on my island to thin the heck out of it, but haven't taken that plunge, yet. The canes have been both boon, by virtue of helping to hide those guests who won't help hide themselves, and bane, by vice of blocking my view behind them. Hoping the relatively high water has held its growth back for me, and will see how it looks and make my decision when we do our marsh's farm releases.

[Rick]

Managed to make it to Grand Chenier and back via two routes without seeing a single teal this morning.

But if I didn't see a chupacabra between Rockefeller and Pecan Island, I saw one of the things that make people think they have: kind of like a dark skinned naked coyote, comme ca:

[DComeaux]

What in the heck is that?

[Rick]

Chupacabra or "Texas blue dog" and what yesterday's animal put me in mind of. That, and Dobby the house elf.

[Rick]

Enjoyed a Mom's Day bbq in Little Chenier yesterday and got to compare notes with the fellow who runs the hunting (manager/head guide?) for one of SWLA's premier private clubs, Oak Grove. Said they were down 400 birds from the season before and had their usual much stronger first split than second. Also said that the little freeze that gave us our best hunting of the season all but shut them down with nothing but high, unworkable birds.

They're only about 20 mostly west and a bit south miles from us, so I found the differences somewhat surprising, though little doubt part of why their landlord, Miami Corp's, man on the game commission pushes for early season dates.

[Darren]

Pretty wild that it was tough on them, "conventional" thinking would figure it to help. That said we've almost never had stellar hunting during the great freezes down in our marshes. Couple of noteworthy hunts here and there on big January front days but not like it would move masses into us and have them stick around for when the weather settled after the big front event that brought them there from presumably points northward.

[Rick]

Actual freezes have generally been disappointing for us, too, (as too often are other northern fronts) but this one was accompanied by what seemed such a big push of birds here that I assumed it a more wide spread blessing. Though I do recall Marsh Bear saying the birds just sat down in his SW corner of the state.

[Ericdc]

My family and friends had a terrible year in little Chenier, not too far from oak groves club. I know they had deep water and I don't think they had much duck food in their ponds. The prevailing flight pattern in that area seems to be NW to SE and vice versa.

Was also an awful September teal season there.


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[Ericdc]

As far as freezes go, we do really well ahead of the big freezes at my lease up here in the northeast corner of the state, but once we lock up that first cold night, it's over with for ducks for a few days. Can still kill specks but the ducks leave.

Got to see a huge push and feed last year on Jan 6 when we hunted in 29 degree and holding weather with sleet and a big north wind. Fields full of mallards and pintail feeding hard before the freeze up and tons of birds coming out of the north.

We locked up that night, shot a few specks the next day over ice.

This was followed by a big warm up and the hunting sucked for the next week or 2, then it picked up the last week of the season.


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[Rick]

The prevailing flight pattern in that area seems to be NW to SE and vice versa.

Mike said SE winds are their ticket, and most in our area would agree. Me, too, when it happens to be so, but I've no great faith in any wind.

[Ericdc]

The prevailing flight pattern in that area seems to be NW to SE and vice versa.

Mike said SE winds are their ticket, and most in our area would agree. Me, too, when it happens to be so, but I've no great faith in any wind.

Yea that seems to hold true there but north winds are also real good, and the blinds see also oriented for a northerly wind.

Where I hunt however, it's the opposite. Flight pattern is NE to SW and vice versa. Our best winds are N to NE or S to SW. southeast generally are our worst.


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[Ericdc]

Well.....

Found an exception haha


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[Darren]

Looking over my log, if anything with an E would be a stay-home deal, i'd likely hardly get to hunt.

This year down in Delacroix there really wasn't a whole lot of rhyme or reason. No wind huge moon? Good hunt! Rippin and nasty? There's a slow one or two on the log in that also! Our flights converge on us from the west generally, but haven't identified a particular direction that helps put them on us. Do tend to buy into the notion that a hard southerly wind helps keep rafts off of the larger bays near us and thus helps our cause.