Preseason

[Ericdc]

If you give Larry the thumbs up I'll set us up with a Rick Hall hunt on opening day hunt my treat....of course that would mean you would have to take the day off...

Hahaha very generous, but I don't think it'll depend on me giving Larry a .

I'll still save that day for ducks and specks.


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[Ericdc]

Work day at the lease nice cool morning up in northeast Louisiana.

Took us a while to get the pump pumping. Condensation from storage was too blame.


Never know what you'll find in a pit. Assuming this little guy was deposited in March when the boeuf river flooded during northeast LA historic spring flooding.


Just a pretty place


Going to let it air dry for 2 weeks and go back on the 15th to brush, muck out the bottom, and get ready for speck opener on the 5th.



Kept my ears open for geese, last year one of the local guides videoed some specks on September 30th. Didn't see any ducks or geese but it's very dry up there. Lots of disked up fields due to the dry conditions. Hoping our farmer will leave our stubble like last year, except for a lightly chopped area around blind.



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[Ericdc]

Corey and I got these yesterday evening.

Time to fry.


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[Ericdc]

Cooked a few biscuits and made a white gravy with the drippings.

It was edible


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[Ericdc]

Guy that was in my duck lease a few years moved to Montana last summer. They got their first snow last night.


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[Ericdc]

Got some good news on our lease. Landowner had said they might disc our entire field this year since it's so dry. Got word today that they just disced the area around blind and left the rest of the stubble standing, which is how it's been last 2 years and just looks so much better.


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[DComeaux]

Got some good news on our lease. Landowner had said they might disc our entire field this year since it's so dry. Got word today that they just disced the area around blind and left the rest of the stubble standing, which is how it's been last 2 years and just looks so much better.


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Good deal!

[DComeaux]

Just a pretty place

When I saw this picture the day you posted it brought up some memories of some hunts I made in the early eighties with an older gentleman near Gueydan. I mentioned him before somewhere, but he handled decoy spreads and brushing for some folks that leased farms down there and in return they'd allow him to hunt occasionally.

None of the fields we buffaloed or the stubble smashed in any way beyond the combine ruts. The decoys were placed in whatever ruts were available, and when we were in the pit you couldn't see the majority of the decoys. The stubble would thin out during the season showing more water. That was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the picture.

[Ericdc]

Just a pretty place

When I saw this picture the day you posted it brought up some memories of some hunts I made in the early eighties with an older gentleman near Gueydan. I mentioned him before somewhere, but he handled decoy spreads and brushing for some folks that leased farms down there and in return they'd allow him to hunt occasionally.

None of the fields we buffaloed or the stubble smashed in any way beyond the combine ruts. The decoys were placed in whatever ruts were available, and when we were in the pit you couldn't see the majority of the decoys. The stubble would thin out during the season showing more water. That was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the picture.

Yea we had a field in 2009 that they almost didn't get the rice cut, it was solid stubble and the first split was tough. 2nd split turned on pretty good around Christmas and stayed good.


Landowner does the "hunting prep" stuff on our farm and farmer does the farming. If farmer decided to disc whole field he can, he hasn't the last 2 years and it's been plenty dry so we hope that trend will continue.


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[Ericdc]

Got a report yesterday of specks showing in northeast morehouse parish. Headed up in the morning to clean up and brush the blind.


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[Ericdc]

Our young men taking a load off of me and the 2 older gentlemen.

Brushing panels




We are pretty much ready to hunt. Just got to bring decoys out, and get the pumps going early next month.



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[Darren]

Yea was gonna ask.....seems like one key ingredient missing. Are they running ground water pumps?

[Ericdc]

No we are close to a small river he pumps from.


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[Darren]

No we are close to a small river he pumps from.


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Good deal. Blind looks good to me, it's basically an island in the field?

[Ericdc]

No there's a levee running east and west through it.


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[Ericdc]

This is how it looks with water added...just this year we don't have any stubble on levee.

2 years ago we didn't have any stubble on levee because it was in milo l. We actually killed twice as many they year versus last year in rice. So it'll work.

Key to 2 years ago was Weather Weather Weather!


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[Ericdc]

Couple more views


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[Darren]

Ok so definitely has a levee, just seems maybe lower than typical rice levees? I like it !

[Ericdc]

I guess so. Pit is real low profile too.


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[DComeaux]

That is a really nice set up.

[Rick]

No foolin'. Big wide open cuts and low levees. Looks much more like Arkansas than LA.

[Ericdc]

No foolin'. Big wide open cuts and low levees. Looks much more like Arkansas than LA.

Fitting since we are within a few miles of the state line.


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[Ericdc]

Most associate dry weather with really good hunting in ag land, but up here all the crops are usually out by October and if it's dry the farmers completely disc the fields. So we have miles of plowed rice and beans...and not much stubble.


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[Rick]

]Give me once/rough plowed anything over stubble. Clods are where it's at.

[Ericdc]

]Give me once/rough plowed anything over stubble. Clods are where it's at.

Ours is once plowed around the pit for 360 degrees out to about 60 yards, then just standing stubble.

The other fields i'm
Mentioning are plowed over several times and will not hold any rain water. At best they'll have a little sheet water. Just doesn't seem as good of a habitat situation as we see further north on the Arkansas Grand Prairie.


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[Rick]

in my opinion----those cleared ponds around pit==major red flag in our area

also atv tracks to blind unless flooded---speck alarm sound

I'm wit' him.

[Ericdc]

I understand the concern about the chopped area around blind, but I've hunted the entirely plowed fields up here and ducks tend to land wide a lot more frequently than they do with this setup. Also I think the flooded stubble is a lot more attractive to geese than a slick flooded plowed field.


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