Preseason...

[aunt betty]

One year in fur-fish-game magazine they had some duck hunting tips.
An 80-year-old man wrote that he painted his decoys just a shade lighter than everyone else. Added that he added a little extra white to the white parts to make them more visible.

Took that article to heart and re-painted mine lighter. There are a couple places I hunt where you walk in and have to come down a big hill to get to the water. One day I forgot something and when I came back I was amazed at how my decoys "glowed" and looked like live birds from up above.

Back when I first started gleening thru dad's old cabelas catalogs I noticed the "puddle packs" came with a dozen mallards and a dozen blue bills. Wondered why they came like that until I painted some hen mallards to look like blue bills.
Adding some blue bills to a spread makes them really stand out.
All that white and black really glows. Try it.

[Ericdc]

I bet the January mallard GHG would show up good.


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[DComeaux]

Did your marsh get any help with water today?

[Rick]

AB & Eric, my, I think, improvements to the mallards I got such an ugly start on is highlighting the drake's gray back and sides with satin white and a lighter base color on the hens. Also redid three old G&H pintails into much brighter versions of their old selves.

Dave, we had a flippin' sideways deluge here that I'm sure will help the marsh some - but probably also half filled my boat. Going to give the roads a while to dry before finding out.

[DComeaux]

Speaking of Mallards,while in our marsh I did hear same raspy, excited calls from a couple of directions while at the blind. I said Mallard?, but thought maybe some mottled happy to have company. We did have water chatter from multiple species.

[Rick]

So glad you're finally in some birds again. Now if you don't kill, you know it's Blake's fault.

[DComeaux]

So glad you're finally in some birds again. Now if you don't kill, you know it's Blake's fault.

HAHAHA!

I just hope they hang around for a while. We need the water to remain at this low level, and it wouldn't hurt if it would fall just a bit more. We need more north winds.

[Rick]

Ten-day forecast shows northerly winds for the opener, but they don't show any others until a little turn that doesn't last next Wed.

[aunt betty]

What day did the hurricane pity party end? Somehow I missed it and am still in pity-mode.
Those poor poor duck hunters.

[DComeaux]

What day did the hurricane pity party end? Somehow I missed it and am still in pity-mode.
Those poor poor duck hunters.

It doesn't end until the end of November, though records show it's a very slim chance. No need for pity, it's just a way of life down here with hopes we're spared, and duck hunting would be the very least of our concerns with a direct hit. We can now rest easy until next June.

Post by Rick » Thu Nov 02, 2017 7:19 am

Ten-day forecast shows northerly winds for the opener, but they don't show any others until a little turn that doesn't last next Wed.

I was looking at the earlier. At least we may have cooler, drier (humidity) conditions.

[Rick]

Finished up what few duck decoys (pins and mottleds) I'm actually going to get painted just now and ran out of other prep to procrastinate with and finally tackled cane cutting, which quite literally makes me dog sick. Something about the sap, I'm thinking, as it only gets to me when cutting.

Anyway, I cut my canes on Dave and Jarren's old piece, and it and our one across the road were both loaded with ducks and both blues and specks. Naturally, both are sublet out, but since I've quit fooling with Doug's sublet messes, he was over there buffaloing ponds himself and got to see his screw-ups first hand for a change.

[Rick]

Almost forgot to post this shot of a mixed flock of rare jumbo snows and giant specks spotted near Jimmy Scanlan's barn:

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[DComeaux]

Good to hear about the birds.

[Rick]

Does the whole farm have water?

No, your/Francis side of the House farm is a water, rice and once-plowed ground smorgasbord. Most geese were in the once-plowed when I got there.

[Rick]

[Drum role...] I can no longer count the number of times I've found ducks on the Mudhole on one hand. Put my poule d'eau decoys out after brushing the blind this morning, and there were three little teal sitting in them when went back with the duck decoys after lunch. Have now moved ducks out of the Mudhole, or near enough to claim it, six times since 2007.

Still have to put out the whirligig, modified Mallard Machine, goose decoys and three pintail drakes I repainted and am letting cure until the last minute, but the blind is otherwise ready to hunt, and this is how it stands:

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Saw but one other bunch of a dozen or so teal and a HIGH flight of specks, so it was a very good thing we weren't youth hunting.

Darren, I ran into your FIL with the Oak Island cane cutting detail at Tiger Mart and knew I should know him but couldn't place the face. Either he's gained bit weight or my memory is getting thinner - but please don't tell him I said so.

[aunt betty]

My whole decoy painting thing started when I got the brite idea of cutting my own canada goose silos.
I got out a cabelas magazine and cut out pictures of silo decoys. Went to kinkos and played around with the zoom on the copy machine and got where the little pictures were perfect size for my pattern for cutting. Got 10 or 11 per sheet of luan and was cutting them 5 sheets at a time. Before you know it I had a pretty massive spread. Luan and builder's stakes.
Painted them in the yard one color at a time. Had two poses. Feeding and sentries.
Killed a lot of geese over that el cheepo spread. Had a couple dozen shells and two FBD's. (2 lol)

Before you know it you guys will graduate to flocking. It's sort of fun.

My stake decoys would freeze to the ground so nobody was stealing them until march.

[Rick]

Before you know it you guys will graduate to flocking. It's sort of fun.

Since I leave my goose decoys out in the marsh, I'm strongly considering flocking to help combat the glare of dew, but how quickly flocking left in the sun can turn color has kept me from it. Maybe if I get to where I'd not mind annual repaints...

[Rick]

Also still want to see your repainting work.

It's still quite disappointing unless I keep it very simple like the coots, or the "mottleds" now supporting the modified Mallard Machine:

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Though distance helps, as with the pintails added for a splash of color:

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[Darren]

Not sure that he was over that way; unless it was his older brother who is more likely to be there, Henry. And is taller and appreciably more stout


Dekes are looking good, those pins stand out nicely.

[Rick]

Ah, that explains it, was Henry.

(So now I have to admit I've forgotten your FIL's name and will have to look it up in the log. I'm some serious bad with names.)

[Deltaman]

"Before you know it you guys will graduate to flocking. It's sort of fun."

The flocking sure looks realistic, but what a PIA to protect in numbers. I've got a half-dz Avian-X Black duck decoys, and some flocked headed Canada's, that i will add to my spread from time to time, but have to carry them separately in a sectioned decoy bag.

[Darren]

Ah, that explains it, was Henry.

(So now I have to admit I've forgotten your FIL's name and will have to look it up in the log. I'm some serious bad with names.)

Mike; he's Henry's older brother. Mike and his two sons will be seeing you over that way right after Thanksgiving I think, which is right before I head that way. Sure hoping weather starts happening but long forecasts are not promising at all

[Rick]

I've not paid any attention to anything beyond the 10-day, and that keeps changing. Bottom line always seems to be that it's gonna do whatever it does, and we're going to try to make the best of it...

[DComeaux]

Temps in the upper 40's low 50's in the mornings with a little wind and sun would be fine with me.

[aunt betty]

How about a low of 24 with a high of 44?
It was summer just ten days ago...
Leaves are still on the trees.
Not for long.

[Deltaman]

Almost forgot to post this shot of a mixed flock of rare jumbo snows and giant specks spotted near Jimmy Scanlan's barn:

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Surprised you didn't get any responses to this one Rick ...........and at first had me scratching my head..........Rare Jumbo Snows and Specks............wha????????? Jimmy Scanlan's barn................made me laugh out loud when it hit me

[Rick]

I almost got them all with one shot of my rusty, er..."trusty" S-10 when they "flushed" across the road yesterday.

But I spent much of the afternoon putting out sublet fires in that previously goose rich area below Gueydan, and those were the only geese I saw. Were still a lot more ducks around than we're seeing in the marsh (didn't get to my end of that yesterday but was on the east end for a while, where the two most easterly ponds each had a few little ones). Didn't even see a goose in the air on my drive home at sunset.

Hope they're all sitting in John's field.