2017-2018 Season Log

[Rick]

Date: 11/25 Sat

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: light to nil SE

Temperature: cool early

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Least game we've seen on a weekend to date, much like most weekdays.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: What was around did as bid. Have been having excellent pintail luck with much the same squacky calling I'm inclined to use for spoons.

Hunters: 2, Hugh and Lisa, both brand new to duck hunting.

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh had a fine morning.

Special Equipment: sos

Curses: Just not as much opportunity as I'd of liked for my folks.

Kudos: Absolutely great people.

Birds By Species: 1 bw teal, 7 gw teal, 1 mallard, 2 pintails and 1 shoveller

Photo Ops: A loooong fly-off the nose knew:

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Lisa with their birds:

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Lagniappe:

[DComeaux]

Very nice,Rick....The mud hole.

[Rick]

yep,you are on a pintail streak

They're 90+% of the big ducks seen to date.

Very nice,Rick....The mud hole.

Easterly blinds are enough stronger that I only half believe myself when I tell folks not to be discouraged by all the shooting while we're still waiting to see something and that our chances will come. Just seems to have been our turn in the barrel longer than usual this year, I guess.

Perhaps we'll see some big ducks with today's north wind...

[Rick]

Date: 11/26 Sun

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: nil to moderate (near hunt's end) NE

Temperature: cool

Moon phase: waxing 44%

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Had a little bunch of mallards come early, then nothing moved but high geese for a scary long time, even the few teal we saw came late in the hunt.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: So calm again that I continued using squacky DC for all ducks with fine result. Specks came to the closest mimicry I could muster and, incredibly, kept working beautifully in spite of repeated shooting to our east.

Hunters: 2, Loni and Mike, neither of which had duck hunted since childhood.

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh set a new distance record for turning up a gray we weren't even sure went down behind the blind.

Special Equipment: sos

Curses: Still not nearly enough game around for new hunters trying to get their bearings.

Kudos: Super nice guys who had a big time - as did I. Especially nice to finally get to work specks in tight enough that it should have rained them.

Birds By Species: 5 bw teal, 1 gadwall, 3 mallards, 1 mottled and 2 specks

Photo Ops: Always welcome mottled:

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too rare special belly:

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long way gray:

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[Rick]

Small victories in what's been a tough first split, but my guys thought the mottled a hen and wanted to know if the geese were Canadas, so I was pretty much celebrating alone.

Ran the numbers to see if I was just getting grumpier in my dotage and found we're 48 ducks shy of this point last year, which was the slowest first split of those I've recorded on this site. But the people have been nice...knock wood...

[Rick]

Date: 11/27 Mon

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: eventually light easterly

Temperature: cool

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Next to nothing moving. (Probably called to more specks than ducks.)

Waterfowl Responsiveness: We showed absolutely no respect for what tried to work's eyesight, despite repeated suggestion that we'd likely have better luck if we did.

Hunters: 2, Joel and Bob on semi-annual social outing

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Easy morning.

Special Equipment: sos

Curses: Game was scarce, and the guys refused to help hide themselves. That, and Joel like to took my head off shooting down the length of the blind at a diver passing behind the dog stand. Closest call I've had in some years, and I may have said a bad word - or two.

Kudos: Nice guys, all the same, just not hunters.

Birds By Species: 1 gadwall, 1 gw teal, 1 mallard, 1 ringneck and 1 wood duck

[Ericdc]

Uggghhhh that’s terrifying.


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[Rick]

None of the bruise but all of the headache of getting smacked with a bat. Couldn't help but think of poor Pat Hebert getting shot in the back of the head.

[Ericdc]

None of the bruise but all of the headache of getting smacked with a bat. Couldn't help but think of poor Pat Hebert getting shot in the back of the head.

I’ve had it happen one too many times. I always give a pregame speech now if there is anyone in pit I’ve never hunted with before.


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[DComeaux]

Scary shit right there....Build a wall

[Deltaman]

Huh?..........Wha?..........dammit man, scary stuff Rick!
Seeing that you hunt most everyday of the season, do you wear hearing protection?

[Rick]

...do you wear hearing protection?

Certainly should, but can't call worth a flip with it.

[Rick]

Date: 11/28 Tue

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear to partly

Wind Direction and Velocity: easterly moderate

Temperature: cool

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: We nursed a scratch for a very long time before one of the guys connected with a high passing ringneck, and continued to see next to nothing but too distant ringnecks and HIGH pintails that would drop but not break for the call.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Only grays we saw came straight in to single quacks, and a big for now group of mallards seemed to step off the out of town buss and over our decoys.

Hunters: 3, young guys

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh did a jam up job on a long jack blind on the marsh behind the blind and another of hunting down a mallards that tipped down way out front and could very nearly still fly.

Special Equipment: sos

Curses: just the lack of game

Kudos: Nice guys eventually had a nice, for now, hunt.

Birds By Species: 2 gadwall, 4 mallards and 2 ringnecks.

Photo Ops: Shy greenhead:

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Lagniappe:

[Deltaman]

Glad the group of new arrivals made in time to help, and can't help but wonder what is happening with the migration. Your usual full straps over the past few years have been about as consistent as anybody I know of, anywhere, and know that the lack of birds in your marsh so far this year has to be frustrating. Are ya'll seeing the same decline in numbers in the rice?

[Ericdc]

It’s slow all over Louisiana. Arkansas closed after Sunday and won’t open till Thursday the 7th, so that’s a factor. Also, it’s extremely dry and there is very little safe water for the ducks, especially once you get north of the coast. It’s just as dry in Arkansas and Missouri too, so I would think if the weather gets right, the marsh folks should see a lot of birds.

High pressure weather pattern hasn’t helped either.

Larry’s report was an indicator too, very low counts.

Hopefully the split will bring us some rain and nastier type low pressure systems. I’m tired of getting dust in my eyes riding to the blind, just doesn’t feel right.


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[Rick]

Are ya'll seeing the same decline in numbers in the rice?

What little Doug's kept for us has been weak for geese and downright grim for ducks, but there are places having good goose years and even a very few ag land blinds killing decent numbers of ducks, albeit mostly in the evenings in very close proximity to refuge of one sort or another. The average rice field Joe best know how to call geese. (John C's consistency in what's not known as a strong speck area is a tribute the the great effort he's put into mastering his sport.)

Sorry as it seems compared to the duckier marsh to my east, I'm blessed to be where I am.

[Ericdc]

No reason for them to come yet, no snow cover and plenty of crop land up there.


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[Rick]

Was disappointed to see the real rain chance moved back to this afternoon, but but maybe tomorrow's wind change...though, NW calls for better crowd control than most of my parties can muster.

[aunt betty]

Was disappointed to see the real rain chance moved back to this afternoon, but but maybe tomorrow's wind change...though, NW calls for better crowd control than most of my parties can muster.

Can pretty well guarantee perfect results. All I have to do is take a shotgun shell and stick it in sideways thus making the gun where it won't shoot. Works every time. Everyone gets their bird cept me.

[Rick]

Date: 11/29 Wed

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: cloudy to partly and back

Wind Direction and Velocity: easterly light

Temperature: comfortable

Moon phase: waxing 73%

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: No meaningful change, though we did get to muff one gw teal chance and a pair of bw came and went without a shot fired.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Mallards came a lot prettier than we shot, and even the lone suicidal spoon nearly beat us. Ringnecks only flew by close enough when the boat from the back blind put them up.

Hunters: 2, older father, Parker, and son, Andrew

Guns:

Malfunctions: my gun stove-piped the second round when the greenwings came - not that they wouldn't have been pretty far out by the time I'd shot twice. Time to flush the recoil spring tube.

Dog(s): Marsh broke on a chipped mallard.

Special Equipment: sos

Curses: Andrew was showing deference for his father, Parker, who was showing deference to Father Time, and the ducks were showing deference to no one.

Kudos: Nice folks who didn't scratch, after long seeming like we might. And one of the more easterly blinds limited on mostly jacks and teal, plus a woodie pair.

Birds By Species: 3 mallards, 2 ringnecks and 1 shoveller

Photo Ops: A mallard that didn't beat the guns:

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[Ericdc]

Yea. A few of my guys went today and bagged 4 mallards and 3 teal. I was really surprised, figured they’d be doing good to not scratch. Said birds came to die so they must have been using the field since it was last hunted Saturday. Other than that though, the flight was nonexistent. I’m going Saturday to close out the split, but not expecting much.


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[Rick]

Date: 11/30 Thur

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: cloudy to partly

Wind Direction and Velocity: Northerly light to moderate

Temperature: warm to cool

Moon phase:

Special Notes: Another fizzle front.

Waterfowl Activity: More of the same spooky empty sky, except didn't even see a teal or have a ringneck chance. (Next blind east limited on mostly ringnecks.)

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Wish I could say I did something, but we mostly lucked into what we shot.

Hunters: 2, father and grown son, both Glens

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh did the kind of GPS marking job on a loooong tipped woody that I'd more expect from Peake than he: after a winding boat ride, he showed me how badly I'd miss-marked where the bird went in. Also made a sweet track of another chipped woody that got up when he got to it.

Special Equipment: sos

Curses: Aside from no ducks, I worked a mottled I could see was banded, a first for me on a flying duck, and first they missed it the end of the blind, then I did, too, when it made a victory lap just outside the pond "on the edge" but doable.

Kudos: Nice folks.

Birds By Species: 1 mallard, 2 shovellers and 4 wood ducks.

Photo Ops: Our hero with one we'd all have bet against, and I miss-marked by a country mile:

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Lagniappe: