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Tough first week. I feel like our area will be in same situation after Monday once weather gets cloudy and stale again.

I’ll be hunting the weekend then next Thursday through Saturday with Corey down there in the marsh. Hoping the hunting is better than it has been my last few trips to the marsh.


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Date: 11/17 Fri

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: hazy but no fog and mostly clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: E nil to SE moderate - just too late to help much

Temperature: getting warm

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: still no big ducks and next to no little ducks on our end

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Lucky enough to make hay with what we had. Jacks were passing, woodies, spoon and mottled came to die. Especially tickled to get mottled back and pretty after it had plainly pushed off us.

Hunters: 2, John and Less

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh made a couple new fans, and was little doubt bummed that I asked them not to share their jerky with him.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: just no birds

Kudos: Super nice guys.

Birds By Species: 1 bw teal, 1 mottled (banded), 2 ringnecks, 1 shoveller and 3 wood ducks

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe: Was John's second morning of duck hunting, and he killed the banded mottled. Told him it was best not to expect another too soon.

Sure would like see the info from that band. It has to be done through the website now and you get immediate information, if it was entered into the system.

We tried but kept getting an error message on the town entry. Learned through my own bands that it won't accept an out of parish town and I've had to use Lowry, rather than Lake Arthur, for Cameron Parish birds, but that didn't cut it, either.

Date: 11/18 Sat

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear to partly to cloudy

Wind Direction and Velocity: SW moderate to fairly strong

Temperature: warm

Moon phase: new

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Hoped the southerly wind would load us with teal, which it only did in a relative fashion. (Which wasn't hard given our past 5-day total of 2.) Didn't see but one working altitude big duck (gray hen we missed). But the wind change did stir the existing pot just enough.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Had a couple woodie pairs completely blow me off, and our ringnecks were all passing, but otherwise our birds did as bid.

Hunters: 2, Capt. Ronnie and Kyle

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Early on, Marsh and I came to harsh words over whether a kicking but otherwise immobile cripple on the water or unseen by him fall out on the flotant should be recovered first. But he was aces after that.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Wasn't what I hoped, but I'm sure not bitching after the past week.

Kudos: Nice hunt for nice guys.

Birds By Species: 4 bw teal, 6 gw teal, 3 ringnecks, 3 shovellers and 2 wood ducks

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe:

It's about to change here. Been a steady pattern of high pressure. (above 30.0 and it got old)
Then yesterday it finally took a dive down to around 29.2.
Rained all night long.
Wind changed from SW to NNW. It's about to snow.
Tomorrow should be good. Well...better than it was which sucked pretty dog-gone bad.
Usually I get a couple good hunts in b4 Thanksgiving and my spidey-sense is tingling.
Fill boat with boat-gas, fill heaters, and go.

Hope you hit it just right.

Rick wrote:Hope you hit it just right.

Just when I think I got it figured out I don't. Have to go look to see. Twenty-seven degrees. Could be icy.

Nice hunt....You should be in high cotton tomorrow.

Date: 11/19 Sunday

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: strong NE wind

Temperature: chilly in the wind

Moon phase: new

Special Notes: Been waiting on this front and the opening of our east zone and Arkansas all week.

Waterfowl Activity: While those factors (or it just being the weekend) did make a difference, it was far from as hoped. Saw a few more mallards than I'd been seeing, but just a few.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Was downwind of everybody in both marshes and played hob working anything between others' volleys.

Hunters: 2, Beau and Larry

Guns: Beau had an O/U

Malfunctions: Either its barrels were badly bent or he was flinching badly from the recoil of 3" shells through it.

Dog(s): Marsh and I bumped heads early on again, and he was aces after being shamed again.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Serious crowd control issues and too sporty conditions for my casual hunters.

Kudos: Really nice guys, and we eventually managed a good hunt after their initial disappointment with listening to everyone else bang away for the first hour.

Birds By Species: 5 bw teal, 5 gw teal, 3 pintails, 3 ringnecks and 2 shovellers

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe:

Nice hunt Rick. Hopefully this change in weather keeps you rolling.

Probably just the weekend bump. Think I have an 80yr-old this morning and expect tough sledding. That, and I'm pretty durn sick. May need to screw on a happy face and reminisce the morning away...

Rick wrote:Probably just the weekend bump. Think I have an 80yr-old this morning and expect tough sledding. That, and I'm pretty durn sick. May need to screw on a happy face and reminisce the morning away...

Seems there's something going around. The wife, daughter, daughter-in-law and grand kids have,or had the crud. It was short lived in some, it seems.


That "80yr-old" brought to mind a time when I was fishing bass club bass tournaments. Mr. Landry was up there in age and was delicate, nothing was done in a hurry. I had to have a paddle in the boat for him to pee. Sitting in the elevated seat, he would rest the paddle on the gunwale and direct the flow out of the boat...I think you get the picture.

Glad to see your numbers ticking up Rick, and hope the migration gods bless you with an increase in puddler traffic! Dang crud going on around here as well, typical for this time of year, and I am a hand-washing SOB, hoping to avoid if possible. Have heard several reports of flu already this year.

Date: 11/20 Mon

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: partly

Wind Direction and Velocity: nil to light easterly

Temperature: chilly (but flat cold to my sick self)

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Saw the most mallards to date, though by no means many. Didn't shoot at a diver and very few teal, all bluewings, showed.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Couldn't get on the call hard without coughing, so more was started than finished, and I soon got so I wouldn't try to break the really high mallards I new I couldn't stay on.

Hunters: Thankfully, given the givens wasn't who I expected. 2 1/2, John, Cris and his young son Tanner observing

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh had a great morning

Special Equipment: sos

Curses: mostly just that my guys got stuck with half a guide

Kudos: Nice guys

Birds By Species: 3 bw teal, 3 gadwall, 2 mallards, 3 pintails and 5 shovellers

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe:

I hope you get to feeling better, soon. Disinfect those calls to avoid another round of that crap.

That's something I've never considered. Would have to do it daily, I'd think to ever hit it right.

There was a stretch of about 2-3 years when I’d get really sick during duck season. Been fortunate last couple years I haven’t been sick. Partly due to moving out of our old drafty rent house in 2012. Seems when I catch a cold, I cough for a month.

Hope you feel better for the holiday Rick and hope the hunting improves.


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Date: 11/21 Tue

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: overcast

Wind Direction and Velocity: easterly light

Temperature: chilly

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Spoke too soon about seeing mallards, which were absent today. As was most everything else.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Fortunately good.

Hunters: 2 1/2, Tommy, ? and small son of ?

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Ace job on a butt shot jack that went in healthy way up the run, everything else was easy.

Special Equipment: sos

Curses: no birds, bent barrels and I'm still sick

Kudos: nice guys and a good time anyway

Birds By Species: 2 bw teal, 4 gadwall, 1 ringneck and 1 wood duck

Photo Ops: Gray day gray:


and a pair of wigeon:


Lagniappe:

Wigeon not listed in bag?


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Addendum 11/21: logged "bluewings" were wigeon

Good catch. Wasn't feeling first class when I turned them into bluewings with the stoke of a keyboard.

Date: 11/22 Wed

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: (can't remember)

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE moderate

Temperature: cool

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Better than it might have been, but still not much doing on our end big or little. (A third of our hunt fell from one volley.)

Waterfowl Responsiveness: stuff pretty much did as bid, except a nice bunch of woodies I didn't know was that until too late.

Hunters: 2, Craig and Kip

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh couldn't turn up a teal that arched downward behind the island canes, but did find both a pin and a spoon that I'd have bet went twice its distance in the same direction. And when sent for a greenhead we shot out front while he was in back searching for the teal, he crossed the track of another gw we hadn't seen fall from its bunch and tracked that banded bird down.

Special Equipment: sos

Curses: Still waiting on the big ducks. And I'm still feeling like recycled dog crap by hunt's end.

Kudos: Nice day with nice guys.

Birds By Species: 2 bw teal, 2 gadwall, 6 gw teal (1 banded), 3 mallards and 2 shovellers

Photo Ops: A still much too rare sight:

Date: 11/23 Thur

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: variable in direction and intensity from nil to moderate and NW to E

Temperature: upper 30s at shooting time

Moon phase: waxing 24%

Special Notes: t-day play hunt

Waterfowl Activity: Quite a few high geese going both N and S, but precious few duck going anywhere. Just spooky dead on our end with a little more shooting on the east end.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Birds came pretty, and we missed a few no one should have.

Hunters: 1, Buddy hunt with Bobbly

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): I tipped a sprig into the south edge of the boat run and handled Marsh to the spot, whereupon the chose to cross the run and, trusting his instincts, I let him. But his apparent guess didn't pan out, and by the time I handled back to the AOF and he hit the bird's track, it had already made it to the big open south pond where the trail ended.

Special Equipment: sos

Curses: Second really slow hunt in a row I've taken Bobby on.

Kudos: He was good company, and I got the blind rebrushed and tidied up.

Birds By Species: 1 bw teal, 1 mallard and 1 pintail

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe:

Date: 11/24 Fri

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: calm to light southerly

Temperature: cool

Moon phase: waxing 33%

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Saved by an unusual mid morning wave of teal, saw one little bunch of mallards and a very few pintail flights.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Big bunch of pintails worked so pretty early on that we finished with them on our first volley, teal were zipping to points elsewhere and took a whole lot more hollering to sway our way.

Hunters: 2, young guns: one who'd had a big hunt with me a couple years back and one brand new to ducks

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh decided his nose was better than my eyes and refused direction to a bird I could see as little more than a riffle swimming away from him, and may or may not have learned something when I eventually got him to its new hide. Otherwise had a fine morning.

Special Equipment: sos

Curses: Still no big ducks.

Kudos: Nice guys whose hunt was saved by a fluke teal flight I'm ever so thankful for.

Birds By Species: 1 bw teal, 12 gw teal, 3 pintails and 2 ringnecks

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe:

Love those late morning teal.


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Not something we dare hope to see again before crawfishing gets underway in earnest.

johnc wrote:Speaking of crawfishing---heard a cannon going off this am---

Grrr...

I sure enjoy watching Marsh come into his own. How's Peake?

Peake's still the big dog of the house and gets plenty of rice country hack around time, which he plainly enjoys more than the discipline of hunting these days.