2018-2019 Preseason...
Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2018 6:59 am
Don't know that I've ever been quite so mindful of the prior season when preparing for the next than currently. Even used the lagniappe (something extra) section of that season's overview as a prompter for the coming one:
Also continued my off-season practice of compiling a list of log entries speaking to issues in need of improvement. Some recurring, like birds lost to training Marsh still hasn't had enough of or my usual forgetfulness of calling tactics that have demonstrated usefulness. Some brand new like the past season being the first when we didn't manage to kill so much as a single teal with the boat in or near the pond, much less several. To that last point, even the photos helped highlight how eye-catching the faded camo tape on the boat's push pole and grab bar had become.
Am both pleased and disappointed to say that nearly every potential improvement I came up with has been or is being addressed.
Second standard Mojo spinner has been rigged with wings that stop white-down or into the wind and (along with it's metal conduit pole) painted to match the pond. And it's hard-wiring is ready to go. Canes, both on the blind island and in two spots blocking view of our spinners from distant waters teal and ringnecks favor, were poisoned and at least knocked well back early enough in the summer that greenery of some sort should be returning to camouflage that potential sign of hunting activity. Boat, grab bar and push pole have been camoed (in addition to other needed maintenance), and those recalling last season's "rookie move" might get a smile out of the addition of a 1.5 gallon "auxiliary" fuel can. Even making a point of giving Marsh a handling refresher or two most mornings, now that I'm home for the "cool" portions of them. And now that school's started and Sweet Chereaux's out of earshot, I'll soon be cutting "teal" reeds to see how much more reach for them I might get of the Stanley Deceiver that proved its long range usefulness for big ducks last winter. Duck decoys have long since been washed and repaired, and speck decoys are as ready as I know how to get them for painting when lower humidity allows. Don't know about the painter, but I'd like to think I've experimented enough to at least have a loose handle on airbrushing them satisfactorily. OK, halfway satisfactorily
Am certain I've forgotten a good bit, as I've been as ate up with getting it right as I've ever been and am starting to scratch pretty hard for ducky things to do.
Lagniappe:When one of the site's log keepers posted his hunts' birds-per-hunter-effort averages and another responded with "...the true measure of success at least for me. Anything above 3 ducks per man per hunt is a good average above 4 is very good!" it set me to figuring our own regular season averages. (I lacked the nerve to tally September teal's.) And what I came up with was 3.4 birds per during our first miserably slow split and 4.2 during what seemed a pretty strong second one.
The second split I'd thought strong was numerically less than a single bird per-hunter-effort better than the first one I'd thought abysmal.
There are certainly elements of the "everything's relative" idiom to be seen in those perceptions: as our lack of first split action was driven home more mornings than not by all the little duck shooting the more broken marsh blinds to our east were enjoying, and no doubt heightened my enjoyment when the second split's weather brought the big ducks that made it our turn to shine brightest what at least seemed more mornings than not. But that single bird per man difference in satisfaction also reminded me of the old "3 and 30" days when the resulting precipitous drop in duck hunter numbers may have indicated that a great many duck hunters might not think three birds enough to merit going.
In any event, I know I'd sure rather not have another first split like this past one. And since I plainly can't count on conditions putting enough little ducks in the marsh that the Mudhole enjoys an overflow, much less westerly winds that pull what's around to our end or fronts carrying big ducks, I've been contemplating ways to draw more little ducks from their preferred more open marsh. Which is going to lead me in two worrisome directions I feel worth a shot.
The first, and least problematic, is adding a second spinner positioned to add line-of-sight flashing attraction to two higher traffic areas where low birds can't see my current one. Being philosophically opposed to spinners and aesthetically offended by them, as well as the problem of getting just one killed white-side-down in high winds to work big ducks or geese without their deterrence, has long stood in the way of carrying my September teal two spinner practice over into the regular season. But there will be a second standard Mojo in the Mudhole next November. Whether it will be there in December remains to be seen...
The second, and much more problematic, change I've just about talked myself into is knocking the heck out of the live canes on the blind's island. There's absolutely no question that they're a great aid in hiding hunters who can't or won't help hide themselves on northerly and easterly wind mornings. But they also block my view of marsh to our south that little ducks plainly favor and keep me from seeing how to handle flights that power-dive down over us and too often end up sliding away over that preferred marsh - unless I keep screaming at them blindly, which may then blow out those that swing and return too close to the racket for comfort.
Last year I experimented with spot poisoning the island's canes at the end of September teal, leaving me with sick canes, many of which lost their leaves and provided good visibility by the second split but were still too much cover to see through in November. This year's plan is to knock them back earlier and more thoroughly and adjust my blind and boat hide practices to compensate. If it turns out to be a terrible move for those won't help hide themselves, it will be easy enough to put it on them. But if it turns out to hurt the guys who can't help hide themselves, I'm going to hate myself...
Also continued my off-season practice of compiling a list of log entries speaking to issues in need of improvement. Some recurring, like birds lost to training Marsh still hasn't had enough of or my usual forgetfulness of calling tactics that have demonstrated usefulness. Some brand new like the past season being the first when we didn't manage to kill so much as a single teal with the boat in or near the pond, much less several. To that last point, even the photos helped highlight how eye-catching the faded camo tape on the boat's push pole and grab bar had become.
Am both pleased and disappointed to say that nearly every potential improvement I came up with has been or is being addressed.
Second standard Mojo spinner has been rigged with wings that stop white-down or into the wind and (along with it's metal conduit pole) painted to match the pond. And it's hard-wiring is ready to go. Canes, both on the blind island and in two spots blocking view of our spinners from distant waters teal and ringnecks favor, were poisoned and at least knocked well back early enough in the summer that greenery of some sort should be returning to camouflage that potential sign of hunting activity. Boat, grab bar and push pole have been camoed (in addition to other needed maintenance), and those recalling last season's "rookie move" might get a smile out of the addition of a 1.5 gallon "auxiliary" fuel can. Even making a point of giving Marsh a handling refresher or two most mornings, now that I'm home for the "cool" portions of them. And now that school's started and Sweet Chereaux's out of earshot, I'll soon be cutting "teal" reeds to see how much more reach for them I might get of the Stanley Deceiver that proved its long range usefulness for big ducks last winter. Duck decoys have long since been washed and repaired, and speck decoys are as ready as I know how to get them for painting when lower humidity allows. Don't know about the painter, but I'd like to think I've experimented enough to at least have a loose handle on airbrushing them satisfactorily. OK, halfway satisfactorily
Am certain I've forgotten a good bit, as I've been as ate up with getting it right as I've ever been and am starting to scratch pretty hard for ducky things to do.