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DComeaux wrote:My neighbor/cousin sent me a text two nights ago at 9:00 PM telling me that a flock of specks were overhead headed north.

Only "specks" I've heard in some time have been black birds messin' with me.

Going to be 32 up here Tuesday morning


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Re: "the good old days"... Sweet Chereaux's aunt and uncle (albeit via a previous marriage: they dumped him and kept her) stopped by, and Franklin's mention of a near birdless pass they'd just made through Lacassine NWR led to a "losing our hunting" bent of conversation and his remembrance of a winter in the '50s(?) when ducks were so rare that sighting a mallard was newsworthy among his family of Miami marsh trappers. Just another reminder that the good old days weren't always, either.

Rick wrote:Re: "the good old days"... Sweet Chereaux's aunt and uncle (albeit via a previous marriage: they dumped him and kept her) stopped by, and Franklin's mention of a near birdless pass they'd just made through Lacassine NWR led to a "losing our hunting" bent of conversation and his remembrance of a winter in the '50s(?) when ducks were so rare that sighting a mallard was newsworthy among his family of Miami marsh trappers. Just another reminder that the good old days weren't always, either.

my neighbor in town and in the marsh (big coincidence) grew up hunting the Miami marsh and was telling me about the 30 & 3 days when his goal was just to shoot 1 duck. He always says “it could be a lot worse, trust me I know”


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Some folks apparently remember the 3 and 30 years as good ones, and I suppose they may have actually been that a few places, but they absolutely sucked for ducks here and ushered in the SWLA specklebelly land stampede of hunters abandoning the coastal marsh.

Which was initially great for our then mostly goose oriented camp - until we got priced out of the blind bidding. Went from sleeping 11 hunters when I got there to working 33 "guides" on a busy weekend morning within a very few seasons. I too vividly recall a one greenwing second split opener in a spot that's still an ag land stronghold (adjacent to the Florence Club and a lightly hunted farm that was once part of it, just above Amaco/White Lake Complex) before switching over to doing little but running big 5-13 gun goose spreads for several seasons.

All these historical accounts cannot be true, the loud minority these days insist our current hunting is the worst ever and that recollections of winters long passed are with 3 feet of snow in downtown Gueydan with no sunshine due to it being blacked out with ducks, geese, and, hell probably penguins too for that matter.

Spent some time with my wife's 93+ yr old great aunt yesterday who is sharp is a tack, boy do they offer some perspective on all things current. Child rearing was the main topic, not so much migrations, but nonetheless invaluable.

"Spare the rod, spoil the child." has given way to kids with Child Welfare on speed dial...

Rick wrote:"Spare the rod, spoil the child." has given way to kids with Child Welfare on speed dial...

And Dr. Spock didn't help when he came out with this "violence begets violence edict to parents, so don't spank".........biggest mistake our generation has ever made.
Growing up, my father always said that he brought me into this world, and he could damn sure take me out...........and I believed him Never questioned it!!!!!!!!

Don't know how many, if any, of you are familiar with Dr. Mickey Heitmeyer's "super hen" findings, but I think I've located one:

I got a much needed laugh out of that one Rick. I can’t stand sea gulls. Have heard “super hens” only mentioned alongside their supposed susceptibility to spinning winged decoys, but that looked to be a pretty super hen to me.

Go momma Go!!!!!!! Wish she would've drowned the damn thing, I hate them too! Used to carry an extra shirt when I was dragging the rag, catching shrimp for bait camps, and well remember the warm splats on my shoulders and back.........
The video reminded me of an old joke............what's black and white, black and white, black and white, black and white..............a seagull and a democrat, fighting over a croaker............

FYI for southern boys thinking about clear-coating decoys: be aware of the humidity when you do and try to keep it under 50%.

I wasn't happy with how my Dullcote clear-coating test decoys held up to last summer's sun and decided not to coat the specks I airbrushed last fall, but found the paint apt to transfer when they were bumped together. Am now taking another shot at clear-coating with Krylon "flat," the directions for which say "under 85%". But I hazed one by applying one of its three thin coats at, I think, 68% (first two done under 50% were fine). Gave another three thin coats at around 48% this afternoon, and it looks fine so far, just darkens the color a hair. Pound timber...

Good info Rick and doesn’t bode well for trying to do any of that over the summer months. I have some old faded decoys that I plan to paint flat black and was debating a clear coat to top them off.

We'll look forward to seeing those. I've still not worked myself up to tinkering with decoys, but mine dont have near the sun exposure and weathering yours are subject to.

Darren wrote:We'll look forward to seeing those.

Really not much to see. They're just a bit darker than when you last saw them, which is probably a good thing, given their time in the sun. Well, that and somewhat tougher - so far.

I will say this as far as full bodied geese

In two seasons of standing spread hunting, the higdons have not faded at all

I don’t like them as far as carrying,they are heavy,but their paint is on there

Most of you’ll have atv’s so the carrying part isn’t much of an issue

Hope I've bought the last goose decoys I'll ever use, but that's good info for those who haven't.

Re: decoy weight, being a devout 4-wheeler hater, it tickles my lazy old arse greatly to have my featherweight second generation Hardcores back in service and replacing the Deceptions I've been lugging in and out on ag land hunts. The few I'm apt to want to use weigh nothing at all by comparison. But I now need to repaint the Deceptions to match and join my standing marsh spread...

Rick, with our new fiberglass pit projects I got to thinking do you ever re coat your pit with fiberglass resin or an epoxy to keep the sun from deteriorating ?
Some of the fiberglass is starting to become exposed and can get a little itchy on the forearms


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Our pits are all iron, and I can only wish we'd coat them with something for longevity. Learned that fiberglass pits and levee burning are a bad mix long ago and, remembering that itchy mess, don't envy you your deteriorating gelcoat issue.

Perhaps Marshbear will see this and be able to be more helpful.

Finally got back into our marsh for my first round of cane and nutria abatement yesterday and found little of the former coming on where unwanted yet and none of the later that had stuck around and/or survived gator weather. Thought I'd still be on the early edge of cane time but was, perhaps foolishly, surprised the nutrias that appeared to be making a strong comeback last winter were history. (Wished I'd the presence of mind to bring my .22 more than a couple times while picking up my decoys in January.)

Water levels were high enough to remind me that waders are better than hip boots for flotant hopping, and the mudhole and marsh appeared in fine shape. Though the blind and boat hide framing look beyond stark on what remains of their now-denuded island, and the hole, itself, somehow surprisingly small.

We'd moved a slew of bluewings while tossing farm release gators in the marshes west of Lacassine NWR the day before, but I didn't see any teal. woodies or mottleds in ours. Did see quite a few fulvous whistling ducks, aka: squealers, I'd have expected to be in someone's newly seeded rice. If there were black-bellies, too, they were too far out to identify as such.

Anyway, aside from a few too-exciting moments while spraying on the flotant, it made a sweet afternoon and granted the assurance that all is well for now.

Rick, when spraying the flotant, are you killing everything you are spraying to keep the area open, or using something to target specific unwanted plants? I figure the former, knowing how fast a marsh will retake open holes, but also know that you have to deal with a plant. whose seed ends up in your dogs eyes.

I probably didn't word that post as well as I might have, as it's the Roseau cane growing on the flotant that I'm spraying to maintain lines-of-sight from one of my spinners to distant more open marsh the teal favor to my southeast and to see low birds behind/south-of my blind, rather than to create open water.

Re: the fourchettes/burrs, I have it in my head that I've gotten more lasting results from pulling it than from spraying, so I wait until its flowers make it more readily distinguishable from similar plants in the fall and pull it then. Also allows me to be more selective.

Ahhh, gotcha, Thanks! I do recall some of the positive effects from your Roseau stunting last year, allowing a clearer line of sight for low, passing birds.

Rick wrote:Anyway, aside from a few too-exciting moments while spraying on the flotant, it made a sweet afternoon and granted the assurance that all is well for now.

Always nice to put a hand on your location/stuff and find it without need of attention.

We are trying to find time to get up to bunkie blind to remove remaining water. There's apparently a leak somewhere in it as we found this season, 4 inches steady in it, even with lids on.

Bunkie was centered in a severe weather doppler shot on the tube this morning. Probably be lots of farmers with water issues, too...

Rick wrote:Bunkie was centered in a severe weather doppler shot on the tube this morning. Probably be lots of farmers with water issues, too...

Ruston took a direct tornado hit last night, and my beloved la tech campus got hammered.


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I gathered from mid-LA to way the hey north took the brunt of this one. Last week's moved some stuff country buildings between here and Thornwell, and as noted in "the blind" section, I'm knocking wood.

Rick wrote:Bunkie was centered in a severe weather doppler shot on the tube this morning. Probably be lots of farmers with water issues, too...

Seems to get some bad stuff through that latitude of the state often, almost always worse than here in BR. Have often wondered what riding out one of those squall lines might be like in the lil camp. Sure is peaceful when it's not severe......rain on tin roof.

While JohnC's been making art with his speck taxidermy, I'm still struggling to get utility out of my speck decoys. Humidity finally dipped below the apparently magic 50% mark (even 52% seemed to turn the Krylon flat clear coat a bit hazy) yesterday afternoon, and let me finish my renovated '04-'05 Hardcores, at a three-thin-coat rate of just over 3 decoys per can - leading me to again ponder, and decide it better not to know, said renovation's cost per decoy. May leave one in the sun to see how it fares compared to last summer's clear coat experiment before coating the rest of my flock. Or may lack such patience...

Also addressed the other durability issue that last season's usage brought to light by replacing the surgical tubing I'd used for leg bungees with 3/16" shock cord of similarly light elasticity and hopefully longer sun and water life.

Rick - because of our brackish water metal blinds don't do well in our part of the world.
Our blinds are made out of 3/4 inch marine plywood. All of our joints are fiberglassed to make them waterproof. All the top edges are reinforced with 2x4 or 2x6 boards. The floor has 2x4 joists with 2x12 on top for the floor.