Post-Season 2018-2019

[Darren]

During the early teal season the Mottled ducks decoy in on a regular basis, and we only have about a dozen decoys out. I think when the regular duck season arrives and we put out a lot more decoys the Mottled ducks stay away

I find that largely true; though the northern blinds on our lease I speak of report singles and pairs just swinging on in to the dekes like grays at times. Similarly, on a late season hunt last year in some broken marsh, I was set up with a small spread in their wheelhouse and saw a similar occurrence with a pair just whipping in like decoying mallards. Guess it has a lot to do with being where they prefer to be anyway, the small broken marshes, potholes, etc. which makes for fun gunning when they are coming in committed and close.

[Darren]

Annnnnnnnd there it is, front even made it down through Shell Beach:

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Surely will be back to sweltering for teal season on Sept 14 but this little cool spell has me wanting to do get out for ducky activities, too bad I'll mostly be in the office. Will at least let the dog get some work the next couple of afternoons

[Darren]

I've made mention of Dr. Ringelman on here before, see story on his mottled duck research at link below:

https://www.lsuagcenter.com/profiles/lb ... 8624046100

[Deltaman]

Good article, thanks Darren!

[Rick]

They're such upland oriented nesters that it would be my guess plows and brush hogs are the number one and two top mottled duck nesting hazards. Four legged predators only seem particularly successful when the birds are only left narrow, readily hunted cover strips. Sometimes wonder how they manage at all.

[Darren]

I've seen them flush from tree-like bushes in the upper delacroix marshes. If they could nest IN the trees they'd probably have much stronger brood survival given less apt to flood, and less accessible to predators like hogs, foxes, coyotes, etc.

Nonetheless, if the entire coastal population was doing as well as (I perceive) the Delacroix/St bernard parish/St Tammany parish mottleds appear to be doing each September, maybe we'd be able to take more than 1 per day. Their savvy ways seem to be their biggest tool in avoiding hunter harvest.

[Rick]

Nonetheless, if the entire coastal population was doing as well as (I perceive) the Delacroix/St bernard parish/St Tammany parish mottleds appear to be doing each September...

Last September:

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And then we shot exactly one, count it "1," there during the entire regular season. They surely do start avoiding us as the gunning progresses, but my perception while running around umpteen marshes and fields all summer is that restricting their limit wasn't nearly as foolish as I initially thought. Know the hunters' take isn't much "in the grand scheme..." but it's something, and I hate to see mottleds in such a bind.

[Darren]

Your results aren't too different from mine as you've seen in my logs over last 5 years, heck I didn't kill a one in 2017-2018 season, but FIVE last year. That also varies in where I hunt, though, in that some years on the public grounds we hunt some tighter waters and that at least puts us in the game a bit, or one of our northern blinds on the lease......something I did both of last year.

You noted the one taken last season at the mudhole, but I'll also point out that I read in your log just recently that on one morning a pair came to die and the wrong guns in the blind just sent them on their way educated......could have tripled your take with that one day!


Again, my perception in September around my stompin' grounds is that they're doing great, particularly since they've taken to the new restoration areas so well for nesting. I'm seeing entire flocks circling those areas when I bump them on occasion.

[Rick]

You noted the one taken last season at the mudhole, but I'll also point out that I read in your log just recently that on one morning a pair came to die and the wrong guns in the blind just sent them on their way educated......could have tripled your take with that one day!

I stay torn over whether to try and trip mottleds for folks who are most apt to screw the pooch, but those are the folks who need all the ops I can muster most. No doubt, whatsoever, I could up our take by not trying them as often. Might ought do like Clark on Cherry Ridge: "See that white under their wings? It means they're not coming."

But I'm still not seeing anywhere near as many as I recall being the norm in any of my travels.

[Darren]

You noted the one taken last season at the mudhole, but I'll also point out that I read in your log just recently that on one morning a pair came to die and the wrong guns in the blind just sent them on their way educated......could have tripled your take with that one day!

I stay torn over whether to try and trip mottleds for folks who are most apt to screw the pooch, but those are the folks who need all the ops I can muster most. No doubt, whatsoever, I could up our take by not trying them as often. Might ought do like Clark on Cherry Ridge: "See that white under their wings? It means they're not coming."

But I'm still not seeing anywhere near as many as I recall being the norm in any of my travels.

Safe play by Clark, probably right better than 99% of the time


I would have thought they'd be doing fine over your way with so much fallow ag grounds, marsh/ag transition areas for nesting. In my area they have to overcome tidal influxes and fair bit of predation

[Rick]

Tough to do well when all that pretty fallow ground's too wet plow - until you've nested on it...

Anyway, it would be nice if it's just me not seeing them.

[Lreynolds]

With the trend in mottled duck breeding populations since 2009 in Louisiana (down over 50%), the USFWS has notified us that they are looking for action on a strategy to address the decline. That happened in 2006, and in 2009 the bag limit was reduced, which didn't solve the problem ..... as we expected. I've been trying to move the waterfowl community to action on mottled ducks, including funding the Ringelman project, but have yet to get people fired up enough to generate some real habitat-based work. I wish I knew enough about mottled ducks to generate an action plan myself with a reasonable chance of success. Frankly, hunters have been apathetic because, well ...... "who cares, we can only shoot 1 anyway, go ahead and close the season and do your job to get ducks to migrate to Louisiana like they used to".

I've said it before, but we are far more likely to see additional restrictions on mottled duck harvest in the near future than any alternative.

I'm not surprised you are seeing stable numbers, Darren. One place that our breeding survey is seeing similar numbers as in the past, is SE LA ...... at least the northern part of those transects through Delacroix, Biloxi, and over to south of New Orleans. Watching Jeb Linscombe's presentation on growth in alligator populations last fall, that happened to be the same area where alligators weren't going through the roof. Anecdotal, but ???

Interesting result from the first year of Ringelman's study (maybe you already know this or it was in the LSU article), of the 6 nest attempts, 4 were typical upland nests, but 2 were over-water like coots or canvasbacks. It was the first study to document over-water nests by mottled ducks. All 4 upland nests were predated and the 2 nests hatched their clutch of eggs. Terribly small sample size, but ???

[DComeaux]

Watching Jeb Linscombe's presentation on growth in alligator populations last fall, that happened to be the same area where alligators weren't going through the roof. Anecdotal, but ???

The alligator population has exploded over time, and I have little doubt that they consume a large number of mottled ducklings every year. I actually felt bad when I learned the age of the banded mottled duck I took last year. I may personally give those a pass going forward, at least until there numbers begin to rise. I'd actually like to see them off limits for a while.

How many of these are taken during teal season?

[Rick]

Maybe folks in this area still think I'm "the new peanut man," but I don't recall hearing of anyone popping a September mottled since way back when some here jokingly called them "motteal" (along with "pinteal" and "woodteal," which were also intentionally shot fairly often at the time). Been literal decades.

Mistake woodies and spoons in our area, still happen, and folks don't seem to much mind owning up to either of those in my presence. Anyway, casual observation and eavesdropping, put outlawing at the bottom of the modern mottled woes list in my mind.

Do, however, feel a pretty silly for not having previously considered the gator plague we routinely credit with the nutria's near disappearance as a serious factor, as gators are now waiting in every canal and ditch momma mottleds whose nests somehow escape the ag land shredders, plows and cattle hooves might lead her wee ones to. Perhaps a reason why the whistling ducks no longer seem as numerous, either.

[BGkirk]

Gators in our marsh must be picky eaters. Nutria we’re everywhere during the season. Now that I think about it I’m not sure I saw 1 nutria my last trip or even the one before that. Perhaps the reptiles appetite isn’t so big from Nov-Jan?


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[Rick]

Gators in our marsh must be picky eaters. Nutria we’re everywhere during the season. Now that I think about it I’m not sure I saw 1 nutria my last trip or even the one before that. Perhaps the reptiles appetite isn’t so big from Nov-Jan?

When the marsh froze two seasons back, nutrias appeared in numbers in our trails for the first time in some years, and I even had some in my pond last season, which I intended to get rid of before they ate stuff I'd rather they didn't this summer. Took the .22 when I went to poison canes late last spring and didn't see a nutria or evidence of their usage anywhere in our marsh, nor have I during the two airboat rounds there since. My theory is that the freeze forced them out of gator-free spots two years ago, and the gators just took a little while to knock them back again.

[BGkirk]

We had one lease member and son go shoot their limits (5 each) twice in Feb. I just couldn’t muster up the excitement to go do that. Now if there wasn’t a limit and I was allowed to shoot while motor running it would be a different story. The $5/tail program paperwork is too much of a pain to try, especially if you’re not the landowner and just the leaser


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[Darren]

Upped to $6 a tail now! Like you, I was dissuaded from the red tape required in the name of helping the coast. I don't need to be paid to do my part around our lease area so will just keep on handling it as such.

Larry, SE La is seeing alligators explode as well, they are more populous than I can ever recall in the area of our Delacroix lease, which I fished for many many years before ever setting foot on it to hunt.

The mottleds are doing well in the small, (mostly) land locked waters surrounding our larger ponds. Very healthy population in that area, and some of our blinds are even having decent luck with them during the season. We see plenty!


See all the little puddles around our larger ponds; happy mottleds. We mostly see the gators in the tidal canals

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[SpinnerMan]

OK, maybe I'm not following something here.

You all have a bounty on nutria because you want to get rid of the nutria.

And at the same time you have a 5/day limit on nutria

Did I read that all wrong, because otherwise that's government genius at its finest?

[Darren]

As for the limits:

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge ... 68b79.html

NUTRIA

Statewide: Sept. 1-Feb. 29. Daily limit is 5. Pelting or selling meat is illegal except by licensed trappers during trapping season. Steel shot mandated for shotguns. Hunters must remove carcass in “whole” condition from the hunting area, except that the nutria can be field dressed.



No idea why there would be a limit for an invasive species.



Here's story on the increase in the bounty this year

https://www.nola.com/news/environment/a ... 0c4f2.html

[SpinnerMan]

"What we are trying to do is create an artificial market to make it worth people's time, especially for the individuals that harvest a lot," said Normand.

How about increase it from 5 to who gives a nutria's ass how many?

Instead of making a max of $30/day, the skies the limit if you are were they are the worst problem

That would make it worth a lot more people's time.

[Darren]

I dont think it's max of $30 per day for nuisance control/bounty hunting.

[Deltaman]

We used to have a big Nutria Rodeo in our delta every year, back in the late 60's and early 70's, and everything from largest to smallest, by individual, and by group, until the Alligator population finally reached a strong enough number to kept them in check. They are fairly rare around here now, but I damn sure kill every one of them I see. They eat up the areas that are still firm enough to walk. I have even tried cooking them in a stew, and was impressed that they tasted pretty good. Nutria........the other white meat

[SpinnerMan]

I dont think it's max of $30 per day for nuisance control/bounty hunting.

It is for everyone else.

Do they want to kill as many as possible or not?

A bounty and a limit make no sense.

If the nuisance license is relatively trivial to get, then I can maybe dream up a reasonable explanation, but that still seems a stretch.

[Darren]

Think I may get up to the bunkie area farm this weekend, hope to find rice growing that might lead to more little heads sticking out from it in Nov, like in Nov '17

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Will be taking bets on how many snakes are in the camp and widows under the blind lids.

[BGkirk]

You might could get away with shooting over the limit of nutria during duck season since all the shooting is going on anyways. But if you go in Feb, like our guys did, sure enough someone called the sheriff, but he saw what was going on and left. I’d be curious to know what the fine would be if you were over the limit. Like spinner man says it doesn’t make sense to have a limit on an invasive species.


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[Johnc]

Darren, don't think I worded that quite right, sorry! Our Mottles stay here all year, and we kill them during duck season too. Just seems weird to me that the Whistlers nest here spring/summer, but then disappear before duck season.

They go nocturnal. Seen after sunset or well before legal shooting in the fields

Exception being thick fog or sometimes if raining hard at daylight when rain slacks especially on south wind

[Darren]

Stumbled on this image on GoogleEarth just east of Catahoula, taken December 2018. Very telling of just how much water was on the landscape in Louisiana (and of course entirety of flyway) last season, in places that it shouldn't be. Primo shallow new-floods with no where for a hunter to hide.

Said it 1,000 times probably so far; was a great season to be a duck, terrible season to be a duck hunter.

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Further telling, the Bonnet Carre JUST finally closed for the "season" over the weekend.

For the first time ever, the spillway was opened twice in one year. According to an industry group called the Big River Coalition, the second opening lasted 79 days, which alone set a record. This, on top of the 44 days the Army Corps of Engineers ran the spillway after its first opening back in February.

[Darren]

Was hoping to enter this to kickoff my PRE-season 2019 log, but it'll have to do here. We did make it up to the farm on Sunday for some work, rooting out critters, and doing some blind maintenance. Camp was in decent shape, no serpents seen and only a few signs of skin here or there, no rodents and no bees/wasps.

It initially took some looking, but eventually located the blind in a huge stand of grass that's grown up more than I've ever seen there. Got lids off, stomped and sprayed the handful of usual widows present. Got blind pumped out (about 5 inches in it) and low and behold there was our leak, a tiny pin hole shooting up from the now-paper thin metal floor. Marked it with a brick and applied a Hail Mary treatment of FlexSeal since we had it on hand. That may not do the trick, but at least we've located it.

Spray painted the blind lids and top lip with flat brown Rustoleum, cleaned up in camp, and did the Tour-de-Boudin on our way back to Baton Rouge. Nice morning up there. Of note, there is still A LOT of water in the area bayous and lakes, lots of flooded woods, flooded on side of I-49. Never seen it like that at this time of year but was flowing/falling. Cleaning station behind the camp looked like it had at least a foot of water over it's floor deck within the last few weeks.

Most importantly, our corner of the farm is wall to wall rice, a huge relief given last year's debacle with the fallow field and it's volunteer bushes that ruined the front cut. Didn't have time to go ride rest of the farm but presume it's planted too.

On way out, lots of rice in the usual places as well so hope that bodes well for holding birds in area. Did notice a number of fields on the drive home that had corners (or even very large areas) of lost/rotted crops from where standing water lingered too long this spring.

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Sprayed a residual coating of spider spray on the blinds perimeter in hopes of slowing their return. Next trip up there likely not until October.

[BGkirk]

Is it the angle or can you stand sideways in that pit? Looks like a broad shouldered fella could get stuck


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