WaterfowlForum.Net

DComeaux wrote:Made me happy reading what you did with the snake. My wife thinks I'm nuts, but If it's not a dangerous species, or a dangerous situation no matter the species, I will take it away and let it go.

Too many years have gone by with good nesting reports not translating into anything worthwhile concerning fall migration for me to get my hopes up. I'm really numb in that aspect of waterfowl hunting, yet I'll probably keep checking on things as we move into early summer. Thanks for posting that link.

To be fair, DC, the breeding habitat reports from last year were pretty poor, especially in the Dakotas. Someone wouldn't have to spend much time trying to convince me that populations aren't what's been reported, as a result. Even what was actually reported showed downward trend in ponds and pops.

Disappointing to see that, as with the snow, most of the rain has fallen well east of where we'd like it to be. "Is what it is," though, and we'll muddle on...

I think another big contributor last year was late spring winter storms hammered the young. And the reality is, we disproportionately kill the young of the year and their over eagerness helps lead to demise of older birds as well. Then on top of that we didn't get the weather to push these much older wiser birds south.

We've had some late spring winter weather, but I don't think it's been the baby killer weather like we had last year.

Not in anyway relevant to migratory populations, but the number of local goose pairs seems way above normal. We've had a lot of flooding, so hopefully it hasn't wiped out too many nests. That may explain why I'm seeing so many pairs.

And for comparison, today's drought map




Thankfully far less colorful on the northern reaches.

Darren wrote:And for comparison, today's drought map

Capture.JPG

Thankfully far less colorful on the northern reaches.

A beautiful sight to see up in the Dakotas and Minnesota.

Duck Engr wrote:

Darren wrote:And for comparison, today's drought map

Capture.JPG

Thankfully far less colorful on the northern reaches.

A beautiful sight to see up in the Dakotas and Minnesota.

No doubt!

Was down at the camp this weekend and squirreled away all the 2X6's and 2X4's I could need for building 2-3 blinds in coming months, contractor next door had a great pile in the dumpster Price was right!

Can’t beat that price!

New speck flapper from Lucky Duck



Have yet to come across anyone using a flapper of any kind, other than Rick's buddy that's tinkered a bit


Only $319.99

At only $320 a pop you should put 5 or 6 in your spread

MARSH BEAR wrote:At only $320 a pop you should put 5 or 6 in your spread

Well yea, it's a bargain and guarantees locked up lulu's I'm sure!

I've a friend who bought four X-flappers when they came out, but don't know that they're not collecting dust in the barn.

Do know I've gone to some trouble to work the bugs out of my own ("like new" second hand, $100) X-flapper, and however many years later still haven't gotten around to hunting over it.

My experience with "flying" decoys, like Goose Magnets, that I thought looked pretty good was underwhelming, as birds tended to stall, as if waiting for them to land - and then go on their way. So a more adventurous soul than I will have to be the one to test fire the above on specks.

Picked Darren's in-laws' marsh this morning. Plenty of water and nests, but they could use some weevils.

Rick wrote:................but they could use some weevils.

Uh ohhh. Haven't had much chatter with anyone from that crew in a while


Matter of fact, got a phone pic from a buddy of some area in my local marsh locked up in salvinia pretty good, thankfully on the private portion of the marsh I've no access to. He was way up in it in a new-to-him (but pretty old) go-devil rig that sure looked to be marooned but apparently they made it out without issue. My last pass in flat boat to the edge of that particular area showed birds walking on top of it as far as I could see, looked like "land".

I'm afraid we'll get a salt water surge in the near future that will take care of that salvinia.

DComeaux wrote:I'm afraid we'll get a salt water surge in the near future that will take care of that salvinia.

GFS not doing much with it but Euro sticking to it's guns this morning and now putting a landfall at Vermilion Bay......subject to drastic change, of course. Trek WEST WEST WEST lil storm!

Darren wrote:Trek WEST WEST WEST lil storm!

I beg your damn pardon?

Rick wrote:

Darren wrote:Trek WEST WEST WEST lil storm!

I beg your damn pardon?

Further west than you, Dave, and even MB, of course.

Have to go way, way west to make being east of it a good thing.

Rick wrote:Have to go way, way west to make being east of it a good thing.

And of course mid day models are taking TX out the equation, bringing it between you and I. Getting more and more interesting, unfortunately, will be following close here on out. Will have to determine whether to get down to the camp to get boat out n such.

As of 10:00am, we have us a TS. Wonderful



Probably going to get just a tad breezy here in BR, thankfully I do not have to sweat the immense flooding potential. Those who have flooded in Aug 2016 or last month in this area are likely to again.

Lots of water will be pushed up on the east side. Looks like Chenier and Rick will have a north wind. It will be rough for us here at home, and New Orleans will be in a major bind. They may get wiped out...again. The money used on statue removal could have been better spent.

Based on this graph I believe we made out ok down at the Shell Beach camp. Have a long history with this gage, ground-truthing it's readings; 7 ft or so puts it over our dock. The trajectory of Thurs and Fri had me concerned for sure but knew storm was still heading west and away from there so figured wouldn't be long before a fall began.....sure enough. Likely get down there this week or weekend to check in






Hope others on here fared OK as well. Minimal impacts here in BR, just some tree damage here and there with but a fraction of the rain total that was predicted.

Glad to hear it. Thought you and yours might have fared much worse.

On to duckier things, a friend passed this pic along to me. Not that they're needed for productivity, but would be cool in my marsh spread for teal season (Lord knows nary a squealer 1 is around once Nov season starts, but they're thick in Sept for sure).




Saw on FB and IG Brook Richard demo'ing a new teal call by Power Calls, below. They're known for volume so wondering if this ones got some reach?? It's got a metal reed, so not sure if that by default means volume, or primarily still hinges on the diaphragm running it.

http://www.power-calls.com/product-p/22401.htm

I like those decoys.. I feel like they would look better if you repainted a pintail hen decoy (for size) with fulvous colors. They’re sure fun to whistle at and have them respond. Neat ducks


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BGkirk wrote:I like those decoys.. I feel like they would look better if you repainted a pintail hen decoy (for size) with fulvous colors. They’re sure fun to whistle at and have them respond. Neat ducks


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Yea that's a good idea for those with the aptitude to paint. During teal season they are all over us responding to the whistle calls, can't keep them out. November rolls around and they're gone

They show up here (Alabama Coast) in the Spring, and raise their young thru the summer. Come duck season, they are pretty much gone, and I suspect, back to the MS coast. I worked at the Chevron plant in Pascagoula for a few years, and would see them in pretty good numbers over there. Just seems weird that they wouldn't stick around, but based on the large groups of ducklings seen in early summer, I would assume the population is growing. They remind me of Mottled ducks, or summer Mallards as they are sometimes called, because they nest here, and hate that they disappear so soon after.

Deltaman wrote:They show up here (Alabama Coast) in the Spring, and raise their young thru the summer. Come duck season, they are pretty much gone, and I suspect, back to the MS coast. I worked at the Chevron plant in Pascagoula for a few years, and would see them in pretty good numbers over there. Just seems weird that they wouldn't stick around, but based on the large groups of ducklings seen in early summer, I would assume the population is growing. They remind me of Mottled ducks, or summer Mallards as they are sometimes called, because they nest here, and hate that they disappear so soon after.

Would not have guessed that your mottleds leave for fall; we find them in the same places year round, fortunately the big duck season included. Do know, however, that our agencies are putting forth considerable efforts to better understand the coast wide mottled duck population and their travels to aid in proper management. Only issue we fight with them is.....they're smart! Know every little hole thats just wide of your pond where they can safely come and go from without crossing the pond with plastic ducks bobbing about in front of a brush pile.

Every now and then, though, they slip up, OR we are successful with a stalk and jump shoot, as was the case below. That said, our northern blinds on the lease killed more mottleds last season than I have in many seasons combined, birds just came right across the big ponds within range, a mistake on their part indeed. Had long heard of this happening and finally experienced it on a hunt of my own in one of those blinds later in season......pair just came right across the pond, right at the blind. Who knew!?



They may know the potholes around my ponds, but don't let it be a slow morning in the blind and find them up wind of me in a walkable pothole. I'll be glad to stalk

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

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.