Duck Season 2018-2019

[BGkirk]

Did not get to brush blind til day before the opener (yesterday), and felt rushed the whole day when I had from daylight til about 330 to get it done. Got the decoys out and left what blue wings we saw alone.

11-10-18 opener
Hunters: Duchaholic, Ryan, Chris, myself
Weather: absolutely wonderful strong NE wind with very few clouds
Location: #4

First 3 gwt came in, and all stayed. First 3 gadwall came in, and all stayed. I could’ve unloaded my gun right then and been just as happy, but the following 18 birds made it even more sweeter.
Bwt and gwt on suicide missions to the decoys (very tight to the blind w/ wind and high water; short decoy lines)
Gadwalls sucked in and no crowd control issues (Ducaholic flinched one time, but I trusted him ) and kept my mouth on the gadwall “deet” and drew then in a tad closer and got em all. We laughed about that one .

12 bwt, 3 gwt, 8 gadwall, 1 fulvous .
Finished about 7:15 and Moon pie picked up 22/24 for us.
Probably the first marsh hunt I’ve never stepped foot in the water before.

Moon pie on the retrieve

No high traffic of birds was my only worry. But we’ve got enough bwt around to last for awhile



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[Ducaholic]

Passed a good time...

[Rick]

Guess so. Sounded pretty fast and furious.

[Ducaholic]

Guess so. Sounded pretty fast and furious.

Less than an hour. Everyone shot well!

[DComeaux]

Awesome hunt!

[BGkirk]

Date:

Time:

Location:

Cloud Cover

Wind Direction and Velocity:

Temperature:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity

Waterfowl Responsiveness:

Hunters:

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s):

Special Equipment:

Curses:

Kudos:

Birds By Species:

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe:


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[Ericdc]

Date:

Time:

Location:

Cloud Cover

Wind Direction and Velocity:

Temperature:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity

Waterfowl Responsiveness:

Hunters:

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s):

Special Equipment:

Curses:

Kudos:

Birds By Species:

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe:


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Sweet


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[BGkirk]

Date:11-14-18 Wed

Time:left @10:30

Location: #4

Cloud Cover: mostly cloudy all morning, got a glimpse of the sun the last hour, came a little late.

Wind Direction and Velocity: NNW @10-15

Temperature: plenty cold enough

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: spoke to soon about the bwt. They gone, for now. Little more high traffic today, most coming from the south fighting the wind

Waterfowl Responsiveness: teal were tough, pins were tough, gadwall and spoons wanted to work

Hunters: John Tate Wilson

Guns: new A5, BPS, & 2 golds

Malfunctions: zilch

Dog(s): need one

Special Equipment: 2 mojos

Curses: lost 2 easy ones in the bush somehow

Kudos: show well on big groups

Birds By Species: 7 gadwall, 7 spoon, 3 scaup, 3 gwt, 2 bwt lost 1 gwt and 1 scaup

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe:
Didn’t shoot for the first 30-45 min. That was scary as everyone else was firing away.
Broke several high groups that would not finish, too many excuses that I could come up with (cloudy, hotel blind, mojos......) the groups that did work got right.
Gwt did not want any part of the spread/calling this morning. Thought it was strange as usually can count on them hovering over decoys.
Wish we could’ve finished on a group of greys or pins that we got to work but wouldn’t fully commit.
Until Sat


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[Rick]

Would have been a huge hunt in our marsh this morning. Good to see your tide's turned from last season.

[BGkirk]

Date:11-17-18 sat

Time:

Location: marsh pit

Cloud Cover: partly, mostly sunny

Wind Direction and Velocity: East to south east 5mph. Enough to put ripple on water

Temperature: jacket on boat ride and long sleeve after that

Special Notes: haven’t hunted this spot yet, had to brush some early this morning. Was hoping it would trip up some of the locals. Would not have killed the mottle anywhere else but here . Killed my and our first buffle heads.

Waterfowl Activity: chaos the first 30 min then very slow after. Managed to fool the small birds.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Big ducks knew the drill. Couldn’t get the jacks/scaup to even slow down

Hunters: Ryan Chris John

Guns: Golds, Silver and ?

Malfunctions: faulty duck strap

Dog(s): need

Special Equipment: 2 lucky ducks, wonder duck and jerk string

Curses: poor shooting, birds chose either side of blind last min and make it rough

Kudos: enough birds to make it look like we’re doing really well

Birds By Species: 8 bwt, 5 gwt, 3 buffle heads, 5 spoon, 1 mottle. Lost our 23rd and 24th

Photo Ops: counted our strap way too many times to admit. Is there 12 on there? Or 14?
Maybe 11? There’s 3 on the water. Wooo weee. Can’t wait for the hound to get here. Or someone who can count

Lagniappe: others around us did well also.

Will return Maybe tues, for sure wed


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[BGkirk]

Date:11-20-18

Time: finished about 7:15

Location: marsh pit

Cloud Cover: heavy

Wind Direction and Velocity: NNE @10-15

Temperature: low 50s. Wasn’t cold .

Special Notes: forgot my waders. Kinda nice not retrieving ducks or adjusting decoys. Supervised all morning

Waterfowl Activity: more teal than opening day. Which was hard to beat , maybe saw one group of big ducks

Waterfowl Responsiveness: went from about 4 dozen decoys to 11.. teal sucked in tight. They fly right at the pit and come too close

Hunters: Ryan Andrew Tate

Guns: gold , BPS, silver, Stoeger m2000

Malfunctions: failed to load my gun prior to shooting time (yapping too much making sure the new guest knew the drill). First group had 30 teal in decoys, hovering. And my gun went “click” I was furious. Then laughed after I realized I never loaded my gun

Dog(s): Ryan & Andrew

Special Equipment:3 lucky ducks

Curses: hunt was over so fast not may have had more big duck ops

Kudos: quick hunt, large groups of gwt worked and at one point we didn’t shoot because there was so many groups working at one time we just held off

Birds By Species: 15bwt 9 gwt

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe: sun came out when we came back through Lake Charles around 8-830


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[DComeaux]

Special Notes: forgot my waders. Kinda nice not retrieving ducks or adjusting decoys. Supervised all morning

"Forgot" the waders.....yeah right....LOL!

Nice hunt!!!

[BGkirk]

Forgot to note all green wings came from south!


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[Ericdc]

Up here if there’s a stiff wind, your working ducks are gonna come from opposite way, although we see a ton of southbound birds on north wind days, the ones that come from the south usually do it.


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[Darren]

Wow very nice! Did you find that they liked the spinners? Seemed like they were bouncing off them in Bunkie field so far this season so I pulled them.

[BGkirk]

Wow very nice! Did you find that they liked the spinners? Seemed like they were bouncing off them in Bunkie field so far this season so I pulled them.

yes, they’re becoming educated


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[BGkirk]

Date: 11-21-18

Time: hunted til 10. Show was over @730

Location: marsh pit again

Cloud Cover: partly cloudy early, sun came out pretty quick

Wind Direction and Velocity: NNE @7-10

Temperature: upper 40s.

Special Notes: mallard hens being vocal while circling. Always fun to hear

Waterfowl Activity: blue wings know the drill, they are pot hole hopping. Very few big duck traffic and less gwt today. Way less

Waterfowl Responsiveness: big ducks broke from medium height, wish we could’ve finished them. Greys bounced off spinners that I thought I turned off. Mallards got cutoff by grays. Other blind ended up shooting the mallards

Hunters: Ryan Tate and Billy

Guns: gold silver nova and super vinci

Malfunctions: 0

Dog(s): Ryan and me

Special Equipment: 2 mojos

Curses: Billy wasn’t quick enough to capitalize on some teal on his end. Good shooter would’ve added another 2-5 birds to our bag

Kudos: spoons got nice and close

Birds By Species: 5 spoons, 4 bwt, 2 gwt, 1 grey

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe: gonna try again tomorrow, hate not to go on a good north wind and pretty weather. Just never know


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[BGkirk]

Photo Op from this morning. SPOONS
Go pro in front of blind


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[DComeaux]

Nice picture. I can't wait to get in the blind.

[Rick]

Is a sweet pic.

[BGkirk]

Date:11-23

Time: started packing up @9

Location: marsh pit

Cloud Cover: heavy

Wind Direction and Velocity: Daylight it was East @3-5 shifting to SE @5-8

Temperature: had to put my small jacket back on after making the walk from parking boat

Special Notes: first time I’ve gotten a skeeter bite since teal season

Waterfowl Activity: basically none

Waterfowl Responsiveness: can’t even get the divers to do anything

Hunters: Tate and Barrett O (bro in laws) and cousin Jared

Guns: 2 novas, 1 stoeger

Malfunctions: both novas had a click or safeties were on for the first volley

Dog(s): didn’t need one

Special Equipment: 1 mojo

Curses: teal are gone

Kudos:

Birds By Species: 1 ringneck (lost 2 others that sailed)

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe: worked a pair of mallards but they were very unsure of the blind. Although my the drake would lock up instantly after getting back on the call. BWT are hitting very select spots in marsh. Pair of gwt even ignored me after making a promising bank back towards blind.

If we would’ve shot perfect we could’ve had 5-6.

Other blinds would’ve scratched had it not been me jumping up bwt on the way out



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[BGkirk]

Got out this morning with the new pup (40 degrees with a. Good north wind), ive had him back for a week and attempting to get him used to everything he will see prior to sat morning. It’s been fun so far. Ready for him to pick up his first duck. Should have plenty of action come Saturday morning



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[Rick]

Be sure to leave your ego in the truck and keep it fun for pup. More than a few pups have been seriously set back by owners expecting too much too soon and embarrassed in front of their peers when they shouldn't be. And be especially careful with the guns, as there's a world of difference between the orderly gun pops of training and a two or three gun volley at birds. Better to sacrifice some shooting early on to make it Pup's hunt than pay for it later. End of lecture.

[BGkirk]

Be sure to leave your ego in the truck and keep it fun for pup. More than a few pups have been seriously set back by owners expecting too much too soon and embarrassed in front of their peers when they shouldn't be. And be especially careful with the guns, as there's a world of difference between the orderly gun pops of training and a two or three gun volley at birds. Better to sacrifice some shooting early on to make it Pup's hunt than pay for it later. End of lecture.

yessir my gun won’t be used until he’s rock steady, and I’ve gotta borrow the neighbors kid this week to help me add a few more gunpops during our morning mock-hunts in preparation for sat. Hoping to talk my blind company into shooting once or twice instead of banging off 3 in a hurry and not hitting anything.

I find it funny to think about how we seem to struggle at killing 6 ducks with 6 shots. Seems If you had 6 decent ops, you should be able to do it with a single shot and come out just as well


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[Ericdc]

I hope sometime after Christmas to cause his first speck retrieve to happen


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[Deltaman]

Got out this morning with the new pup (40 degrees with a. Good north wind), ive had him back for a week and attempting to get him used to everything he will see prior to sat morning. It’s been fun so far. Ready for him to pick up his first duck. Should have plenty of action come Saturday morning



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Good looking dog BG

[Ducaholic]

He's got the right bloodline that's for sure. His Dad is one of the best to ever live and his offspring have not disappointed either in the competition circuit. Corey got himself a good one for sure!

[BGkirk]

well freezer ducks won’t be a surprise to him come sat.. they should be a little warmer... hopefully same species though..


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[Darren]

Lookin' good!

[BGkirk]

Squeezed in a marsh trip this afternoon, didn’t get to cut as much brush as I’d like with keeping the dog in the boat and me staying close by to keep him
From bailing.
Main goal was to work him off a dog stand in the marsh and not just a hard bottom shallow pond we’ve Been working in for the past 2 weeks.
I let him walk around some in the floatant and as soon as he stepped off I could tell he was like “ what In the world is this stuff” . only wish it was this easy for me to get away with a dump over water
arrived at the launch and joining him in the background of pic is about a 3’ gator.
The momma already swam off before I got the phone out. We will be avoiding the deep canals.
Also a critter that escaped before I could get my phone was a cotton mouth about waist high directly behind the dog in the pic. He escaped the phone but not the machete.
trying to decide if I want him on west or east of blind. High water destroyed all the grass surrounding the blind, me and the dog didn’t help it either.

As for ducks, same ole educated blue wings all the way from boat launch to the furthest blind. A guest might think it’s a lot of ducks on our place but I know better



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