2019-2020 Season Log

[Rick]

Nice work on the mottleds !

Nothing else to work on. Was our first teal since last Sunday...

[Rick]

Date: 11/24 Sun

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: calm as could be until late in the hunt, then light NE

Temperature: chilly

Moon phase: waning sliver

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Lots of little ducks over the more open marsh, with everyone to our east banging away while we watched empty skies.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Had spinners running all morning in hopes of pulling some of the teal action our way with next to no success, and had to kill them when what teal we did see pushed off, in order to turn and toll them with the call. Also had a pair of, perhaps new to the mudhole, woodies that turned for the call and came to die once the spinners were killed.

Hunters: 2, Capt. Ron and Josh

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): The bug did a fine job locating a tipped green-wing that "disappeared" from the west end of the pond and eventually spearing it in a small hole out in the marsh.

Special Equipment: SOS lacked enough show to pull but a couple pairs of the teal, folks to our east enjoyed.

Curses: Nice folks who were good hunters had to endure a long morning.

Kudos: Only bird that got out was a high and hauling hen jack that left her tail feathers floating down onto the mudhole.

Birds By Species: 2 bw teal, 2 gw teal and 2 wood ducks.

[Rick]

Date: 11/25 Mon

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: nada to moderate southerly

Temperature: quite pleasant

Moon phase: sliver

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Teal had apparently left the marsh, as it was much quieter than yesterday's banging and clanging to my east, and we only had two teal ops. But we got to see some high big ducks, for a pleasant change.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: The quiet marsh gave us time not just to break but work some mighty high mallards and detour a sweet bunch of blue-wings from their usual course down the pipeline between Clyde and I. (Our gray was a low lonely loner that couldn't get to the guns fast enough.)

Hunters: 2, Chance O. and a buddy whose name got past my old ears twice.

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): The bug was jam-up.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: No complaints other than passing on a plenty close enough all greenhead batch of mallards that flew over the length of the blind and no doubt counted heads, while I pictured putting them front and center in the sun.

Kudos: The guys hid and shot well and helped make it a fine time for all of our bird starved selves.

Birds By Species: 4 bw teal, 1 gadwall, 2 gw teal and 6 mallards

[Darren]

Curses: No complaints other than passing on a plenty close enough all greenhead batch of mallards that flew over the length of the blind and no doubt counted heads, while I pictured putting them front and center in the sun.

And still strapped 6 mallards on a calm clear Monday? Mudhole is heating up!

[DComeaux]

Nice hunt!!

Which way are the high flights headed? There seems to be pockets of fowl here and there and of course I (especially) and a few others down there are currently in a void.

[Rick]

No doubt that "calm, clear Monday" actually helped by quieting the marsh this morning.

[Rick]

Which way are the high flights headed? There seems to be pockets of fowl here and there and of course I (especially) and a few others down there are currently in a void.

Your way. Or at least southerly. Not much of a flight, by any means, and way to short-lived - but maybe a start.

Chereaux showed me a pic of my Creole grandson and his "sports" with a nice string of grays and bluewings yesterday, so they're still doing OK in that area - or were then...

[DComeaux]

Which way are the high flights headed? There seems to be pockets of fowl here and there and of course I (especially) and a few others down there are currently in a void.

Your way. Or at least southerly. Not much of a flight, by any means, and way to short-lived - but maybe a start.

Chereaux showed me a pic of my Creole grandson and his "sports" with a nice string of grays and bluewings yesterday, so they're still doing OK in that area - or were then...

Heard good to okay reports from the burns. The guy I lease from surprised me this weekend with the comment "It's time to move". He's been hunting down there and on this property for 30+ years and was snooping around the area this weekend. We have a camp neighbor that hunts within rock throwing distance of little pecan and they DNS on Saturday and took 3 on Sunday.

I wouldn't mind moving to a fuller marsh. What we're in now will be a huge lake in 3 to 5 years if nothing is done to stop it. We still have not drained enough to hold puddlers IMO.

[Ducaholic]

Good day Rick!

[BGkirk]

Which way are the high flights headed? There seems to be pockets of fowl here and there and of course I (especially) and a few others down there are currently in a void.

Your way. Or at least southerly. Not much of a flight, by any means, and way to short-lived - but maybe a start.

Chereaux showed me a pic of my Creole grandson and his "sports" with a nice string of grays and bluewings yesterday, so they're still doing OK in that area - or were then...

Heard good to okay reports from the burns. The guy I lease from surprised me this weekend with the comment "It's time to move". He's been hunting down there and on this property for 30+ years and was snooping around the area this weekend. We have a camp neighbor that hunts within rock throwing distance of little pecan and they DNS on Saturday and took 3 on Sunday.

I wouldn't mind moving to a fuller marsh. What we're in now will be a huge lake in 3 to 5 years if nothing is done to stop it. We still have not drained enough to hold puddlers IMO.

we will be hunting a lake
As well if levees are built up
Or a drought comes and cattails re seed. Nutria destroyed our marsh last year but it bounced back in the spring and they seem to have disappeared



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[Rick]

Date: 11/26 Tue

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear to cloudy

Wind Direction and Velocity: southerly moderate

Temperature: warm

Moon phase: new

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Ed, in the east blind, said he saw "a lot" of big ducks that wouldn't work, but we saw less than yesterday which certainly was not "a lot". Only a very few single teal about, but did have a big flock of spoons make me think they were teal. Even the jacks and local mottleds were conspicuously scarce.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Seemed like every every big duck I thought might hear me at least tried to toll, thanks to a mighty quiet marsh. (Clyde was the only one shooting much, but had even less to show for it than yesterday's five. Have to wonder what's up with that.)

Hunters: 2, Tim and Kelly making the later's first hunt.

Guns:

Malfunctions: Tim's 1100 was a single shot all morning despite oiling and working its sluggish action, but he stuck with cussing it, rather than shoot my 20 or the blind's spare 870.

Dog(s): Had but one impressively long mark in an otherwise easy morning.

Special Equipment: sos

Curses: Mostly Tim's one-shooter, plus I screwed up a sweet mallard op by thinking I had the spinners on and flipping their switch to, inadvertently turn them on (instead of off) after we were down in the blind and pushing the birds off. And it took some missed boogered ops to impress the need to hide upon our new, moon-faced hunter.

Kudos: Real nice guys still managed a big time on a slow day, when everything seemed to be waiting on the coming rain.

Birds By Species: 6 gadwall, 2 gw teal, 2 mallards and 3 shovellers

Photo Ops: Kelly and Tim with the former's first ducks:

004a.jpg

[Darren]

I was likewise thinking it felt like everything was waiting on the weather, and just sitting today.

[DComeaux]

Nice strap.

[Rick]

Date: 11/27 Wed

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: various iterations of rain from sideways to spitting until 8ish, then clearing

Wind Direction and Velocity: Screaming NW to strong NE

Temperature: Chilly as the front blew through

Moon phase: new

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Saw ducks periodically throughout, only one big wave of teal bunches on our end, but enough of this and that to keep us on our toes.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Seemed most everything but jacks tried to work, but was tough on my guys when the NW wind was holding the birds up overhead and blowing them out. Once it became more northerly and I got the guys talked into staying down as birds swung round their corner and got out front, where they had to fight the wind to get out, they had a lot more fun.

Hunters: 2, father, Mike, and son, Nolan (on first hunt) shooting with sister Kayla observing.

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): The bug did an outstanding job of cleaning up our messes.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Was a circus with tough conditions for an occasional hunter and a new one, but I'm not bitchin' 'bout nothin'.

Kudos: Nice folks had a big time.

Birds By Species: 1 bw teal, 3 gadwall, 3 gw teal, 5 mallards, 2 pintails, 1 ringneck and 3 shovellers

Photo Ops: The bug with the last bird of the season's first full 3 man limit:

004a.jpg

Happy duck campers, Kayla, Nolan and Mark:

013a.jpg

[Ericdc]

There’s hope, good job rick, long overdue


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[Darren]

Great work Rick, know it had to be quite the circus indeed getting to full limits with that crew.....and look at the smiles!



And I'd just said...........the mudhole is heating up!

[DComeaux]

This made me happy! Awesome!!

[Johnc]

Nice Rick!

[Rick]

And I'd just said...........the mudhole is heating up!

We'll see...

(Still waiting/hoping for a green-wing shoot'emup, but they've been mighty sparse on my end. Naturally, the only wave of several bunches coming through we saw did so while the bug and I were out in the boat rounding up a long tipped bird he didn't see go down and couldn't be handled to through the canes.)

[Deltaman]

Glad things are picking up for you Rick, and Love seeing those Mallards here so early!!

[Rick]

Love seeing those Mallards here so early!!

Just grateful to have something that will work for guys who have to listen to the little duck banging and clanging to our east. Only by a margin of one, but we've shot more mallards than green-wings, or anything else, to date. So they've been a blessing.

[Rick]

[quote="Rick"]Right up front (where it's easy for me to copy), here is the template I will be using:

Date: 11/28 Thur

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: cloudy to partly

Wind Direction and Velocity: easterly fairly strong

Temperature: pleasant

Moon phase: Nearly new?

Special Notes: Thanksgiving.

Waterfowl Activity: Appreciably less than yesterday but enough to keep from boring Benji into wanting to go.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Absolutely excellent: tolled a big, mile high flight of pintails to the deck (at least until Chase stood up and shouldered his gun when I told him to be ready, and a sweet flock of grays front and center got a free pass when good dad, Chase, tried unsuccessfully to get Benji to shoot first. But a pair of wigeon, single greenheads and a mallard pair came to die, one group of greenwings landed and was patient enough to hang around while we talked Benji into popping one.

Hunters: 2, nephew-in-law, Chase, and his eight-year-old son, Benji, on first duck hunts.

Guns:

Malfunctions: Started the morning dropping a 3" 870's trigger assembly to get a 3 1/2" shell out of it.

Dog(s): Marsh had a fine day.

Special Equipment: SOS wind has bent one spinner's wing to the point of cracking

Curses: Aside from the new duck hunter and little kid miscues, just that they didn't have as much opportunity as I would have liked.

Kudos: We had a big time, and even though Benji didn't want to shoot another duck or even touch his for Mom's hero shot, he plainly enjoyed the adventure and spending time with the bug.

Birds By Species: 3 gw teal, 4 mallards and 2 wigeon

Photo Ops: couldn't get Benji to touch his duck bare-handed and settled for this hero shot:

019a.jpg

Little better one of our crew with their birds and the new whistle I gave Benji - for which his sweet mother is already cussing me:

060a.jpg

[DComeaux]

Awesome! Blake and I would be content with that in the morning.

[Duck Engr]

Looks like a great morning to show a new young waterfowler the ropes!

[Rick]

Date: 11/29 Fri

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: cloudy to partly too late

Wind Direction and Velocity: nil to light SE(?)

Temperature: warm

Moon phase: sliver

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: By far the most ducks I've seen this year, nearly all way the hey up and headed south.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Seemed like nearly all of the few birds we saw yesterday broke down and worked pretty yesterday and just the opposite this morning. Called myself silly to break a few and lost most of what did break down to others' shooting. Or poor human blind manners.

Hunters: 2, Grandpa Danny and young grandson, Ayden, on his first hunt

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Handled the bug to a loooong chipped mottled in front of the blind, only to watch it get up, then sent him on another "too long" blind to the south on a mallard hen I thought I saw bleed out, only to see a semi-healthy crip of some sort get up, fly perhaps a hundred yards and land. Thought sure our hen was dead, whistled Marsh off the too healthy crip and handled him all the hell and gone over the marsh for the dead one that couldn't be found before accepting that my nearly-seventy-year-old eyes might have lied and handling him toward where the crip went in - "just in case". It got up and went a ways again before landing in the middle of an open pond, where it repeatedly dove on him for gosh knows how long before he speared it. Sure enough, was our mallard hen, which Danny later said he was pretty sure landed. The telling doesn't begin to do justice to the dog or his knot-head handler.

Special Equipment:

Curses: Only my apparently failing eyesight and definitely failed calling on such a flight day. Well, that and the seemingly even worse than usual timing of others' shooting.

Kudos: Fine day with fine folks. And we finally saw a bunch of ducks.

Birds By Species: 2 bw teal, 2 gw teal, 4 mallards and 1 shoveller

Photo Ops: Not a good photo, but I wanted to commemorate this chipped hen's retrieval from the pond in the upper left corner. (Distance also helps hide that our hero cut her pretty deep when he finally speared her. For which he can't be blamed.)

013a.jpg

[Rick]

Date: 11/30 Sat

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: partly

Wind Direction and Velocity: SW light to breezy

Temperature: warm to hot

Moon phase: small waxing

Special Notes: We kid Ric Berken about shutting down the marsh, because it seems the case whenever he hunts with us or Cherry Ridge - and he guided for Cherry Ridge this morning...

Waterfowl Activity: Went from yesterday's flights to a barren sky overnight. Only hunt better than ours was mostly jacks at the east blind.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Jacks still don't like me or the pothole, but what few teal we saw mostly came, as did a demented mottled.

Hunters: 2, Jeff and John

Guns: John was the exceptionally rare O/U shooter through my blind who knew how to use it.

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Easy morning.

Special Equipment: sos

Curses: No birds.

Kudos: Nice guys hit what came.

Birds By Species: 2 bw teal, 1gw teal, 1 mottled and 1 shoveller

[Rick]

Date: 12/1 Mon

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: NW moderate to strong

Temperature: pleasant

Moon phase: sliver waxing

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: "New wind, new day." Except it wasn't. Same non-flight as yesterday.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Broke about the only big ducks we saw down, but dead over head too high to shoot but not to study the men in the blind, worked a single blue-wing and later a little bunch thereof pretty. And that was that: fini, kaput.

Hunters: 2 Jeff and John again

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s):

Special Equipment:

Curses: NO BIRDS

Kudos: Nice guys and John got a couple mounting birds.

Birds By Species: 4 bw teal and a gallinule John wanted to mount. Normally ask folks not to shoot the later, but lacked the heart to do so today.

Photo Ops: John photographing his mounting teal. Couldn't help but think of the similar one DComeaux shot at his place yesterday. Don't know about Dave's but this one even had a good start on the white mullet on the nape of its neck the (presumably) old ones sport:

001a.jpg

[DComeaux]

I think we're seeing nothing but older birds. 3 years of low production is showing.

[Rick]

Don't know. Do know this wAs the first remotely so ripe for us this year.

[DComeaux]

I've been seeing a few others popping up on the interweb.