Regular Season 2019-2020

[Duck Engr]

Date:1/17/2020

Time: morning

Location: River

Cloud Cover: cloudy, briefly clearing at 930 quickly back to cloudy

Wind Direction and Velocity: north 10-15

Temperature: low 40s?

Moon phase: waning crescent

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: steady flight till 9

Waterfowl Responsiveness: worst I’ve ever seen, save one drake who came to play. Could bend a precious few ducks but not break them. Most didn’t react at all, no flares, no flinch, nothing.

Hunters: 3

Guns: yours truly left his shotgun IN THE TRUCK. Picked a good morning to forget it though.

Malfunctions: forgetting the essential piece of gear mentioned above.

Dog(s): Legh

Special Equipment:

Curses: stale ducks

Kudos: visited with an old friend from the coast who confirmed what Deltaman has been saying, no ducks down on the coast at all.

Birds By Species: 1 Mallard.

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe: Legh and I scouted in the rain till just after lunch. Found some scattered ducks here and there but nothin to write home about.

[Duck Engr]

Date: 1/18/2020

Time: morning

Location: runway pit

Cloud Cover: heavy with steady rain until 9 or so. Very heavy rain last for 5 minutes. Heaviest I’ve ever hunted in.

Wind Direction and Velocity: screaming out of the south to start the morning, swapping to west by the time we left around 1015

Temperature: started warm

Moon phase: waning crescent

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: better than we expected, but still way below average.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: acted like a couple of them were new to the area but anything over light quacks and chattered turned them off quickly.

Hunters: 3

Guns: didn’t forget it this time.

Malfunctions: none to speak of.

Dog(s): Legh

Special Equipment:

Curses: I don’t love hunting in the rain

Kudos:

Birds By Species: 4 gwt from a group of 25 that got right over the decoys. I called the shot a little early, coating is a couple birds. 1 gadwall. 1 Mallard. 1 shoveler.

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe:

[Duck Engr]

b]Date:[/b] 1/19/2020

Time: morning

Location: River. Went back to where I’d kicked up a few scouting. Just throwing darts at the wall at this point.

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: north wind 10-15. Perfect conditions, someone just forgot to tell the ducks.

Temperature: 33

Moon phase: waning crescent.

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: what few birds were flying around worked the treetops nicely.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: would give us a few swings and go land in a hole 100 yards away. Flight died by the time we moved all of our stuff over there.

Hunters: 3

Guns:

Malfunctions: none

Dog(s): Legh

Special Equipment:

Curses:

Kudos: will be a nice area to hunt when more birds are down.

Birds By Species: 1 Mallard. 2 wood ducks.

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe:

[Duck Engr]

Date:1/20/2020

Time: morning. I left at 8 to get on the road.

Location: river

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: north 5-10

Temperature: 21

Moon phase: waning crescent

Special Notes: I scouted this stretch of river two days prior and had not seen didly in the fields or woods. Buddy of mine scouted it the day after me and couldn’t believe the number of ducks.

Waterfowl Activity: not a lot, but better than it had been all trip.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: much better. Ducks actually wanted to work a hole. Also helped that I was hunting with the best caller in our group. He and I work very well together.

Hunters: 3

Guns:

Malfunctions: several.

Forgot to secure a loose rope on the trailer and broke the rope.

Fuel line wasn’t fully connected to water separator, so my motor died in the first bend away from the ramp.

Did some chauffeured retrieves early with Legh due to the cold temps. Hopped in the boat after the first volley, snatched my camo netting out of the way and grabbed a few ducks that were drifting down current. Parked the boat and walked back to my tree. Looked back at the boat and noticed she was sitting a little lower in the water than normal. Walked over to discover my netting had grabbed (as its apt to do on everything) on my boat plug and pulled it loose when I moved it. I gave the netting away before I left.

There was no doubt in my mind, it was time to come home.

Dog(s): Legh. Kept her dry early. Let her retrieve one right before we left.

Special Equipment:

Curses:

Kudos: nice to hunt with my buddy who got me started in all of this many years ago. First time we’ve hunted together all year.

Birds By Species: 5 mallards.

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe: insert Rick’s skunk/cat quote here. May try to make a couple woody hunts during the week, but otherwise I’m done.

[DComeaux]

I think we all those kind of days. IT's nice to know I'm not alone.

[Rick]

"Kudos: nice to hunt with my buddy who got me started in all of this many years ago."

Smarter fellow might have given such a "friend" away with the netting that swamped your boat...

[Duck Engr]

"Kudos: nice to hunt with my buddy who got me started in all of this many years ago."

Smarter fellow might have given such a "friend" away with the netting that swamped your boat...

I've threatened to drown him many times over for afflicting me with this curse. I had a nice, easy life as a deer/quail hunter and he had to go and ruin it.

[Rick]

My life as a quail hunter went to crap long before waterfowling did. Used to have access to 15 coveys I'd hunt (and two I didn't) within 5 minutes drive of the camp and a whole lot more farther down the road. Now have to drive 45 minutes just to hear or see one. Was actually the upland hunting that held off a move to ND long enough for Sweet Chereau and her brood to anchor me here.

[Duck Engr]

Date: 1/28/2020

Time: quick morning hunt before work

Location: local river

Cloud Cover: heavy. socked in with fog made the boat ride quite perilous. Would have turned around halfway to the spot but didn't feel i'd be any safer navigating back to the ramp. Fog broke a little for an hour or so then went right back to heavy as we headed back to the ramp.

Wind Direction and Velocity: nil to light northerly

Temperature: 35

Moon phase: couldn't see it for the fog

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Saw maybe 20-25 wood ducks through the fog. I assume there were more buzzing around that we couldn't see.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: What could see the spread came pretty.

Hunters: 2. Took my boss on his first ever duck hunt. He was questioning my sanity as was I on the boat ride. These "before work" hunts usually put me in the office between 830 or 9, so i figured if I wanted to continue getting by with that it'd be a good idea to invite him. I know which side my bread is buttered on. He's a deer/dove/turkey hunter, but not a duck hunter. Afraid I might have started something though, as he's already mentioned he wouldn't mind going again before season goes out Friday, which is fine by me.

Guns:

Malfunctions: None come to mind

Dog(s): Legh behaved herself.

Special Equipment: Been using the walkers game ear digital ear plugs since Christmas and am fairly satisfied with them. Only complaints are: calling sounds weird, but i'm sure i can fix that with practice recording myself. it picks up road noise from a mile away like the car is about to run over you.

Curses: None

Kudos: Fun to see someone who's 20+ years my senior light up like a kid when he killed his first duck

Birds By Species: 2 wood ducks. Had a pair come in well after shooting light but still tough to see below the treeline due to the fog. I killed the one on my side and watched as Al whiffed 3 times on the other. He redeemed himself on the next single, as he dropped it with his first shot.

Photo Ops:

IMG_5815[1].PNG

Legh contemplating risking an arse whipping for another taste... Cropped the boss out as I haven't asked his permission to post his face online, but he was grinning ear to ear.

Lagniappe: Was a breath of fresh air to see someone kill their first duck. I don't know how long it's been since I have witnessed that.

[Duck Engr]

My life as a quail hunter went to crap long before waterfowling did. Used to have access to 15 coveys I'd hunt (and two I didn't) within 5 minutes drive of the camp and a whole lot more farther down the road. Now have to drive 45 minutes just to hear or see one. Was actually the upland hunting that held off a move to ND long enough for Sweet Chereau and her brood to anchor me here.

I rough him up, but it was probably more me looking for another feathered creature to chase after the quail disappeared that got me into duck hunting. I had already dabbled locally, he just poured gasoline on the fire by taking me west. I frequently tell folks I'm not a duck hunter, just a displaced quail hunter.

[Darren]

Might have started something! There are worse problems to have than a boss that likes to hunt, be it ducks or whatever. Mine hunts big game all over, has office full of critters, so thinks nothing of my ducks on the walls and a goose hanging from my ceiling

[Duck Engr]

Oh it’s definitely a plus, and it’s one reason I work where I do. We have more offices than not with taxidermy on the walls. Company president has 4 full turkey mounts (each American sub species) in his office.

[Darren]

Oh it’s definitely a plus, and it’s one reason I work where I do. We have more offices than not with taxidermy on the walls. Company president has 4 full turkey mounts (each American sub species) in his office.

Very cool!

[Duck Engr]

Date: 1/31/2020

Time: morning before work

Location: local river

Cloud Cover: heavy. Rained before we got there and as we put the boat on the trailer.

Wind Direction and Velocity: light from the east

Temperature: low 50s

Moon phase: ?

Special Notes: debated not going but my boss was excited after killing his first duck on Tuesday.

Waterfowl Activity: mostly high fliers. The ones that were low enough to be iffy flared before getting to us. Our hide wasn’t the best.

Rick’s “chamber of commerce” birds came dead center over the decoys as a trio right after we cased our guns. All we could do was give them a salute and say see you in the fall.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: still can’t find my woodie whistle.

Hunters: 2

Guns:

Malfunctions: smooth sailing

Dog(s): Legh was convinced there was something sneaking up behind us, enough so to growl at the end of the hunt.

Special Equipment:

Curses: would’ve been nice to end with at least 1...

Kudos:

Birds By Species: DNS. Went out with a whimper, which is appropriate for this season.

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe: I’m still sad it’s over.

A local-ish refuge reported 9 ducks killed TOTAL out of 12 parties hunting two weeks ago. 9 ducks. And yes, that’s a record low.

[Darren]

I ended my season with just 1 duck, as you alluded to. Still left me sour

What species was the trio over the blocks after guns were cased?

[Duck Engr]

Wood ducks. This spot that I’ve started hunting since I moved here is about the only place ive ever had wood ducks decoy with any frequency. No complaints for me. 95% of the ducks I see there are woodies. Did see a long way off pair of what I’m pretty sure were gadwall this morning on the ride out.