Duck Season 2019-2020

[Deltaman]

Good job on the Specks yesterday, and glad your Saturday hunt turned out so good!

[Rick]

Look the special-bellies.

[Darren]

Sat. 11/30/2019
Delacroix lease
Johnny and I with Harry
Wind ZERO, 60s, clear, gnats galore


Had plans to give east zone public grounds a shot till I heard how many of my buddies were going to same area and also got good report from our north blind yesterday, had to call an audible last night and it worked out fine. Despite glassy pond and swatting gnats, grays were dropping in pretty often and we made the most of it. Wrapped it up about 7:15 and got the heck out of the bugs.

(12) 12 grays

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May have finished sooner had we been luckier with Harry not being in the decoys when flights approached but he was big for us today, rounding up everything that fell here, there and/or swam to banks. Overall though, did not see many birds at all and north blind fired but once while we were out there. Think we are planning to head north tomorrow AM behind the front.

[Duck Engr]

Nice hunt! Good to see that you’re in the grays this year.

[DComeaux]

SWEET!!

[Rick]

So that's where they went.

[Darren]

Sun. 12/1/2019
Avoyelles parish farm
Johnny and I with Harry
Wind ZERO, gusting to a breath, upper 50’s, clear skies

Little front passed over night but wind was a no show this morning so I was left with my most feared condition for field hunting....calm and clear on arrival. Very little low flight but saw good many ducks high and high trafficking geese. It was all over by 7:30-8:00a so we packed up early accordingly. Had one pair of spoons coming in but flared off of Harry after I asked him to move to hide better. Oh well! We are also fighting quite the blind leak that currently has water thigh deep inside the pit. Probably done up there till second split from what I can tell right now with no big weather coming in soon.

DNS

Many guys on the farm and nearby were back at the trucks early too, just not much happenin today.

[Deltaman]

Sat. 11/30/2019
Delacroix lease
Johnny and I with Harry
Wind ZERO, 60s, clear, gnats galore


Had plans to give east zone public grounds a shot till I heard how many of my buddies were going to same area and also got good report from our north blind yesterday, had to call an audible last night and it worked out fine. Despite glassy pond and swatting gnats, grays were dropping in pretty often and we made the most of it. Wrapped it up about 7:15 and got the heck out of the bugs.

(12) 12 grays

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May have finished sooner had we been luckier with Harry not being in the decoys when flights approached but he was big for us today, rounding up everything that fell here, there and/or swam to banks. Overall though, did not see many birds at all and north blind fired but once while we were out there. Think we are planning to head north tomorrow AM behind the front.

WOW..........Impressive strap Darren, Congrats!!!!!!!

[Darren]

Should have gone back the next day, there was a good wind down there and (maybe) brought us some new birds........instead of going north for a field hunt on a calm, sunny morning. Wind didn't pick up until later

[Darren]

Fri. 12/6/2019
Delacroix lease
Dusty L. and I with Harry
Wind ZERO again, 60's to start under mostly clear/pt cloudy skies, gnats galore again

Hoped we'd get a little more pre-front wind but sure did not, was dead as a hammer for our entire hunt until we were picking up decoys and got a little breeze. Didn't see much at all during hunt, got but one shooting op when a wad of 5-6 grays dropped in pretty nice and we only downed two.....still two more than it looked like we were headed in with at the time. Had one other little group of GW's buzz the decoys right at shooting time from our back and that was it. Did see a scant FEW more ducks on our way out than we had been seeing in the lease area so slight hope for tomorrow with this weak front coming through.

2 grays

Highlight of morning was watching Harry (one day off of his 5th birthday) in hot pursuit of young drake gray, this shot just a small part of it, and actually was after he'd caught it a long way out and carried it most of the way back before putting him down a second.......and he was off again

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But soon recovered since finally close enough for a water swat

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This marks three hunts in a row here now hunting poor conditions, calm/clear

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the white pelicans have made their annual southward migration, so there's that. Whole lot of them as usual in the area

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Byproduct of this hunt was getting some lumber hauled in for a new blind, which was successful. Rest of it hopefully makes it out tomorrow

[Darren]

Sat. 12/7/2019
Delacroix lease
Johnny and I with Harry
Wind finally good (North 10-15) with heavy cloud deck, 50's, fairly weak frontal passage over night


Finally returned to decent conditions and sure enough saw good many more birds than we had been seeing, including first nice wads of teal that we've worked with in a while and they worked in pretty. One wad of GW's lit us up while on the phone for local radio show segment, first time I've ever shot during that after a number of years doing it. Grays, however, were skittish today. A few bought in completely per usual here and some dropped hard on us before bailing out, and one group bailed on what looked like a perfect approach before they even got to the pond's edge. Had two looong off crip grays, only one of which I was able to take Harry on a very very blind search but no luck after a thorough effort.

(10) 5 GW teal, 1 BW teal, 4 grays

First one like this I've seen in a while, only got one from this group that didn't finish for us. Couldn't tell if the rest were blues too

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Just another SE La salt marsh gray duck, but I sure like them

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Great way to start my 36th birthday

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The whole family is down here at the camp for a bday/Xmas get away. Think I'm going to stay in tomorrow, hopefully basking in a Tigers win.

[Ducaholic]

Happy 36th

[DComeaux]

Awesome hunt dude. Happy Birthday

[Darren]

many thanks, guys.

As an addendum to today's log, Bunkie blind downed three specks, losing one of them........Harry can't be in two places at once.

[Rick]

Damn, you're old. Congrats for making it that far.

[Deltaman]

Happy Birthday Darren, and nice hunt!!!!

[Darren]

Though I've had the feeling that this first split has been underwhelming, the log says it's been pretty darn strong compared to other years with a solid end-of-season tally. Also stands out to me given we've had two mornings we scratched on ducks, one of which would have been avoidable had we just gone back to the marsh on a good wind instead of opting for the field on dead wind.

105 ducks and 3 specks on 12 hunts (11 duck hunts, 1 speck-only hunt) to average about 9.5 ducks/hunt

To compare first split ducks from recent years:

67 on 10 hunts 2018 1st split
89 on 10 hunts 2017 1st split
82 on 8 hunts 2016 1st split
96 on 12 hunts 2015 1st split
108 on 12 hunts 2014 1st split

Both 2014 and 2015 were very strong seasons for us. Haven't crunched the numbers by species but do know we've taken plenty of our usual grays, decent handful of teal, but mottleds are way up. Still, feels like a lot of people asking "where are the ducks?" but also fair many with some pretty straps routinely. Just a bizarre feeling so far this season

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We are scheming on the CZ opener on the 21st already with a new blind in place. Also looking hard at some weather coming through in about a week to maybe give the field a shot given this weekend looks to be weak with no weather. We'll see

[Ericdc]

2014 was my favorite season in the last several. We had very cold early November weather. Much like this year.

I’ve got logs going back to 2010, and that 2010 season was my best season since leasing in northeast LA as far as ducks.

This year we’ve killed more geese in first split than we ever have and I hope that pace continues. We killed 90 geese in 2016 (first year I felt pretty confident with speck call), and I hope we can beat that number this year.

Hoping this front and tomorrow Arkansas opening back up will restock us for Saturday.


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[Darren]

2014 was my favorite season in the last several. We had very cold early November weather. Much like this year.

I’ve got logs going back to 2010, and that 2010 season was my best season since leasing in northeast LA as far as ducks.

This year we’ve killed more geese in first split than we ever have and I hope that pace continues. We killed 90 geese in 2016 (first year I felt pretty confident with speck call), and I hope we can beat that number this year.

Hoping this front and tomorrow Arkansas opening back up will restock us for Saturday.
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Given forecast, not sure if we'll try a field hunt saturday or go down to SB to work on a blind. Hate to skip a hunt but we've not killed a duck there since opening day. Currently eyeing next Tuesday but sure would love to go tomorrow in the field

[Darren]

Tues. 12/17/2019
Avoyelles Parish ag land
Matthew M. and I with Harry
Post-frontal passage, 10-25+ and gusty from the north, heavy clouds, a chilly low 40's

Big rains over night with a strong cold front and there was a lot more water on the fields than last visit, looked also like some geese had been in there opening it some. Sure enough, we didn't have much for ducks but were pretty wrapped up in specks and even some snows getting low to look with all the wind. Annnnnd of course this year we have this week of East Zone ducks with all geese off limits..grrrrrr. Whiffed on our one chance on some teal, and could have easily had our 4 specks. Little better luck and we maybe get a few ducks but chances were tough in the wind and just didn't have many working us.

Scratch!*

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Specks were heavy on the harvested cane field in front of the property and were steadily trickling into our rice cuts, left 'em flying knowing there wasn't anything we could do with them but make them smarter. May try them next week up here, but headed to marsh for the weekend CZ opener for 2nd split.

[Darren]

Sat. 12/21/2019 - Coastal Zone Second Split Opener
Delacroix lease
Johnny, Raymond and I with Harry
50’s, light rain off and on, gusty NE winds 10-20 mph

Saw a fair few birds yesterday brushing blinds but water was low, no water in our favorite pond at all but this morning it was back up plenty.....just no birds. Killed a GWT and a gray in first 30-40 mins and that was about it for us. Probably saw the fewest total ducks from the blind all this season. Had a four pack of grays looking right but spooked off but that was really it for grays, also shot on iffy chance on three teal but we were slow getting going after sitting so long in wet and cold. Packed it up at 8:45 or so and headed in. Ended up seeing a lot of birds nearby on our way in, they must have just sat today.

1 gray, 1 GW teal


Will E hunted our south blind solo and killed a dosgris and the lease’s first bufflehead of the season, a pretty drake. North blind had 1 teal and a merganser last I heard from them.....and that pond had grays sitting in it yesterday!

Watching weather to figure out what we’ll do tomorrow.

[MallardBay]

Sat. 12/21/2019 -

Ended up seeing a lot of birds nearby on our way in, they must have just sat today.

My thoughts exactly, saw way more birds yesterday while getting the blind ready, I think alot decided to sit this AM.

[BGkirk]

I was thinking ya would’ve done better after the survey for SE La came out


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[Rick]

Sat. 12/21/2019 -

Ended up seeing a lot of birds nearby on our way in, they must have just sat today.

My thoughts exactly, saw way more birds yesterday while getting the blind ready, I think alot decided to sit this AM.

Sure hope so...

[Darren]

Just saw survey and looks like good many grays on my end but I’m not seeing the masses, just some nice wads here and there and scattered groups 5-10. No sightings of “like mosquitos” or anything near that in my travels but what we’re seeing is/should be “enough” if they’re moving in my area.


Think we’ve got ourselves talked into trying again in the morning. Buddy’s dad is on a lease in Chef Pass area, not all that far from us and they spoke of a huge hunt this morning with crazy green wing flights finishing them early before grays got going as they picked up. Very different morning than I had, for sure.

[Darren]

Sun. 12/22/2019
Delacroix lease
Johnny, Miles and I with Harry
50’s with heavy clouds, NW winds 10-15

Back to same blind from yesterday and was nice not to endure the rainy boat ride a second day in a row, wind was stout and about right in our face. Sure enough had a couple chances on grays early that presented awkward chances, no dice. Also heard pins right at LST but couldn’t find them till they were on their way out. Did get a few nice chances and shot decent on our chances, Harry was huge for us rounding up three lively crips in the marsh, including a looong off errant gray.

(7) 4 grays, 3 green wings

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Little better shooting and we take another couple of grays but tough in the wind. Again saw a lot of birds to our north on our boat ride in. North blind on the lease scratched today; didn’t shoot. Have plans for field hunt tomorrow.

[Deltaman]

Glad Sunday was a better day Darren, congrats! Miles your brother??

[Darren]

Glad Sunday was a better day Darren, congrats! Miles your brother??

You're not the first to make such a guess, but no relation, just friends since grade school and roommates for much of our time at LSU.

[Darren]

Monday 12/23/2019
Avoyelles Parish ag land
Johnny and I with Harry
NW winds 5-10+, heavy clouds, upper 40's to start

Only early duck flight was the woodies and I was able to connect on a nice drake. Not a teal seen the entire hunt, just very low numbers of ducks overall observed in the area flying or otherwise. There are a whole lot of geese around and trafficking our immediate area on their normal SE to NW line, many putting down a few cuts north of us but we got a few good looks. Should have gotten our 4th but last op was awkward on a pair that made a power dive at us and came flipping their way up the levee before checking up just short on us but low. Nice morning, got to talk to (at) a lot of specks and at least our two ducks were pretty.

1 mallard, 1 woodie, 3 specks

I was able to chip this one down from a shopping pair, Harry made a tremendous mark on it about 200 yards out and was able to root him up given the field is too shallow for much swimming or diving on him bc he was quite lively

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not a bar one to be had on any of our three birds, but these two seemed like they had some age on them??

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Taking next few days off, eyeing maybe one more marsh trip in Shell Beach late this week before heading west to see Rick and the crew in Klondike for the weekend. Merry Christmas all !

[Darren]

As an edit to the entry above, a really cool item I omitted was the whooping crane that we spent much of the morning watching in our immediate area, whooping away. He flew this way and that, sometimes joining in with the snows but mostly alone. First I've seen and/or heard in the wild myself.