2020-2021 Season Log

[Rick]

Was one recent year when the blue-wings were the top bird on our regular season log. Makes you wonder if the folks in Belize are bitching about us short-stopping their birds...

[Rick]

Date: 11/24 Tue

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: East fairly strong

Temperature: warmish

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Bottom fell out for us, relatively speaking, with virtually everything we saw moving early on. Was essentially over by 7:30.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Darn good thing birds, including mottled, were quite cooperative.

Hunters: 3, camp regulars, Tom, Joe and Joe's young son, Fin.

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Another easy morning for Marsh.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Just the lack of game.

Kudos: Guys shot well, to include Fin.

Birds By Species: 1 bw teal, 1 gadwall, 4 gw teal, 1 mottled, 1 pintail, 1 scaup and 1 shoveller

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe: Had an otter help us pass the time by passing through the pond. They, like coyotes, are "shoot on sight" targets for many here, and I've been known to cuss them, myself. But I'm inclined to put up with losing a few ducks for the chance to watch them. Tickles me.

[Rick]

Date: 11/25 Wed

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: cloudy to peeing down rain to partly clearing

Wind Direction and Velocity: South to west to northwest

Temperature: warm to cool

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Not much moving before the front, and nothing at all during or after.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Saw a couple fairly high big duck flights I could no more than bend, but enjoyed good response from lower birds.

Hunters: 3, Tom again with a friend's grandson, Cole, and Cole's buddy, Taylor.

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Another easy morning, aside from appearing miserable in the downpour.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Still not seeing new game.

Kudos: Nice guys and a pleasant morning - aside from the aforementioned deluge.

Birds By Species: 3 gadwall, 2 gw teal, 1 mallard, 2 mottleds, 1 pintail, 1 ringneck and 2 wood ducks

[Darren]

Three hunts in a row of 7 species!

[Rick]

Three hunts in a row of 7 species!

Dribs and drabs of this, that and the other. And blessed to have it.

[Rick]

ADDENDUM 11/25: (Somehow forgot the photos of a greedy dog "chasing" a dead duck.)

The bug had two grays in mouth, but just couldn't stand passing up the third without trying to corral it, too:

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"Aw, screw it."

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[DComeaux]

Date: 11/24 Tue
Lagniappe: Had an otter help us pass the time by passing through the pond. They, like coyotes, are "shoot on sight" targets for many here, and I've been known to cuss them, myself. But I'm inclined to put up with losing a few ducks for the chance to watch them. Tickles me.

They have always got a pass from me and I've been entertained in the field by those a few times over the years. Once many years ago on a deer hunt in the basin when the water in the swamp I was near had frozen I watched a pair frolicking, sliding there way through the swamp dodging cypress knees. I would think that a Louisiana otter would find it exciting, as most humans down here react to sneaux.

[Rick]

Probably seaux.

[Rick]

Date: 11/26 Thur

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: heavy to light

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE light to moderate to light

Temperature: Only chilly when the bug shook on my t-shirt.

Moon phase: 84% waxin

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Seemed slow (especially to littlest Wayne), but there was enough of this and that for a full strap.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Lord knows most tried to get into the hole, but we were BAD about showing our hand.

Hunters: 3 generations of Waynes

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): A chipped and diving jack gave him fits to the point that I was about to call him off when it was finally speared.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Crowd control and, especially, early rising cost us what would have been a few much easier ops.

Kudos: Nice folks had a nice hunt.

Birds By Species: 2 gw teal, 1 mallard, 1 mottled, 1 pintail, 3 ringnecks, 6 spoons and 2 wood ducks

Photo Ops: Three Waynes:

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[Duck Engr]

Looks like a good time was had by all 3 Waynes if the photo is of any indication.

[Rick]

Littlest Wayne may just have been happy we were finally done. He had a BB-gun, but is still too small to have it shouldered and reach the trigger. So he soon tired of attempts to plink my decoys that missed the whole pond. Was better than most his age, but plainly bored during the lulls.

[Rick]

ADDENDUM 11/26: somehow left 2 wigeon out Been seeming more common than in most recent seasons.

[Duck Engr]

ADDENDUM 11/26: somehow left 2 wigeon out Been seeming more common than in most recent seasons.

Tighten up!

[Ericdc]

Game warden gonna come if you keep making these "addendums".

"Officer, I must make an addendum"


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[Rick]

Game warden gonna come if you keep making these "addendums".

"Officer, I must make an addendum"

My math is notoriously bad. Knew we had eight species but found only seven in the log before checking my after hunt cheat sheet for the omission.

[Rick]

Date: 11/27 Fri

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: pre-hunt fog lifted on a cloudy morning

Wind Direction and Velocity: SE to SW light to barely moderate

Temperature: t-shirt

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Birds seemed far and few between but should have been enough.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Fortunately, pretty good aside from some really high and wide stuff.

Hunters: 2, WFF's own DComeaux and Ducaholic

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Would have been another easy morning, if an ultimately unsuccessful post-hunt clean-up track hadn't led him halfway to the ICW.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: None from me.

Kudos: Hunt went a whole lot better than it appeared it would, and I enjoyed the visit.

Birds By Species: 8 bw teal, 1 gadwall, 2 ringnecks, 4 shovellers and two wigeon

Photo Ops: Can't believe I had those two mugs in the blind and missed the photo op.

Lagniappe: A humble brag: when there were three gigantic birds hanging in front of the blind, as Dave's buddy Blake would say, "like kites," I only missed with the one shell I had in the gun.

[Ericdc]

I already heard about the pintails


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[BGkirk]

I knew Ducacholic shot spoons, just never would fess up. Finally got caught

[Duck Engr]

I knew Ducacholic shot spoons, just never would fess up. Finally got caught

He can still blame Dave and Rick

[DComeaux]

I knew Ducacholic shot spoons, just never would fess up. Finally got caught

His full choke did a good job on one of those...

[Ducaholic]

Passed a good time thanks Rick

As for the spoons two fell hard to the FC that I left in my gun after squirrel season. That’s my Pintail whiff excuse and I’m sticking to it. It’s been replaced by the more shooter friendly MC.

[Rick]

Date: 11/28 Sat

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: heavy

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE moderate

Temperature: cool

Moon phase: 95% waxing

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Dave and Perry "shoulda been here tomorrow". Not covered up, but best flights of most everything in a while.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Most stuff wanted to work.

Hunters: 2, father, AJ, and grown son, Sammy

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Nothing particularly difficult except long, unproductive hunts for "stone dead" birds I didn't see fall.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Guys were way, way to accustomed to taking crap shots before they had a chance to be sweet ones. And, shall we say, "optimistic" in terms of range. That and AJ's sporting clays version SBE was ported in front of the choke tubes.

Kudos: I, at least largely, bit my tongue, and a fine time was had.

Birds By Species: 4 bw teal, 2 gw teal, 3 mallards, 2 mottleds (1 banded), 2 ringnecks, 3 shovellers and 2 wood ducks

Photo Ops: Sammy and AJ:

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[Darren]

"Man can't you see that choke I got in here and them ports, that means I can shoot waaay out there"

sweet one regardless

[DComeaux]

Waterfowl Activity: Dave and Perry "shoulda been here tomorrow". Not covered up, but best flights of most everything in a while.

The story of my life.

[Rick]

Date: 11/29 Sun

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: heavy overcast w/periodic spitty rain

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE moderate

Temperature: comfortably cool

Moon phase: n/a

Special Notes: An off and sometimes really on all-night rain abated just in time for our hunt - and hadn't moved everything to the rice.

Waterfowl Activity: Lots of stuff, aside from mallards, large and small, moving.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: As it should be.

Hunters: 2, father, DComeaux, and grown son, Justin.

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): The bug is sleeping quite soundly.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Finished so quickly that I wished we'd held out to see if we couldn't find a few mallards and pintails. (If ya gotta bitch...)

Kudos: Was just as it should always be, and too often isn't, for nice folks.

Birds By Species: 4 black-bellied whistling ducks, 4 bw teal, 5 gadwall, 4 gw teal and 1 mottled

Photo Ops: Raining again at hunt's end and too wet for pics.

[5 stand]

Awesome!

[Duck Engr]

How about that?! Glad Dave and his son were treated to a good show. Hopefully this is a turning point for DC’s 20-21 season.

[Rick]

They've just started exploring a then private but now public area where I once had a whole lot of fun with mallards in flooded oaks, so here's hoping...

[DComeaux]

Soul soothing it was.

[Darren]

Great one!