Preseason

[DComeaux]

No fun to see Dave. Glad to see you talking about “work ahead” instead of “to heck with it”. How does this compare to what y’all had or didn’t have left after Rita or Ike?

We weren't there for RITA but there was nothing left in that spot when she came through. The structure we bought was built after that.

[DComeaux]

Dave how high was the surge?


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I've seen 17'+ at the Mermentau gauge.

[Ducaholic]

Dave how high was the surge?


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I've seen 17'+ at the Mermentau gauge.

That’s what I saw there as well and almost 10’ at Cameron.

[DComeaux]

This weekend we would have been bailing the blind and getting the decoys out on Monday for the start of teal season. I'm instead cutting up trees in my yard that fell and looking at pictures of what was our camp. We were supposed to go down there today to look around but a relative stopped by yesterday after delivering 600 gallons of gasoline to the Rockefeller refuge complex. He said there was nothing we could really do until the mud dries up. The entire area looks like a mud flat at low tide.

It will be sometime before we get to start work down there and I'll no doubt spend the entire duck season rebuilding, and then some. I hope to make a hunt or two if at all possible. There is nothing left down there.

A few up close pictures of what I wanted to see. We can salvage some items that were spared by this monsters wrath.
I have no idea where that trailer came from.

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Our wood stove never moved from it's original location. The salt water has changed it's color.

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What was one of our south neighbors place

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Our neighbor to the south seen in this picture (ladder) has major issues. The inside of the upper floor is soaked and the roof was open in spots. The bottom screened area was blown out and the camp is leaning.

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[Duck Engr]

Sucks to see all of that up close Dave. Hope you’re able to make a few hunts during the season to salvage your Fall.

[Rick]

Hate it for you.

[DComeaux]

We had saved the last of the seasons ducks to cook this weekend at the camp while we were playing in the marsh. I thought I'd at least cook the fowl.

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[Darren]

Hate it for you.

That, indeed.

Offer stands for CZ opener, yall come on. If teal ends up better than I figure, may be a chance to come do that too.

[Deltaman]

Sorry for the loss of your camp Dave, and the frustrations that go with it! As always, love seeing you cooking fowl in your Magnalite roaster, and always makes me hungry!!!!!

[DComeaux]

Hate it for you.

That, indeed.

Offer stands for CZ opener, yall come on. If teal ends up better than I figure, may be a chance to come do that too.

Thank you, but I may be a bit busy rebuilding. I want to put all my time and effort this winter towards the rebuild. If I can slip away though, I will. I'm fairly certain that the Hilton blinds on the lease (3) are gone and that will require a hand from us to rebuild. Hopefully our blind being full of water and in the ground stayed put under the high surge. The lease holder is planning to run the marsh this week so I'll get a report soon enough.

[DComeaux]

Sorry for the loss of your camp Dave, and the frustrations that go with it! As always, love seeing you cooking fowl in your Magnalite roaster, and always makes me hungry!!!!!

Thank you...... and thanks to all who have responded.

The frustration has now turned to determination and planning. I've always had a feeling that a hurricane would destroy this place due to it's coonass engineering from the previous owners and the band aids we put on it, but I had my hopes. Now we get to start with a clean slate. I will do everything possible within my meager budget to lessen the material loss and rebuild time after future storms. Hopefully our southern neighbors camp doesn't fall on us during the next one. If the stats hold true we'll have 10 to 15 years until the next big one in that area. That would put me in my 70's and will be my son and grand kids problem after that.

[5 stand]

I sure do like your attitude, carry on buddy!

[Rick]

Good to see you're not throwing in the towel, Dave.

[Darren]

The frustration has now turned to determination and planning.

Dat's what I'm talkin' 'bout.

[DComeaux]

I just received my envelopes from the USFWS for the wing study I was going to participate in this season. I have contacted them to see if they would allow me to pass it on to someone in this state to help them out.

I'm equally if not more disappointed with not being able to participate in this survey as I am about our camp and lease situation.

[DComeaux]

I got a call from the lease holder just a bit ago telling me he made a run on the lease today and that there is nothing left. We had 4 years worth of erosion in one night. Our duck season is done for the year. He told me the entire area looks like a big open lake, east and west on our neighbors as well. I would imagine there are quite a few in that area that will be sitting this one out as well.

I've got some thinking to do over the next few months. We're going to take it very slow on the rebuild doing a clean up in a couple of weeks and setting a power pole to at the least get a power drop back while they're in the area. We need to see what we have left for land area in our marsh and that we'll do in November or December behind fronts with lower water. If our marsh is too open that will likely be the end of that lease and the camp. Also found out today that the water tower for Chenier was damaged and it may be 6 months before the area has water.

[Duck Engr]

Wow Dave. An outsider like me doesn’t consider the land your lease is on literally being washed away.

How does that work with land ownership? Do people who lose the marsh land to the ocean now own ocean floor or do they just lose out completely?

[DComeaux]

Wow Dave. An outsider like me doesn’t consider the land your lease is on literally being washed away.

How does that work with land ownership? Do people who lose the marsh land to the ocean now own ocean floor or do they just lose out completely?

That's a topic that is argued a lot in this state. The answer depends on who you talk to. I'm hoping the water is just way higher than normal and that his disgust blinded him a bit, but I have no doubt we've lost real estate.

[Rick]

I'm hoping the water is just way higher than normal and that his disgust blinded him a bit...

Those lenses couldn't help but be heavily tinted, given the givens.

[DComeaux]

For those that haven't seen this.

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[DComeaux]

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Cameron Parish Police Jury
20h ·
TWO WAYS YOU CAN HELP — DON'T HUNT, DON'T FISH: Please, for a while, do not make plans to go hunting or fishing.
This short-term sacrifice will go a long way toward making Cameron Parish whole again.
As critical recovery efforts ramp up in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura, the Cameron Parish Police Jury, Cameron Parish Sheriff's Office and Cameron OHSEP are all strongly discouraging recreational hunting and fishing for the time being.
Essential post-storm recovery is taking place.
There are strong reasons to keep fishing and hunting areas clear:
• It’s dangerous. Trees and debris continue to settle and shift. Waterlines are littered with object that can cut, scrape, break bones and cause infections.
• Dislodged caskets bearing Cameron Parish’s late loved ones must be retrieved and respectfully re-interred. Cemeteries are disrupted —and remote ones, especially ones near wooded areas, require careful and safe access for workers.
• Utility repairs must be made, and workers require uninterrupted access to complete this much-needed work.
• There are limited emergency services, and the hard-working people who are busy restoring the parish deserve access to these services if needed.
• Hazardous waste recovery operations are under way.
• There is still a nightly curfew.
• The parish remains under mandatory evacuation.
We’re making our way back from the strongest hurricane to hit Louisiana since the mid-19th century. We all love to hunt and fish — but we ask you to refrain from recreational hunting and fishing for now. Recovery depends on it.
#CameronParishStrong

[Rick]

Though we've been known to bitch about it, sometimes it's good to be in the bastard corner of the parish.

[DComeaux]

I was looking through old posts here and there and revisited the NOAA link of a fresh satellite shot of our area. Apparently they took another swipe across that area days after the first. This is the mud flat we're now on, though it is drying a bit and that mud is cracking into thousands of pieces it's still a mess. The red arrow is pointing to our place.
After close examination we've come to the conclusion that our south neighbors heavy debris may be the culprit for much of our destruction. I will return many of his heavy trinkets this weekend, as it is laying on top of our camp. We have a good crew headed there on Saturday and there are a few things we can salvage. It's going to be a long slow process with many, many, round trips.

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[Rick]

Hate it for you, and all the more-so for those who lived so close to her path.

[MARSH BEAR]

Good luck Dave, we are going back to the camp again Saturday - our 4th trip. The one room of the camp we thought escaped water damage did not - we found mold growing behind one of the beds in that room. This should be our last day of demolition. We are hoping to get a metal roof on the camp the following weekend.

[Deltaman]

Glad you have some help Dave, Good Luck!
Looks like we've got Sally coming up our gullet here in SW Alabama this evening, and with the buckets of rain forecast, glad I live in the higher elevations of the city (Mobile)

[DComeaux]

Good luck Dave, we are going back to the camp again Saturday - our 4th trip. The one room of the camp we thought escaped water damage did not - we found mold growing behind one of the beds in that room. This should be our last day of demolition. We are hoping to get a metal roof on the camp the following weekend.

First time this weekend I visit in person. I need to get debris out of the way so I can set a new power pole. Hope all goes well with your rebuild.

[DComeaux]

Glad you have some help Dave, Good Luck!
Looks like we've got Sally coming up our gullet here in SW Alabama this evening, and with the buckets of rain forecast, glad I live in the higher elevations of the city (Mobile)

The wife and I should be at Navarre beach this week as we were scheduled to leave this past Sunday morning for an early 25th wedding anniversary trip but Sally canceled that. I can't wait for this year to end and can only hope for better times in 2021. I took today off to do some running around to gather material for the weekend. My mind was in vacation mode and now it's back to work and camp rebuild.

[DComeaux]

I walked outside this morning around 4:30 to a loaded truck and a tractor on a trailer. I stood for a minute to take in what I call perfect teal season weather. Driving south we crossed many people in rice country hurrying to get to the blind and so wished I were doing the same...... heart wrenching.

We had an awesome crew this morning and got our area cleaned up and next up is to install the new power pole. We need a bit more drying time to grade the lot and the area for the new 80' long camper cover. Marsh mud is on everything and it doesn't come off without a fight. My tractor weighs an extra 300 pounds tonight.

Getting started this morning and looking at the heavy wet debris that was partially buried in a thick black sticky, sloppy mess I did not think we'd get it done today. Everyone was covered in mud, slipping, sliding and falling.

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Just about to load up and head home. I was trying to drag more of the mud out of the yard or at least thin it out to dry faster.

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[Duck Engr]

Good to see y’all were able to make some good progress DC!