2021-2022 Season Log

[Rick]

Have a VIP this morning. Sure hope something shows for him.

[Rick]

Date: 11/24 Wed

Time: Morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: easterly moderate

Temperature: pleasant

Moon phase: 78% waning

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Didn't get the strong SE wind I hoped would bring Green-wings to the marsh, though we did get to whiff on one good bunch early on. Also passed on a small handful of spoons early, and regretted it when what very little moved was getting binged out by others' shooting. Then nothing to the point I was fearing a scratch and hating that my partner took off work to do so - until the Red Gods decided to open their pen.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Generally good.

Hunters: 1, WFN's own DComeaux

Guns:

Malfunctions: Dave's 1187 fought him some. (Good gun was at his camp.)

Dog(s): I wore the bug out getting him to a long chipped blind retrieve in a place where line-of-sight was too broken by vegetation for ready handling.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Pretty sure I rang Dave creating the above mess for Marsh when the mottled pair with it started pulling off my single-quack series just shy of where I wanted them. Was focused on the birds, saw Dave dropped a mottled, so I chipped the greenhead with a shot closer across Dave's bow than it should have been. A follow-up most definitely would have rung his gong, but I didn't take it and Marsh found and caught my mess.

Kudos: Something special about hunts with poor starts that end well.

Birds By Species: 3 bw teal, 2 gadwall, 3 mallards, 1 mottled, 2 pintails and 1 shoveller

Photo Ops: Our heroes:

021a.jpg

A poor photo to commemorate a fine retrieve:

012a.jpg

Lagniappe: Called Dave hoping to do him a favor and ended our morning knowing I'd done myself one. Just hadn't realized how badly I needed a buddy hunt.

[DComeaux]

Kudos: Something special about hunts with poor starts that end well.

I sure felt it...... I had a really good time. Was a fine morning with good company.

[Deltaman]

Woooohoooo!!!!! Glad to see that you hunted Dave this morning, and ended with a fine strap of birds Nothing like a good buddy hunt!

[Duck Engr]

Awesome guys! Love a good happy ending to a story.

[Darren]

Great one, guys! Sure it was nice for all

[Rick]

Date: 11/25 Thur

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: ESE moderate to not much

Temperature: t-shirt

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: My notion that the southeasterly breeze might bespeak a green-wing morning seemed confirmed when a little wad of them buzzed us as we got in the blind, but that was that for that. Had a few big ducks come by very early on, then next to nothing, large or small was seen the rest of the morning. Least activity seen to date.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Had a couple or three big duck op that should have been layups - except for the little man we were still deferring to at the time, who never managed to get a shot off at any of the above. Did have some grays and spoons do it right enough later in the morning for his dad to clip one of each and save us from a scratch.

Hunters: 2, step son, Warren, and grandson, Ethan

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): easiest morning to date

Special Equipment: sos

Curses: Absolutely hated not being able to give Ethan enough opportunities to get it together and in the game, aside from, I think, a single shot at the too-fast-for-him spoons.

Kudos: After what must have been a horribly long, boring morning for the young video game addict, I ventured that I still have Christmas Eve morning and New Years day reserved for family and would like to make it up to him. And Ethan surprised both his dad and I by jumping at it.

Birds By Species: 1 gadwall and 1 shoveller

[Rick]

Date: 11/26 Fri

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE brsk

Temperature: 40s

Moon phase: waning 60%

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: No frontal flights seen but just enough of this and that passing by to let Mike and I tickle ourselves and bore Neal with stories of the "old days" with the camp.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Good as we'd always want it.

Hunters: 2, Mike, who'd guided with us in the "way back when" before going off to literally make his fortune, and his banker Neal

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Pretty easy morning if not for pushing a greenhead all over the pond trying to grab it with another in his mouth.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Couldn't begin to imagine one, other than wishing yesterday had been similar.

Kudos: Great time with an old friend I'd not seen in too long. And virtually everything that came died, to include the spoon triple we got to rag Neal about.

Birds By Species: 4 bw teal, 3 gw teal, 2 mallards, 1 pintail, 1 ringneck, 3 shovellers, 2 wigeon and 2 wood ducks

Photo Ops: Mike and Neal:

020a.jpg

The bug like to wore himself out trying to save a trip by snagging a second mallard with one in his mouth:

016a.jpg

[DComeaux]

Very nice strap.

[Rick]

Date: 11/27 Sat

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: cloudy

Wind Direction and Velocity: easterly nil to light

Temperature: chilly

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Birds, large and small, were way too far and few between.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Thankfully excellent.

Hunters: 2, Brian and Jason

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh decided he knew more than me and wouldn't handle to where he thought he'd gotten the only bird. Freakin' embarrassment. Finally convinced him I might sometimes be right, too.

Special Equipment: sos

Curses: just not much game

Kudos: Jason hadn't ever duck hunted but dove experience served him well.

Birds By Species: 3 bw teal, 2 mottleds, 2 ringnecks and 2 shovellers

[Rick]

Date: 11/28 Sun

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: All night rain ended as we left for the marsh but remained gloomy

Wind Direction and Velocity: Easterly more light than moderate

Temperature: damp chilly

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Very little moving high, low or sideways but enough to keep us kinda, sorta awake after a late LSU game.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Can't complain about that, as we even broke down some ultra high stuff with the Deceiver. Though not always all the way to the guns before someone else shot. (Most often on Cherry Ridge, which seemed to have much more going than usual.)

Hunters: 2, Brian again and brother Bryce(?)

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Easy morning except for catching the Barrows that kept diving on him.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Given that ours was the big hunt, we sure could use some new birds.

Kudos: Still passed a fine time and the BGE made Brian's morning.

Birds By Species: 1 Barrow's golden eye, 3 bw Teal, 1 mallard, 2 pintails, 1 ringneck, 1 shoveller and 2 wigeon

Photo Ops: The bug wasn't the least bit interested in showing off the mudhole, Brian's and his first BGE:

002a.jpg

[Duck Engr]

A mudhole first! Always a cool day when you can say that.

[Rick]

Think it puts us at 19 duck species over my season's there, and if we'd opted to kill the lost old squaw drake that swam in the decoys one morning when I had a couple in the blind that were as happy as I to give that handsome little fellow a pass, would be an even 20.

[DComeaux]

Thats different.

[Deltaman]

WOW, unusual guest appearance! What is the distinguishing dif between American and Barrows Rick? I know they both have chocolate heads, but that is all I know about them, other than so rare down South.

[Rick]

WOW, unusual guest appearance! What is the distinguishing dif between American and Barrows Rick? I know they both have chocolate heads, but that is all I know about them, other than so rare down South.

Perhaps/probably a mis-ID on my part, as going from memory of those seen on the Ohio River decades back and the couple through the camp since I've been here, I thought them appreciably larger than this little duck and ASSumed this had to be the Barrow's version. Turns out they're about the same size, so dunno...

[Rick]

Date: 11/29 Mon

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: zip to light easterly

Temperature: chilly

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Sure sounded like everyone but us was seeing birds early on. Got to work some initially super tall, mostly pintail, flights later in the morning - only to have nearly all banged out by someone else.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Calm as it was, it was still a Deceiver morning due to flight height, and dang near twinklers were breaking pretty for it.

Hunters: 2, mixed party of lone hunters

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): easy morning

Special Equipment: sos

Curses: Too few chances for a crew that needed lots of them.

Kudos: Nice folks.

Birds By Species: 1 mallard, 1 pintail and 1 ringneck

[Rick]

Date: 11/30 Tue

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: dead-a--ed calm to nil

Temperature: cool

Moon phase: waning 18%

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Even slower than yesterday, with Isaac being the only one to top our "string".

Waterfowl Responsiveness: What came by tried to work.

Hunters: 2, John and Paul on Alabamans on holiday from Mississippi deer camp.

Guns:

Malfunctions: Paul's 1187 was acting up.

Dog(s): Marsh broke on the loan woodie to fall from a wad of them.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Nice guy and no ducks. Well, that, and the guys rang my and Marsh's chimes shooting across at a jack while I had a half dozen mallards falling from the heavens. Might have said a bad word - or two.

Kudos: The were nice guys.

Birds By Species: 2 mallards, 1 pintail and 1 wood duck

[Rick]

Date: 12/1/21 Wed

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: light to nada southerly

Temperature: warm

Moon phase: small crescent waning

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Aside from the tight little ball of green-wings we cut a big swath through, about the same as it's been.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: We were blessed with birds that came pretty with two octogenarians (one 6'4") standing in the blind.

Hunters: 2, Howard and Al, who'd been coming with the marsh estate's executor for over fifty seasons.

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh was showing off, otherwise, but still lost a spoon that dove as I was about to cap it in the east run and plainly got so far under the bank that he couldn't snag it. Despite perhaps ten minutes of trying before we shot something else.

Special Equipment: SOS Tried leaving the spinners on to distract a big bunch of pins from the men in the blind, and learned we were better off with men standing still than spinners spinning.

Curses: Nary a serious one from me.

Kudos: Given the lack of game, we had an awfully nice little hunt for guys who may or may not make it back.

Birds By Species: 1 bw teal, 5 green-wing teal, 1 pintail, 2 ringnecks and 1 shoveller

[Darren]

Nothing wrong with ten birds any day of the week, but especially with that crew and the conditions dealt.

[Deltaman]

WOW, 50 seasons in that marsh, and we can only imagine the changes they have seen in that time. Glad you were able to get them on some ducks Rick, given the low bird numbers, and tougher than usual set up!!!

[Duck Engr]

Any good stories told that you can pass along?

[Rick]

Any good stories told that you can pass along?

Wish I could say so, but they're both at a point where memories largely came in bits and pieces. Still a far more pleasant morning than I'd anticipated.

[Rick]

Addendum to 12/1 Malfunctions Houard's Browning O/U failed to fire the second barrel on an op, and when I told him of a friend's Citori that wouldn't reset for the second barrel on vertical shots, he allowed that his was a Browning "cousin" to the Citori and had, indeed, failed on an overhead.

[Rick]

Date: 12/2 Thur

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear with ground fog we could see up but not out through most of the morning.

Wind Direction and Velocity: nada to hard to say

Temperature: warm

Moon phase: waning 4%

Special Notes: DC couldn't come play, so I worked

Waterfowl Activity: Saw a little of this and that until it added up. And lucky to be where we were, given how others faired.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Excellent when we weren't acting like they're blind.

Hunters: 2, Cody and Van

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Wore the bug out.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Whiffed on a black-belly three times!

Kudos: Good hunt under bad conditions.

Birds By Species: 3 black-bellied whistling ducks, 1 bw teal, 1 mottled duck, 3 pintails, 3 ringnecks, 1 shoveller (out of a mess of pintails), 1 scaup (I called as such when it turned inside-out for the call) and 2 wood ducks

Photo Ops: Van and Cody:

013a.jpg

[DComeaux]

That's a darn nice hunt in these conditions.

[Darren]

That's a darn nice hunt in these conditions.

I'd certainly agree. Thinking we'll go try a field hunt in the (anticipated) fog tomorrow ourselves. Halfway because fog has been good to us up there in the past, but also due to being unable to go at all this weekend.

[Rick]

Date: 12/3 Fri

Time: Morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: none, nada, zip all morning

Temperature: t-shirt

Moon phase: sliver waxing

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Squealers were everywhere while we were arriving well after shooting time, only to vanish by the time we were loaded. After which there just much of anything anywhere, as both our marsh and Cherry Ridge were the quietest they've been all season.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Helped that the tallest two of my three men had masked, and everyone held still while birds worked in.

Hunters: 3, Jack, Richard and Woody(?)

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh recovered a couple tipped birds I didn't like his odds for.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Just the lack of game.

Kudos: Company was great, and birds worked well.

Birds By Species: 1 black-bellied whistling duck, 4 pintails, 2 mottleds, 1 ringneck and 2 shovellers

[Duck Engr]

Was the late arrival due to your party’s tardiness or boat troubles?

[Duck Engr]

Pintails seem to be more prevalent than in recent years