2021-2022 Season Log

[Rick]

Date: 12/23 Thur

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: nil to light southerly

Temperature: got warm

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Next to nothing moving.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: fortunately fine

Hunters: 2, Matt and Eric

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Thought I'd lost Marsh after a chipped teal got up and led him out of sight past the big ponds south of me.

Special Equipment: sos

Curses: no birds

Kudos: great guys

Birds By Species: 1 bw teal, 2 gw teal and 1 pintail

[DComeaux]

Well, I see our birds didn't go to you.

[Rick]

Well, I see our birds didn't go to you.

Sure they did, but we killed all four of 'em. So it's gonna be a rough however long unless the southerly winds draw green-wings.

Am becoming incredibly jealous of Cherry Ridge's black-bellies. Made the bird-watching loop at Lacassine a couple afternoons ago, and the "no-motors" pool still had bunches of fulvous/"Mexican" squealers that should have been in Belize two months ago. Hard to blame that on flooded corn...

[Rick]

Date: 12/24 Fri

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: partly but mostly clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: nada to light SSW

Temperature: warm

Moon phase: 3/4? waning

Special Notes: Scheduled make-up hunt for the terribly slow Thanksgiving morning we took grandson Ethan on, which I feared would be another such.

Waterfowl Activity: Saw more green-wings than we have in a while.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: All but a few plainly local mottleds and mallards and the lone flight of pintails did it well enough.

Hunters: 2, grandson Ethan and his dad, Warren John

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): easy morning with everything close

Special Equipment: sos

Curses: Not a one.

Kudos: Duck gods cut us a break this time.

Birds By Species: 5 bw teal, 1 gadwall, 6 gw teal and 1 mottled

Photo Ops: Ethan with birds:

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[Duck Engr]

Glad the teal gates opened for the young fella.

[5 stand]

I agree. Good hunt for all involved !

[Rick]

A/C was running when I got up this Christmas morning, and I aired the bug in a t-shirt without thought of more, so the weather sure seems strange. But I was reminded a couple evenings ago of a Christmas eve and morning when I fell asleep and awoke to the sounds of ducks and geese surrounding my rice field pit, then sat watching the mob for half the morning before breaking up their party by heading home without having fired a shot. What a Christmas morning that was! And it couldn't have been all that cold, either.

'Bout time to wake a couple more of my grandson's and head to the marsh to see what it has in store...

Hope y'all are as blessed.

[Rick]

Date: 12/25 Sat

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: partly

Wind Direction and Velocity: light southerly

Temperature: warm

Moon phase:

Special Notes: Christmas hunt

Waterfowl Activity: Slow enough early to have me fearing I'd brought the boys on a one duck hunt, but picked up as the morning went on. Didn't see mallards until after our last duck fell.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Thankfully fine.

Hunters: 2, grandsons Preston and Gauge.

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Easy morning with no long falls.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: none from me

Kudos: Passed a fine time.

Birds By Species: 3 black-bellied whilstling, 3 bw teal, 3 gw teal, 1 pintail and 7 (count 'em seven) shovellers

Photo Ops: Couple of stone spoonbilla killas, Preston and Gauge:

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[Ducaholic]

Nice!

[Deltaman]

Action baby, action!!!!!!! Nice way to start your Christmas Day Rick

[Rick]

Date: 12/26 Sun

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: cloudy to partly

Wind Direction and Velocity: sw to west light

Temperature: t-shirt

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Less moving than yesterday.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Only rub seemed to be that no one in the marsh would shoot until we had birds on final. Especially grievous when it cost us ops on a big bunch of grays and trio of pintails we were a scarce few seconds from shooting.

Hunters: 2, brothers, JJ and Mark, who I do gator stuff with

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Easy morning except a spoon that went down - we think - flat disappeared while he was catching a green-wing.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Just the lack of game.

Kudos: Was nice to visit with old friends I don't often see this time of year.

Birds By Species: 2 bw teal, 2 gw teal, 1 mallard, 1 ringneck and 1 wood duck

Photo Ops: And it's on...

001a.jpg

Gotcha:

006a.jpg

[Duck Engr]

I always say “duck you can either get caught or get caught tired buddy. Up to you.”

[Rick]

Date: 12/27 Mon

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: partly

Wind Direction and Velocity: nil to light southerly to sw

Temperature: t-shirt

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Little of anything moving.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Most of what little's around knows us.

Hunters: 2, father,, Mark, and son, ?

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): easy morning, but getting gator worrisome

Special Equipment: sos

Curses: I screwed the pooch by inadvertently leaving spinners running on a big bunch of black-bellies that pushed off at the last moment.

Kudos: Nice folks had what, for them, was a big hunt.

Birds By Species: 1 black-bellied whistling, 3 gadwall, 2 pintails, 1 ringneck and 3 shovellers

[Rick]

Just sub-totaled my second split tally sheet and found blue-winged teal topped the list. Yarch!!!

[Ducaholic]

Just sub-totaled my second split tally sheet and found blue-winged teal topped the list. Yarch!!!

Wish I could say that.

[Rick]

Just sub-totaled my second split tally sheet and found blue-winged teal topped the list. Yarch!!!

Wish I could say that.

I'd gladly have them be in Belize come the regular season, as once was their case, if it meant the rest of the migration was back on track, too.

[Ducaholic]

Just sub-totaled my second split tally sheet and found blue-winged teal topped the list. Yarch!!!

Wish I could say that.

I'd gladly have them be in Belize come the regular season, as once was their case, if it meant the rest of the migration was back on track, too.

Right there with you! Just wish I had killed half as many as you have sure would made this season more palatable.

[Rick]

Right there with you! Just wish I had killed half as many as you have sure would made this season more palatable.

Not like we're killing many. Most of the blue-wings we see know what's up at the mudhole and give us wide berth.

[Rick]

Date: 12/28 Tue

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: cloudy

Wind Direction and Velocity: southerly fairly strong before LST but dying to nil before building to light during the hunt.

Temperature: t-shirt

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Pretty much what we've been seeing (not much of anything) except a few black-bellies made a swing off Cherry Ridge.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Better than ours.

Hunters: 2, Mathew and Greg

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Started boating Marsh to gator areas, but still letting him swim right by the blind.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Bent barrels when what should have been enough sprig did it right, and most teal were safe.

Kudos: Nice guys had a nice time.

Birds By Species: 6 black-bellied whistling, 1 bw teal, 2 gw teal, 1 pintail, 2 ringnecks and 2 shovellers

[Ducaholic]

Right there with you! Just wish I had killed half as many as you have sure would made this season more palatable.

Not like we're killing many. Most of the blue-wings we see know what's up at the mudhole and give us wide berth.

Like I said half would be good. I think we have killed a half dozen blue wings and a dozen or so GW most of which we killed in one hunt.

[Rick]

Addendum to 12/28: Photo op of a first pintail photo op:

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[Rick]

Date: 12/29 Wed

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: Early ground fog that eventually cleared.

Wind Direction and Velocity: southerly moderate to light and back

Temperature: t-shirt

Moon phase: waning crescent 23%

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Very little moving other than far and away the most squealers we've ever seen there stretching(?) as fog broke.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Mostly good, with Darren whistling as well as I've heard anyone on a 6-in-1 and me chattering for the black-bellies.

Hunters: 2, WFF's own Darren and his buddy, Johnny

Guns: Took advantage of experienced shots in the blind to bring my 16ga Model 12.

Malfunctions: Nearly jammed my trigger finger punching the safety where it wasn't. And missed what should have been some chip shots.

Dog(s): We worked the bug's buns off on chipped birds, and he scared crap out of me chasing a mallard that got up at pretty near the edge of whistle range and led him well beyond it at a time/temp when gators may well be an issue. Not sure whether he couldn't hear the whistle while running in driving water or ignored it, but he'll be taking a whistle refresher course when he wakes from his current sound slumber.

Special Equipment: SOS Teased squealers with the spinners but killed them for best results.

Curses: None - once the black-bellies started moving. Well, other than Marsh's super long mallard chase through unknown hazards.

Kudos: Fun hunt that eclipsed the blind's previous 11 black-belly record that had stood since 2008.

Birds By Species: 16 black-bellied whistling ducks, 1 green-winged teal and 1 mallard

Photo Ops: Photo op of a photo op:

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Poor photo commemorating a mighty tough - and scary - retrieve:

011a.jpg

[Deltaman]

What a hunt!!!!!! Look at all those long pink legs on that strap Glad y'all had a stellar hunt, and will now be famous as the Squealer Whisperers in the marsh

[Bud]

Bon appetite.

[DComeaux]

Trade ya a few GW for some black bellies. NICE HUNT!

[Darren]

Trade ya a few GW for some black bellies. NICE HUNT!

Come on DC, gotta sweetin that trade, I've currently got plenty of both of those, but not much of anything else

Think Johnny's allotment got the greenhead

[Rick]

What a hunt!!!!!! Look at all those long pink legs on that strap Glad y'all had a stellar hunt, and will now be famous as the Squealer Whisperers in the marsh

Marsh to our north, Cherry RIdge, has a bazillion and twelve of them and their, usually, 5-6 blinds shot 700-some of them the first split and 70-some yesterday alone. Our east end usually gets some of their overflow, but the past couple days have finally been our chances to benefit a bit. Fell just two short this morning of my blind's first split total.

[BGkirk]

Wow… I was wondering why so many crips. I can see why now


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[Rick]

Wow… I was wondering why so many crips. I can see why now

Part of it may well have been on me shooting a much tighter patterning gun than usual and just chipping (and missing) close birds with leads that feel right to a mental computer trained by decades of a looser one. Still waiting to see evidence of the hopeful notion many have that tight chokes either kill clean or miss clean.

And part of it is that black-bellies can be tough to kill outright and among the best escape artists when not. That, and it was just the way things fell, or didn't, yesterday.

(I had no part in the mallard mess beyond driving the boat to where that chase began and a failed attempt to cut it short with a whistle. Darren and Johnny can arm wrestle over that credit.)

[Darren]

I likewise had myself thinking "damn, that bird is hit good, but not crumpling" at times for some in reasonable range, hovering. Plenty fell as you'd want, but more than I would have thought fell with plenty life leading to undue chases.

Marsh's retrieve on the mallard went a loooong way and bird even picked up and flew a piece of it. Helluva catch by him to save one of our few non-squealers.

My only regret of the hunt was shooting on the final bunch in close instead of just filming it for all to enjoy later.