2021-2022 Season Log

[MARSH BEAR]

Dave - after looking at that picture I hope you plan to hunt this weekend - if not before

[Duck Engr]

Dave - after looking at that picture I hope you plan to hunt this weekend - if not before

X2!!!

[Rick]

Date: 11/17 Wed

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: zip to light southerly late in the hunt

Temperature: t-shirt

Moon phase: full

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Still rocking the early little ducks at the more easterly blinds. Fred said "We had jacks and jacks and jacks and jacks..." But Clyde struggled again. We had a late, light and very scattered showing. Didn't see any more new bird flights or big gwt wads.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Thankfully good, single quacked mottled pair from nearly the Cherry Ridge location canal.

Hunters: 2, Joe and Bob again, learned they're both 84

Guns: I found and ordered 30ga steel on Roger's site and took my little Montefeltro.

Malfunctions: After struggling with the Model 12's forward safety, I couldn't find the old familiar Benelli rear one.

Dog(s): Tough morning for Marsh when a tipped teal swam from the blind island well down the west boat run with him in pursuit (so I couldn't shoot it) - and then ducked under the flotant's edge, never to be seen again, despite dunk after dunk after dunk that came up empty. Could plainly smell, but not reach it, and I couldn't help. And by the time we gave up on that one, another chipped to north of blind was gone without a trace. Grrr...

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Blew up a jack to make our lost bird count three in a single morning.

Kudos: Passed a fine time with fine folks.

Birds By Species: 1 blue-winged teal, 1 gadwall, 4 green-winged teal, 2 mottleds, 1 pintail and 2 ringnecks

Photo Ops: Bob and Joe:

022a.jpg

Marsh and mottled:

011a.jpg

[Duck Engr]

Wow 84 and still getting after it. Good for them! I just hope I’m still wiping my own ass at that age, much less actually hitting a duck with a shot I fire.

[Darren]

Beautiful shot of Marsh w/ quarry. Looking forward to hearing about how those 30 gauge shells from Rogers turn out for you. Hope tomorrow's winds dont arrive too late to do you any good in the morning.

[Deltaman]

Imagine the stories those two could tell!
Agree with Darren, that is a great shot of Marsh with the Mottle on the edge of the Mudhole. You'd think it hard bottom the way he stands on top of the grass Look at that tail! That boy has got energy to burn

[Rick]

Wow 84 and still getting after it. Good for them! I just hope I’m still wiping my own ass at that age, much less actually hitting a duck with a shot I fire.

We hunted them standing and didn't squawk about them starting to shoulder guns early, and while it took 'em a while to get shots off, they were more often than many deadly.

...Looking forward to hearing about how those 30 gauge shells from Rogers turn out for you...

Nice catch.

...You'd think it hard bottom the way he stands on top of the grass...

Is relatively solid most anywhere you see maiden cane growing, which it does on that bank. Though there's no way I could stand on the edge of it like that.

(And that breed standard fault scorpion tail is part of the reason he's "the bug". That, his breed standard fault Flying Nun ears and the gangliness of puppy legs.)

[Rick]

Date: 11/18 Thur

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: partly to ground fogged in

Wind Direction and Velocity: calm all morning

Temperature: t-shirt

Moon phase: full

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Had squealers on our end for the first time since September teal and just enough teal and jacks.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Lee said he'd hunted all his life and knew squealers couldn't be called, and I got to show him that he'd plainly not lived quite long enough. Ate their fighting-over-chow chatter up. Also single quacked a mottled pair that "couldn't be called" - but whiffed the chance.

Hunters: 2, Lee and Josh

Guns:

Malfunctions: Still had some trouble finding the 20's rear safety.

Dog(s): Easy morning with just a couple long falls.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Lee later said he'd of bet $1,000 I couldn't call black-bellies, but didn't.

Kudos: Enough game for our purposes and a fine time had despite the damn fog.

Birds By Species: 8 black-bellied whistling ducks, 1 blue-winged teal, 6 green-winged teal and 3 ringnecks

Photo Ops: Lee and Josh and fog:

001a.jpg

[DComeaux]

Nice! When is the roof and walls going up?

[Darren]

Clearly this cat has never actually hunted black-bellies. I've never found them NOT to be readily callable, from your blind & Oak Island, all the way to my end by Lake Pontch and Delacroix.

[Rick]

Nice! When is the roof and walls going up?

How long you been knowing Douglas?

[Rick]

Clearly this cat has never actually hunted black-bellies. I've never found them NOT to be readily callable, from your blind & Oak Island, all the way to my end by Lake Pontch and Delacroix.

Born into tons of money with leases and properties from the Basin to a couple miles east of our marsh and gets to hunt them a whole lot more than most. So I initially thought he was kidding.

[DComeaux]

Nice! When is the roof and walls going up?

How long you been knowing Douglas?

I laughed.

[Ericdc]

That's Mr. Doug to you


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Rick]

Date: 11/19 Fri

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: brisk NE

Temperature: 40s?

Moon phase: still big (appeared mostly eclipsed when I aired the bug at 3 this morning

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Saw a good many grays and pintails near LST, but the former dried up very shortly after, while the pintails remained what we saw the most of. Were several mallards shot on the east - we saw but two. Still enough misc moving that we could have filled if not initially passing spoons and jacks.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Very good, including a pair of passing mottleds that flat spun to the call.

Hunters: 2, Lee and Josh again

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Easy morning with nothing distant.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: The hen half of our mottled pair sat in mid pond a moment, then dove and stirred the bottom bubbles but was never to be seen again. Took the boat and stirred the bottom muck with pole and prop and ran Marsh around the bank twice to no avail.

Kudos: Still a nice morning, and the drake mottled is going to the taxidermist.

Birds By Species: 3 blue-winged teal, 1 gadwall, 2 green-winged teal, 1 mottled, 3 pintails, 1 ringneck, 1 wigeon and 4 wood ducks

Photo Ops: :Lee and Josh:

006a.jpg

[DComeaux]

Very nice.

[Bud]

Happy I got to enjoy hunting with you, Rick, and your friends. Tomorrow is our opener and I'll not be going. Have no hunting buddy, and too much work where we hunted to be by oneself.

I do, though, share your hunts every morning/ evening. If the money ever comes again, we'll see LA again. Good times and good laughs. Great hunting, and felt like home when there. Thanks, Rick, for everything. Back to your routine I enjoy so much. Having a double wood scotch for memories' sake. Nice group of the uncallibles.

[Rick]

Happy I got to enjoy hunting with you, Rick, and your friends. Tomorrow is our opener and I'll not be going. Have no hunting buddy, and too much work where we hunted to be by oneself.

I do, though, share your hunts every morning/ evening. If the money ever comes again, we'll see LA again. Good times and good laughs. Great hunting, and felt like home when there. Thanks, Rick, for everything. Back to your routine I enjoy so much. Having a double wood scotch for memories' sake. Nice group of the uncallibles.

In some sort of Twilight Zone moment, I thought of you out of the blue last evening. Perhaps because I was still nursing the mottled loss, and they were your favorites.

[Rick]

Date: 11/20 Sat

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: light to moderate easterly

Temperature: cool to warm

Moon phase: still too big

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Pretty dang dead for a weekend on our end. Little of anything, large or small, seen on our end, and not a whole lot better to the east.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: East blinds shot just enough to screw us up when we had something going.

Hunters: 2 Lee and Jason

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Easy morning.

Special Equipment: sos

Curses: My guys partied too hard last night and found them still in bed when I found them at what should have been the 10 minute warning for departure..

Kudos: Super nice guys who were in rough shape and couldn't hit pecans - but not dangerous.

Birds By Species: 1 blue-winged teal, 1 gadwall, 1 shoveller and 1 wood duck

[Rick]

Date: 11/21 Sun

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: socked in with fog until right at curfew - when the birds really flew, or we could at least see them

Wind Direction and Velocity: light southerly

Temperature: t-shirt

Moon phase: still big, I think

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Blinds to our east got shooting on little ducks and squealers following water, we got to listen. But there were specks periodically trafficking from the south overhead that gave us something to mess with.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Ducks we saw acted right, as did some of the specks we couldn't see until they were nearly on us. Everyone in the marsh was speck calling as normal, and we tolled ours (by just peeping and grumbling like they do on the ground in fog.

Hunters: 2, Lee from yesterday and Dempsey

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Another too easy morning aside from a chipped teal that flew off when he got to it.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Had a big bunch of specks on final when they got binged out by others shooting and a single likewise binged out where I'd of called the shot for better hunters, but tried without success to bring him back, instead. And when I did call the shot on seven or eight "right over me," I've no idea where my guys decided to look instead or if they were too busy holy-cowing to shoot, but no one did until the birds nearly cleared the pond and I was lucky to drop the one I did when I finally could. Shoulda rained geese.

Kudos: Nice guys who knew they'd blown a golden op but still seemed to have a good time.

Birds By Species: 1 bw teal, 3 gw teal, 2 scaup, 1 shoveller and 1 speck

Photo Ops: Photo op went as poorly as the shooting op:

008a.jpg

[Darren]

I was lucky to drop the one I did when I finally could. Shoulda rained geese.

Youch!

[Bud]

Even so, they'll remember it and have fun talking about it. Too bad those geese know where you are, but maybe the fog will have them forget.

[5 stand]

Even so, they'll remember it and have fun talking about it. Too bad those geese know where you are, but maybe the fog will have them forget.

There is no like button on this forum, but I like this!

[Rick]

Lee is a self descibed "once every five years duck hunter" and Dempsey a big game guy, so I'm sure it hurt me more than it hurt them. But speck ops have become quite rare for me, and I miss 'em.

[DComeaux]

But speck ops have become quite rare for me, and I miss 'em.

I failed to mention in my log of a "spec op" we had on Friday or Saturdays hunt. I heard a call and looked up and saw three traveling west to east to my south. I hit the call and they all locked up and turned to us. I clucked softly and they came just a little too high to our east over the decoys. We've had a few high flyovers of those and blues since the opener. I will have (6) spec floaters deployed this weekend just in case. I've seen them mixed with ducks on the water in the refuge quite often.

[Deltaman]

Sweet bonus Speck Rick, and know it hurt your heart to miss out on any opportunity to shoot them in the Mudhole.

[Rick]

Date: 11/22 Mon

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: partly to clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE light to brisk

Temperature: t-shirt to cool thanks to the breeze

Moon phase: still big, 92% waning

Special Notes: yet another front that wasn't much

Waterfowl Activity: First birds in were mallards, but that was the last of them. Still a lot more of this and that around than has been on my end: enough to be packing at 7:15.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Couldn't have asked for better.

Hunters: 2, Tate and grandfather ?

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Nothing took him far.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Not a one.

Kudos: Sweet morning for nice folks.

Birds By Species: 1 bb-whistling, 3 bw teal, 1 gadwall, 7 gw teal, 2 mallards, 2 mottleds and 2 wigeon

Photo Ops: Guys and ducks:

003a.jpg

[Darren]

perty perty, that strap

[DComeaux]

Love to see the wigeon. Have been seeing more on straps down here this year.

[Rick]

Date: 11/23 Tue

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: easterly moderate

Temperature: 40s

Moon phase: 85% waning

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Much slower than hoped. Precious few ducks seen large or small, and the geese bouncing off the Gulf too high to fight. Isaac's seemed our only really busy blinds.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Thankfully excellent.

Hunters: 2, Harrison and ?

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Got balky about taking a cast when he thought he knew more than me, but other than on that one bird, his usual fine self.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Little game, and yours truly called the shot on a hen hoodie thought to be a hen woodie until too late to get the guns called off. Was just chipped, and am ashamed to say I was tempted not to send the dog, but did to put it out of its misery and will be eating merganser again.

Kudos: Nice guys.

Birds By Species: 1 bb-whisling, 1 bwteal, 1 gadwall, 1 mallard, 3 ringnecks and 1 scaup Well, that and the hoodie.