2021-2022 Season Log

[Rick]

They had a bit of everything between a teen and 71yr-old vet - but "not nearly what we should have," according to the later. Whiffed on a flock of pintails.

My boys would have rather been doing something else, and the cell phone still gets my vote for the greatest conservation tool of the modern era.

Looking forward to taking one of my grandsons who's ate up with it and his mom's boyfriend in the morning, and hoping they have at least as much opportunity - or more, of course.

[Darren]

They had a bit of everything between a teen and 71yr-old vet - but "not nearly what we should have," according to the later. Whiffed on a flock of pintails.

My boys would have rather been doing something else, and the cell phone still gets my vote for the greatest conservation tool of the modern era.

Looking forward to taking one of my grandsons who's ate up with it and his mom's boyfriend in the morning, and hoping they have at least as much opportunity - or more, of course.

Indeed and moving forward it looks no better. Saw a family of four at a table today at lunch, ALL four buried in their phones for duration of the meal. The party included two kids probably 13-15 years old.

Hope tomorrow delivers for the more serious guns.

[Darren]

They had a bit of everything between a teen and 71yr-old vet - but "not nearly what we should have," according to the later. Whiffed on a flock of pintails.

My boys would have rather been doing something else, and the cell phone still gets my vote for the greatest conservation tool of the modern era.

Looking forward to taking one of my grandsons who's ate up with it and his mom's boyfriend in the morning, and hoping they have at least as much opportunity - or more, of course.

Indeed and moving forward it looks no better. Saw a family of four at a table today at lunch, ALL four buried in their phones for duration of the meal. The party included two kids probably 13-15 years old.

Hope tomorrow delivers for the more serious guns.

[Rick]

Hope tomorrow delivers for the more serious guns.

Woke up to a calm morning with ground fog, which isn't the most promising start, but we'll see.

The grandson that's coming hasn't gotten to go enough to be strong with a gun, but he's ate up with duck hunting and will follow instruction to the letter. Have yet to share a blind with his mom's boyfriend, but can honestly say I'm looking forward to it, rather than doing so out of family obligation. So we'll pass a fine time, regardless of slimmer than we'd wish chances...

[Rick]

Date: 11/7 Sun

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: nada to light NE

Temperature: chilly early

Moon phase: waxing 12%

Special Notes: youth/veterans' hunt

Waterfowl Activity: Slower than yesterday but enough for our purposes.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Much better than when we were mooning them yesterday.

Hunters: 2, grandson, Preston, and his mom's beau, Tim

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): The bug did well, to include nice work on a long chipped mottled.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Didn't have a rifle.

Kudos: Scabby strap but sweet morning..

Birds By Species: 1black-bellied whistling duck, 3 blue-winged teal, 1 gadwall, 2 green-winged teal, 1 mallard, 1 mottled, 4 ringnecks, 1 scaup, 2 shovellers and 2 wood ducks

Photo Ops: Our gang:

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Lagniappe: After too many fruitless deer waits out there, a buck passed 60-80 yards in front of the blind right after a volley, then stopped and stared at us when I said "Look the deer." Preston wanted to shoot him - and I did, too.

[Darren]

10 duck species made the strap and there was a chance at a lagniappe deer

Sounds even stronger than vintage mudhole.

[Rick]

Let a redhead get out, as well. But "vintage mudhole" wouldn't have shot at any other diver than he and passed the spoons, as well. Really were lucky to scratch out the hunt we did.

[Rick]

Let a redhead get out, as well. But "vintage mudhole" wouldn't have shot at any other diver than he and passed the spoons, as well. Really were lucky to scratch out the hunt we did.

[Darren]

We'll be lucky to log 3-4 species next weekend, and more likely to accidentally shoot a redfish than a white tail!

[Deltaman]

Glad your grandson's hunt with you turned out so well, and as Darren mentioned, love the variety! Did you see more Whistlers, or were they absent?

[Rick]

Glad your grandson's hunt with you turned out so well, and as Darren mentioned, love the variety! Did you see more Whistlers, or were they absent?

Killed the only one we saw within hailing distance, and only because the youngster was so anxious for company that it landed within the dog dictated safe zone without passing where it could be shot without ringing his chimes and eventually flushed across our front, instead of into what little breeze there was, when it got tired of listening to us talk about it.

[Rick]

Date: 11/13 Sat

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: nada to moderate NNW

Temperature: low to mid 40s

Moon phase: waxing 65%

Special Notes: opening day

Waterfowl Activity: Not many big ducks seen, let alone worked, but scads of little ducks.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Early greenhead and pair of grays came to die (though one of the later didn't), despite the marsh rocking and rolling with gunfire in all directions. Teal flew crazy and gave us next no ops we could take advantage of until things quieted down.

Hunters: 2, Ronnie and Darren

Guns:

Malfunctions: Just my struggles with the Model 12's front safety.

Dog(s): Marsh had a good morning with only one chipped g-wing crossing the west boat run on him repeatedly before getting caught.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: We didn't hide from the big ducks. And I'm not shooting the Model 12 well.

Kudos: Nice folks had a big time..

Birds By Species: 3 blue-winged teal, 1 gadwall, 12 green-winged teal, 1 mallard and 1 shoveller

[Duck Engr]

Sweet start

[Deltaman]

Nice hunt Rick, and happy to see that your draw on opening weekend family members had no problems shooting those sharp looking/sweet tasting little speedsters!

[Rick]

Date: 11/14 Sun

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

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

Temperature: 40s-50s

Moon phase: waxing 75%

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Much slower than the opener on our end and not boding well for weekdays ahead. More easterly blinds were faster with lots of little ducks and squealers.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Thankfully excellent when not getting binged out by the east blinds and Sherry Ridge shooting.

Hunters: 2, father, Brian, and son, James

Guns:

Malfunctions: MMM still occasionally quitting only to eventually run again when left hot-wired.

Dog(s): Easy morning with only one long track on a blue-wing I thought stone dead and left in the grass behind us too long.

Special Equipment: SOS sometimes, as has become the MMM's custom.

Curses: Only kinda-sorta curse I can come up with, aside from fear for weekdays with fewer hunters out stirring the pot, is that I shot a crip on the west end of my pond, maybe 40 yards distant, and the stamped-"Mod" pattern hit it like a cinder block. "Modified" was apparently a whole lot tighter in 1950 than in more recent times.

Kudos: I now have an excuse for some of my up-close misses: no pattern. Plus some really nice folks shot well enough to have a really nice hunt.

Birds By Species: 3 blue-winged teal, 8 green-winged teal, 1 mallard, 2 mottleds, 3 ringnecks and 1 wood duck

Photo Ops:

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[Deltaman]

Nice hunt Rick!

[jrock75]

Good looking strap there

[Rick]

Date: 11/15 Mon

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: dead calm to barely moving the cane tops southerly at quitting time

Temperature: cool to peeling outer layers

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Pretty grim on our end the more easterly blinds had enough birds to shoot a bunch early and always seem to shoot when we saw something.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Timing of others' shooting was uncanny, and I had "help" calling.

Hunters: 2, husband, Dave, and wife, Kay (Would call her a "pretty little gal," but she's probably the tallest woman I've ever seen. Had to be a basket or volley ball scholarship in her past.)

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Bored.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Horribly slow hunt for super nice folks.

Kudos: They're hunting with Isaac in the morning.

Birds By Species: 2 greenwinged teal, 1 ringneck and 1 wigeon

[Duck Engr]

I may have asked you this before but I assume you prefer your folks to keep their duck calls in the truck when they hunt with you?

[Rick]

I may have asked you this before but I assume you prefer your folks to keep their duck calls in the truck when they hunt with you?

It's their hunt, but to paraphrase my favorite bluegrass musician, Doc Watson, it's not so much the notes as the spaces in between. And way too few folks with calls seem to understand that.

Do, however, have a stash of new whistles to give to kids, so they can "help" me. Much rather a little boy peep poorly than his dad quack well at the wrong time.

[Darren]

I may have asked you this before but I assume you prefer your folks to keep their duck calls in the truck when they hunt with you?

It's their hunt, but to paraphrase my favorite bluegrass musician, Doc Watson, it's not so much the notes as the spaces in between. And way too few folks with calls seem to understand that.

Do, however, have a stash of new whistles to give to kids, so they can "help" me. Much rather a little boy peep poorly than his dad quack well at the wrong time.

But when Rick's out the blind, we let it rip.....

I wont make a hunt without my lanyard on, that's part of it. But as a guest about anywhere, ya gotta recognize the host knows the hole and how best to put birds in it.

[Duck Engr]

I may have asked you this before but I assume you prefer your folks to keep their duck calls in the truck when they hunt with you?

It's their hunt, but to paraphrase my favorite bluegrass musician, Doc Watson, it's not so much the notes as the spaces in between. And way too few folks with calls seem to understand that.

Do, however, have a stash of new whistles to give to kids, so they can "help" me. Much rather a little boy peep poorly than his dad quack well at the wrong time.

But when Rick's out the blind, we let it rip.....

I wont make a hunt without my lanyard on, that's part of it. But as a guest about anywhere, ya gotta recognize the host knows the hole and how best to put birds in it.

Wise words to live by, and words I abide by. Figured it’d be the “when” and not the quack that’d be the problem.

[Rick]

Ahhh...so you been chippin' birds so I'd have to go chase 'em down, and you can call without fear of my hanging a lip.

Be easier on all involved to just say you want to call, and I'll put mine up. (Then we'll have to see about that lip...)

[Darren]

Ahhh...so you been chippin' birds so I'd have to go chase 'em down

Oh yea all part of the scheme

Nope, just keep runnin' those loud calls of yours, the host/guide knows the hole!

[Duck Engr]

Have a friend who is the HNIC of our group when it comes to calling and strategy (or was until he bailed on us for a cushy lease) look at me one late night and say “never guide the guide” when he and I were strategizing on a place he’d hunted for years before we knew each other. The next day proved him right.

[Rick]

Date: 11/16 Tue

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: dead calm to light southerly

Temperature: t-shirt

Moon phase: full

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Little moving nearby on our end a lot less shooting to our east or on CR, but did see several long strings of new twinklers headed down toward Dave's place, and even a few big balls of green-wings to far out to hail. Both of which were encouraging.for the future.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Less shooting in the area (nearest blind to our east, Clyde's, scratched) improved our chances on what did come by considerably..

Hunters: 2 super nice older gentlemen from Alabama, Joe and Bob, who've been hunting together for 56yrs, if I heard correctly.

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Easy morning.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Too few birds.

Kudos: Still a nice morning with nice folks.

Birds By Species: 2 green-winged teal, 1 pintail, 3 ringnecks, 1 shoveller and 1 wood duck

Photo Ops: Nice to be able to use the dog wash, as long as we look both ways and see the tataillws sunning:

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Lagniappe: Learned yesterday's gal was originally from Siberia, so I've not just met my tallest girl to date but my first Sirerian.

[Duck Engr]

Good to hear of the new arrivals. Saw a “mass exodus weather radar” post from St. Louis area a day or two ago. Hopefully y’all benefit.

[Deltaman]

56 years of hunting together, WOW!

It's ashamed you can't rid your area of those dog-snatching lizards when you see them during the duck season. Would worry the hell out of me if I had a dog on the hunt, and speaks volumes as to the "why" you'd better have a well-trained in your marsh.

[DComeaux]

but did see several long strings of new twinklers headed down toward Dave's place, and even a few big balls of green-wings to far out to hail. Both of

I just got this picture from the marsh. My camp is just to the left of that water tank in the distance. I got a video of a black rise in another pond as well but it's quality sucks.

120602.jpeg

[Rick]

56 years of hunting together, WOW!

Have also both been married to the same gals for 60 years. "True blue" types to be certain. Indeed, Joe described Bob, who was out of earshot at the time, as a true friend, "...the kind you can call in the middle of the night and not be asked 'Why?'"