2021-2022 Season Log

2021-2022 Season Log

Postby jrock75 » Mon Sep 13, 2021 8:57 am

Date:

Time:

Location:

Cloud Cover:

Wind Direction and Velocity:

Temperature:

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity:

Waterfowl Responsiveness:

Hunters:

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s):

Special Equipment:

Curses:

Kudos:

Birds By Species:

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe:
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby jrock75 » Mon Sep 13, 2021 12:07 pm

Date: 9/11/2021

Time: Morning

Location: Saltwater marsh near High Island

Cloud Cover: Mix of sun and clouds

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE 5-15

Temperature: 65-75

Moon phase:

Special Notes: Teal season opener

Waterfowl Activity: As is typical for an opener in the far south marsh, they were not on us right at first light. Started coming soon thereafter after getting surprised in the rice. Activity slowed by 9:00 and we left at 9:30. Did not see many groups of 10+. Overall numbers of birds were significantly down from last year when more or less the same group easily managed to get its 60 bird limit.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: The two groups of >15 that we came in paid the price. Groups of 1-5 were not as responsive but the ones that came in stayed. Birds didn't really honor the NE wind. Had we not had so many hunters we would have likely set up the spread differently but we were trying to get shots for both ends. That effort was likely wasted and we should have set up optimally and just rotated spots.

Hunters: 10 hunters...an opening day tradition that I want to shake. Having Dad come down for the teal opener as he has for the last 5+ years makes an always great day that much better. Might be Grant's last teal opener without his own shotgun.

Guns:

Malfunctions: N/NE wind for several days had blown most of the water out of the pond. Looked like December/January with <3" water depth across most areas. Without water to clean the tracks, the Marsh Master almost got stuck several times which would have led to quite the entertaining walk out for a group that large many of whom showed up in just boots.

Dog(s): Roux stayed home. The soft marsh and September temps no longer suit his 13 year old muscles. He will get plenty of action next weekend when we likely hunt a harder bottom area.

Special Equipment: Mojo teal

Curses: That many shooters always makes me nervous. One eager beaver guest (not mine) who had to be called out for shooting over the ends while he was situated in the middle.

Kudos: No mosquitos! Safe hunt with that many guns. Except for the one eager beaver, the group was experienced and perfectly happy to let the logical guys shoot the birds that came to their spot.

Birds By Species: 46 BW Teal

Photo Ops:
2022 Teal Opener - Spread.jpg

2022 Teal Opener - Birds.jpg
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby Duck Engr » Mon Sep 13, 2021 12:34 pm

Sweet opener and sweet swamp rig!
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby Darren » Mon Sep 13, 2021 12:36 pm

Good deal! Thanks for the report
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby Deltaman » Mon Sep 13, 2021 1:09 pm

Congrats on a solid opener, and the first pic of a Marsh Master I've seen, very cool!
Thanks for the report :thumbsup:
"It ain't what you don't know that gets you in trouble. It's what you know for sure, that just ain't so"
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby jrock75 » Mon Sep 13, 2021 2:53 pm

Deltaman wrote:Congrats on a solid opener, and the first pic of a Marsh Master I've seen, very cool!
Thanks for the report :thumbsup:

They are amazing machines and can get to places that only an airboat would be able to get to otherwise. When needed we can get 10 guys, 2 dogs, and gear transported comfortably. Our ride to this blind is about a mile so the slow speed isn't too bad. We had a blind last year that was 3.5 miles in and we did that once and quickly made alternative arrangements for the next time.
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby jrock75 » Tue Sep 14, 2021 8:08 pm

Looks like we received 8-10" of rain in the last 36 hours at the main farm/hunting camp. That will certainly change the landscape for the birds this weekend. The last few days the farmers were racing to get rice cut on some fields that were scheduled for the end of teal season so hopefully we will pick up a couple of new water blinds that we had written off for this year. Thankful we only got a 2' "storm surge". That shouldn't add any salt water to places where it doesn't need to be as long as the levees and gates held firm.
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby DComeaux » Tue Sep 14, 2021 8:18 pm

Good to read you guy's came out out okay. We'll check our situation this weekend.
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby jrock75 » Mon Sep 20, 2021 1:20 pm

Date: 9/17/2021

Time: Afternoon

Location: Late planted rice field that is still un harvested with a small hole rolled out

Cloud Cover: Mostly Sunny

Wind Direction and Velocity: Almost nothing

Temperature: mid 80s

Waterfowl Activity: Not much flying around. Saw lots of mottled ducks even some large 12+ sized groups.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: The large groups wanted into the sheet water in the field north of us. We knew that is where they had been hanging out all week, just no where to hide.

Hunters: 3 (Shane and Brett, childhood friends)

Dog(s): No Roux yet again. He was extremely lethargic last week so I didn't want to subject him to the afternoon sun.

Special Equipment: 3 teal mojos

Curses: None

Kudos: Group of 3 ducks came in and all 3 stayed. Better shooting out of the gate than I expected from two deer hunters who typically duck hunt once weekend a year.

Birds By Species: 3 bw teal

Photo Ops:
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby jrock75 » Mon Sep 20, 2021 1:51 pm

Date: 9/18/2021

Time: Morning

Location: Freshwater marsh in western Chambers Co.

Cloud Cover: Partly cloudy

Wind Direction and Velocity: Almost nothing initially with light north wind as morning progressed

Temperature: 80s

Waterfowl Activity: Tremendous flights of teal all morning. Most continuous flight activity I have seen during a teal hunt. About 9:00 they shifted and started moving northeast presumably to the rice fields. Saw thousands of birds.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: The groups of size knew where they were going and had no interest in our little pothole that was a foot deeper than is ideal and typical. Too much shallow water elsewhere for them to raft.

Hunters: 3 (Shane and Brett, childhood friends)

Dog(s): No Roux yet again. I didn't know how deep the water would be as no one had been back to this area since the storm. Wary of alligators and an old dog who swims slower than he used to.

Special Equipment: 3 teal mojos

Curses: I centered a small alligator in between the eyes with an overhead chop with a conduit mojo pole when he got closer than I wanted while putting out decoys. He retaliated by sending in his bigger brother to eat 3 of our downed birds before I could get to them.

Kudos: I put tracks on my Ranger over the summer to better access this spot as it was a great big duck hole last season but required a 3.5 mile marsh master ride that took so long it just wasn't practical on a regular basis. Ranger performed perfectly. Tracks were indeed the ticket. Looking forward to being able to hunt this pretty spot more frequently.

Birds By Species: 13 bw teal (should have had our limit but for the gator snacks and lost birds in the reeds)

Photo Ops:
Last edited by jrock75 on Mon Sep 20, 2021 2:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby DComeaux » Mon Sep 20, 2021 2:09 pm

The chance of a gator encounter has kept my Ellie at home. She's out and about when I'm loading the truck at home, and when I escort her back to the kennel when we're ready to leave, the look on her face says it all. I can't wait for cooler weather to take her out to the blind.
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby jrock75 » Mon Sep 20, 2021 2:09 pm

Date: 9/19/2021

Time: Morning

Location: Freshwater marsh in western Chambers Co.

Cloud Cover: Partly cloudy

Wind Direction and Velocity: Almost nothing

Temperature: 80s

Waterfowl Activity: Teal flight was but a small fraction of what it was the day before. The big groups were sky high in v's headed southwest. They looked like the "flight groups" of mallards and pintails from my childhood days in NE LA. We had to leave early given travel and family schedules but most of the hunters in the area were still at it (vs. lots of early limits he day before).

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Not very responsive. Pass shooting was the norm. Had one shot at them and that was it. I don't think the call mattered once.

Hunters: 4 (Shane, Brett and Mitch)

Dog(s): Given the gator activity the previous day, left Roux at home again. Maybe next weekend. I really miss hunting with him. I think this is finally the kick in the pants I need to find a replacement pup.

Special Equipment: 3 teal mojos

Curses: We all forgot how to shoot. Had two groups of 5-10 that left completely intact. Bad shooting meant 2nd and 3rd shot kills when the birds were over the reeds and hard to find. Had way too many singles and doubles sneak past us without firing a shot. High reeds surrounding the blind were a problem that will be fixed next time.

Kudos:

Birds By Species: 8 bw teal

Photo Ops:
9-19 teal pic.jpg
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby Duck Engr » Mon Sep 20, 2021 3:36 pm

Looks like a nice spot to watch the world come alive, bent barrels or not!
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby BGkirk » Tue Sep 21, 2021 6:43 am

Swap that conduit out with rebar and that gator won’t be able to send a message to others for retaliation


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby jrock75 » Sat Sep 25, 2021 3:02 pm

Date: 9/25/2021

Time: Morning

Location: Jackson ranch rice field - temporary teal season blind

Cloud Cover: Pretty clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: Slight north wind

Temperature: 60s

Waterfowl Activity: Slowest morning of this teal season by far. Some large flocks east of us heading south from the rice towards the marsh at daylight. Little action after that. Our birds are gone. Lots of blinds around us hunting with limited shooting. None of our blinds spread out all over the county had a good day. Last weekend was slow for many but this one is looking slow for all.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: The few that were flying near us came right in. Best group was ~15 that swung right in about 10 minutes before shooting.

Hunters: 3 (Will, Josh)

Dog(s): Roux's first teal hunt this year. Easy day for the old man with 3 dead birds 20 yards from the blind in 4" water with a hard bottom. Had another dog in case the shooting was heavy and Roux couldn't keep up. She made a good find in the thick brush along a levee and did a good job honoring while Roux worked.

Special Equipment: 2 dove mojos

Curses: Wandered around the farm a bit trying to find a blind none of us had been to until we realized that the GPS spot we were targeting was last year's teal blind on this farm. Still were ready 15 minutes before legal shooting time.

Kudos: Beautiful weather. Having Roux back out there made my day. Easy in and out that had me back home by 10:15 so I could start the family birthday festivities for my wife. No need to use too much political capital this early in the fall. Its a marathon, not a sprint.

Birds By Species: 4 bw teal

Photo Ops:
Roux 9.25 - 2.jpg

Roux 9.25.jpg
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby Rick » Sat Sep 25, 2021 4:30 pm

Gotta love a gray muzzle.
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby jrock75 » Mon Sep 27, 2021 10:23 am

Date: 9/26/2021

Time: Morning

Location: Rolltop blind - unharvested rice

Cloud Cover: Clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: Slight north wind

Temperature: 60s

Waterfowl Activity: Day before was the slowest morning of the season. This one was much slower. Lots of blinds hunting in the surrounding thousands of acres with few shots fired. As is typical, the best group came in when I was standing out of the blind trying to get the line to a dead bird that neither Roux nor I saw that fell in the uncut rice. Had a mottled duck sitting at the edge of the decoys most of the morning. Several times we shot and it didn't budge. Saw 10x the number of big ducks as we did teal: mottleds, pintails, spoons. What teal we still have are apparently feeding at night. The harvested rice field blinds did very well in the evenings both days (but were all slow in the mornings).

Waterfowl Responsiveness: What flew by, generally came in. Just too few flying to do much with.

Hunters: 3 (Jack, Seth) + Grant (my non-shooter 7 year old)

Dog(s): Poor Roux fell into the pit blind in the dark, but was ok and had lots of energy the whole hunt. He didn't listen to the whistle as well as is typical. With the summer heat and his health declining over the last couple of weeks, I held off on any preseason work. Need to have a few sessions in the lot across from my house for a quick refresher when we have some more cool mornings.

Special Equipment: 2 dove mojos

Curses: None

Kudos: Beautiful morning. Glad to have Grant and Roux hunting together for the first time this teal season.

Birds By Species: 4 (3 bw teal, 1 gw teal)

Photo ops:
Grant - 9.27.jpg
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby jrock75 » Mon Nov 08, 2021 12:03 pm

Date: 11/6/2021

Time: Morning

Location: Freshwater marsh in western Chambers Co.

Cloud Cover: Clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE 5-10

Temperature: 40s

Waterfowl Activity: Had heard really good duck reports in the surrounding marsh but waterfowl flight activity didn't materialize as we had hoped. Some really large groups of teal south of us flying west at first light but the typical NE/SW flight pattern for this area didn't happen. I was surprised that we didn't have more gadwall moving around. They are usually thick in this marsh early with all the grass. Blinds around us are some of the best in the area and they all seemed to be in the same boat as us.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Birds didn't act like it was an opener. Only had one group really commit and that was ~10 shovelers.

Hunters: 4 (Dad, David and his friend Mitch + Grant)

Dog(s): Roux found a crippled mallard in the reeds I could have never located.

Special Equipment: 3 teal mojos

Curses: Shooting wasn't terrible, but it sure wasn't great

Other:

Birds By Species: 11 (1 mallard, 2 gadwall, 2 gw teal, 2 bw teal, 3 shovelers, 1 ring neck)

Photo Ops:
Blind - 11.8.jpg


Regans - 11.8.jpg
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby Rick » Mon Nov 08, 2021 12:43 pm

That's one happy kid.
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby Darren » Mon Nov 08, 2021 1:06 pm

That's good stuff! On east end of Louisiana, grays are scarce too at the moment.
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby DComeaux » Mon Nov 08, 2021 2:43 pm

Awesome hunt! That marsh looks good.
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby Duck Engr » Mon Nov 08, 2021 3:07 pm

Love seeing the big smile on a youngster!
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby Deltaman » Mon Nov 08, 2021 3:56 pm

Great report, and cool to see 3 generations of family in the same blind!!! Track buggy looks interesting too.
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby jrock75 » Mon Nov 08, 2021 4:45 pm

We are fortunate to get to hunt together 5-6 times a year even though Dad lives 330 miles away in NE LA.

We had a busy summer of rehab on the old Ranger. Grant was a big help in building and welding the new roof rack and installing the new windshield and lights. I got stuck a few times last year in places that should have been easily passable and I didn't want to join the all to common race around our camp to see who can jack his Ranger up the highest. I had ridden in a Ranger with tracks once before and we went into some soft bottom places that one with tires could only dream of traversing so I took a chance on some. All in all, I am very satisfied. I can now access blinds that I simply couldn't get to before that required use of a Marsh Master.

The good
- You don't sink at all so no damage to soft roads and no ruts in the fields
- On roads with existing ruts the tracks ride above them making for a smoother, easier ride in
- Tracks naturally lifted the vehicle 3-4" providing much needed ground clearance without the mechanical stress of a lift kit.
- They clean up easier than I expected. Only tough cleanup was after riding through a field of unharvested rice but I don't think that was necessarily worse than it would have been with tires.

The bad
- They throw mud everywhere. I installed some large fender flares but need some more, particularly one that extend behind the vehicle to keep the mud from flinging up into the bed.
- No power steering on the Ranger so turning them at slow speeds requires some real effort.
- They are geared down vs. tires so you lose a good bit of top end speed but for what I do 20-25 mph is fast enough.
- Unknown how they will hold up long term

Ranger - 8.15 v3.jpg


Ranger - 8.15.jpg
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby Duck Engr » Tue Nov 09, 2021 9:10 am

Awesome! I look forward to seeing how they hold up.
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby Deltaman » Wed Nov 10, 2021 11:20 am

Never realized they were an option on a 4-wheel ranger, very cool!!
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby jrock75 » Sat Nov 13, 2021 8:06 am

Date: 11/13/2021

Time: Morning

Location: CRP/WRP in Northwest Iowa

Cloud Cover: Cloudy and snowing

Wind Direction and Velocity: NW 20-30

Temperature: 30s

Waterfowl Activity: Awesome day Pheasant hunting.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: N/A

Hunters: 17 (typical crew for this trip)

Dog(s): Dogs did a great job finding all the birds in the thick cover

Special Equipment: None

Curses: None

Other: I don't like missing a weekend of duck hunting but this annual pheasant trip is something special that I look forward to every year.

Birds By Species: 51 pheasants (limit of 3 per person)

Photo Ops:
Pheasant - 11.12.jpg
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby Duck Engr » Sat Nov 13, 2021 8:55 am

Wow awesome day! I love pheasant hunting in the snow!
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby Rick » Sat Nov 13, 2021 10:02 am

Whole lot of casserole on that wagon.
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Re: 2021-2022 Season Log

Postby Deltaman » Sun Nov 14, 2021 9:29 am

That's a big ole pile of pretty right there!!!!!!!! Looks like a good time was had by all, and can only imagine the camaraderie of 17 friends on an annual hunt of any kind! Good stuff jrock75!!!!!
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