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It's the egg picking portion of our preseason countdown here, and the helicopter marked 247 nests on this part of our range yesterday (despite finding "none" on over 8,000 acres of new marsh and not yet flying our stuff farther south and west ), so it won't be long before we find out just how miserable drought has made Southwest Louisiana's fresh marsh. Certainly not hating being kept in by a steady, if not nearly as hard as we'd wish, rain this morning.

Rick wrote:It's the egg picking portion of our preseason countdown here, and the helicopter marked 247 nests on this part of our range yesterday (despite finding "none" on over 8,000 acres of new marsh and not yet flying our stuff farther south and west ), so it won't be long before we find out just how miserable drought has made Southwest Louisiana's fresh marsh. Certainly not hating being kept in by a steady, if not nearly as hard as we'd wish, rain this morning.

Picking eggs (well, not me) has become an offseason milestone for me too as we follow along. Radar showing you should be in the colorful areas a while today so hopefully meaningful accumulations to help the cause.

Chenier is filling back up with fresh water, and has been for the last couple of days. Would love to see some widgeon grass in our pond this year. Hopefully the gator nest don't go under water.

DComeaux wrote:Would love to see some widgeon grass in our pond this year. Hopefully the gator nest don't go under water.

Made me smile. At this point, I'm just hoping to see enough water in the run to reach my blind and grind a slurry that looks kinda-sorta like a pond.

Darren wrote:Picking eggs (well, not me) has become an offseason milestone for me too as we follow along. Radar showing you should be in the colorful areas a while today so hopefully meaningful accumulations to help the cause.

Been a steady but much too light rain to have me looking forward to getting back into the marsh soon. Gonna be some serious misery this go around.

But, hey, the sight and smell of ripe rice is (or should be) less than a month away...

Rick wrote:

Darren wrote:Picking eggs (well, not me) has become an offseason milestone for me too as we follow along. Radar showing you should be in the colorful areas a while today so hopefully meaningful accumulations to help the cause.

Been a steady but much too light rain to have me looking forward to getting back into the marsh soon. Gonna be some serious misery this go around.

But, hey, the sight and smell of ripe rice is (or should be) less than a month away...

Wow.. figured ya were getting plenty


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BGkirk wrote:Wow.. figured ya were getting plenty

Usually start around Father's Day, but given the givens, I don't mind the late start. Have picked a few of the local walk-in nests I've found, and they were all better than expected for a year when water, and presumably food, was scarce.

Rick wrote:

BGkirk wrote:Wow.. figured ya were getting plenty

Usually start around Father's Day, but given the givens, I don't mind the late start. Have picked a few of the local walk-in nests I've found, and they were all better than expected for a year when water, and presumably food, was scarce.

I actually meant I figured ya were getting plenty of rain.


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Wasn't at all like what I heard Cameron caught. Mostly just a light, all day "soaker" of the kind those with beans were most thankful for but did little nothing for our area's marsh. May even have hurt in terms of spurring growth that's more bane than boon without standing water. Would hope our stuff down by Grand Chenier and over by Sweetlake caught significantly more.

What kind of eggs??

Report from our neighbors camp was Atleast 8-12”


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BGkirk wrote:Report from our neighbors camp was Atleast 8-12”

Excellent. Glad it made it at least that far up off the coast.

Rick wrote:

BGkirk wrote:Report from our neighbors camp was Atleast 8-12”

Excellent. Glad it made it at least that far up off the coast.

They wished and wished and wished, and STILL couldn't make a storm of that little blob. Goooood night, the hysteria these days......

PorkChop wrote:What kind of eggs??

Alligator. The alligator farms get their stock from the wild through a regulated permit system which includes mitigation by releasing more 3'-5' farm gators than would have survived to that size in the wild. And our little outfit picks eggs in places too small and/or nasty for the farms to fool with, incubates and sells the farms hatchlings.

Rick wrote:

PorkChop wrote:What kind of eggs??

Alligator. The alligator farms get their stock from the wild through a regulated permit system which includes mitigation by releasing more 3'-5' farm gators than would have survived to that size in the wild. And our little outfit picks eggs in places too small and/or nasty for the farms to fool with, incubates and sells the farms hatchlings.

Didn’t they cut down the percentage released back Into the wild ?


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BGkirk wrote:Didn’t they cut down the percentage released back Into the wild ?

Yes, 5%. Presumably at 4', with 3 and 5-footers running a percent higher or lower, respectively, as in the past. 'Least that was my understanding.

Rick wrote:

PorkChop wrote:What kind of eggs??

Alligator. The alligator farms get their stock from the wild through a regulated permit system which includes mitigation by releasing more 3'-5' farm gators than would have survived to that size in the wild. And our little outfit picks eggs in places too small and/or nasty for the farms to fool with, incubates and sells the farms hatchlings.

Interesting!!

Probably going to be way the hey beyond "interesting" without water to keep the bottom of an airboat wet and slick in tall vegetation and never mind the mud flats...

Big cheese keeps putting off our start, perhaps in hope of meaningful rain, but I'd sure like to be putting more of what I can get to on foot in the incubator. Not going to get any cooler out there as summer presses on. And if we piddle around too long, the little farts will be hatching in the nest and off limits.

Water!!! There's a good show of water in the mudhole!!! Not great, but good. And good beats snot out of what I've had to grind in past drought years. Will still have to make a pond, to include grinding a lot of invasive duck lettuce, but it's not mudflat or prairie.

Picked our marsh this morning and am flat tickled about its condition - so far. Pretty sure the Corp's lock management for tug traffic in the Intracoastal has saved us - so far. Worst news -so far - is that the water was high enough long enough that there may not be a stick of cane left in the marsh, which complicates hiding the blind and boat hide, but I'll take it.

Put in at CR's camp and crossed their mostly open water "body" and found it thick with wood ducks, so many of which were still small and flightless that one has to wonder if woodies aren't ground nesting in the area.

Today's storm looks to be moving your way, been on top of me since 5:00a this morning, hope it brings some lagniappe water to your marsh and others who might have a greater need for it.

Timing could have been worst here, as we were finished with one marsh, and the airboat was still on the trailer at another's launch site when the storm chased us home. Will add a morning of picking, but would rather that than be caught out in it - and still maybe have to go back.

Little breath of cool-ish breeze when I aired Marsh at 3 this morning made me think of the first little cool fronts at summer's end - and blue-wings. Then I remembered August.

But even that wasn't enough to knock the blue-wings out of mind...

I think one would have to take that out of your blood, not just your mind.

August won't last long.

Bud wrote:August won't last long.

Waiting on word to rob the last of the dozen nests I know I can get to, and then I'll be on long break and bored out of my mind until getting back in our marsh in September. August tends to be a very long month for me.

Rick how old is Marsh?

"My puppy" turned seven last January.

WOW, those 7 years sure flew by Rick!!!! Is Peake still alive?

No, Peake's been gone for three or four years now. But he's buried in a favorite place of his that Marsh and I visit often. Perhaps again in the morning, now that what are likely my last eggs for this year just went to the incubator.

Thanks for the update Rick!
I'm sorry for your loss, and know that a piece of you died with him. Glad that you took the time to take plenty of pictures of him working, and Thank You for sharing with us on your posts.