2023-2024 preseason...

[jrock75]

I was out at the farm on Sunday teaching Grant's "city kid" cub scout pack about the great outdoors. I heard the telltale yodel of a speck and about broke my neck craning around to find where. Watched a nice group of >100 fly over off in the distance and promptly land in one of our fields. Pic extracted from video was pretty bad. Also took an equally horrible pic later that day when I rode past that field. My excuse is that I was trying to hurry to keep from spooking them but my photography skills are challenged at best if a new phone can't do better than this. Seeing them sitting in there with all the ducks got me giddy and hopeful for the youth hunt. Grant would be beside himself with joy if he could pull off a speck, his #1 favorite waterfowl species and one of mine too.

First Specks in Air.png

First Specs.jpg

[Duck Engr]

Pics were certainly good enough to get the story across! Glad things are looking up out your way.

[Rick]

First saw them flying in Saturday and first heard them loud and clear Sunday, but seeing them on the ground remains something to look forward to.

[Darren]

Hoping to make it up to the bunkie farm next week on a cool morning......with of course hopes of seeing and hearing some speck traffic.

[Deltaman]

Glad to hear they are showing up!!!!

[Rick]

Glad to hear they are showing up!!!!

Telemetry work has confirmed that there is a world of difference between showing up and sticking around.

[Rick]

Began the search for Marsh's successor this past weekend and hating it for my seemingly suddenly old friend. Best case, he'll see sparing use this season with much more boat riding than swimming, as there's no way he could still begin to handle the flotant slush similar conditions once mandated for his uncle:

2011-2012hunting007-5a.jpg

[5 stand]

Began the search for Marsh's successor this past weekend and hating it for my seemingly suddenly old friend. Best case, he'll see sparing use this season with much more boat riding than swimming, as there's no way he could still begin to handle the flotant slush similar conditions once mandated for his uncle:

2011-2012hunting007-5a.jpg

Well my goodness,
I've actually forgot how old Marsh is...
Hopefully he just needs a rest...

[Deltaman]

WOW, time does fly! Seems like Marsh was a puppy just yesterday. How old is he now Rick?

[Rick]

WOW, time does fly! Seems like Marsh was a puppy just yesterday. How old is he now Rick?

Was 8 last January and starting to show the wear his job entails last season, but that seemed to be accelerated by this past summer's heat, despite living in the air conditioned house with us. No longer runs much or any distance of his own volition, and is returning to the bug-like gait of his puppyhood that begat his "Bug" nickname. Still plainly enjoying life and short land and water retrieves, but undeniably well over his working hill.

[Ducaholic]

Good Luck W/Your Search. It's Bittersweet or it was for me anyhow.

[jrock75]

Sorry to hear that about Marsh. Hope you find another gem. Seems like either luck is on your side or that you have an eye for a good pup. My bet is on the latter.

[Rick]

Seems like either luck is on your side or that you have an eye for a good pup.

I just do my best to pick parents apt to produce what I'm looking for - and count myself lucky, as well.

[SpinnerMan]

Seems like either luck is on your side or that you have an eye for a good pup.

I just do my best to pick parents apt to produce what I'm looking for - and count myself lucky, as well.

That and hard work and skill.

[Rick]

That and hard work and skill.

Mostly just time. We're building a foundation of good habits and avoiding bad ones through what's mostly play for young pups, while others are allowing and even encouraging the conditioning of bad habits that will later need broken. Whole lot more fun for all involved to make successes easy and build on them than to employ the "pressures" of Carr-based US mainstream training.

[Rick]

Messed around with some pond clearing on Cherry Ridge's marsh near the pumps:

002a.jpg

001a.jpg

Then checked out the first place their water will eventually enter our blind (north end of Gabe's pond, Darren):

008a.jpg

Could have walked to his blind without wetting the soles of my boots.

[DComeaux]

WOW.......

[Darren]

WOW.......

WOW is right

So we've got wheels and water in motion. Any light showing on the contracting front? Know full well water in the marsh is just the beginning of a path, but hoping maybe it brings all to the table.

[Rick]

Any light showing on the contracting front?

Nope, not as of two days ago.

[Rick]

Only good news about our marsh is that I managed to get back out of it after Thursday's exploratory adventure. Once I got the boat pried off it's trailer and into it, the main trail was passable for a good ways but filled with thick flotant that had popped from its bottom from Clyde's blind to my mudhole's east on west. Plenty of teal and never before seen concentrations of mottleds at Gabe's big pond but not enough water in it to take a boat much off the oft traveled rut from main trail to blind. And I didn't attempt passing through the narrow trails to the east blind or Isaac's for fear of not being able to pry the boat out and around (carried a 10' 4"x4" post) if/when the flotant plugs got too thick to break. Could break through to Clyde's north edge, but the rest of that pond was covered with flotant. Tried breaking the main trail to my blind but gave up halfway and felt blessed to get the boat pried back around, back to the truck and on the trailer.

Bottom line being that Adrienne and I are going to sit with Doug's widow, Miss Mary, Tuesday morning and pull the plug on her late husband's lodge. Which may be just as well, as the fellow now controlling the access made it clear that he intended to be prohibitively difficult to deal with, anyway.

So, there may be no Rick's hunting log this year, either. "We'll see..."

[Duck Engr]

Very sorry to hear that Rick. The only thing that stays the same is everything changes. Still doesn’t make it any better. Hope another outfit is wise enough to provide you with an opportunity to show others the world of waterfowling.

[Darren]

Very sorry to hear it, Rick. So enjoyed all the days spent at the camp and marsh. Lifetime memories

Always welcome to take a ride east for a weekend should you ever want to venture out.

[Rick]

Hope another outfit is wise enough to provide you with an opportunity to show others the world of waterfowling.

Probably way too late to pound that pavement for this season, but hope to at least be an extra hand to fill in somewhere. Then start politicking early for next year. But you never know: started with Doug's just for the '85 opener, then never missed a day since. And the camp before that was very much the same. So "we'll see..."

Always welcome to take a ride east for a weekend should you ever want to venture out.

Appreciate it, Darren, but my veteran partner, Marsh, put in for retirement this summer, so I'll be picking up a new rookie in Rockport next Saturday, and I hope to keep the sweetest gal in Louisiana that way by not sticking her with more than minimal puppy-sitting duties. Figure just bringing him on to be ready for prime time next fall will be ducky enough to satisfy me if nothing else turns up near home.

[5 stand]

The others have covered the" very sorry" part and did a fine job so I won't go there...

New puppy!!! I'm happy for you buddy...

[Rick]

The others have covered the" very sorry" part and did a fine job so I won't go there...

New puppy!!! I'm happy for you buddy...

There ya go. One door closes, so we'll open another - and it sure doesn't hurt if a puppy pops out.

[5 stand]

Made me grin, for a split second I could see a puppy coming around an Open door...

[DComeaux]

Bottom line being that Adrienne and I are going to sit with Doug's widow, Miss Mary, Tuesday morning and pull the plug on her late husband's lodge. Which may be just as well, as the fellow now controlling the access made it clear that he intended to be prohibitively difficult to deal with, anyway.

So, there may be no Rick's hunting log this year, either. "We'll see..."

After reading that I sat here staring at the screen in deep thought for a while. The end of a long, long chapter of SW LA waterfowl hunting.

[Rick]

After reading that I sat here staring at the screen in deep thought for a while. The end of a long, long chapter of SW LA waterfowl hunting.

My, but we had us a run. Don't have pecans materially to show for it, but sure feel blessed to have been along.

[Rick]

One Last Hail Call:

thumbnail_Red.jpg

(Breeder's photo, won't meet the new kid until Saturday.)

[Darren]

WOW how exciting!!?? Looking forward to following along

In the meantime, after going into September teal in his best physical shape in years, Harry's plainly put on a few pounds he needs to shed. No doubt such occurrence has roots in the fact that my MIL has lived with us for the past month, and the kids' sometimes double feeding.