2023-2024 Season Log

[Duck Engr]

Nice bag with what sounds like great company! Did Gauge guide for Doug as well?

[Rick]

Felt guilty about leaving other grandsons out, but this one and I were in need of a one-on-one talk, and I could think of no better place. Was a good morning in that regard, as well.

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[Deltaman]

Great report Rick, and what a fine way to start Christmas day! Blind time with family is special in a lot of ways, and glad some birds cooperated for y'all. Hoping your mechanical issues are easily repaired, and this front brings you some more big ducks.

[Rick]

New partner, Call, is growing up:

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[5 stand]

Thank you, we need some waterfowlforum hero shots every once in awhile...

[Rick]

Ain't nothin' heroic about that little rip. Yet.

[Rick]

Well, he did hold still long enough for the photos. (But only after trying to play keep-away with his bumper.)

[DComeaux]

Photos made me smile. I'll be picking up my little one in a week or so.

[Rick]

Photos made me smile. I'll be picking up my little one in a week or so.

Brace yourself.

[Rick]

Date: 12/27 Wed

Time: morning

Location: AW's

Cloud Cover: partly

Wind Direction and Velocity: dead calm

Temperature: cool

Moon phase: big

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Very little of anything moving where we were.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: And we didn't hide when it did. Older boy would stand and look our big ducks in the eye and the little ducks wouldn't land for the boys. Had exactly one squealer when Neil filled out and called. Not enough squealers at his place to fill our party, but at least the boys got to shoot some.

Hunters: 3 kinda, father Alan with maybe 14yr old, Ray, who wasn't happy to be there and little brother, Ely, with his youth version Christmas gun that was still a little big for him who was pumped. Alan, being a good dad, wasn't shooting.

Guns:

Malfunctions: Ray loaded his shells backwards, twice, and suffered repeated "Benelli clicks" by not following my repeated advice on how to avoid them by letting the gun do what it was designed to.

Dog(s):

Special Equipment:

Curses: Not nearly enough game for the hunt Dad and Eli envisioned.

Kudos: Nice folks, and God bless Neil for sharing his spot.

Birds By Species: 11 black-bellies

[Rick]

Date: 12/28 Wed

Time: morning

Location: AW's

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: NW nil to moderate

Temperature: mid 30s

Moon phase: still full

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Dead, just plain dead on our end, and even slow over in squealer territory.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Our percentages were great: had a pair of mottleds locked on a single-quack series when the guns lost their water and lit a mallard 10yds behind the blind island (which also got out alive).

Hunters: 2, 80-something, Jim, and much younger Gunby (with an "n")

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s):

Special Equipment:

Curses: Slower than slow morning, was almost quitting time when Neil finished, and I lost one of our only two blue-wings in the grass.

Kudos: Nice, nice folks who were good company throughout.

Birds By Species: 1 (count her: one) bw teal

[Darren]

Yowza, sounds like we saw much the same non-activity today. At least glad I wasn't part of the mottled/mallard education gang, though.

[DComeaux]

I'm not a fan of hunting on the full moon.

[Rick]

Date: 12/29

Time: morning

Location: AW's

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: WNW nil to moderate

Temperature: frost

Moon phase: still big

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Another dead day at my blind. A very few plainly local blue-wings and fewer big ducks were about it.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Worked a pair of pintails, a gray duck and a pair of blue-wings into range, and that was that.

Hunters: 1, 80-something year-old, Dwayne

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s):

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Dwayne's pretty well aged out and wasn't fast enough getting underway on our three ops for me to waste a shell trying to help.

Kudos: May have been a good thing that he got cold and we went in an hour early.

Birds By Species: Put my first Cherry Ridge scratch behind me.

[Rick]

Date: 12/30 Sat

Time: morning

Location: 0 blind

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: dead calm all hunt

Temperature: warming up

Moon phase: still big

Special Notes: changed blinds for a change in luck

Waterfowl Activity: As with AW's squealers were either distant or high, but the few teal we saw didn't all know me.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Both green and blue-winged teal turned as came pretty to the call, as did a wigeon flying with the blue-wings. Sucked a mottled pair straight in to point blank with a single-quack series.

Hunters: 1, the big boss' boyfriend, Dub.

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Had Wayne bring his Lab, Guss, to hunt up the mottleds and try for Dub's Scotch tripled teal that swam into cover early in the hunt.

Special Equipment: spinner

Curses: Just that Guss couldn't locate Dub's mottled which crashed hard and may be lodged in cover under water near the blind.

Kudos: Dub is 80, but not nearly feeble like the past two morning's octogenarians and still a fine shot, as well as company.

Birds By Species: 2 bw teal, 3 gw teal, 1 mottled and 1 wigeon

[Rick]

Date: 12/31 Sun

Time: morning

Location: AW and Neil's

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: dead calm to very light ESE

Temperature: got warm quick

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Saw considerably more game than the last couple times at AW's, but shooting in the marsh messed us up time after time after time.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Birds large and small were quite responsive - prior to being blown out

Hunters: 2 father, Adam, and young daughter, Anna, on her first hunt.

Guns:

Malfunctions: Adam had a bad primer in at least one Winchester shell.

Dog(s):

Special Equipment: teased 'em with the spinner and wished I had the MMM I just repaired a nutria cut wire on last evening..

Curses: Just the timing of others' shooting.

Kudos: Adam was a fine shot and Anna had a fine time, thanks largely to Neil who finished and called to offer his blind when we just had a couple pintails and a couple squealers.

Birds By Species: 16 black-bellies and 2 pintails

[Darren]

Birds By Species: 16 black-bellies and 2 pintails

The more pessimistic among us may call that the new Louisiana 2-Step:

Two species total/two of some other bird, and pile of squealers to go with 'em. I'm at least a little more hopeful.

Got report from in-laws, sounded like they had quite a strong 1st split next door to you, but been tough so far this split.

[Ericdc]

We don't have them up here so it would have to be the coastal 2 step.


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[Rick]

Ducks is ducks.

[Ericdc]

Not arguing, we just don't have tree ducks, we did kill 3 5 years ago on a hard front, which was very odd.


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[Rick]

Not arguing...

Never crossed my mind that you might be.

[Rick]

Date: 1/1/24 Mon

Time: morning

Location: AW and Neil's

Cloud Cover: rained for a while but quit

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE light to dead calm to S light to NE moderate

Temperature: 50s?

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: started out well at AWs with a little of everything moving then crashed. But north winds favor Neil's blind for squealers, so we jumped at that easy OP.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Fixed the MMM and that helped at AWs and learned that screaming on the whistle like a wounded squealer can be a great draw (out of curiosity?) at Neil's

Hunters: 2, Dub and Phil

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s):

Special Equipment: teased with spinners and MMM

Curses: none

Kudos: Got home in time to watch LSU game - which may actually be a curse...

Birds By Species: 16 black-bellies, 3 green-wings and 1 shoveller

[Rick]

Date: 1/2

Time: morning

Location: AW's

Cloud Cover: partly to clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE moderate

Temperature: 30s

Moon phase: 65% waning

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Little of this and that throughout the morning

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Mottled followed the single quack to the guns, and pintails couldn't have come prettier.

Hunters: 2, Lloyd and young son Tillman

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s):

Special Equipment:

Curses: Lost a chipped hen wigeon in the grass, and we'd of done better if we hid better.

Kudos: Really nice morning with really nice folks.

Birds By Species: 1 bw teal, 1 gadwall, 1 gw teal, 1 mottled, 3 pintails, 1 ringneck, 1 scaup, 4 shovellers and 2 wigeon

[Ericdc]

Nice variety pack. Thinking they were new birds?


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[DComeaux]

Wow! Nice mix.

[Rick]

Thinking they were new birds?

Wish I did, but I doubt it. Just fell that way and younger, quicker guns sure didn't hurt.

[Rick]

Date: 1/3 Wed

Time: morning

Location: AW and Neil's

Cloud Cover: rains ended just before LST and skies cleared throughout the hunt

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE stiff to moderate

Temperature: 40s

Moon phase: half?

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Not a whole lot of anything moving at AWs, and most of the squealers were trafficking well short of Neil's blind, but should have been enough to finish there.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Should have been good enough.

Hunters: 2, Matt and son, Trigger

Guns:

Malfunctions: Forearm cap popped off my Montefeltro and rendered me unarmed. Thinking a modification I'd made to tighten the old, 1990s, forearm eventually caught up to me but haven't looked closely, yet.

Dog(s):

Special Equipment:

Curses: Lost a green-wing I thought dead and two squealers made it to grass before I could get a gun to them.

Kudos: Didn't get wet.

Birds By Species: 11 black-bellies, 1 gw teal, 1 ringneck, 1 ruddy (i brought home to try) and 2 shovellers

[DComeaux]

Let me know your thoughts on the ruddy.

[Rick]

I found it among, if not, the most easily peeled of ducks with surprisingly thin fillets for such a barrel-chested bird. Little surprised by how big the little diver's legs were by comparison. Sauteed medium rare in butter with a dash of Lawry's, the fillets were tender, fine grained and delicately flavored, while the legs (which I often favor) were tougher and more strongly flavored than expected.

All that said, I'm coming off a case of the crud that might make my observations suspect...

[Ericdc]

Are they in full plumage now?


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