Season Log 2024-2025

[Darren]

Family had a big hunt at Oak Island yesterday in the snow, mallards, pins, teal, spoons and couple specks per the pic I saw.

[Rick]

Family had a big hunt at Oak Island yesterday in the snow, mallards, pins, teal, spoons and couple specks per the pic I saw.

They've been needing that.

[Rick]

My guys opted to sleep in today, which turned out to be a very good thing for our camp manager and may not have been a bad thing for them. Didn't learn I had no one until "Oh, yeah..." as the last other boat was going out, but decided to go break the route to my pond, anyway. Knew I'd not want to break my pond's ice up any worse than need be getting in and out at this point, the chunks from which would make it look even more unnatural, given our remaining days in the deep freeze. So I took calls to play with but no gun.

Very soon found myself behind the only other boat taking our fork in the runs today, Clark's, and that he plainly didn't know how to let the boat break its own ice by getting atop it. Took forever putting to his usual turn off, which he took, so I was able to start making time - and found he'd turned back and was behind me at my usual turn and his option. So after breaking that shared part, I took his turn and broke the course to his boathide, at which point he asked me to break up his pond, too.

Pointed him to the mess behind us and then to his frozen pond and suggested he was better off with the later. Over which they shot 10 mallards, 2 pintails, 2 mottleds and filled with misc.. Robbed myself of the camp's mallard strap lead, which had been the six at Christmas and again the other morning. But he and his guys sure were pumped.

Then went on to my blind:

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Where I shoveled (with a dust pan) a near, if not, foot of snow out of the pit and off the dog stand to keep it from going through the slippery-assed thaw and freeze periods we're going to go through the next few days and nights. Shouldn't be nearly as slippery as those that were hunted this morning will be tomorrow - and perhaps the next day. Also snapped an ice shot "for posterity":

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Moved plenty of ducks from spots along my way and saw big bunches showing lots of pintail (or spoon) white grounded or jumping and quickly re-landing out in the refuge area we call "the body," but I didn't see a single bird pass my blind while I was in my area and cleaning the blind. Hunters might have just seen a long cold morning...

[Duck Engr]

Losing the mallard lead to Clark might be a good thing. Could’ve saved you from getting moved to the boat ditch for next season

[Deltaman]

With snow covering the area, and taking away familiar sighted points of reference, I imagine trying to run to your blinds in the dark would be somewhat sketchy too Helluva duck strap that Clark's party limited out with, considering the lack of big ducks to date

[Rick]

Date: 1/23/25 Thur

Time: morning

Location: #3

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: calm

Temperature: 20 but felt warmer without wind

Moon phase: waning 34%

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Very little of anything moving near us, not even teal or jacks, but some of everything occasionally getting up and going back down in the body/refuge area out front. Few mallards that passed within hailing saved our hunt.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Pintails that made it to us all went back where they came from, but mallards and a mottled bought the call and never mind the unbroken ice and unrecognizable decoys. Shot them as they should be. Our squealers weren't buying in and were killed passing too close.

Hunters: 2 Ashton and Jeff

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Had a chipped greenhead go down on the edge of the pond and proceed to walk off into the canouche and couldn't help but think how much fun the pup at home would have had running him down for us.

Special Equipment:

Curses: Just the lost mallard and that travel issues had us shutting down early.

Kudos: Guys were great, and we could have done a lot worse, given the givens.

Birds By Species: 2 black-belllies, 3 mallards and 1 mottled

[Rick]

Losing the mallard lead to Clark might be a good thing. Could’ve saved you from getting moved to the boat ditch for next season

That's a thought. Had two more mallards than him this morning: "three times as many," as it were. But he also had a pintail, a few teal and jacks and a mess of squealers to put him 9 birds up on us for the morning. Doubt we'd have hit his number this morning if we'd stayed out as long. So, hopefully, I'm safe where I am.

[Rick]

With snow covering the area, and taking away familiar sighted points of reference, I imagine trying to run to your blinds in the dark would be somewhat sketchy too

Thankfully, our guys were slow coming out of the camp for our blizzard morning, so we didn't have to fight blinding snow in the dark.

[Rick]

Date: 1/24/25 Fri

Time: morning

Location: #3

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: light easterly

Temperature: 30?

Moon phase: waning crescent

Special Notes: Folks who had the day canceled, so it was a play day.

Waterfowl Activity: Watched thousands of pintails and teal drop into the body, but didn't have much of anything come near the blind: very few teal, no jacks, few spoons and next to no squealers.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Broke but a very few pintails and mallards off the body. Was only going to shoot a couple greenheads and maybe a sprig if they did it just right, which none of the pintails quite managed before peeling off to the body. But, while much, much more sparse, the mallards were more accommodating.

Hunters: Just me. Begged off an invite to hunt with Clark and Wayne at Clark's blind (which was apparently pintail central), because I wanted to break up my pond's ice so it would melt and i can fix the storm's decoy mess this afternoon.

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s):

Special Equipment:

Curses: Was all proud of my two shots, two greenheads (out of small groups) shooting when a third (single) worked too pretty to pass up and I clean missed it three times. "Pride goeth before..."

Kudos: Sweet morning of bird watching, and I got the ice broken around my, Wayne's and the north blind's decoys.

Birds By Species: 2 mallards

[Darren]

Sounds perty sweet!

[DComeaux]

That sounds to me like a perfect morning in the duck blind.

[Duck Engr]

Sounds pleasant!

[Rick]

Date: 1/25 Sat

Time: morning

Location: #3

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: East moderate

Temperature: low 30s

Moon phase: waning sliver

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: The body that had been such a sight yesterday appeared a ghost town from our angle this morning. Heard the west end was loaded with teal, and while far from "loaded," they were what we saw the most of and just (nearly) enough of other species for good shots to fill.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Teal were on their best behavior, but three pairs of grays blew me off - or one pair locked and left three times just to mess with me. And a pair of mallards and pair of pintails "did it right".

Hunters: 2, Chris and Eric, whose group couldn't get here yesterday.

Guns:

Malfunctions: Eric had a borrowed A5 that would accept the 3" shells he brought, and we were both glad I keep a box of 2 3/4" 12ga shells in my blind box.

Dog(s): Call was glad to be back and caught a greenhead that made it to shore ahead of him - then set it down to pee. It ran off. After which I got POed and we bumped heads hard over where he should be looking. I know, I know trust the guy with the nose, even when he'd following it impossibly far, but he was also blowing off recall - which no gator country dog ever should do. Was also blowing off my casts elsewhere until I finally let him roll and catch it.

Special Equipment: 2 spinners.

Curses: Just that I'd promised my guys a bird show that had moved.

Kudos: Nice guys passed a nice time.

Birds By Species: 4 blue-wings, 6 green-wings, 2 mallards, 2 pintails, 1 ringneck and 2 shovellers

[Rick]

Date: 1/26 Sun

Time: morning

Location: #3 and Byron's blind

Cloud Cover: cloudy w/occasional sprinkles

Wind Direction and Velocity: east again dammit

Temperature: 50s

Moon phase: sliver waning

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: My blind was pretty dead again with a few teal early, no squealers at all and next to no big ducks that weren't nose-bleed high.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Like to blew the stopper out of both Butch's over-bored MVP and the Singleton cutdown and was lucky to bend many, much less get a circle or two before they went on. Since Byron had filled on teal, we forewent shooting the squealers that were moving well there for a while - and saw next to no teal to try working. Then took us forever to fill on the squealers that had quit moving.

Hunters: 1, Tom

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Call was being balky about handling and occasionally got fussed for whining.

Special Equipment: 2 spinners

Curses: After Byron called to say his blind was open and we decided to give it a go and got packed up, a young speck passed and turned to my call. My gun was on the boat hide but Tom's was still in the blind and he loaded while a brought the speck around and down low over the blind. Tom, who's a much nicer guy than he is shot, missed his first shot and answered my "Shoot again!" with "Can't." Had only loaded one shell, which pretty much sums up how our morning went.

Kudos: Tom was great throughout.

Birds By Species: 8 black-bellies, 2 green-wings, 1 shoveller and 1 wigeon

[Darren]

"Shoot again"
"Can't"

Had to be brutal

[Deltaman]

Great reports Rick, Thanks!!!!!

[Rick]

Date: 1/27 Mon

Time: morning

Location: #3

Cloud Cover: misting off and on

Wind Direction and Velocity: NW moderate

Temperature: mid 50s and dropping some

Moon phase: waning 4%

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: The north wind's westerly cant was enough to bring plenty of black-bellies returning to their favored haunts near enough to toll, which was a blessing as "real ducks" were still in short supply.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Good enough.

Hunters: 2, Jeff and Jason

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Call had a really good morning to include tracking down the same sprig twice. It had made it to the bank and disappeared while he retrieved it's crippled twin that didn't make it out of the pond, so I took him as near where it disappeared and told him to "go to work" (our hunt-'em-up"). He found it quickly, but it hauled butt back into the pond between gun and dog, then dove never to reappear. When it became clear it had an aquatic hideout we couldn't locate, he and I made a couple boat passes just outside of the floating mud and debris line where it apparently hid, then made a big loop of the pond to give it time to try a new tactic. That ploy worked, and his next "go to work" along the bank yielded a new track that led him it's maker.

Special Equipment: flicking the spinners on and off helped draw enough BBs off their course.

Curses: None

Kudos: The guys shot well enough for a quick hunt.

Birds By Species: 10 black-bellies, 1 blue-wing, 3 green-wings, 1 fulvous, 2 pintails and 1 shoveller

[Rick]

Date: 1/28 Tue

Time: morning

Location: #3

Cloud Cover: cloudy

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE moderate

Temperature: 50s

Moon phase: nearly new

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Nearly no real ducks seen, just occasional black-bellies passing to north.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Most thankfully good.

Hunters: 2, Joe and Trip

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Call had a good/easy morning.

Special Equipment: Spinners flicked on and off to help tease the distant squealers off course.

Curses: New hunters with borrowed guns.

Kudos: Nice guys who eventually figured much of it out

Birds By Species: 14 black-bellies, 1 mallard, 1 ringneck and 1 shoveller

[Rick]

Date: 1/29 Wed

Time: morning

Location: #3

Cloud Cover: cloudy

Wind Direction and Velocity: E moderate to fairly strong

Temperature: 50s

Moon phase: brand new

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Next to nothing moving within sight for quite a while before occasional, mostly "optimistic" calling ops were seen later in the morning.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Every now and then optimism payed off.

Hunters: 2, Chris and a different Trip than yesterday's.

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Call's handling while swimming generally sucks, but he's death's shadow on crips when taken to their LZ and released to "Go to work."

Special Equipment: Spinners have hurt more than helped with most everything else lately, but flicking them on and off helped tease distant black-bellies off their favored turf.

Curses: just that the marsh seems so incredibly barren on our end.

Kudos: Chris and Trip were the best duo of shots I've carried this year and killed nearly everything I could toll.

Birds By Species: 6 black-bellies, 2 gadwall, 2 green-wings, 2 mallards, 1 pintail, 1 ringneck and 1 shoveller

Photo Ops: Busted...

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[Ericdc]

What's your take on the extra late 3rd split so far?


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[Rick]

What's your take on the extra late 3rd split so far?

That it's a stupid bow to stupid people.

[Ericdc]

What's your take on the extra late 3rd split so far?

That it's a stupid bow to stupid people.

I agree completely. You guys missed 2 good weeks of weather in mid January.


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[Darren]

What's your take on the extra late 3rd split so far?

That it's a stupid bow to stupid people.

I agree completely. You guys missed 2 good weeks of weather in mid January.


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All of the above, is correct.

[Rick]

Date: 1/30/25 Thurs

Time: morning

Location: #3

Cloud Cover: fog

Wind Direction and Velocity: SE moderate

Temperature: warm

Moon phase: Waxing 9%

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Nothing but lost squealers seen until fog broke, than lots of jacks and teal seen, though mostly high.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Teal were better behaved than the recent norm.

Hunters: 2, Scott and Brian

Guns:

Malfunctions: Brian fought and fiddled with his gun most of the hunt.

Dog(s): Call had another really nice morning.

Special Equipment: Didn't more than tease anything with spinners.

Curses: The very few big ducks we saw didn't like the tall guy who'd not try hiding.

Kudos: Guys who were just going to shoot a couple black-bellies found them like potato chips and had to be reminded we might shoot "real ducks" after the fog.

Birds By Species: 10 black-bellies, 6 green-wings and 2 fulvous whistling ducks

[Darren]

found them like potato chips and had to be reminded we might shoot "real ducks" after the fog.

But they're so fun when they come low and slow, tame tame!

[Rick]

You guys missed 2 good weeks of weather in mid January.

The weather's going to do what it does when it does. Can't control or outguess it.

But we could give the birds a chance to recoup for reproductive purposes and, heaven forbid, enjoy hanging out in what's left of Louisiana's habitat for a while doing so. instead, we're shooting ourselves in the foot.

[Ericdc]

You guys missed 2 good weeks of weather in mid January.

The weather's going to do what it does when it does. Can't control or outguess it.

But we could give the birds a chance to recoup for reproductive purposes and, heaven forbid, enjoy hanging out in what's left of Louisiana's habitat for a while doing so. instead, we're shooting ourselves in the foot.

Agree, biologically it's better for the ducks to be hunting January 15th than January 31st, albeit not by much but some.


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[SpinnerMan]

[The weather's going to do what it does when it does. Can't control or outguess it.

Come on Rick. Of course we can out guess the weather.

I think your 2 split season is crazy Start, stop, start, stop, start. Crazy micromanaging OCD to get that extra 1% of the birds.

I wish and think it's the best to have one split. An early season for the early birds and a late season for the late birds.

But we could give the birds a chance to recoup for reproductive purposes and, heaven forbid, enjoy hanging out in what's left of Louisiana's habitat for a while doing so. instead, we're shooting ourselves in the foot.

I also think having the seasons uniform across most of the flyway would be beneficial. Obviously there is a limit to this for the far north, but Illinois south. Having our first half and second half the same as Louisiana would work out pretty well.

As is, birds that head south are hunted practically nonstop from early September until late January. What do you think is going to happen to that part of the population over a couple decades? Compare that with the part of the population that winters as far north as they can. They are hunted nonstop from early September until mid December in a warm year and late December in cold year. They are hunt a month less and on top of that in areas with a far lower density of hunters. What do you think is going to happen to that part of the population over a couple of decades relative to their brethren that venture far to the south?

I think the decades of a 60 day season is a major driver in the population shifts. Those that wonder south get shot up longer. Those that roam around as opposed to remain steadfast to their refuges get shot up more. Stay north or stay in the refuge and you will live longer and have more babies. Go south and wonder around the landscape and you are more likely to end up on the dinner table and have less babies.

On top of that, there has been a whole lot of wetlands improvement and construction up north over the last few decades as compared to the wetlands draining and destruction that was so prevalent generations ago. There's one that I drive by almost every day. When I first moved hear in 2002. It was just a big patch of impenetrable phragmites. About 15 years ago, they did a restoration and now it's about 200 acres of prime waterfowl habitat that holds a lot of waterfowl until it freezes solid. These projects are all over the place as well as retention ponds everywhere. They extended one section of the interstate. It is lined with retention ponds that hold a lot of ducks as well. When they freeze, I can go over to the river that never freezes and it is wall to wall ducks as far as you can see up and down the river because you can't hunt in that area.

[Ducaholic]

I'd be all for season that open and closes simultaneously or as close as reasonably possible. Any state or zone at or below I-80 should be hunting at least until Mid-January given the changes in weather and habitat that's capable of wintering ducks longer than ever before.

[SpinnerMan]

I'd be all for season that open and closes simultaneously or as close as reasonably possible. Any state or zone at or below I-80 should be hunting at least until Mid-January given the changes in weather and habitat that's capable of wintering ducks longer than ever before.

Being able to hunt ducks until mid January would be a dream. The cooling lake I hunt near is about 15 miles south of I-80.

However, there are some big money flooded corn in that area. They want the season as early as possible. They are done for the year as soon as they freeze up. They literally had the power to get our north zone boundaries redrawn so that they were moved from the central zone to the north zone which used to have I-80 as the boundary. This gave them an extra week at the beginning of the season. It also screwed over all the people in the area that hunted the rivers because their best hunting is the end of the season.