2016-2017 Season Log

[Ericdc]

They all sitting north of highway 14 fat and sassy. One more day and then a big shake up


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[Rick]

We'll see...

[Rick]

Date: 11/18

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: southerly 8 or 10mph

Temperature: warm

Moon phase: 77% waning

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Pretty much a rubber stamp of yesterday with even fewer woodies seen, but one flock of likely new mallards.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: The mallards came easy as pie, as did the lone teal and lone spoon we saw. Blackjacks are still responding surprisingly well to burring on the squacky tuned DC. Be interesting to see how that holds up...

Hunters: 2, Al and David

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh continues to look like he knows what he's doing on marks and shows fine none and improving skill nabbing lively crips. Waiting for him to eat a duck or some such.

Special Equipment: SOS, again killing spinner for most jacks

Curses: still no ducks

Kudos: guys shot well, especially Al, but Dave had his moments. too.

Birds By Species: 1 bw teal, 2 mallards, 9 ringnecks and 1 shoveler

[DComeaux]

Tomorrow morning will be interesting.

[Rick]

Or not...

[Ericdc]

My brother and 2 other guys had a decent shoot this morning west of you. Mostly teal and some gads. They been struggling since Sunday.

Like Comeaux said, tomorrow changes everything.


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[Rick]

Hope so, because we've apparently run out of woodies and have surely saluted every ringneck in the marsh that was curious enough to check out my racket.

[Rick]

Date: 11/19

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: STRONG NE

Temperature: upper 40s

Moon phase: 65 waning

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Lots of high, apparently new, geese coming back from the Gulf. No high, apparently new, ducks flights seen on our end. But there were more big ducks shuffling around than we've seen most of this week, though not enough for our crew.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Birds responded much better than the guns.

Hunters: 2 who make this annual corp hunt

Guns:

Malfunctions: One had changed the stock on his Benelli and left it loose. Also apparently couldn't get more than one of 3 1/2" shells he insisted on using (instead of my reserve 2 3/4"s) into its magazine. But at one point he was trying to pry a "stuck" round out of the magazine with his buddy's pocket knife, until I showed him how a magazine latch works. And we wouldn't want to forget the battle to keep his new Go-Pro attached to its barrel. Crumby gun.

Dog(s): Marsh and I went to war over getting him past a kicking bird that was going nowhere to get after a chipped woodie out in the marsh - which got up and flew off when we did get him to it.

Special Equipment: Just the spinner.

Curses: not enough birds to make up for our crowd control and shooting issues

Kudos: Nice guys that had a good time.

Birds By Species: 1 bw teal, 2 gadwall, 2 mallards, 2 mottleds, 2 pintails, 3 ringnecks, 3 shovelers and 1 wood duck

[Darren]

Leave it to the mudhole to produce eight different species of ducks, and did so without the help of a GWT in the mix.

[Rick]

Also , meant to ask you Rick what you thought about speck floaters or if you've ever used them in the mud hole.

I now have a few Tanglefree speck floaters out there, but can't say they hurt or hinder with any real certainty. Since morning specks are looking to feed, rather than loaf, I believe full-bodies made to appear ankle deep with conduit stake extensions a better choice, if you've no "land" option for FBs.

[Rick]

...without the help of a GWT in the mix.

A BIG bunch of greenwings tried to land in the lee right in front of the blind, but when I gave the go-ahead to shoot, no one did. Asked why: "Damn gun." and "I don't know."

Just one of those days.

[Ericdc]

Did not see a teal yesterday morning. We didn't squander our 4 shooting opportunities though, just wish we'd have had more chances...today's a new day.


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[Bruce Yerkes]

So Rick, who is cooking this year for the camp? Looks like Marsh is doing well. Maryland season has started and I am out of town with the Mrs on 35th anniversary trip. But headed home today and looking forward to some blind time. ALthough the anniversary trip was great also. What a saint I married. Looking forward to my annual trip to Doug's in January.

Bruce.

[Rick]

35 years with you would take a saint. Kidding, of course, and congratulations.

Gregory is back in the kitchen and doing a fine job. Sill miss my daily Jenny Rose hug, and copped one the other day in town, but Doug made toast of that bridge.

[Rick]

Date: 11/20

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE light to E strong

Temperature: upper 30s early

Moon phase: 57% waning

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Saw the most big ducks to date plus bunches of spoons but still precious few teal (took our 7 out of two ops).

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Fun to be working big ducks again.

Hunters: 2, Chris and Kelly from the same corp group as yesterday's hunters

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh has apparently lost faith in my directions and flat shut me off on handling, listening only as a last resort when his own better ideas failed to pan out. Refresher course to follow posting this.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Just Marsh.

Kudos: Beautiful morning to be in the marsh.

Birds By Species: 1 bw teal, 1 gadwall, 6 gw teal, 6 mallards, 1 mottled, 2 ringnecks and 1 wigeon

Photo Ops: Kelly and Chris:

[Darren]

...without the help of a GWT in the mix.

A BIG bunch of greenwings tried to land in the lee right in front of the blind, but when I gave the go-ahead to shoot, no one did. Asked why: "Damn gun." and "I don't know."

Just one of those days.

That's about right, Raymond went back to our blind this morning and reported "we had a monster wad of greenwings do it right, came right in our face and we didn't touch a feather, embarrassing" haha so they're making clowns of many gunners across the region right now. They did get their twelve though so going strong down there still

No Jeffrey in the kitchen, was he not the one from last year or am I mistaken?

[Rick]

It's Jeffery, I had a brain fart. Happens more and more...

[Darren]

Everything we had last year was wonderful, but like you said, still no Jenny Rose. Enjoyed my chats with her during the early afternoon hours and she taught me a few things about cooking

[DComeaux]

Glad to see you got some new birds to work with. Another front coming through on Wednesday. Hopefully we get some reinforcements.

[Rick]

Another front coming through on Wednesday. Hopefully we get some reinforcements.

I'm still thankful to the last front of weekend openings to our north or whatever brought us the current bump. Was getting way too skinny to make it work well for most of the folks we get to hunt, and some days too skinny, period.

[Rick]

Date: 11/21

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: easterly light to moderate

Temperature: 40s

Moon phase: 45% waning

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Must have been a ton of little ducks on the east end, as we couldn't get a big duck in without it being binged out by shooting up wind. We had some teal, too, and enough big ducks that we still woulda, coulda, shoulda been done much earlier.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Lord knows they tried to die when we didn't show our hand. Been having good luck the past few mornings with aggressive feeds for mallards that pushed off the show in the blind or whatever once in close.

Hunters: 2, father and grown son, Harold and Mark

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh handled much better after yesterday afternoon's no pressure, all fun refresher course but got caught eating a duck's head in the boat. We had a "come to Jesus meeting" then and there, so it will be interesting to see if that's that or a preview of coming attractions. Wasn't too long after that he handled well to the area of a long fall, hunted up and finally ran down a tipped mallard to redeem himself.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Guess I could fuss about a number of things other than Marsh's "indiscretion," but they just let us stay out enjoy more of a beautiful morning.

Kudos: Great day to be alive and outside.

Birds By Species: 1 bw teal, 4 gadwall, 4 gw teal, 6 mallards, 2 ringnecks and 1 wood duck

Photo Ops: Marsh's redemption:


Our lone woodie on en route to the taxidermist:


Making of a hero shot:


Behind the scenes, "Oof.":

[Rick]

I am taking 2 - 11 year old grandchildren to hunt Tuesday and Wednesday - I hope the ducks are still there for them.

May they fly like balloons for the occasion.

[Rick]

Date: 11/22

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: parly

Wind Direction and Velocity: SE strong

Temperature: cool

Moon phase: 36% waning

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: The wind preferred by most in our area failed to produce a big show of anything.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Thankfully good on reasonable chances, but I had little luck at all breaking the really high stuff all the way down. Maybe too much trouble in the wind, maybe they thought I sucked wind...

Hunters: 2, Camron and Noah, young guns home from HS for the holiday week

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh ate the skin off a ringneck's neck, and I ate some skin off his lip. Then he got balky about stopping for the whistle, though that may have been because I've been using a quiet little Acme 212 "spaniel" whistle. So I switched it out for a super loud Sonic Blast after the hunt, and we'll see... On the other hand, he saved us a pair of runaway mallards and a few jacks that never would of been seen again without his nose.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Was tickled to have these young guns I knew to be well trained by their dads, and thought we'd get even for the last few days of big duck frustration - only those big ducks apparently found another place to be.

Kudos: Great kids who made their own hunt.

Birds By Species: 6 gw teal, 4 mallards, 1 mottled and 7 ringnecks

Photo Ops: This gal was one of two mallards that fell "dead" in the pond but were half way to Timbuktu when Marsh caught up to them:

[Rick]

Date: 11/23

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: partly

Wind Direction and Velocity: southerly variable

Temperature: warm

Moon phase: 27% waning

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: all too typically dead pregnant feeling morning before a front arrives

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Most of what little we saw came pretty with little interruption from a quiet marsh - except a group of maybe twenty pintails that were banged off their final landing approach by a single shot on the east end of the marsh.

Hunters: 1, John, a long time regular who I believe is now 80 and is having rough medical times.

Guns: He brought a sweet Remington model 48 20ga

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh had an easy morning, which he probably needed.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: I really wanted what could be John's last hunt to be a special one. And I lacked the presence of mind to sneak some candid shots of John in the blind

Kudos: All things considered, John shot well, and we had a fine visit.

Birds By Species: 1 gadwall, 1 gw teal, 1 mallard, 2 ringnecks, 1 shoveller and 1 wood duck

Photo Ops: "You want this thing or not?"


Seems the season of the jack:


Eyeing a DOA gray on the west end of the pond:


Lagniappe Believe I'm getting old, myself, as I can remember feeling disappointed when I saw John in camp and knew he could get so caught up in conversations birds would likely catch us, and he'd probably brought a new gun from his collection that he'd struggle some getting accustomed to, costing us yet more shooting opportunities. Now, I find myself tickled to see him in camp and hoping to do so again when he's scheduled to return again in January.

[Ericdc]

Date: 11/23

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: partly

Wind Direction and Velocity: southerly variable

Temperature: warm

Moon phase: 27% waning

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: all too typically dead pregnant feeling morning before a front arrives

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Most of what little we saw came pretty with little interruption from a quiet marsh - except a group of maybe twenty pintails that were banged off their final landing approach by a single shot on the east end of the marsh.

Hunters: 1, John, a long time regular who I believe is now 80 and is having rough medical times.

Guns: He brought a sweet Remington model 48 20ga

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh had an easy morning, which he probably needed.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: I really wanted what could be John's last hunt to be a special one. And I lacked the presence of mind to sneak some candid shots of John in the blind

Kudos: All things considered, John shot well, and we had a fine visit.

Birds By Species: 1 gadwall, 1 gw teal, 1 mallard, 2 ringnecks, 1 shoveller and 1 wood duck

Photo Ops: "You want this thing or not?"


Seems the season of the jack:


Eyeing a DOA gray on the west end of the pond:


Lagniappe Believe I'm getting old, myself, as I can remember feeling disappointed when I saw John in camp and knew he could get so caught up in conversations birds would likely catch us, and he'd probably brought a new gun from his collection that he'd struggle some getting accustomed to, costing us yet more shooting opportunities. Now, I find myself tickled to see him in camp and hoping to do so again when he's scheduled to return again in January.

Glad you were able to enjoy the hunt with him.

I enjoyed hunting with a close long time friend this morning also.


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[Bruce Yerkes]

Rick, I hope I am able to hunt with John again this coming January as I had the pleasure last January. Glad he is still coming to hunt with you at Doug's.

Bruce.