2016-2017 Season Log

[Rick]

Date: 12/27

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: fogged in tight all hunt

Wind Direction and Velocity: zip to nil

Temperature: warm

Moon phase: n/a

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Don't know what, if anything, flew, just that we saw precious little.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Thankfully, most of what we did see did as bid.

Hunters: 1, Harold whose son and usual partner, Mark, couldn't make it.

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh lost a chipped mallard, but absolutely tore up the marsh trying.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Just the lack of opportunity and that ours turned out to be the big hunt.

Kudos: Have seen Harold struggle in the past, and he's slow getting underway, but he was flat stoning them today at 75. Can't wait to tell Mark that I now know who's been killing their birds.

Birds By Species: 2 gw teal, 2 mallards, 1 ringneck, 1 shoveler, 2 wigeon and 2 wood ducks

Photo Ops: The "action" had Marsh making use of Nonk Peake's dozing post and letting us know what he thought of the flight:

[DComeaux]

Fog is a pain.... I wish I could get Ellie to chill at the blind like your dogs.... I didn't work with her at all on this aspect of her job when she was younger, so it's my fault...Shes a small ball of energy, and a brush destroyer, which really pizzes me off.

Went home for lunch and when I went let Ellie out for a run I heard a familiar sound. Had a big bunch of snows and blues come over headed north. Haven't heard that wonderful sound as much this year as I have in the past..... Kind of miss it..

[Rick]

It actually is something we practice from the time they're small. But it probably helps that the flotant burns them out, too, though at the time that was taken this morning, he was probably just fried from staring at a wall of white and listening to me trill and squeal the damn 6-in-1 whistle at the nothingness.

[Rick]

Date: 12/28

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: dense fog, though not as bad as yesterday

Wind Direction and Velocity: calm to light southerly

Temperature: warm

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Pretty much the same as yesterday sans teal - which is to say precious little.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Thankfully sweet. Woodies worked sweet to speck call squeals, and the new brass herding dog whistle was spot on the black-bellies.

Hunters: 2, young but well experienced guns, Ben and Loran.

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Proud of my boy's hunt.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Just the weather and lack of opportunity.

Kudos: The guys shot very well and made ours the big hunt.

Birds By Species: 3 black-bellied whistling ducks, 1 gw teal, 2 mallards, 1 pintail, 3 ringnecks and 4 wood ducks

Photo Ops: Marsh and a chipped sprig that wouldn't raise its head for the camera:

[Ericdc]

nice hunt for stale conditions,,,tomorrow pot stirring

We need that pot poured out and refilled haha. But yes, hoping tomorrow is better. We supposed to have sun and good north wind up here.


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[Rick]

No telling what the new wind will bring or take, but it will be a welcome change, as I'm absolutely sick of looking at fog.

[Ericdc]

No telling what the new wind will bring or take, but it will be a welcome change, as I'm absolutely sick of looking at fog.

Yes I'm ready to see the sun some the next 2 days.


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[Ericdc]

No telling what the new wind will bring or take, but it will be a welcome change, as I'm absolutely sick of looking at fog.

id like to hear a recording of your blue wing mother hen call (I believe that's what you called it awhile back) and the woodie squeal with the speck call


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Easy $395 plus tip


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[Rick]

Or you could play this file for the teal: http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/3411

The woodie call is just a long, drawn out "sweeeeet" (NOT the quick, wavering "sweet, sweet, sweet" flight call) and variations there on squeezed from a speck call. Essentially the same as what you could get from a good woodie call but without adding one to the calls I'm already carrying.

[Rick]

The teal is just a simple two note "ah-ha" used to keep them from veering off, begun when they're headed our way and repeated at the quick, even cadence heard in the recording above.

I can't tell you what whistle I used to use to accurately mimic the tone of tree duck "tee-hee" and "tee-hee-hee"s, because I told the fellow passing it to me I wouldn't. But what I now use to get much louder and also imitate their fussing over food is a good metal herding dog whistle. The plastic or tinny metal Acmes won't cut it. Cheapest I've found that will chatter well is a stainless Montana Lite. But the loudest and most accurately toned I've tried is a brass Logan that will set you back $40-something from the UK. Here's a tape of the chatter I'm talking about: http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/58939

The woodie squeal is made by choking off the exhaust of a speck call, building air pressure and releasing it slowly with your hand - pretty much just as I believe I used to do it with a DC "wood duck" call. (And, yes, I've tried making a speck call out of one of those wood duck calls, too, but had better luck with the reverse.)

[Rick]

Date: 12/29

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: variable with front coming through - but no dang fog

Wind Direction and Velocity: light SW to STRONG northerly

Temperature: warm to cool

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Several bunches of teal early, not as many mallards as hoped (until we were done) but more grays than most days. Plus black-bellied whistling ducks on our end again.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Whistling ducks ate the herding whistle up again, but only Dillon would shoot one. Josh and I took turns calling big ducks, depending on who got them started, and he did a fine job.

Hunters: 2, Josh and Dillon

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh lost Dillon's chipped black-belly while trying to bring in a teal, as well, but Josh's keen eye saw it on the grass/flotant on the other side of the pond later on and Marsh caught it there. Also made a nice long blind on a pintail without a handling battle.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Maybe that we didn't know so many mallards would show as we picked up, but that would be about it.

Kudos: Just a real sweet morning with nice folks.

Birds By Species: 1 black-bellied whistling duck, 1 bw teal, 5 gadwall, 6 gw teal, 3 mallards and 2 pintails

[DComeaux]

Really nice!....You guys are making me really anxious.

[Rick]

You'd not have wanted to be out there on your open pond when this front blew in this morning, but tomorrow should be a sweet one for you.

[DComeaux]

You'd not have wanted to be out there on your open pond when this front blew in this morning, but tomorrow should be a sweet one for you.

All true....I'm looking forward to it. Just me and Justin, my son......oh! can't forget about Ellie.

[Rick]

Date: 12/30

Time: Morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: pretty heavy

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE light to brisk

Temperature: chilly in the wind

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Not a lot moving early, prompting a "ducks is ducks" attitude that proved wise, but a lot of HIGH birds later.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Had better luck breaking down high flights than getting them in front of the guns before someone else shot, some other glitch or they just got sick of listening to me.

Hunters: 2, Darren and Johnny

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh had a pretty easy morning.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Yesterday's gale had left our cover in poor shape. Felt kind of naked.

Kudos: Good guys, enough birds, good time.

Birds By Species: 2 gadwall, 5 gw teal, 4 mallards, 6 (bless 'em) shovelers and 1 wigeon

Photo Ops: Johnny and Darren in what's become the traditional Digby dog stand shot:


Hunting flotant is dirty work:

[Rick]

Date: 12/31

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: heavy with a bit of spit

Wind Direction and Velocity: Easterly light to moderate

Temperature: too warm for all I wore

Moon phase: dark

Special Notes: Two of my three were BIG people, and we did good not sink an overloaded little boat that was handling like an old rice or cane truck on what had to be the darkest morning of the season. Had to stand on the right rail and hang my own bony butt over the side to stay level.

Waterfowl Activity: About the same high flight as yesterday.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: High birds weren't as responsive as yesterday's. Though less shooting in the marsh would have helped them finish better if I'd not lost control over the spinner, control from the blind over which was lost in mid hunt.

Hunters: 3 great father, Ron, who shot but one volley, to say he did, and sons he cared more about than duck hunting, Ron Jr. and Justin.

Guns:

Malfunctions: lost control of spinner from blind in mid hunt, and naturally saw mostly little ducks passing high or wide with it off and big ducks that wouldn't finish when it was on. Went back, found and fixed the problem after the hunt - but in the rain.

Dog(s): Marsh had a pretty easy day.

Special Equipment: SOS with things going just as they do: little ducks following more open water and passing wide with it off, and big ones pushing off with it on. Oh, so glad to have it fixed.

Curses: Just the spinner problem

Kudos: Got to hunt with a great family.

Birds By Species: 4 gadwall, 6 gw teal, 4 mallards, 4 shovelers and 1 wood duck

[Rick]

Date: 1/1/17

Time: morning

Location: Mudhole

Cloud Cover: Some of everything wet from downpour to drizzle and fog and back.

Wind Direction and Velocity: Nil to light northerly to light southerly to nil again.

Temperature: 60s and would have been warm if dry

Moon phase: waxing 11%

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: not many big ducks while we were there, but teal passed periodically until we had enough

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Ate us up.

Hunters: 2, my once favorite hunting partner until he became entirely too married later in life and his nephew

Guns:

Malfunctions: One the other guides brought his fiance, who didn't have long rain gear, so I gave her my best Helly Hanson "guide coat" and wore an old one that has spent enough Louisiana summers in a hot truck to delaminate and let a lot of water through. Has been pretty good for blocking wind and dog shake water but wasn't up to today's weather.

Dog(s): Marsh had a pretty easy morning.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Just being cold and wet.

Kudos: Good to be hunting with my old friend again.

Birds By Species: 17 gw teal and 1 mallard

[DComeaux]

Love the green wing........It's been pouring here and I've had enough. Strong SW winds and 100% rain forecast for tomorrow has me a bit hesitant on heading to the camp tonight.

[Rick]

I'm hanging onto the 50% chance we'll be out before the rain's bad, but they're showing 10mph winds at shooting time that could be problematic on your water. One of those deals where if you go it'll be a washout, and if you don't, folks in your area will have the season's big morning.

[Ericdc]

My old lease which was about 15 miles SW of where we are now was the place to be in nasty weather. My new lease...not so much.

Find myself hoping for sunny weather in the forecast which is opposite of what I used to hope for. It sure is nicer though.




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[DComeaux]

I'm hanging onto the 50% chance we'll be out before the rain's bad, but they're showing 10mph winds at shooting time that could be problematic on your water. One of those deals where if you go it'll be a washout, and if you don't, folks in your area will have the season's big morning.

Exactly!......I've been checking the forecast all day and it hasn't changed... I want so much to hunt but I just don't want to go through the motions without getting in a blind....... I think I'll just stay home.

[Rick]

I'd go and maybe swamp trying.

[Ericdc]

We are supposed to start tree planting tomorrow. Pretty sure that's gonna get rained out. Might go make a mid morning or afternoon hunt since office will be closed.


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[Rick]

Date: 1/2

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: fog

Wind Direction and Velocity: SE moderate

Temperature: warm

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: pretty much a repeat of yesterday's sporadic but plenty teal flight and lack of big duck flight

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Kacking like a mad man on the high/teal pitched DC continues to be the ticket for turning them to our little hole and momma call to help keep them lined on the MMM front and center. (Have also been using the DC, albeit with lots of low "voice" for low flying big ducks.)

Hunters: 2, one who hasn't duck hunted since Hurricane Rita and the other brand new, Craig and Kris.

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh was aces.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: none at all

Kudos: The guys followed instruction better than most and, surprisingly, hit teal better than most. Fine time had by all.

Birds By Species: 1 gadwall, 16 gw teal and 1 wigeon

Photo Ops: Kris and Craig:

[DComeaux]

....SIGH..... It's going to be a long 4 days.