Duck Season 2017-2018

[Ericdc]

Send teal north please.... k thanks


Glad y’all got some


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[Darren]

Harry doesn't look nearly as happy about being out there as you guys do.

He had a good day and even earned some compliments so we'll take it! He was bummed to be called off of one that flew off on his approach but really was getting after the ones that were only short-term diving on him, won all those battles. One more day and we're ready to hang it up, he's laying at my feet now.

[Darren]

Sun. 1/28/2018 - East Zone closer
S. Bunkie rice
DComeaux, Johnny and I with Harry
Wind 3-10+ from N, 50's, heavy cloud deck with some mist, big rain ending over night

Remember noticing all the newly flooded ground on my drive home yesterday post-hunt and figured that might hinder us for today. Something was definitely off in that we had a lot less traffic today and those that came looking were super skittish, guess they knew it was the last day of the season. Missed a few ops on shoulda-tried-em birds and also got caught a time or two looking one way and not the other. Included all eyes on a greenhead Dave had put a bunch of work and patience into making yet another promising pass while 8 green wings were fluttering over the dekes. Just how it went for us today. Whole lot less goose traffic today too, especially the low workable ones we'd grown accustomed to, and a whole lot more people than usual out on the farm on top of that but overall very little shooting considering how many guns were blinded up.

Called it around 9:00 to get our work done and with the three of us made it a breeze to close up shop for the season. Blind clean, dekes hung up. Big thanks to DComeaux for his help this morning, we made a nice morning of it even with the few chances and he got to meet Harry.

(2) 2 spoons

Buttoned up, hope the offseason grass treats us well

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Muddy hay ride out one last time

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Can honestly say I'm ready for the offseason, have gotten my fill. Will post numbers soon

[Rick]

Damba, Comeaux shut down Bunkie.

[DComeaux]

Damba, Comeaux shut down Bunkie.

Even with Darren's comment on less traffic than yesterday, we still saw a good many flocks coming over us from the south , most right at the overcast height. It was a pretty constant flow up until we quit. Quite a few of these bunches would break down and dive in, working outside of the decoys out of range. A good many fair sized flocks of green wing working the field doing the same thing. By no means was it a boring morning. I would've loved to have this mornings activity with the less educated birds of the first split.

Thanks again Darren! It was really nice to be in a blind this morning. I really enjoyed it...Good company.

[DComeaux]

Can honestly say I'm ready for the offseason, have gotten my fill. Will post numbers soon

I'm there as well.

[Ericdc]

Can honestly say I'm ready for the offseason, have gotten my fill. Will post numbers soon

I'm there as well.

I would have liked to have 2 more days given today and tomorrow’s forecast but sleeping an extra 3 hours this morning was nice.


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[Darren]

Final Tally for 2017-2018 season:

205 ducks & 8 geese on 25 regular season hunts, species breakdown below:

76 GW teal
14 BW teal
27 grays**
20 shovelers
31 dosgris/lesser scaup
5 redheads
5 ringnecks
5 buffleheads
7 woodies
8 mallards
4 pintail
3 wigeon

5 specks
1 Ross's goose
1 snow goose
1 blue goose

The low number on grays is what stands out to me in the breakdown above, but makes sense in that we didn't have them on the Delacroix lease in the numbers of recent years. No big all-gray straps, just half the daily take on a given day at most, and more often just a few on the strap down there. We missed a few and lost a few but that difference wouldn't even have gotten us to half of the previous year's take, nor 1/3 of the year before that. Hope they rebound in November 2018! As a result of that, dosgris numbers are way up, with just ONE being taken the year prior in same area. Without the grays, we weren't giving the dogs a pass this year, something most others in the area did as well so I'm sure their overall harvest in the area was way up over previous years.

Sure hope the green wings have a good reproductive season because they seemed to have really taken a whollup this season between my own observations and on social media, etc. Piles and piles day after day at big clubs and small.

Other than the grays, can't complain, got to go until I was more than ready to hang it up thanks to my saint of a wife, and we had some big times with lots of people. Will be chipping away at a recap video I hope to share in coming weeks if I get around to making it happen, in very early stages right now.

[Deltaman]

Your gray numbers may not have been as high, but your variety is well diversified
Good Stuff Darren, Thanks!!!

[Darren]

Hunting two different habitat types sure helped with the variety......most of the divers and grays/green wings from the salt marsh, with the woodies, mallards, ringers, wigeon, pins, more GWs, geese, etc. coming from rice and/or my annual trip to Klondike marsh. Extremely fortunate to be able to regularly hunt the rice and salt marsh the way I did this year.

[Rick]

Sure hope the green wings have a good reproductive season because they seemed to have really taken a whollup this season between my own observations and on social media, etc. Piles and piles day after day at big clubs and small.

The late senior flyway biologist for the USF&W Service, Art Brazda, would only shoot greenwings during the late '80s duck crunch, because they were most apt to overfly the drought stricken PPR and nest in the much more stable boreal forest region. So I'd think them as safe of a bet as any re: reproductive opportunity.

Know they were particularly safe from my parties this season, with our green-wing take being a hundred or so below par.

[Lreynolds]

Thanks very much, Darren, for sharing your hunts here. I wrote a long, whiny paragraph on Rick's log that I'll spare you, but I wanted to say I appreciated the information and perspective I get from seeing your, and others', hunts.