Season

[Rick]

Glad it worked out so well for the boys, but "going traditional route with food" left me wondering: corn, rice, milo, Horse and Mule...?

[Ericdc]

Glad it worked out so well for the boys, but "going traditional route with food" left me wondering: corn, rice, milo, Horse and Mule...?

Haha, traditional meaning no spinners.

We in harvested undisked beans this year.


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[Ericdc]

Saw something I’ve never seen yesterday. Amongst all the goose traffic yesterday noticed a speck flying a little lower and slower.

Hit him with the call and he sucked in faster than I’ve ever seen. As he was coming to decoys, I noticed he was shaking his head. He had a large mud clod, bigger than a golf ball stuck to his bill. I’m convinced he couldn’t see where he was headed and came to sound.

It was one of the weirdest things I’ve seen, watching him try to shake that mud off. Almost...felt bad for him.

Had I been by myself I would have left him in the decoys and watched him.


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[Ducaholic]

Tricia repping banded

[Ericdc]

Tricia repping banded

Ha, yes, one of the only companies that makes decent gear for ladies.


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[Ericdc]

In Northeast Louisiana, 209,000 ducks and 265,000 geese (13% white-fronted geese) were counted on selected habitats during the traditional cruise survey that was standardized in 2005. That is twice the 104,000 ducks counted last November and 45% higher than the 2005-2018 November average of 144,000. The goose count of 265,000 is nearly 3 times the number of the geese seen last November and almost twice the November average of 139,000 in this survey region. Gadwall was by far the most abundant duck species (129,000) followed by pintails (33,000), green-winged teal (22,000) and shovelers (17,000). The largest concentration of ducks was seen in the flooded fields in the Bunkie/Grand Cote and Bonita/Mer Rouge areas. Those 2 locations accounted for 83% of the ducks and 70% of the geese counted on the entire survey. Other notable concentrations of ducks were seen in flooded fields east of Russell Sage WMA and big flocks of geese were counted in fields east of Hebert. Habitat conditions are drier in NE LA than this time last year, which was extremely wet, but appear about average for this time of year. Some traditionally flooded ag habitats on the survey have not yet been pumped up, and flooding in the backwaters of riverine systems is mostly lacking, but we expect those habitats to improve as the season progresses. Like in NW LA, above-average duck and goose counts in this surveyed region are almost certainly due the strong early cold fronts.


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[DComeaux]

Good luck in the morning Eric. I'll be awaiting your report.

[Ericdc]

Date: 11-23-19 East zone opener

Time: guys left at 10, I stayed till noon

Location: pit blind

Cloud Cover: heavy with most to partly around 9:20 with a lot of sun

Wind Direction and Velocity: light W then 10-20 WNW

Temperature: 40’s to 50’s

Barometer:

Moon phase:

Special Notes: opened the season with a nice group of specks over the decoys and we got 5. I’ve got a really good group this year, 2 of them have been with my 4 years and new guy I’ve known for a while. He’s a DU biologist from Monroe

Waterfowl Activity: most geese that I’ve seen since fall of 2016-17 season

Waterfowl Responsiveness: got better later in day with ducks. Specks worked ok when there weren’t 1,000 snows flying over

Hunters: garrison ridge Michael and me

Guns: my old browning gold shined this morning

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): ridges dog ace

Special Equipment: just decoys and calling, sold my mojos today after hunt.

Kudos: was nice not worrying whether spinners were helping or hurting us

curses: localized ducks landing wide all morning

Birds By Species:
6 specks
6 gadwall
4 green winged teal
4 shovelers
3 Richardson Cacklers and boy did they decoy nice


Photo Ops:





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[DComeaux]

Very Nice!

[Ericdc]

Lagniappe: after the guys left and generally when I’m by myself I get really picky and selective.

I let quite a few spoons go (save them for a day we will need them) because they generally homestead on our farm all year.

Also lit a gadwall hen while working a bunch, bunch presses on but I enjoyed listening to her call to them and eventually swim out of range.

I know with the struggles some have had that seems odd, but I truly enjoy picking my birds when I’m by myself and just doing what I want.


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[DComeaux]

If I had the opportunity I would do the same. There was a time that I could do that.

[Rick]

Looky there, looky there: Louisiana really does still have some Richardson's.

[Darren]

Looky there, looky there: Louisiana really does still have some Richardson's.

@ Eric, did you work them with speck call ? In my few run-ins with them, they were responsive to it. Figured that's what most were doing anyway

[Ericdc]

Looky there, looky there: Louisiana really does still have some Richardson's.

@ Eric, did you work them with speck call ? In my few run-ins with them, they were responsive to it. Figured that's what most were doing anyway

Yes they were very vocal.


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[Ericdc]

Date: 11-25-19

Time: day off so we hung till noon then did some spread tinkering and pit maintenance

Location: pit blind

Cloud Cover: mostly clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: light to 10-15 south

Temperature: 40’s to 60’s

Barometer:

Moon phase:

Special Notes: Colin shot very well

Waterfowl Activity: ducks decent for first hour then slow, geese about the same with a few trickling through till about 10 when it all stopped

About 9:40 a big mass of about 500 at least (90% spoons) came from south. About 75 broke down and skirted just outside the decoys. Had they been inside 30 yards we would have tore into them, probably still could have shot a few but the thoughts of dropping 4 or 5 made me greedy.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: the 3 specks came in perfect, all singles. Had a pair of wigeon hang up on me at 80 yards for what seemed like 10 passes.

Hunters: Eric and Colin

Guns:

Malfunctions: I had a misfire on first speck but Colin cleaned it up.

Dog(s):

Special Equipment: again no spinners, sold them to a guide in the area.

Kudos: Colin shot well and even though the ducks disappointed, I’ll never complain about 3 specks.

curses: wind was pretty much dead during what duck flight we had

Birds By Species:
3 specks
1 gadwall
1 shoveler


Photo Ops:



Sunrise pics



Lagniappe: plugged the dog box drain hole that actually puts more water in the pit than out.



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[Ericdc]

Date: 11-30-19

Time: left at 11

Location: pit blind

Cloud Cover: heavy to partly back to heavy

Wind Direction and Velocity: SSW 10-15 all morning

Temperature: 60’s to 70’s

Barometer:

Moon phase:

Special Notes: Michael grabbed a pack of deer burger this morning instead of pan sausage so I guess that was the first bad omen of the day

Waterfowl Activity: few groups of spoons and teal moving early, local birds for sure by the way they acted. Later in morning pintails and gadwall would not give us time of day. Geese stayed in big masses north of us and didn’t move.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: ducks were the least responsive today of season so far

Hunters: Michael Colin and I

Guns:

Malfunctions: just breakfast

Dog(s):

Special Equipment: none

Kudos: we had a good visit and have better hopes for next 2 days with better conditions for our pit.

curses: think we would have done better had front got here mid morning...it’s still not here yet at my house in north central LA but thunder is getting closer

Birds By Species: 1 green winged teal drake who broke out of a swat of spoons and decoyed like I hope some bigger bunches will at some point.


Photo Ops:
One of the many good groups of geese on the ground within a mile or 2 of us.




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[Rick]

Took a photo similar to that the other afternoon, just because they were the first blues I've seen on the ground in Klondike.

[Rick]

Took a photo similar to that the other afternoon, just because they were the first blues I've seen on the ground in Klondike.

[Ericdc]

Date: 12-1-19

Time: left at 10:45

Location: pit blind

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: SW to W 5 to 10 then 10-15 after sunrise

Temperature: upper 40’s to low 50’s

Barometer:

Moon phase:

Special Notes: Michael brought his expecting wife and she had a good time

Waterfowl Activity: great flight early then a steady high flight from north all morning. Big masses of geese on ground make it hard to pull any traffic

Waterfowl Responsiveness: good early then they wouldn’t do anything

Hunters: Michael Caroline Colin and I

Guns:

Malfunctions: Michael had a misfire on group of teal

Dog(s):

Special Equipment: none

Kudos: teal decoyed pretty and it looks like we got a big push of ducks and geese all morning

curses: couldn’t get spoons and gadwall to decoy early with cross wind, tomorrow’s north wind should line them up right.

Birds By Species:
12 green winged teal


Photo Ops:


Colin and I


Michael and Caroline


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[Ericdc]

Date: 12-2-19

Time: others left at 10 and 11. I hung on till noon just hoping

Location: pit blind

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: NW to NE 10-15

Temperature: upper 30’s s to 40’s

Barometer:

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: a lot slower than yesterday and that I’d hoped for

Waterfowl Responsiveness: specks worked better and pintails worked pretty. The few mallards around are tough

Hunters: 4 members

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): ace and cannon, my first hunt with garrisons dog cannon. He did good for his 2nd hunt

Special Equipment: no spinners

Kudos: we only missed 1 bird

curses: just not enough working ducks around, everything high. Geese still in big big bodies around us is blessing and curse

Birds By Species:
3 specks
2 pintails
1 green winged teal


Photo Ops:
Cannon and Ace





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[Ericdc]

Date: 12-7-19 (last first split hunt for me

Time: Michael left at 9 and took 4 birds, Garrison left at 10:30, and david and I left at 12:30 after getting our 12th duck.

Location: pit blind

Cloud Cover: low heavy with fog that would lift then settle all morning until we left

Wind Direction and Velocity: NNE 8-10

Temperature: 46 and holding

Barometer:

Moon phase:

Special Notes: my coworker David’s first hunt of year

Waterfowl Activity: lots of ducks moving early and steadily moving all day

Waterfowl Responsiveness: specks worked great and teal came pretty. Gadwall and shovelers after like wise locals

Hunters: garrison Michael david and I

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): cannon

Special Equipment: none

Kudos: we did pretty good except for one big bunch of teal, and the birds showed up like I hoped they would with the conditions.

curses: had numerous specks on last approach get boogered by shooting to the north because of a real strong duck flight, felt like we definitely could have had our 8.

Birds By Species:
10 green winged teal
3 shoveler
1 pintail
1 gadwall
4 specks


Photo Ops:

Foggy

David with 2 specks and 12 ducks

Tiny speck

Tiny shoveler


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[Darren]

Nice hunt! Mini birds and all

[Duck Engr]

Sweet!

[DComeaux]

Awesome!

[Ericdc]

2019-2020 duck season totals

Youth hunt

4 shovelers
2 pintail
1 gadwall
3 specks

1st split

Mallard
Pintail 3
Gadwall 13
Wigeon
Green winged teal 34
Blue winged teal 1
Shoveler 11
Ringneck
Scaup
Redhead
Canvasback
Speck 22
Snow 2
Canada 3
Ducks 62
Geese 27
Hunts 10

Season total
Mallard
Pintail 5
Gadwall 14
Wigeon
Green winged teal 34
Blue winged teal 1
Shoveler 15
Ringneck
Scaup
Redhead
Canvasback
Speck 25
Snow 2
Canada 3
Ducks 69
Geese 30
Total birds 99
Hunts 11

We’ve had 2 what I would call big hunts, but have avoided the goose eggs and couple birds hunts. As far as total birds, it’s my best first split on this farm in the 6 years I’ve been there.


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[Ericdc]

Date: 12-14-19 2nd split opener

Time: other 3 left at 10 I left at noon

Location: pit blind

Cloud Cover: cloudy to clear to cloudy to partly

Wind Direction and Velocity: none till light west then 5-10 WSW after 9 am

Temperature: 40’s to 50’s

Barometer:

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: pretty good flurry of teal and spoons early but no wind hurt us
Fairly steady flights of spoons and pintails with a few gads all morning

Waterfowl Responsiveness: bigger group of teal decoyed goof without any wind, spoons decoyed good later after 10 AM, shot last 2 at 11:45 or so

Hunters: ridge garrison Peyton and me

Guns:

Malfunctions: didn’t shoot great on the teal.

Dog(s): ace and cannon

Special Equipment: none

Kudos: days like this last year produced 0-2 birds, happy with our 9.

curses: no wind

Birds By Species:
6 green winged teal
3 shovelers

Garrison Peyton and cannon

[Ericdc]

Date: 12-17-19

Time: finished at 1 (had 11 birds at 9:00)

Location: pit blind

Cloud Cover: heavy clouds

Wind Direction and Velocity: NNW 15 mph

Temperature: upper 30’s

Barometer:

Moon phase:

Special Notes: ducks showed up like I expected

Waterfowl Activity: solid duck and goose flight all day

Waterfowl Responsiveness: everything but mallards worked good, mallards were bad skittish. Teal tore us up early

Hunters: ridge garrison david and I

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): ace

Special Equipment: hard calling

Kudos: was really glad the ducks showed up for my guys and what a great variety. Missed a scaup that would have made 8 species. Black bellies decoyed beautifully and what are they doing here in December?

curses: we could have killed 10-20 snows by just being on their flight path all morning, and feel like 8 specks were possible.

Birds By Species:
2 wigeon
2 pintails
2 black belly tree ducks
2 gadwall
3 shovelers
6 green winged teal
7 mallards


Photo Ops:
Garrison ridge me and ace

David




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[Duck Engr]

Nice day! Especially in cloudy conditions. Well done!

[DComeaux]

What a nice looking strap.

[Darren]

What a haul! If only the geese were open!! Cannot have this issue again next year