2021-2022 Season Log

[Rick]

Date: 12/30 Thur

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: fogged in until late in the hurnt

Wind Direction and Velocity: westerly light

Temperature: t-shirt

Moon phase: waning crescent

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Couldn't say what might have been around much of the morning, other than folks to our east were apparently seeing more flying their more open water than crossed our little hole.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Very good when we tried hiding.

Hunters: 2, Mike and Frank

Guns: took the 16 again

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): fairly easy morning

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Had my chimes rung a time or two and still feel it.

Kudos: Nice guys who's good shooting helped mitigate poor hiding.

Birds By Species: 8 black-bellied whistling, 5 bw teal, 1 gw teal, 1 mallard, 1 mottled, 1 pintail and 1 ringneck

Photo Ops: Frank and Mike:

001a.jpg

[Deltaman]

Damn fine mess of birds for what started out a slow morning!!!! Bummer on getting your ears rung
Do you use any hearing protection in the blind Rick?

[Rick]

Damn fine mess of birds for what started out a slow morning!!!! Bummer on getting your ears rung
Do you use any hearing protection in the blind Rick?

"Musician's plugs," but had them out to better hear the squealers, the high pitch of which is largely gone to me.

[Ericdc]

You might not care for them, but I've grown quite fond of my battery powered walker's ear muffs. Let's me hear everything clearly and amplify what I need to hear but cancels out the guns.


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[Rick]

Date: 12/31 Fri

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover:

Wind Direction and Velocity: SW fairly strong

Temperature: t-shirt

Moon phase: small

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Didn't see the teal I'd hoped for with the southerly breeze, or much of anything. Just enough of this and that local birds to keep the guys happy.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Single quack series made our morning.

Hunters: 2, father, Richard and grown son, Evan

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh made a long track for us on chipped greenhead and another for fellows in the back blind on a black-belly he had to pull from the bottom muck when it dove on him. Could plainly smell it through the water, and stay at it until he managed to spear it.

Special Equipment: sos

Curses: Squealers didn't show, but given our given's, I ain't kicking.

Kudos: Nice folks were tickled with their hunt

Birds By Species: 1 bw teal, 3 gw teal, 1 mallard, 3 mottleds, 1 pintail and 2 woodies

[DComeaux]

Nice hunt.

[Rick]

You might not care for them, but I've grown quite fond of my battery powered walker's ear muffs. Let's me hear everything clearly and amplify what I need to hear but cancels out the guns.

I've four sets of electronic muffs, including Walker's Quad and Razor models and keep a pair of the later in the blind box for guests and especially kids. But a lot of the loud calling my spot requires also gets canceled, which drives me buggy. Actually tried them again yesterday - and was reminded why I hate 'rm.

[Ericdc]

I know what you're saying, my cheat for that, when I'm speck calling or calling ducks loud, is that I'll uncover my ear that's away from the rest of the guns ever so slightly so I can hear what I'm doing.

So you'd be uncovering your right ear if memory serves me best.


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[Ericdc]

My ears have become very sensitive to gun blasts lately and I don't hunt without them unless I'm by myself or we are spaced out, like in the woods or something.


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[Rick]

The filtered "musician's" plugs are a compromise I can live with and EDC for me these days - just picked a piss poor time not to wear them yesterday. Often top them with the electronic or industrial muffs for really loud stuff.

[Darren]

Heckuva hunt any time you've got a blind-limit of mottleds.

[Rick]

Heckuva hunt any time you've got a blind-limit of mottleds.

We shot them out of two threesomes and really should have finished with the first and not educated the other three. Way things are going, we're gonna wish we could get them later...

[Rick]

Date: 1/1 Sat

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: partly to cloudy

Wind Direction and Velocity: strong SW

Temperature: t-shirt

Moon phase: small crescent?

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Lots of shooting on both side of us from LST on but was nearly 7 when a bluewing finally came by us. And that's how the morning stayed. Did see a few of the high mid-morning pintails, we've sometimes tripped and a few strings of mile high big ducks, but that apparent migration was short-lived.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Pintails were either sick of my shit or didn't want to fight the wind to check it out.

Hunters: 2, Bobby and Rowland on a buddy hunt.

Guns: Went back to my old, familiar 20, not that it mattered much.

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): easy morning.

Special Equipment: sos

Curses: Have been questioning my decision to stick with the mudhole more than ever the go-round.

Kudos: My guys were good about it.

Birds By Species: 1 bw teal, 5 ringnecks and 1 shoveller

[Duck Engr]

Questioning the mudhole. Say it ain’t so. Maybe selective memory, but I seem to recall a lot of “we were the high blind” in your logs last year. Maybe has more to do with who instead of where.

[Rick]

Questioning the mudhole. Say it ain’t so. Maybe selective memory, but I seem to recall a lot of “we were the high blind” in your logs last year. Maybe has more to do with who instead of where.

Bet you saw that "high blind" stuff in the "Curses: section, as that indicates a bad day for the rest of the marsh. May well be there are better hunters in the more easterly blinds that generally get a lot more shooting. Just know I'm awfully tired of listening to them shoot while we sky-watch and I try to reassure my guys that their chances will come - all the while knowing that's not apt to happen without some show of big ducks on our end.

[Rick]

Date: 1/2/22 Sun

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: cloudy

Wind Direction and Velocity: NW ripping

Temperature: cold going on colder

Moon phase: new or nearly so

Special Notes: Last day of new middle split

Waterfowl Activity: incredible black-belly flight early on that filled everyone but us followed by precious little else.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Black-bellies did their level best to get killed, as did a squadron of dos gris that lit.

Hunters: 3, "Pop-Pop," dad and Bryce

Guns: 3 pumps, Bryce's with the first poly choke I've seen in many years.

Malfunctions: Pop-Pop seemed to have watched too many movies and was shucking before shooting on most ops. Likely op error that his BPS was also dropping the occasional shell onto its lifter.

Dog(s): Not a fun morning for my pup.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Found myself begging someone to please shoot on everything that wasn't literally lit, and my poule d'eau decoys took a hammering on those.

Kudos: Super nice folks, seemed to have a big time.

Birds By Species: 9 black-bellied whistling, 1 bw teal, 1 gw teal, 5 scaup and 1 shoveller

[Deltaman]

Nice hunt to end your middle season on!!!!

[Rick]

Nice hunt to end your middle season on!!!!

Everything's relative: "woulda, coulda, shoulda" had 24 and eaten brunch before our 9:30 marsh curfew. Felt pretty sour about it, and now sour about that.

Wasn't a fan of our new third split, but it turns out I seem to need this coming week off to reset my attitude.

[Ericdc]

Nice hunt to end your middle season on!!!!

Everything's relative: "woulda, coulda, shoulda" had 24 and eaten brunch before our 9:30 marsh curfew. Felt pretty sour about it, and now sour about that.

Wasn't a fan of our new third split, but it turns out I seem to need this coming week off to reset my attitude.

Holla at your east zone friends.


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[Rick]

Have already turned a couple invites down, as I'm too damn lazy to drive any distance to hunt. The guys who pass the house pulling bateaus with pirogues while I'm airing Marsh at 3 in the morning, they're the real duck hunters.

[Rick]

Made a night hunt and shot around 300. Lots of mallards and pintails, but a spoonbill beat-down, as well.

[Darren]

Lots of mallards and pintails, .

Nothin' wrong with that! Any noteworthy observations on drake/hen ratio as you've noted in past events? Saw that Grosse Savanne has had some pretty good luck with mallards last week, ag land hunts I think

[Rick]

We had so many birds to band and transmitters to fit mallard and pintail hens with that it went on until the wee hours were getting larger, so I didn't bother the recorder for more than the rough numbers he volunteered, but the mallard drake to hen ratio appeared much more out of whack than that for pintails (or spoons and wigeon). Imagine the numbers have been crunched by now and will ask next time I see one of the biologists. Do know our lone speck was a healthy adult hen, which earned her a transmitter.

Also know getting back out there in time to help with their first-light release was well worth the work and loss of sleep. It's a shame nearly everyone lending a hand in the capture misses that very best part, when the birds burst from their crates and reach for all the places their wings will carry them.

Re: mallard numbers in general, I saw some nice strings taken late Sunday morning from a location I'll not disclose, but Paul noted that there were already fewer mallards on our capture site Tuesday than there had been Sunday and Monday evenings.

[Rick]

Date:

Time:

Location: 1/10 Mon

Cloud Cover: partly to clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE strog

Temperature: upper 30s

Moon phase: waxing 52%

Special Notes: new third split opener

Waterfowl Activity: lots of mostly blue-wing teal early and some nice mobs of green-wings later, along with a few spoons and next to no big ducks other than local veteran pond-hoppers.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: So much binging and banging in the marsh that little was slowing enough for our purposes, but did get to work a pair of specks I should have tried for another pass from - given that the one chipped went to the Intracoastal.

Hunters: 1, long time annual regular, Bruce

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh recovered a blue-wing chipped down the run that he couldn't or wouldn't hear the whistle to handle to and I figured was lost. But he also nearly bit a bird in two while chasing another.

Special Equipment: sos

Curses: Since Bruce reads this, I'll not note that he was still on big, slow Canada time early on.

Kudos: Redeemed himself by not letting our greenhead out, despite its smelling the rat and not finishing.

Birds By Species: 6 bw teal, 1 gadwall, 4 gw teal and 1 mallard

[Deltaman]

Nice hunt Rick, and those teal sure do make for some fun, fast action!!!!!!

[DComeaux]

Nice hunt.

So much binging and banging in the marsh that little was slowing enough for our purposes, but did get to work a pair of specks I should have tried for another pass from - given that the one chipped went to the Intracoastal.

No doubt having the words at the beginning of that quote on your mind makes for difficult (rushed) decisions. I've been there a time or two. Damned if you, damned if you don't.

[Rick]

Nice hunt.

So much binging and banging in the marsh that little was slowing enough for our purposes, but did get to work a pair of specks I should have tried for another pass from - given that the one chipped went to the Intracoastal.

No doubt having the words at the beginning of that quote on your mind makes for difficult (rushed) decisions...

You got it That, and they were and slipping over the blind lengthwise against the wind. Had the hole mostly covered with BlindGrass, but they still couldn't have had a better chance to catch us. Thought it a good op, until it wasn't good enough.

[Rick]

Nice hunt Rick, and those teal sure do make for some fun, fast action!!!!!!

Caught myself thinking this afternoon not about how they were too fast for us, but how dang pretty the late season blue-wings are in the sun.

[Rick]

Date: 1/11/22 Tue

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: moderate NE

Temperature: low 30s

Moon phase: waxing 64%

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Lots of shooting to our east but very little of anything on our end aside from a fair number of high pintail flights, mostly from west.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Started a heck of a lot more pintails than we got to finish.

Hunters: 2, Bruce again and Tom

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh got an ass-chewing for biting a green-wing nearly in two. Might be yesterday's likely accidental blue-wing bite gave him a taste of the forbidden fruit. Don't know, do know he'd best watch his Ps and Qs henceforth. Later redeemed himself - for now - on an upper wing broke mottled.

Special Equipment: sos

Curses: No after-front show of birds

Kudos: Hit some of what came.

Birds By Species: 5 gw teal, 1 mottled and 3 pintails

[Deltaman]

Love watching those Pintails work!!!!!!!