2025-2026 Season Log

[Mike Jargon]

With the predicted southwest wind for tomorrow, do you think more blue wings will show?

[Rick]

A fair number of what teal we did see were blue-wings but no more inclined to land for us than the green. And not enough of either for aging reflexes to get in sync with.

[Rick]

Date: 11/16 Sun

Time: morning

Location: #3

Cloud Cover: light ground fog

Wind Direction and Velocity: nadda to light SW at hunt's end

Temperature: warm

Moon phase: crescent

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Much the same as yesterday's, aside from more early squealers the guys weren't anxious to bother.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Pretty much the same, as well.

Hunters: 2, Adam and Bubba

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Call did well enough tracking fly-offs to make new fans.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Given the givens, I ain't kickin'.

Kudos: Guys were younger and had better luck getting on the fast little ducks.

Birds By Species: 2 black-bellies, 2 blue-wings, 1 gadwall, 7 green-wings, 1 pintail, 4 ringnecks and 1 shoveller

[Duck Engr]

That’ll work! Need Darren to send you some birds.

[Rick]

I'd settle for less fog and a little breeze of some sort.

[Darren]

That’ll work! Need Darren to send you some birds.

Survey says SW La still has the lion's share of south Louisiana's birds, which aligns with history.

Interestingly, only 2,000 green wings counted in SE La.......from highly anecdotal reports and witnessing myself, 2,000 could have been harvested over the weekend within my 20-mile radius, so that number seems suspect. SW La, for contrast, counted 81K of them.

[Rick]

Date: 11/17/25 Mon

Time: morning

Location: #3

Cloud Cover: lightest ground fog to date

Wind Direction and Velocity: Still none until SE light around 9.

Temperature: still quite warm

Moon phase: Wry grin of a crescent

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Mostly jacks moving near us, plus a little of this and that.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Having good luck getting jacks to pass close or even turn barking on cutdown, and nearly lit a nice group of ten or twelve hoped-to-be mallards that were mottleds when they got to us - except one greenhead.

Hunters: 2, likely first timers from Iowa, Mike and D---brainlock on my part.

Guns:

Malfunctions: Both guys where having fits with new pump guns. Mike's SPX eventually locked up tight and D's Stoeger fought hard enough about accepting shells in its magazine that i was assisting loading.

Dog(s): On the ride home Call actually lay down on the truck seat for the first time ever.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Aside from Mike's light gray sweat shirt and lack of a hat, just that their guns caused nice guys so much frustration - well that and how our success rate dropped after handing Mike my gun.

Kudos: They were, indeed, good guys and I'm pretty sure they still had some fun.

Birds By Species: 5 black-bellies, 9 ringnecks and 1 shoveller

Lagniappe No, I most certainly did not suggest they try to shoot the greenhead among mottleds.

[Duck Engr]

Were they any the wiser or just heeded your warning of “no, no, no” on the group with the mallard mixed in?

[Rick]

Pretty sure I did tell them after the fact, and know i was glad they held their water, which wasn't always the case.

[Rick]

Date: 11/18 Tue

Time: morning

Location: #3

Cloud Cover: ground fog again that held on much of the morning

Wind Direction and Velocity: zip to light SE to zip again

Temperature: too warm for sleeves again

Moon phase: waning crescent about gone

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Days of dead weather and ground fog have about shut us down, with everything far and few between today.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Better when they weren't seeing the guys

Hunters: 2, Tom and Rick, Iowa deer hunters

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Call was stellar on chipped birds.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Just that we were caught by most of what few big ducks were seen and broken down.

Kudos: Nice guys who were good company on a slow morning.

Birds By Species: 5 black-bellies, 1 canvasback, 1 gadwall, 1 mallard, 1 pintail and 5 ringnecks

[DComeaux]

Good hunt. It's way better than sitting behind a desk.

[Duck Engr]

Did the fog eat you, Rick? I immediately thought of you and more “stale conditions” when I aired the pups this morning.

[Rick]

Thought I'd posted, but may have missed "submit". Then when I tried again, just now it posted my format as a reply. Deleted that, and will try again...

Date: 11/19 Wed

Time: morning

Location: #3

Cloud Cover: Ground fog again.

Wind Direction and Velocity: dead calm to light southerly again

Temperature: warm to hot again

Moon phase: waning tiny crescent if any

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Continuing its downward trend.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Thankfully still generally good. Having fair luck pulling jacks close enough with burrish kacks from the cutdown and finished the pintail with purring.

Hunters: 1, Robby, a real hunter from Lake Charles

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Call was stellar on a couple crips, including a tipped squealer that seemed to take him halfway to our old marsh. Thought I might have lost him foe a while, and regretted sending on such a long blind for a lively bird, but he caught it and found his way back.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Just the lack of game and worries over the next several days without much needed change.

Kudos: Robby was a fine shot and great slow day company.

Birds By Species: 6 black-bellies, 1 pintail and 5 ringnecks

[Ericdc]

Looks pretty stale weather wise until this time next week.


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[Rick]

Looks pretty stale weather wise until this time next week.

And I've little faith in the sometimes bump when Arkansas ducks open. Though it could be more helpful on your end, might just send 'em back to Canada...

[Darren]

FIL Mike is at Oak Island this morning, though hadn't gotten any reports of how they've done so far this season.

[Rick]

Date: 11/20/25

Time: morning

Location: #3

Cloud Cover: dense ground fog for most of our hunt

Wind Direction and Velocity: same ol'. same ol': light southerly at its hardest

Temperature: summer

Moon phase: brand new

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Most thankful for lost squealers in the fog, as there wasn't much of anything else, even jacks.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: very good

Hunters: 2, David and AJ

Guns:

Malfunctions: David's 1100 was pulling the same loading stunt a fellow's Stoeger pump was a couple days ago by not accepting shells into its magazine. "Fixed" it similarly by taking it apart and reassembling.

Dog(s): Call had another good morning.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: nothing new

Kudos: Good guys shot well.

Birds By Species: 12 black-bellies, 2 green-wing teal, 1 pintail and 3 ringnecks

[Darren]

Birds By Species: 12 black-bellies, 2 green-wing teal, 1 pintail and 3 ringnecks

Given the given's.........

[Rick]

Given the given's.........

Was exciting to see a few teal in my corner of the marsh, even if we didn't get to see them until they were on us.

[Rick]

Date: 11/21 Fri

Time: morning

Location: #3

Cloud Cover: clear: NO GROUND FOG

Wind Direction and Velocity: but still nil to little southerly breeze

Temperature: still warm to hot

Moon phase: still new

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Little different than it's been, aside from a few more teal.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: about as it has been

Hunters: 2, Ted and Jonathan

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Call still hasn't embarrassed me - POUND TIMBER

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: not a one from me

Kudos: Good guys who hit just about everything that should have been hit.

Birds By Species: 4 black-bellies, 2 blue-wing teal, 4 green-wing teal, 5 ringnecks, 1 shoveller and 2 wood ducks

[Deltaman]

Glad to see you making the most of what is available to date Rick

[Rick]

Wasn't nearly so much me this morning as the guys with me. One of the businesses our owners run is a rice mill that entertains big rice farmers, many of whom can shoot really well.

[Ericdc]

Which mill is that Rick?


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[Rick]

Which mill is that Rick?

Farmers' Rice Mill in Lake Charles.

[Rick]

Date: 11/22/25 Sat

Time: morning

Location: #3

Cloud Cover: pretty dense ground(?) fog

Wind Direction and Velocity: SW light

Temperature: quite warm

Moon phase: nil

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Westerly tilt to the "wind" put us under more returning squealers than we've previously seen. But fewer jacks and next to no teal.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: fortunately fine

Hunters: 2, father and young son with new gun, James and Jimmy

Guns:

Malfunctions: MMM wasn't working

Dog(s): Call wasn't working either. Had told the guys to go ahead and take safe shots while I boated Call nearer to a long fly-off, and they dropped a bird in the pond just as I'd sent him on a line to the cripple. And he wanted the mark badly enough to blow off not just my handling but repeated re-sends to the blind bird. Had a remedial session on our way home.

Special Equipment: Just the spinners.

Curses: the MMM and dang dog

Kudos: Guys had a big time shooting squealers

Birds By Species: 11 black-bellies, 2 green-wings and 5 ringnecks

[DComeaux]

NNE wind for the morning. Humidity is gone down here. (8:00PM) feels good. No fog, hopefully. I

[Rick]

NNE wind for the morning. Humidity is gone down here. (8:00PM) feels good. No fog, hopefully. I

Was nice stepping out our south-facing front door this morning and even better when we stepped out of the house's lee to air Call in the side yard and me in a northerly breeze.

[Rick]

Date: 11/23/25

Time: morning

Location: #3

Cloud Cover: gloriously clear blue sky

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE moderate

Temperature: cool enough for a light shell over a long-sleeved shirt

Moon phase: waxing sliver

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Wind change gave us too few early squealers to keep the boy from starting to whine even quicker than last year, but enough of this and that to tickle his dad and keep us out there.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Excellent when said child was doing his bitching and moaning down in the blind and not so good when he was doing his fussing standing upright.

Hunters: 2, super nice father and a young son he should have left at home with the girls.

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Call and I are back being pards again.

Special Equipment: spinners on and off during the hunt and fixed the MMM after.

Curses: Same kid won butthole of the season by a landslide last year and has the lead locked down again this one.

Kudos: Father was super nice, tried to hide and shot well when he wasn't too busy ta-taing junior.

Birds By Species: 2 black-bellies, 1 blue-wing, 2 gadwall, 5 green-wings, 2 mallards, 1 pintail, 4 ringnecks and 1 shoveller

Lagniappe: Little ashamed of how badly I wanted to bitch slap a kid small enough to need the kid's stand. But only a little.

[Darren]

Good on you for powering through it and giving dad what he sought despite the stacked deck against you. Heck of a haul

[DComeaux]

Good hunt!!