2025-2026 Season Log

[Rick]

Funny how the camps are becoming more posh as the hunting wanes.

[Rick]

Date: 12/3/25 Wed

Time: morning

Location: #3

Cloud Cover: light to heavy and back

Wind Direction and Velocity: east light to moderate

Temperature: mid 30s

Moon phase: waxing nearly full

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: We were in a teal and black-belly dead zone, but still had jacks and the occasional big duck

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Thankfully, the big ducks' response was very good.

Hunters: 2, Sam and Chris

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Call tracked a wounded greenhead to Timbuktu and then stopped to lick blood or feathers at water's edge on his return until I fussed him. Didn't hurt the bird beyond a half dollar sized bald patch, and I dispatched it.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Just Call's miscue.

Kudos: Nice guys who didn't hide well but shot well enough to make a nice hunt.

Birds By Species: 2 black-bellies, 2 gadwall, 1 green-wing, 4 mallards and 9 ringnecks

[Duck Engr]

FOUR MALLARDS?!? Cold front helped!

[Rick]

FOUR MALLARDS?!? Cold front helped!

Apparently not too much, as, aside from a single mottled duck, ours were the only big "ducks" shot by six blinds.

[Ericdc]

I didn't see any new big ducks yesterday coming out of Arkansas that's for sure. They are closed though so I'm sure they are holding tight.


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[DComeaux]

Mallard ducks. I've been hearing geese at home in the evenings this week headed south. Would like to know if they still roost on marsh island as they did for years in the distant past.

[Rick]

Since they started showing this past week or so, we've been seeing some morning flights from the south. Always felt most such overshot the rice and hung out on the coast for the night before rebounding for ag land, and that some at least used to still spend significant time in the deep marsh, as was once the rule for all.

Could well be wrong.

[DComeaux]

I know some have been spending the night in the Refuge. I've watched them coming in late evening into nightfall.

[Rick]

Back when I was banding there, it appeared grit was holding them just west of the headquarters complex. But I never asked about it.

[DComeaux]

Back when I was banding there, it appeared grit was holding them just west of the headquarters complex. But I never asked about it.

It is a grit pile.

[Rick]

Date: 12/4/25 Thur

Time: morning

Location: #3

Cloud Cover: Pissing down rain most of the hunt.

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE mostly moderate

Temperature: chilly when wet, but not too 50s

Moon phase: big somewhere

Special Notes: Went back out to clean up the mess hunters and weather have left and re-brush what hunters more than weather beat down, and by the time I left around 11, the parish road to camp was flooded in several places. May make for an "interesting" morning commute...

Waterfowl Activity: Rain had squealers so bumfuzzled that they passed my blind all morning - a first in my time there. Also saw our first high big duck flights of the season during lulls. Scads and scads of too fast for us jacks all morning and more teal than we've been seeing - also too fast.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Could break up, but not down, a number of the high flight, with those that made it all the way down a rarity.

Hunters: 2, Warren and Laughton(SP?)

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Call flipped me off again, this time when unwilling to give up on a tipped bird. Will be e-collared tomorrow.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Aside from the weather, flooding and blind mess, just how long it took our new hunter to hit the last bird after we got greedy and decided it should be a big duck.

Kudos: Still passed a big time.

Birds By Species: 9 black-bellies, 4 green-wings (one banded), 1 mallard, 1 pintail, 2 ringnecks and 1 scaup

[DComeaux]

Band info?

[Duck Engr]

Sweet!!

[Rick]

Band info?

Don't know. Didn't even know it was there until one of the cleaning ladies brought it to me, saying it was from the last birds in. (By a half hour or so.) But a couple of the other guides did the pre-wax prep on my birds (plucking a strip down the breast and chopping the wings off), so I'm more surprised it made it past them than I missed it in the deluge. Doubt he was who hit it, but I'm going to pass it to the much less experienced of yesterdays guys this morning.

[Duck Engr]

Special Notes: Went back out to clean up the mess hunters and weather have left and re-brush what hunters more than weather beat down, and by the time I left around 11, the parish road to camp was flooded in several places. May make for an "interesting" morning commute...

Guess it turned out to be more than interesting?

[Rick]

No, made it there OK, just forgot to take a photo of the book with what we shot and didn't want to log an incorrect species list.

[Rick]

Date: 12/5/25 Fri

Time: morning

Location: #3

Cloud Cover: heavy w/light rain at times

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE moderate

Temperature: chilly

Moon phase: big

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Not what I'd hoped but still more big ducks than most days to date.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Many, if not most, broke down for a too close look at folks thinking them blind.

Hunters: 2, Warren again and TJ

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Call had a good morning.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: We were educators and conservationists.

Kudos: Still had some fun and, mercifully, shut it down early.

Birds By Species: 8 black-bellies, 3 blue-wings, 2 mottleds, 1 ringneck, 1 shoveller and 1 wigeon

[Rick]

Date: 12/6/25

Time: morning

Location: #3

Cloud Cover: raining to partly

Wind Direction and Velocity: Easterly moderate

Temperature: upper 40s?

Moon phase: full

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Hoped for teal or big ducks were virtual no-shows, but enough squealers eventually did.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Nothing liked being pointed at.

Hunters: 2, father and grown son, Wayne and David

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Call made a couple more fans.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Nothing I'll commit to print, aside from that many, many, many shells were shot.

Kudos: We emerged victorious.

Birds By Species: 14 black-bellies, 1 blue-wing and 3 ringnecks

[Rick]

Date: 12/7/25 Sun

Time: morning

Location: #3

Cloud Cover: heavy

Wind Direction and Velocity: east light

Temperature: cool

Moon phase: still big

Special Notes: last day of 1st split

Waterfowl Activity: Hoped to make a quick "ducks is ducks" hunt, but few black-bellies passed coming to the marsh, and we didn't start capitalizing until they started spreading out from favored haunts.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Thankfully good.

Hunters: 2, Greg and Greg Was tickled to hear one of them had hunted with Obrey Trahan at my old marsh blind and shared storied of its glory days.

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Call had another good day.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Just the slow start.

Kudos: Passed a good time.

Birds By Species: 10 black-bellies, 1 blue-wing, 1 fulvous, 4 green-wings, 1 mallard and 1 wigeon

[Rick]

Date: 12/20/25 Sat

Time: morning late start while Jake did ?

Location: #3

Cloud Cover: clear to partly

Wind Direction and Velocity: south moderate

Temperature: 40s to warm

Moon phase: small

Special Notes: second split opener

Waterfowl Activity: Most teal passing my corner in some time, passed on squealers, jacks and tried to pass on spoons (AHEM), also more big ducks around than expected.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Everything tried to work, but most everything caught us.

Hunters: 2 super nice older gentlemen, Jack and Bubba

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Call had a sweet morning - knock wood

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Given its chance, age eventually makes a mess of us all.

Kudos: Somehow managed to make a fine morning of it.

Birds By Species: 2 blue-wings, 4 gadwall, 8 green-wings, 2 mallards and 2 shovellers

Photo Ops: A bad photo of a good dog after a long chase,

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[DComeaux]

Very nice hunt!

[Rick]

Date: 12/21/25 Sun

Time: morning

Location: #3

Cloud Cover: dense ground fog all hunt

Wind Direction and Velocity: southerly light

Temperature: t-shirt

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Stayed covered up in lost squealers all morning, but the guys didn't want to shoot them, and our real ducks, if many were still around our corner of the marsh, stayed beyond our vision.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Didn't see enough to say, though our greenhead couldn't lay off a single quack series, even after we were plainly caught and his hen bumped hard.

Hunters: 2, Will and Tommy

Guns:

Malfunctions: Someone kicked and broke my spinners' rheostat's axle while climbing out of the pit two mornings ago, and someone else kicked their onoff toggle hard enough to loosen its innards yesterday. So both must now be jiggered with to function now. New rheostat is on order and will replace both when it arrives.

Dog(s): Wore Call out with chipped suqealers, when they opted to go head and shoot them.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: no real ducks showed

Kudos: The guys finally relented and started shooting, if not outright killing many, squealers at 9:20.

Birds By Species: 14 black-bellies, 3 green-wings and 1 mallard

[DComeaux]

The fog didn't want to let up.

[Darren]

Gotta know when its a "ducks is ducks" day, guys....geez.

[Rick]

Date: 12/22/25 Mon

Time: Morning

Location: #3

Cloud Cover: ground fog built right at LST and held all hunt

Wind Direction and Velocity: southerly light

Temperature: warm

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Lots of lost squealers milling most of the morning plus a few more real ducks, mostly jacks, than yesterday.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Squealers were easy, grays did as bid and jacks were pass shot. Only mallards were a pair that caught us and bumped, but I called the drake back. Don'tcha know we saved him from having to hear her, "Tol' ya. I tol' ya, didn't I? But, no, you just had to go check her out."

Hunters: 2, father Hamilton and grown son, Lail (maternal grandmother's maiden name)

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Call's stacking enough good days to have me worrying about when his "other shoe will drop".

Special Equipment: SOS stuff's still boogered, but I did get a new toggle.

Curses: none

Kudos: Guys agreed to start with a mess of squealers on the string before waiting on "real ducks," and Lail was death on passing Jacks.

Birds By Species: 7 black-bellies, 4 gadwall, 1 mallard and 6 ringnecks

[DComeaux]

Nice hunt.

[Duck Engr]

Always seems to go smoother when people don’t try to guide the guide. Nice hunt.

[Rick]

Date: 12/23/25

Time: morning

Location: #3

Cloud Cover: mostly clear, NO FOG

Wind Direction and Velocity: light to moderate SE

Temperature: warm

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: We were laying off squealers, jacks and (theoretically, it turned out) spoons, so you know what we saw the most of. But there were also enough teal to keep us busy and big ducks to show the blind. And it sure was nice to get to see what was out there in their usual passers.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: The teal were much more gracious about the stand up and out member of our party than the big ducks.

Hunters: 2, David and Travis

Guns:

Malfunctions: Just one man's refusal to hide.

Dog(s): Had time to worry about Call on a pintail that landed, rather than crashed, well out in the grass, but he returned with the still lively bird.

Special Equipment: Spinner on/off toggle finally crapped out entirely, but I'd put a new one in the shell box this morning.

Curses: Just the all too common one of staying caught by birds not wanting shot.

Kudos: NO FOG, and one guy was a good hunter.

Birds By Species: 4 gadwall, 11 green-wings, 1 pintail and 2 shovellers

[Ericdc]

"Big ducks to show the blind"


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[DComeaux]

Love to see that. Good hunt.