Preseason '26-'27

[Darren]

About right to kickoff preseason happenings with a thankfully-weak storm in the Gulf, with landfall imminent near Venice, La. So far north winds have dominated at Shell Beach so water has risen a bit but largely kept in check so far. We got the bay boat out Monday morning and duck boat was already out from a weekend spent at False River dragging tubes and kneeboards.

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Johnny then took it to work with him Monday for a full shakedown on the motor for scheduled maintenance.

Interesting note below for Arky rice, not sure what this year's figure is for La rice but assume it too is on the lower end:

Despite a rice reference price increase from $6.30 to $7.60 per bushel under the One Big Beautiful Bill, Arkansas farmers planted less than one million acres of rice for the first time since 1989. Low commodity prices, rising input costs and global conflict contributed to less acres.

https://uaex.uada.edu/media-resources/n ... eport.aspx

[Darren]

Update, jogged north to make a landfall at the camp:

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Currently blowing 25-30+ kts from the north/NW down there on scene.

[Darren]

Water levels back down significantly overnight, should be done with this one on our end thankfully.

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Guessing we got a foot or two over the dock, maybe a foot over much of the slab under camp. Hopefully drifted away more debris than brought in for us to clean up.

[Darren]

Big fan of the pellet count high density shot has brought to my patterns, 4s and 5s resulting in much less crippling than my old days of 2s and 3s steel. Ballistic performance upgrade, sure, but regardless of that, a sheer cloud of pellets seems to be dispatching birds cleaner and I'm spending less time chasing in the marsh.

Interesting analysis here from Boss. As an engineer, I err toward trusting numbers so these kats speak my language whether its sales propaganda or not.

[Rick]

Long time fan of more chances to win, here.

[Darren]

Well, some good news for once, we'll take it !


https://gf.nd.gov/news/9515?fbclid=IwY2 ... YfSgeUw3WA

Mon, 07/27/2026
Duck brood numbers are up 55% from 2025, and North Dakota Game and Fish Department migratory game bird biologists expect a fall flight of ducks about 9% higher than last year.

The fall flight forecast is based on information collected during the department's annual May breeding duck survey and July duck brood survey, which together estimate the number of adult ducks and ducklings expected to enter the fall population.

John Palarski, department migratory game bird management supervisor, said timely rains during late May and June greatly improved brood-rearing habitat across parts of North Dakota.

"The 2026 mid-July water index was up 36% from last year, creating favorable habitat during much of the nesting and brood-rearing period," he said. "Far northwestern North Dakota received considerable rainfall and was noticeably wetter than last year. Additional precipitation in the Devils Lake area created excellent wetland conditions in northeastern North Dakota, where intact seasonal and semi-permanent wetlands provided high-quality brood habitat."

Palarski added that although temporary water was abundant in some areas this year, North Dakota's long-term duck production continues to depend on intact prairie wetlands.

Blue-winged teal and gadwall were the most common broods recorded during the survey, accounting for nearly 53% of all identified broods. Most duck species showed increases in brood numbers compared to 2025, with notable increases in gadwall (97%), northern pintail (76%), and redheads (76%). The redhead brood count was the highest recorded during the survey's 62-year history.

Actual photo proof of said broods below Grays and redheads for days this fall

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[Duck Engr]

We’ll take all the good news we can get!!

[Darren]

^ ain’t that the truth!

Halfway pleasant this morning so put the dogs to work and glad to see how they each were successful reaching their respective measuring sticks. Harry’s still getting after dummies with vigor and hunts them up like it’s a flapping live one in the bushes. Indy shows less vigor but stays on/returns to the stand nicely, and hunts the blinds with her nose to the ground, really all I could ask of her. She continues to shine in the house/camp.

This afternoon, though, put in a little work of my own prefabbing what’s planned to be installed in a roseau patch I named The Bend for its location inside the turn of a sort of crescent shaped lagoon that gives us another low-water option. Harry supervised.

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[Rick]

Doesn't seem so long ago that Harry was the pup.

[Darren]

For ballpark same age or so, would be something like early 2016.....over a decade now!

[Darren]

Some recent coastal projects near us, close by Delacroix proper. Can make for banner teal hunting the first season or two when September high tides flood it up.

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Johnny and I have some blind work schemed for this Saturday morning, dark early so will have a report on all that over the weekend.

[Rick]

Nice to see that sort of restoration progress.

[Darren]

Had a nice time at the camp Friday evening and the planned workday on the lease indeed happened, but not a whole lot went as we'd planned.

Showed up to the blind install location only to find that the nice roseau patch we'd rely on to keep it brushed was entirely gone, canes laying in water rotting totally inexplicably. Opted to move to another hole we think has promise and has heavy salt bush all around it that remains healthy, so The Bend is now no more, and now we have the Bush Blind to its north just a bit.

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From there went to South Roseau to find it in pretty good shaped, wished the canes behind blind would have rebounded better but they haven't. Rest of the patch seems largely OK and got our blind "walls" put in to help keep the cane growing outside the blind and not into it.

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Great!

Was all down hill from there, though, as we surveyed Redhead Blind to find its canes gone, Heart Pond blinds stood out more than ever as marsh grass and canes have died off. Bad!

Was in a nice roseau patch that all we had to do was breakdown canes to fit the need............gone.

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And the ugly: got to A51 where you could see all three blinds we've had at different times there, all plain as day due to grass dying off. The original build we had to give up in October 2016 right before the season was plainly visible for the first time since then, I'd long thought it gone. The newest blind that was so good to us last year has hardly anything around it and will need a ton of inconvenient brushing to get right for the season. With tide so high, was hard to assess food situation but the little surveying I did with a paddle came up with nothing. Ugly indeed.

Beloved A51 blind, buck naked!

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Even went to West Blind to find it had met same fate, with even our salt bush that inhabited the blind found to be dead in the water and marsh around it dead.

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We were surely bummed to say the least. If it were a small scale thing I'd say someone was sabotaging us with chemicals but it's all over the area, numerous roseau patches dying off or gone. Not all, but many, even in the distance. In any case, this is the worst I've ever seen this area of marsh since I started hunting it in 2015. Inclusive of years we had 100+ mph storms go right through the lease, it's never looked so bad. Can only hope it rebounds as marshes typically do, but wow this was ugly.

Perhaps the lone sliver of positive from the lease was the high tides had flooded up an area of nutria- or muskrat-torn grass that made for a really shallow flood perfect for teal. Given September's often high tides, this area could be giving us some teal habitat we usually dont have. Already had wading birds etc. in it and I'm sure that will grow. It looked a lot like what I've seen them in elsewhere in the region so definitely will be giving it a look as teal season gets closer.

[DComeaux]

Time to sink a pit blind.

[Darren]

Time to sink a pit blind.

Always have said that would be the ultimate to have out there. Would have to do a lot of pumping it out though.

[DComeaux]

A five gallon bucket works really well and is quick. Fashion a "scoop" from a Clorox jug for the reaming water to get it dry. We only need to use the five gallon bucket at the beginning of the season unless we get lot's of rain. We never have issues with the tide. The remainder of the time the "scoop" is used when needed.

[Darren]

Given our tides, we'd have to err toward having the pit sit fairly high to avoid recurring inundation (and pumping/bailing).....the idea of having to sink one in our marsh seems daunting for sure.



In positive news, teal are on the move, this group passing through ARK. Local Delacroix outfitter told me today of two groups he saw over the weekend near him, brings some credence to the two "had to be" teal Johnny thought he saw Saturday at our place.

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[Rick]

My first thought was "cane scale" and then "POed neighbor with a spray drone" upon seeing you'd lost your grass, too. But given that landscape, I'd sure be thinking pit, with a small trash pump to help handle super tides.

[Darren]

Just for kicks on this pit discussion.....

This would not be sunken in the ground, but rather partial-sunk into the water and "anchored" as you do? My engineering mind fears the anchorings that would be required to keep it down, muchless hold on to it in event of a storm surge.

[Rick]

We used rice cart augers for anchors in Doug's marsh, but Cherry Ridge, which now uses fiberglass blinds, as you would likely want to, with even great displacement than our old metal ones, has switched to 16' 4x4s driven in with a big-assed "mother in-law" and feels they hold just as well. Always prudent to at least partly fill the pit with water prior to expected storm surge to prevent popping or implosion, though not always necessary, depending on the pit's construction and condition.

[Rick]

Having a family birthday lunch for my sweetheart, so I'll not likely make a pass through it this year, but thought I'd remind you that the Duck Festival calling contests are this Saturday, rather than the their traditional last in August. Unless the cook has changed, I recommend the jambalaya.