2014-2015 Season Log...

[Rick]

I'm going to try Frog Lube in the Montefeltro this split and see if its drier nature doesn't cut down the crud build up. Giving Hornady's One Shot a go in the SBE.

[Flightstopper]

Be interested to hear about the frog lube. Still have a big can of clp to use up that works just fine. Has kept me from buying the frog lube with the price until this is gone

[Rick]

Date: 12/15

Time: afternoon

Location: thornwell

Cloud Cover: heavy

Wind Direction and Velocity: pretty strong from SW

Temperature: pleasantly cool

Barometer:

Moon phase:

Special Notes: bit of a front coming

Waterfowl Activity: Thought the wind might hold whatever roost flight there was down enough that I could pull them closer with calling alone. Saw some plainly new ducks, and the goose roost flight was steady for at least 45 minutes, maybe longer as I left then. First such strong one I've seen this season.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: They didn't beat me up, but calling alone did pull them over and low enough for me to hit the first and only one I shot at.

Hunters: just me on a spur of the moment whim

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Had fed Peake before deciding to go, and didn't want to take him on a full stomach.

Special Equipment: just a call

Kudos: My calling ploy worked, and it was a heck of a bird show, albeit mostly while I was playing retriever and after shooting time.

Curses: Paid for all the bad things I've said about the coyote lately by having to chase my own dang cripple half way across a very big farm - in boots that weren't tall enough. Dang poorly planned operation.

Birds By Species: 1 snow, first of this season

Photo Ops: no camera

[Rick]

Be interested to hear about the frog lube. Still have a big can of clp to use up that works just fine. Has kept me from buying the frog lube with the price until this is gone

Been wanting to try Frog Lube and sprung for it and the One Shot after reading this link: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=751408

[Flightstopper]

Yeah I've read through that as well. He cut no corners with that test

[simplepeddler]

that is one H E LL of a test! Wow

[Rick]

Date: 12/20

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: heavy and hazy

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE strong to moderate

Temperature: cold with the wind

Barometer: 30.11 slowly rising

Moon phase: waning cresent

Special Notes: second split opener

Waterfowl Activity: Most mallards I've seen in quite a while, but few other ducks.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Sweet.

Hunters: 2, Tommy and grandson Hunter

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): relatively easy morning for the coyote

Special Equipment: SOS: spinner on for teal, off for big ducks and modified mallard machine used mostly as nervous mannerism in the wind.

Kudos: Neat morning to be in the marsh, and Hunter made a nice triple on mallards. (Then burned his two boxes and dipped into my reserve of guest bullets. "Pride goeth..." and all that.)

Curses: Shot our six Susies way too quick and had tough time picking out drakes in the gloom, much less getting enough separation to call shots without fear of a screw up. Also took an extra hour to kill our last non mallard. So we educated a mess of mallards.

Birds By Species: 4 greenwing teal, 12 mallards, 1 pintail and 1 ringneck

Photo Ops: Hunter and Tommy:

[Darren]

holy moly look at the mallards, real nice!

[Bud]

Sounds like one more early teal would have been optimum. Great strap of ducks. Great triple, too!

[Rick]

Sounds like one more early teal would have been optimum.

To quote a past Alabama governor's grandson, "They're fast!" Didn't intentionally pass a single teal, and just weren't in the game with most of what relative few came by. Same for the jacks. Guys with more open water to our east shot a mess of both, while our end just didn't see them. Might be hard for you to imagine, having only been here when the marsh was high, but you can now stand on my dog stand and not see water beyond the mudhole to the north, and the poor guy in the last blind beyond me is even farther off the little birds' favored waters. If I wasn't so selfish about craving teal shooting, myself, I'd hunt the back blind for the big ducks I've a better handle on than most. Well, that, and I've invested an awful lot of time and labor in the mudhole.

[Rick]

Date: 12/21

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: hazy to the point of fog

Wind Direction and Velocity: easterly moderate

Temperature: chilly

Barometer: 30.08 rising slightly

Moon phase: new

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Not nearly as many mallards as yesterday, but scads of teal.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Had trouble getting the big ducks in before other blinds shot, but teal were plenty quick enough and worked nicely.

Hunters: 2, Tommy and Hunter again

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): another easy morning

Special Equipment: SOS

Kudos: Sweet teal shoot, and even with a whole lot of missing, were done in an hour.

Curses: none at all

Birds By Species: 13 gw teal, 4 mallards and 1 spoon

Photo Ops:

[jarbo03]

Looks like some good hunts Rick. I've shot nothing but mallards since mid Oct, miss the teal.

[DComeaux]

GET EM Rick!

[Rick]

Date: 12/21

Time: afternoon

Location: compressor

Cloud Cover: heavy

Wind Direction and Velocity: light easterly

Temperature: pleasant

Barometer:

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Doesn't appear to be anything staying nearby.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Did not call to a single goose I felt I had a prayer of working, and what little calling I did was to specks flying with mile high blues - and when they fly with blues, they act like blues.

Hunters: 3, father, son and uncle

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): slept

Special Equipment:

Kudos: Very nice folks...

Curses: ...which made the dead afternoon that much worse. Hate that Doug's kept so little ag land.

Birds By Species: didn't think about shooting

Photo Ops:

[DComeaux]

and when they fly with blues, they act like blues.

Soooooo true, and so darn aggravating! They'd lift off just to off south west this morning climbing into formation with blues. All i'd get is a head turn or one or two to break down, turn for a bit then hurry to rejoin the group.

[Rick]

MISPLACED ENTRY

Date: 12/20

Time: afternoon

Location: compressor

Cloud Cover: cloudy

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE moderate

Temperature: chilly

Barometer:

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: next to nothing moving

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Thankfully, the only working altitude bunch of specks we saw came to die (though we weren't much help.

Hunters: 3, Tom, Eric and little Phil

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Peake got some rest

Special Equipment:

Kudos: They sure came pretty.

Curses: We shot like elderly matrons, killing just two of more than a dozen in our faces. Mine's still flying.

Birds By Species: 2 specks

Photo Ops: Peake with one:


Little Phil with two:

[Rick]

Date: 12/22

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: pea soup fog all morning

Wind Direction and Velocity: SE moderate

Temperature: warm

Barometer:

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Saw very few big ducks, but plenty of little ducks popped out of the fog periodically.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: teal would work, but jacks had to be taken as they came

Hunters: 2 Tom and Eric

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): The coyote ate his annual duck bill and took his annual ear chewing.

Special Equipment: SOS

Kudos: Guys shot pretty well and were good company.

Curses: Know they were hoping for mallards.

Birds By Species: 1 gadwall, 6 gw teal, 1 mallard, 8 ringnecks and 2 spoons

Photo Ops: Tom and Eric:

[Rick]

Date: !2/22

Time: afternoon

Location: compressor

Cloud Cover: partly

Wind Direction and Velocity: SW fairly strong

Temperature: warm

Barometer:

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Few more birds shaking around than yesterday, but not many.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Was reminded of the skybusting I saw at this blind after our hunt this morning when two pairs broke for the call pretty, then bugged out when they saw where it came from. Grrr... But the money bird came pretty as could be.

Hunters: Doug's 7yr-old great grandson, Cole, joined the coyote and I.

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): easy money, bird almost fell in the blind.

Special Equipment:

Kudos: Cole and I had a great visit, he shot his first speck. I may have anchored it, but when I told Cole to stand up and shoot it, he did just that and stood the bird up with the first shot from his 20. Was so fired up he didn't want to stay for more, just wanted to get back to the camp and show his papaw. Have to admit I was stoked, too.

Curses: Was a spur of the moment hunt, and I didn't bring a camera.

Birds By Species: 1 speck

Photo Ops: Didn't have my camera, but photos were taken at the camp and I'll try to get one for the log.

[DComeaux]

That's awesome Rick!

[Flightstopper]

Good stuff

[Bud]

Congratulations on Cole's first speck of many to come. Bet Doug was proud, too.

[Deltaman]

Really been enjoying your reports and pics, and appreciate you posting them. Most of us live for the few days off we get each month to spend in a blind, and your steady reports help keep the fire stoked between hunts

[Rick]

Thanks, guys, the little man and I had a big time.

[Rick]

Date: 12/23

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: fog ebbing and flowing

Wind Direction and Velocity: southerly light to moderate

Temperature: almost hot

Barometer: 29.59 dropping

Moon phase: waxing cresent

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: thankfully strong flight of about everything

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Came like they always should

Hunters: 3 young bucks I thought would make it an easy hunt.

Guns: one had a 28ga O/U

Malfunctions: Guy with the 28 brought shells for a 12, and when they didn't fit, tried my 20s before reading the barrel stamp. Biggest malfunction, though, was giving him my gun.

Dog(s): Busy morning for the coyote with crips all over the marsh.

Special Equipment: SOS

Kudos: No one was killed.

Curses: Worst shots ever. Shot so much for their 18 that a buddy on the next club downwind of us texted me "We surrender."

Birds By Species: 1 bw teal, 2 gadwall, 8 gw teal, 5 mallards, 3 ringnecks and 5 spoons

Photo Ops: none taken to protect the identities of the participants in today's debacle

[Flightstopper]

Haha the people you get to meet

[DComeaux]

Shot so much for their 18 that a buddy on the next club downwind of us texted me "We surrender."

Now that's some funny chit right there!

[Rick]

It hit my funny bone just right. Looking forward to coffee with him at the Shop-A-Lot tomorrow morning before heading to the camp.

[Rick]

Haha the people you get to meet

Thinking about the need to bail my blind after yesterday afternoon's torrential rains reminded me that one of them was spitting his dip on the blind floor until I observed that I didn't recall spitting on the floor of his office.

[DeadEye_Dan]

Great season log - Thanks for sharing.

I some times get a little pissy when I hunt with a guide and they start going through the list of rules. The above is a good reminder of 1) the reason for the rules, 2) why I'm not a guide

[Darren]

Wow sounds like a debacle and a half. They truly must be some poor shooters to earn the title of worst EVER. Young crowd these days wants to dress and talk like they know what they're doing ha!