Duck Season 2016-2017

[Darren]

Sat. 11-12-2016
Delacroix
Raymond, Johnny & I
N/NE 0-10, 50's, cloudy to pt cloudy

South blind on the lease that we built yesterday and saw good traffic over it today. Tough though to work the grays with all the shooting so we had tough time with them compared to how many we saw. Also had surprising number of teal around us, and missed plenty of chances on them, mostly when I was out of the blind with Harry. Dog stand worked out well and Harry was clutch on birds that had fallen across the pond in tall grass, 5 for 5 on finding those, including lively crip hen grays that buried in the grass. Chances were there for us to get our 18 but we did not take advantage of the teal ops. Going to adjust our decoys for tomorrow, ditching the coots and just going with grays and a couple of pins for show.

(11) 6 grays, 1 GW teal, 1 BW teal, 3 redheads

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Fish were biting by the camp yesterday afternoon; we'll try em again later today

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[Rick]

Nasty coots. Like that first photo.

[Darren]

Sun. 11-13-2016
Delacroix
Raymond, Johnny & I
N 10-15, 50's, cloudy to pt cloudy, nearly full moon ("super moon" tonight)

We were feeling good on way to the blind this morning with the good wind humpin' early and cool temps. Added a bit more cane to the blind to help with our over the top hiding and it surely helped. Right off the bat had grays working and GWs out and about, plenty early shooting from all directions from us in the distance so figured good many birds around. Had 12 strapped by 6:15 or so but had to slowly grind away for our last 6 by about 8:15 or so. With better shooting, should have been done by 7:15 or so, the greenwings were eating us up in big groups and we weren't capitalizing. Nonetheless, we wrapped it up in decent time and headed in after our pics. Really feel like cutting the decoys back to only the grays and a few pins made a difference as well as the way we changed their spacing and overall layout on the pond, grays were committing far better than day before, or maybe today was just friendlier birds, who knows. Other blind on the lease had 12, mixed grays and GWs also; about 1,000 yds to our N/NW.

Harry handled nicely in the pond today with only one time having to go hunt one up in the grass across the pond. Did have one time, though, where he refused to bring a bird in after going out to it. Would mouth it and let it go, and look around as if looking for a different bird we sent him out for. Don't know what's up with that, happened on a big gray in the dekes. Suggestions or insight from others welcomed.

(18) 3-man limit
9 grays, 9 GW teal

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All hen grays yesterday, nice to see some stud drakes today dropping in on us

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Planning to try again mid-week, though Raymond may be going tomorrow.

[DComeaux]

Nice hunts Darren! ...Glad to see the good start for ya.

[Darren]

Note to log: Crew of four hunted our northern pond today and took 15 birds that included grays, green wings and a blind limit of 4 mottleds. Said they should have had 20+ birds easily with better shooting on the teal ops.

[Darren]

Wed. 11-16-2016
Delacroix
Beau R. & I
North 0-2+, 60's, clear, waning super moon, wind picked up to 5-10 while picking up dekes

Beau missed opening weekend so hoped to get him on some birds despite the low wind forecast and lingering big moon. No wind had me thinking reduced spread and thankfully remembered to pack the Wonderduck. Was skeptical about the flight prospects though did have monster wad of grays buzz us while I was finishing with the dekes in the dark. Also little other gun pressure and few fisherman out and about.

Good flight off the bat though and we shot well with our chances, had 8 on strap within about 20 minutes and had the hunt wrapped up by 7:15 after passing on a few marginal teal ops that worked us, got a decoying pair to close us out. Harry had easy day with everything falling in the pond or in grass right behind the blind. Lone dosgris, first of the season, Beau picked off from an absolute monster wad buzzing overhead, with other comparable wads on same flight line as far as we could see at that point. "Black Cloud Beau" may be starting to shake off his name, we had a nice time. Neighbors at the camp hunted their teal hole that had been very strong and barely scratched out 4.

(12) 9 grays, 1 GW teal, 1 BW teal, 1 dosgris

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Forecast for Saturday has us fired up, planning to try 'em again there.

[DComeaux]

Awesome!! Now go back to work....

[Rick]

Appears that lease is paying off. And bet that moon makes setup a snap.

[Darren]

Rick your mention of the big moon reminded me of how great the one two seasons ago was and also that we saw what appeared to be a red UFO on Sunday morning headed to the blind. Just enough moon light was coming through the distant clouds and it appeared reddish in shape of a bar, like it was the side of a saucer! Nothing too neat about this morning, just the brightness that helped me navigate, and I'm sure the birds were up and about through the night. As a small front also passed through over night, can maybe attribute a few of the grays that appeared "new" on the breast bone to that.

[Darren]

Excited for this forecast, Saturday morning down there should be interesting.

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[Deltaman]

Excellent reports Darren

[Darren]

Dad and I took advantage of the mild afternoon and made a boat ride down to the hunting grounds with the fishing poles. Made a pass on the bay we hunt off of and sure enough the birds were getting up all around......and thankfully working back in. Hope to see them early and often tomorrow morning, boat ride getting there and back should certainly be interesting.

[Darren]

Sat.. 11-19-2016
Delacroix
Raymond & I
Northwest wind 15-25+, cloudy, low 50's to start, first big front of season passed overnight

First legit front of season with northWEST winds blew through in the wee hours this morning, had the camp shaking when we woke up. Made the breezy ride down to the blind and got set up with the dekes closer than usual to the blind with hopes that they'd cozy up with all the wind. Sure enough, the first pair of grays off the bat did us just right and it was on from there until we rained out the last three from a decoying group at 6:15am to fill us out. Saw good many birds overall working throughout the area, mostly grays but some green wings also. Reports from elsewhere in the area and also our home public stompin grounds were all really good today, just a lot of birds in a lot of places.

(12) 12 grays for 2-man limit

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Harry had a great morning, most fell in front of us in dekes but he quickly sniffed out the couple in grass behind blind despite the screamin' wind. Here being chauffeured out against the wind

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Out for tomorrow but planning to try again early in the week

[Rick]

Glad you had plenty of birds. East end of our marsh was apparently loaded with grays, too.

[Darren]

Note to log: Raymond and Justin M hunted our blind this morning, two man limit by 8:00, should have been 7:00 but they said the green wings made them look silly a few times They also spun a prop hub on the way there, making them set up after LST with birds working the area.

9 grays, 3 GW teal

[DComeaux]

Really good to see the birds....It sure is a welcomed change.

[Deltaman]

Great couple of hunts Darren, and glad the birds are cooperating for ya'll!!!!!!!

[Darren]

Tues. 11-22-2016
Delacroix
Raymond, Johnny & I
Winds SE to E at mostly zero then increasing to eventually a decent 10 or so, clear skies

Knew we wouldn't have much wind so again went with the reduced spread and Wonderduck. The few visitors we had early on worked in well but everything after that treated us like we had big red flags waving. Overall saw good numbers of grays but they are holed up throughout our area in small water or even in canals, most wanted no part of working us. Downed three grays but lost one lively crip that had fallen in our nearby canal, swam to shore of it and when harry flushed her from the grass she promptly dove to never be seen again despite harry's diving efforts. Also teal stayed on their lines today whereas before we were able to break them over for a swing, grrr. One wad surprised us and made a swing around the blind but that was it. Missed one op on a mottled pair but that was it. Took the long route out of the lease and jumped good numbers all around but they are just holed up. Maybe we need new ones, or some weather to shuffle these around, but they had our feelings hurt today after being so friendly to us through week 1 of the season.

2 grays

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skinny strap on the post, hope it gets back to heavy soon. Will be early next week before I go again

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ground fog on the way out this AM

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[Deltaman]

"ground fog on the way out this AM

Arghhhh........ground fog............definitely an a-hole tightener when running a river system predawn

[Darren]

Two guys hunted our blind on the lease this morning. Reported hot early teal flight into the pond that gave them some great ops but the grays, overall, didn't want anything to do with it. They're again piling into small water just to our west in an area that's not on anyone's lease. They ended up with 9 birds; 7 teal, 1 gray, 1 dosgris.

Hoping to try them early this coming week on a stout south wind and see what that turns up. Really hoping it's not the magnitude of the blind that's all of a sudden pushing them off. Other pond on the lease without a big blind on it reported same thing this morning, grays not wanting to work

[Darren]

Mon. 11-28-2016
Delacroix
Johnny & I
E/SE, 50's, cloudy

Back in delacroix blind after thanksgiving off. Changed decoy approach a bit to not only fit the ESE wind but also kind of give the pond a different look to what we're thinking are stale birds. Had grays committing early and often to start so that had me thinking we had done right with the spread. Got to 5 birds quick but then had a lull for a while without hardly seeing a duck. Closer to 7:00a it picked up as the wind picked up and we were able to finish up by 7:30 with good shooting on committing groups. Also took all three of a trio of "shorebirds" (me) turned green wings lighting in the spread.

(12) 9 grays, 3 GW teal

green wings comin in

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Another gray comin in

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Harry assisting Johnny with decoy pickup

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Wind from the SE currently has the camp rockin, it's gettin' it down here. Storms coming through later this evening with a small front so hopefully shuffles current birds and/or brings new ones. Definitely saw fewer overall today in our area and they weren't in the nearby potholes. Try 'em again tomorrow

[Rick]

Storms coming through later this evening with a small front so hopefully shuffles current birds and/or brings new ones. Definitely saw fewer overall today in our area and they weren't in the nearby potholes...

Sure seems to me that they often sit and wait for our wet fronts to get here, as we may not have seen a half dozen flocks of what I think of as flight birds at any altitude.

[Darren]

Definitely nothing "flight bird" about what I saw today. Just the usuals hopping around, and for whatever reason we looked more attractive to them than last hunt here. Local weather folks saying it'll be through here in the wee hours of tonight so we oughtta have a sporty boat ride to the blind, and hopefully some new faces looking for some friends in the morning

[Deltaman]

Great report Darren!

[Darren]

Tues. 11-29-2016
Delacroix
Beau R. & I
S/SW 10-15, low 70's (SEVENTIES), mostly cloudy, weather system (weak front) passed over night with lots of south wind and some rain. Not a whole lot of hunts in the 70's on my log

Weather woke me up around 1:30am this morning with howling wind and rain slapping windows. Thankfully not too bad for the boat ride, had slackened to the 10 mph range. Again went with our new "relaxed" deke set up and we had grays working and landing from just before LST. Picked away shooting well on all our chances and had it wrapped up for 7:15; harry had another good morning working the pond and finding the couple of crips in the grass. No big groups, just singles and pairs diving in on us, even as we stood around taking post-hunt pics. Overall still didn't see a lot on our end but on the ride out saw a lot of birds, mostly grays, in places they hadn't been so presumably new birds or just new to the area following the weather shake up.

(12) 9 grays, 3 GW teal, same as day before

post shot

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During my time lounging around the camp yesterday afternoon I was scouting brush material sources nearby so had me a nice bundle to add to the blind during and after this morning's hunt. Back down there to try them Saturday and Sunday to wrap up the 1st split.

[DComeaux]

Keep it rolling...... I hope to be at the camp tomorrow afternoon and we'll be staying till Sunday.