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Sitting here thinking about sitting in the weeds for specks, despite the lack of game seen in that area, and can hear those "bugs in the night" just thinking about it.

2 of my guys went this morning and said they are working but won’t seal the deal...cloudy weather and they aren’t very experienced callers. I told them tomorrow might be better in the sun and NE wind.


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Dogs and I celebrated a rare-for-here snow day with an early morning pass through some of Klondike. Was neat to out in sideways snow as close to blizzard conditions as I've seen down here. Saw a few speck flights traveling low in it, and moved five maybe-mallards on one stop, but that was as close to "new birds" as we came. Even made a pass through a little strip of woodcock cover without moving any, though there were a pair of a migrant's splashes to suggest they're around.

All in all, not what I'd hoped to find, but the dogs had fun and so did I.

Rick wrote:Dogs and I celebrated a rare-for-here snow day with an early morning pass through some of Klondike. Was neat to out in sideways snow as close to blizzard conditions as I've seen down here. Saw a few speck flights traveling low in it, and moved five maybe-mallards on one stop, but that was as close to "new birds" as we came. Even made a pass through a little strip of woodcock cover without moving any, though there were a pair of a migrant's splashes to suggest they're around.

All in all, not what I'd hoped to find, but the dogs had fun and so did I.

Yea, it is wonderful. Seems to lift the spirits of the young, and young at heart.

Lotta geese around Stuttgart yesterday afternoon


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Big day, yesterday: got my boat with its clean, acid-soaked carb and new Go-Devil drive train back from the shop and went to the marsh to ready the Mudhole for business Saturday. Boat ran, and more to the point for the carb, idled great, though I'll admit still wincing out of habit every time the prop hit heavy weeds or sludge. Really nice to have that behind us.

Though ag land goose numbers have appeared on the increase during the split, ducks have remained eerily absent on a lot of prime habitat they normally take advantage of in great droves when the guns are gone. So it was a relief to find a much improved show of ducks in the marsh, albeit still mostly east side ringnecks. May well have been enough of those along with scatterings of teal to justify the "s" on the "thousands of ducks" reported by one of our east blind guides.

But for my more isolated pothole's purposes, the "not great but better" reports I'd heard from the Cherry Ridge crew were spot on, as there were pairs and small groups of mallards popping up periodically all the way down the trail and from the broken marsh north of the Mudhole, a few as close as the first open water. Could even occasionally hear mallards popping off while re-brushing the blind. Not nearly enough that little ducks are apt to get a pass tomorrow, but certainly enough to raise my spirits after our grim, all but mallardless first split.

Rick wrote:all but mallardless first split

That last part of your post made me think. Mallards are about 80% of the birds at my duck club. Except for one good mallard day last year in the field at my late season goose club, I've had SIX years almost devoid of mallards. I never kill a lot of ducks, but I hadn't realized how bad things have sucked the last 6 years at my duck club. Good goose hunting, very good out of town duck hunts, etc. have kept the seasons good for me. This year is typical for the last 6 years, 1, exactly 1 mallard. Not good when that is your bread and butter. A lot of wood duck action early, a great sea duck trip, and on track for my best goose season until I lost a few weeks of prime hunting, its been good. Ducks have ended for me. Technically I could hunt this weekend, but warming weather isn't going to help the complete lack of ducks where I hunt so I'm done with ducks. The decoys are going into storage tonight and the boat is already there. If we can just get some arctic weather, I still have time for a great goose season, but there is nothing in the long range forecast that is getting my hopes up. I hope things pick up for you all, so I can live vicariously through your and others posts

Good deal!! Hope to see some mudhole green this weekend.........on the heads, not as much on the wings.

Well, at least I'm not dreading it, like too many first split mornings.

Spoke this morning with the guide who reported seeing thousands of ducks the morning it snowed, and he said there were "thousands" of mallards between the boat house and his (2nd blind in) that day. So they've either moved on or I missed a few. Given tomorrow's easterly wind, I'd expect it sound like we've four blinds in our hip pocket, even without considering Cherry Ridge's contribution, and we might well sleep late and eat a big breakfast before easing out to the marsh well after the early slug-fest. Not that I could stand not being there, anyway.

As always, we'll just have to see how it goes...

From what I read all the ducks are concentrated down there in a few marsh places


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http://www.louisianasportsman.com/details.php?id=11545


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Not being able to go this year so far, I'll sure be glad when Rick starts posting his hunts again. Having been there with the Mudhole surrounding us, it makes it easy to enjoy the hunt with them. This seems to have been a terribly long split...

The mottleds all caught us, but otherwise this was one you'd have enjoyed. Let a lot of birds land and leave and shot most of what we shot was shot where it should always be.