Teal Season 2017

[Darren]

Friday 9-15-2017 Teal Opener
SE La public marsh
Johnny and I with Harry
clear skies, starry morning boat ride, 70's, wind ENE 0-10+

Made it out to the area I scouted yesterday and thankfully the birds didn't make a liar out of me. Quiet for first 15 minutes or so then had plenty action with a few lulls until we finished about 7:45. With better shooting could have been 6:45a, we had our chances and shot poorly early on but got it together. Water was higher than previous day which made our target pond much deeper than I wanted, as a result the birds really wanted tiny waters outside the ponds.........we plan to adapt accordingly tomorrow. Harry had a great morning, handled about as sharp as I've seen him so maybe our offseason work is paying off.

Post-hunt we piddled around the camp then headed out to fish. Plenty of missed fish due to watching teal instead of corks but great time. Teal and redfish on the menu tonight, life is good.

Back in the saddle for 2017

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Will is staying at the camp with us and got a solo limit on his Delacroix lease this morning. Reports in this area were very mixed, some DNS, some quick limits.

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[Rick]

That's what I'm thinking.

[Darren]

Sat. 9-16-2017
SE La public marsh
Johnny and I with Harry
clear skies, starry morning boat ride, 70's, wind ESE 0-10+, got rained on too

Back to same pond but adjusted to back corner that seemed to have the most traffic yesterday. Was really slow for first hour, looked a whole lot like a DNS then only had one bird after 7:15 or so and was happy to have it. Had some showers come through and that seemed to stir the birds a bit and little by little we pecked away, taking time at 8:00 for segment with local radio show. Made our shots and finally got to 12 with a suicide pair at about 8:45a.

Reports I got from elsewhere today were very slow overall and really didn't hear much shooting around us but ended up seeing a fair many birds in total. Planning to call tomorrow's hunt by 8:00a, win, lose or draw so I can get back to the house.

(12) 12 BW teal - 2 man limit

Coming in with our first one after an entertaining chase, were just thrilled to knock the scratch off

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[DComeaux]

Nice hunts Darrin! looks like you guys are having a good time out that way.

[Darren]

Addendum to today's entry: Will hit his Delacroix blind again this morning solo and had to scrounge around to get 5, saw fewer birds than day before, less shooting in area too. Other reports from that area were very slow today

[Darren]

Sun. 9-17-2017
SE La public marsh
Johnny and I with Harry
clear skies, starry morning boat ride, 70's, wind ENE 0-3, early ground fog

Back to same hole again this morning but all was calm and quiet. Very few hunters out and no fishermen in our area to help stir things a bit, and the stagnant weather sure wasn't going to do it. Saw a few birds here and there but just not trafficking our vicinity. Had one four pack give us a chance and we got two, that was it. Called it at the planned 8:00a with no reason to justify extending it. On way out jumped birds nearby scattered in shallow flooded marsh, would be very difficult to hunt that. Need tides to fall a bit

(2) 2 BW teal

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Harry working our glassy pond

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Hope to try somewhere later in the week. Great opening weekend though

[DComeaux]

Was quiet this morning. Very hot and muggy.

[Darren]

Was quiet this morning. Very hot and muggy.

Could have made my entire log entry with that alone. Noticed it to be particularly muggy compared to the last week and a half, guess that's why we had the fog too on our end.

[Deltaman]

Great reports and pics Darren! Love it when you can do a combo trip in same areas, good stuff

[Darren]

Wed. 9/20/2017
SE La marsh
Johnny & I with Harry
70's, wind from SSW 5-8+ maybe, sticky, pt cloudy

Though reports had been poor in this area, I knew no one had hunted where we'd scouted a few weeks back so I had to go see for myself what the deal really was, good or bad. Within 10 minutes of shooting time it was apparent that we were indeed on the X as shorebirds and squealers seemed to be converging on us from across the parish, and then the teal started showing with them as we'd hoped. Had 6 down in first flurry and ended up downing 13 in total, losing two long off crips, got burned on our back side a good bit too so that cost us a few chances. Very quiet across the marsh otherwise. Plan to try them again tomorrow. Ran 1 mojo teal and 2 FAF's, other mojo bit the dust at LST.

(11) BW teal

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Went with the full body mallard hens and pins today with only a few floating teal blocks in the "stubble"

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[DComeaux]

Very nice!

[Deltaman]

Sweet hunt It appears you have a semi-hard bottom to walk around on in that marsh, nice!

[Darren]

Sweet hunt It appears you have a semi-hard bottom to walk around on in that marsh, nice!

Only in very specific places, otherwise, down to chest deep.

[Rick]

Huge hunt!

[aunt betty]

Oh yeah that reminds me.
When the lake I use gets low something peculiar happens.
The bottom loses it's bottom. It turns into soup if you get into shallow water (where it used to be deeper)
It's a foot low and I'm not even gonna try wading. I know better.
It'll suck the hip boots right off your feet.

Someone is about to suggest chest waders. Uh..5mm neoprene in September. Oh lawd no.
Now it's time to try and sell me them breathables.
You just need to GO BUY...that's always the solution. spend it.
Boat, paddle, forget the waders.
My boat is a blind so there are times where I never get out of the boat. The soup...

[Ducaholic]

Nice work to find the birds. I would need snow shoes to traverse that muck.

[Darren]

Yea some wide foot boots would be ideal but I've got a pretty good weight to foot size ratio goin for me

Left a few out there to try tomorrow so we'll see, looking like I'll probably be solo

[Darren]

Thurs. 9/21/2017
SE La marsh
Harry & I
70's, wind from NNW 0-8+ sticky, pt cloudy

You'd think that getting a partner for the morning would have been easy following hot flights the day before, but I had to go solo. And it was for the best, so no one but Harry and I had to endure the squealer, woodduck and misc. shorebird show that was entirely free of teal. I might have seen 2 or 3 for the morning before packing it up about 8:00a, did not hear a shot fired across the marsh all morning.

DNS's all around the marsh today

No pics of the no birds, but did piddle with the camera in pretty early morning lighting

You'll have to admire the plastic ducks in place of the real deal for now

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Figure that these birds moved on and we're due for a fresh batch like everyone else is waiting on down here. A buddy hunting a mile or so north of me did see one big wad he said had 40 birds but that was it. I'm on scheduled hiatus until probably next Thursday.

[DComeaux]

Rick made a comment on one of my logs on this or some other forum a few years back where I posted photos of the sunrise and decoys. He said something to the affect that it was telling.......

[Darren]

Rick made a comment on one of my logs on this or some other forum a few years back where I posted photos of the sunrise and decoys. He said something to the affect that it was telling.......

Oh I was bored. Thought sure I'd catch a pair or so still in the area trying to slip in on me when I was lulled to sleep, but no dice. Literally did not hear one shot ring out across the entire marsh. Will get a report from today......but not from exactly where I was hunkered down

[Darren]

Reports from this marsh slow again today, not surprisingly. Will scratched out a solo limit on his Delacroix lease, birds said to have worked his spread well and made for easy shooting. He added that those 6 he took home were about half of what he saw in total for the morning.

[Darren]

Thurs. 9/28/2017
SE La marsh
Johnny and I with Harry
70's, wind from N/NW 5-10+, pt cloudy, pleasant for once

Finally some comfortable conditions with some kind of weather change over night, nice wind from the start this morning kept the bugs half way at bay. Thought we were in for a blazing good time when we had two groups work us and land before LST, but when the hour struck we just didn't get the traffic we thought to be a guarantee. Ended up seeing good many birds but they were mostly trafficking a different area of our little marsh system, mostly to our south and west. On top of that, wads and singles alike that came looking bumped off of us and didn't commit much to our bewilderment. New birds to the area, all kinds of flashing, no brainer right?? Shot decent with our three shooting ops: got both of a skirting pair, got 3 from a close in wad of 25, got a suicide single to close it out and the marsh was largely silent after 7:15 or so.

Still a nice morning with the great weather, north wind was flat out gettin' it on our boat ride in. If there were more season left I'd have gone back out to find the other holes they were trafficking today but I had other (ducky) tasks on my plate.

6 BW teal

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Headed in, Johnny went to work; dad, Harry and I headed south for some work at the lease

[Rick]

Flips me out when your wind is so different than ours. Only strong wind we've seen has been rain cell related. Maybe today...but was still when I aired the dogs.

[Rick]

...Maybe today...but was still when I aired the dogs.

Just checked the local weather, and am pleased to report north winds have arrived: "N, 2mph with gusts to 3". Should be covered up in birds riding the tailwind.

[Darren]

Fri. 9/29/2017
Delacroix Island - Grand Lake area
Will and I with Harry
70's, wind from NW/NE 5-15, clear, pleasant again

After yesterday's blind build I wasn't able to make it out to the local public ground to see if the birds from opening weekend were back in there so opted to join Will at his place, nice to see a new spot. Had plenty of wind again this morning and what appeared to be new birds out and about. Not many on our flight path but ended up seeing good many overall. Limited ops and shot well other than Will's gun jamming on a group that finally bought in. And, of course, a skirting group well in range as I cased my gun. Neat spot, pretty pond, much different habitat from our usual spots and really not far away, much more fresh water in this area. Did see three pins cruise by on us as well today, first for me in the area.

Teal has been fun but I've had my share of mosquitos, got the envie to toss some gray duck dekes and watch the big birds work.

5 BW teal

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Neat spot, he does well here in regular season, loaded up with SAV

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Will's going back tomorrow, I'm done for the teal season.

[aunt betty]

I'm always shocked when gads decoy. Pisses me off when they don't and it's more often that way.
They tease me a lot. I've passed on them way too many times hoping they'd decoy. Dumb move.
If they get even marginally close...takem.