2018-2019 Season Log

[Rick]

Sure hoping the south winds draw us all some teal between now and the split.

I haven't used spinners since teal season and had thoughts of puttinga couple out tomorrow morning. I want to see if I couldn't lure in a few of those big bunches of GW we've been seeing. The guy I lease from and one other blind on our place has been using them and told me the birds are landing on it. I think I'll give em a try in the morning and make a little spread adjustment.

Our localized teal bounce off the hole and won't return unless I kill mine and really get after them, but overall my new spinner arrangement (clearing the big cane clump between us and one of there favorite places south of Clyde and directing a spinner toward it) seems key in making the mudhole a whole lot better teal spot than it was prior. Just have to wait for the sun to be up enough for the birds to see the spinners at distance, and I've found it helpful in that regard to slow them way down for better visibility in very low light and increase their speed as the morning brightens.

Edited to say I'd rather do without if I couldn't shut them off - unless teal were the only game in town.

[Rick]

DE, here are hand-turning clues, per my PM:

elk7WyA deceiver1.jpg

Vy2HlRtdeceiver2.jpg

[Duck Engr]

Thanks Rick!

[Darren]

Sure hoping the south winds draw us all some teal between now and the split.

I haven't used spinners since teal season and had thoughts of puttinga couple out tomorrow morning. I want to see if I couldn't lure in a few of those big bunches of GW we've been seeing. The guy I lease from and one other blind on our place has been using them and told me the birds are landing on it. I think I'll give em a try in the morning and make a little spread adjustment.

Our localized teal bounce off the hole and won't return unless I kill mine and really get after them, but overall my new spinner arrangement (clearing the big cane clump between us and one of there favorite places south of Clyde and directing a spinner toward it) seems key in making the mudhole a whole lot better teal spot than it was prior. Just have to wait for the sun to be up enough for the birds to see the spinners at distance, and I've found it helpful in that regard to slow them way down for better visibility in very low light and increase their speed as the morning brightens.

Edited to say I'd rather do without if I couldn't shut them off - unless teal were the only game in town.

Dont think I've given them quite a fair enough shake, but early results were poor for me with a spinner....maybe just not enough teal to make a judgement.

[Rick]

Dont think I've given them quite a fair enough shake, but early results were poor for me with a spinner....maybe just not enough teal to make a judgement.

Aside from September teal, I'd quit using spinners before the first regular season they were available here was even over. Just too many times when big ducks that had a good look at them couldn't be brought back around for an easier shot. Never considered running one while hunting our marsh's east blind, either. But near the end of my first season in the mudhole, when our big ducks went missing and most everyone else in the marsh was hammering greenwings, while we were lucky to get six or eight, I dug one out and started shooting at least some teal limits, too. Were I still in a place teal tended to fly, anyway, I'd little doubt leave mine in the shed.

[Johnc]

I hate spinners worse then flooded corn

[Rick]

Date: 11/29 Thur

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: heavy clouds

Wind Direction and Velocity: light to nil to light southerly (was strongest before LST and after curfew)

Temperature: t-shirt

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Just as pitiful as yesterday's.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Once again had to kill spinners and lean on the call to get teal that bounced off them back and, once again, enjoyed only short-lived response from what big ducks passed.

Hunters: 2, David and Kendal

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh made an extra long mark on our gray.

Special Equipment: SOS, but the spinners may have been as much bane as boon.

Curses: Hard to keep the guys interested in hiding while getting so little big duck response.

Kudos: Didn't scratch and even had the backdoor consolation of "big hunt" for the marsh.

Birds By Species: 3 bw teal, 1 gadwall, 1 gw teal and 1 shoveller

Photo Ops: the mother of all green-wings next to our biggest blue-wing:

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[Duck Engr]

That’s a big-boned gal

[Darren]

That’s a big-boned gal

Wow, indeed! Big ol' hen

[Rick]

I'm sure my guys thought me nuts for snapping that shot, but I've never seen her match. Felt like I ought to submit her to Guinness.

[DComeaux]

Corn fed hen

[Bud]

A giant among teal.

[Johnc]

Judging by the picture,just looks like straight gw hen,no hybrid markings of anything

Just very large gw hen. Would have like to have seen mate

[Bud]

I thought the speculum looked a bit short?

[Ericdc]

Like a fat person with little T. rex arms


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[Rick]

Judging by the picture,just looks like straight gw hen,no hybrid markings of anything

Just very large gw hen. Would have like to have seen mate

I think so, too, though "puny gray" was my guess when we shot her crossing the front edge of the pond, and I felt good about not having missed a spoon's bill on her when Marsh picked her out of the grass. She was traveling alone.

[Johnc]

Did the hunters realize how rare that was,especially not a hybrid?

I would have like to have seen the subcutaneous fat on that one. Would have spent a while defatting

[Rick]

Didn't seem interested in it all. Know David hunts with me for the mallards we didn't kill any of.

[Rick]

Date: 11/30 Fri

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: heavy

Wind Direction and Velocity: calm at LST slowly building to light southerly

Temperature: t-shirt

Moon phase: 43% waning

Special Notes: Umpteenth Thermocell crapped out yesterday, and I'd forgotten to replace it.

Waterfowl Activity: Same as yesterday, ie: precious little large or small, high or low.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Lucky to have what we did, as most low birds knew us and high ones looked and left.

Hunters: 2, Kip and Thomas

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Tough day for Marsh, who tracked a mallard through the marsh way down the boat trail before it hit the run, itself and dove, never to be seen again, when he caught up to it and then was gone so long on a gray tipped down way the hey out that I got worried and went looking for him - and was incredibly relieved to eventually find him back at the blind, even though he hadn't caught the bird.

Special Equipment: sos

Curses: Just the slow hunting.

Kudos: Nice guys who were good company and helped drop, if not kill, our big ducks in bunches.

Birds By Species: 1 bw teal, 2 mallards, 3 pintails and 1 shoveller

[Rick]

Date: 11/30

Time: evening

Location: SHH

Cloud Cover: heavy and spitty to sideways rain

Wind Direction and Velocity: Southerly strong

Temperature: t-shirt

Moon phase:

Special Notes: Was in the yard when a flight of blues went over the house bucking the wind and made me think about goose hunting and, eventually, decide I had to go, if only for the last hour or so of the day.

Waterfowl Activity: Geese were bodied on a neighboring farm, and what little was moving early on was locked on them. But as quitting time neared, specks started pulling out of the bunch, and enough headed my way.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Was easier to start them my way than expected, but it took for-flippin'-ever for them to get to me against the wind, and I blew the first little bunch out trying to force the issue. Mostly just teased those that made it to the gun.

Hunters: Just Marsh and I

Guns: 16ga Model 12

Malfunctions: Stove-piped a hull after chipping a bird and couldn't finish it. Has happened before but hopefully just operator error.

Dog(s): I said a bad word when I stove-piped the gun, which Marsh misinterpreted as "fetch" and took off after the crip, only to lose his mark while running through a difficult flood. Something that happens more often than most seem to think. Better to keep them steady until the bird's all the way down for a solid mark than let them chase and navigation challenges get in the way of their marking.

Special Equipment: Charlie and Agnes spread

Curses: Though being stationary afforded me a better mark on where the bird was apt to crash, it was way the hey off and starting to rain hard while we trudged to the grown-up field where it went in.

Kudos: The bird did, in fact, go in where I thought it would, and once on site, Marsh was able to locate and catch it.

Birds By Species: 2 specks

Photo Ops: Quit raining about the time we were finally back at the truck but was so dark by then that I struggled with the flash just to get a tailgate shot before saying "close enough" when all of the principles were kinda-sorta in the picture:

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[DComeaux]

Was in the yard when a flight of blues went over the house bucking the wind and made me think about goose hunting

I was getting ready for our fishing trip mid morning and noticed the same thing. They were coming over the camp heading to the large grit piles just a mile or so to our SE. They were at an altitude that was very tempting. I wish I would have had a place to set up for those sausage meat providers. Late morning high wind loafers.

[Rick]

Fajitas, man, fajitas. Nothing makes a better fajita than blue breast strips. As with gumbo, they're much better than specks for that end, but I wasn't in a place they were trafficking. Not like the old days when we had so much land you could usually find a spot they were flying low on such days and readily pull them down into range with a call.

[Rick]

Date: 12/1 Sat

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear to cloudy to fog to clearing

Wind Direction and Velocity: westerly moderate

Temperature: t-shirt

Moon phase: 32% waning

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Both westerly wind and weekends tend to be kind to us, so I was disappointed to see even fewer birds than yesterday. Still virtually no teal and precious little moving high, low or sideways besides locals stretching their wings.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Fooled a "local" mallard pair that plainly knew better, and got a few grays and a last second mixed mob to buy in from way up (took a gray, a mallard and spoon out of it and saw pins in the mix, as well).

Hunters: 2, from the notorious "crippling crew" (sans Daniel the Giant), brothers Nick and Tony

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh had an easy morning.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Just the lack of game, especially when the camp had changed the guys' dates from their usual Jan ones to such a tough time.

Kudos: They weren't happy about the date switch from ones that had produced so well the past two seasons, but didn't take it out on me.

Birds By Species: 3 gadwall, 1 gw teal, 4 mallards, 1 ringneck and 1 shoveller

[Rick]

Date: 12/2 Sun

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: nil to light westerly

Temperature: cool

Moon phase:

Special Notes: thankfully the last day of the first split

Waterfowl Activity: The one group of grays we worked may well have been the only non local/puddle hoping birds we saw, not that we saw many locals, either. Very, very long morning.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Grays came pretty, mallard got caught up in single quacking.

Hunters: Tony and Nick again

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Marsh snoozed.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: NO birds.

Kudos: Guys were pretty good about it.

Birds By Species: 2 gadwall and 1 mallard

Photo Ops: If he'd know how slow it would be, the bug might have spread his little bit of action out more:

029a.jpg

Went back after the hunt to clean and close the blind for the split and pick up the spinners. Found the new one had taken at least 29 hits. Welcome to the mudhole:

034a.jpg

[Darren]

Figured today would have been a stinker on our end too but actually know of some good hunts had by a few parties, though none were on our ease for sure. Woke up at the camp to no wind so just hung around and let my little one chase Harry around.

[DComeaux]

Do the spinners get combat pay?

[BGkirk]

Is your second spinner modified to stop with the white side down? Or is the whole thing brown?


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[Rick]

Same configuration as the first, white side is - usually - down or upwind when stopped. It's an "almost always" thing, and doubling spinners has doubled the chances of one stopping white side up. Believe inopportune timing on that may well have been what turned an out front "gimme" speck into an overhead shot we fluffed on our one and only mudhole goose op of the split.

But, as in September, our teal fortunes relative to the more easterly marsh have increased appreciably by bettering our attraction from the little birds' favored marsh, and the jury's still out on how the big ducks feel about passing over the new stealth duck in the pond. So I'm calling the experiment a success for now.

On the other hand, all but the back blind are still killing way the hey more ringnecks than we are, so it's not turned any tricks with them. And I'll note that my hunters who have spoken up don't think much of my return to lower and scabbier cover and called it the worst they've seen my blind look - but I'm sure liking it so far...

[Bud]

" And I'll note that my hunters who have spoken up don't think much of my return to lower and scabbier cover and called it the worst they've seen my blind look - but I'm sure liking it so far..."
Rick

Reminds me of sitting in a tree deer hunting. When I sit kind of open, I just have to look behind me every now and then. That is body movement that could be caught by wary eyes. However, sitting where I cannot see behind me is sometimes a big plus. I can just watch part of the pie and let the rest lie. Less movement and more relaxation, and it hides my little moves from whatever is back there that may be coming my way.

I like duck hunting hidden by a wall of grass. It helps to hide the boat, and I rarely get busted by what is coming from behind me.
It seems necessary to be more still when the wall is gone, and that may take a lot of fun out of it with some folk. I can see where it would help a dog mark easier, though, on crips. I'll shoot a crip three times on his way down if he ain't dead, cause my Shepherd might not be a good retriever around other dogs, then wants to play tug of war.

If Rick likes it better, better it is...his blind.

[Rick]

Concealment vs visibility has been the trade-off since I first started letting the live canes get thick on around the blind. I felt them enough of an asset for working big ducks to the hole from the angles they shielded when hunters who couldn't or wouldn't hide were in the blind that I was to willing to forfeit what they kept me from seeing. That changed with last year's first split, when little ducks were about all we had, and I was missing what could have been opportunities to work more of them or make the shooting ops they afforded easier by more often knowing when and how they were coming to the hole. Bottom line being, I was cheating those guests who could and would help hide themselves to cater to those who couldn't or wouldn't.

So far, I'm thinking increasing my view has been an important part of the quite appreciable increase in teal success(relative to our traditionally more little duck favorable spots) we've enjoyed. And it's, knock wood, made big northerly wind days, when everything on final approach is coming very low, much easier in terms of watching that approach and knowing when to do what with the call. Given hunters who can and will help hide themselves, the only shortcoming I'm seeing to scabbier cover vs high canes, has been more tendency to come over the top, instead of swinging wide of the tall, potentially dangerous, cover.

"Given hunters who can and will help hide themselves," the concealment issue of greatest concern is getting caught by distant birds before we see them and take cover. While it's long been my custom when carrying folks without masks to leave my own in the box and watch the birds and call from behind a camouflaged left arm, I've made a point of wearing one every regular season morning, both to lesson the chances of it being me who's caught and, hopefully, set an example my hunters who care about succeeding will follow on subsequent trips.

Looking forward to seeing how it goes when, or if, the big ducks show in force.