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Gonna do what it does.

The word “clippers” gives me the warm and fuzzies.

I often wonder if, before I die, I’ll ever run out of ways of convincing myself “this year is gonna be good.” So far I have not.

The "DW" stands for "Dreaming Waterfowler".

Duck Engr wrote:I often wonder if, before I die, I’ll ever run out of ways of convincing myself “this year is gonna be good.” So far I have not.

I think I'm at that point now. I've been disappointed way too many times to get my hopes up anymore. I'm numb, and I'm going into this season as Rick stated in an earlier post, "Gonna do what it does". I posted that map out of habit, and this time without a feeling of anticipation.

I'm going to take this season one hunt at a time. I'm pretty sure we'll have the same slow, low number teal season as we've had over the last few years, as our marsh is not an area that's typically productive for those, but we'll be out there regardless. I hope to at the least have the opportunity to catch a few shrimp for the freezer, and maybe a few reds.

I have in my plans to be at the camp next weekend. Blake picked up new batteries for our aging spinners that are in need of repair, and I plan to do this next weekend. I can't justify spending money on new things for duck hunting at the moment.

I like the "Cold at Times" designation; that should be Louisiana's forecast every year.

Nonetheless, we've recently returned to ENSO Neutral Conditions, finally shaking the El Nino that plagued us last winter; which WAS a textbook El Nino winter for the Gulf South. Wet as all get out, and fairly mild.

2017-2018 winter? ENSO Neutral
Which was predicted, https://unofficialnetworks.com/2017/07/ ... r-la-nina/



And STACKED with green heads.......of all varieties



Cheer up Dave ! Lets see what happens, we're in it together!

There went teal season...

DComeaux wrote:https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/news/article/intense-hailstorm-kills-injures-more-than-11000-waterfowl-in-montana?fbclid=IwAR1qZJkaC6xTMF-ZFzwIulpfW-vfhtQLEb9xJwV5TBZAU_gu1b5zj6i5qbY

that's terrible!

But per the story:

"The lake is still covered with waterfowl that are alive and healthy," says Paugh. "Life will go on.”

Made it down to the camp Friday afternoon and rode to a spot to check on the shrimp situation. As soon as I stepped out of the truck I looked up and saw two bluewing zooming across a marsh lake just ahead of me. I was told by a good source that there were an estimated 2K BW mid week on a shallow muskrat eat-out in that area. That was it for BW sightings on the weekend, though.

The blind is looking good,with lush vegetation surrounding it. I had trouble finding our boardwalk to the blind because of the growth. I'll have to trim the stuff at the edge of the pond to our north so we can see the decoys. It's about 3' too tall. I'll move those cuttings to the bind for fill in. The water level is perfect at the moment, but I didn't see anything in the way of duck food.

We will not hunt the blind for teal season, but will instead sit in the grass where I park the boat to transition to the pirogue. Blake and I pulled up to that spot yesterday and I walked around. That area also had very good growth this year and will provide good cover. Right in front us will be a very shallow pond off of and in between two LARGER ponds. I just hope we get some birds.

You're two up on me. Been driving around some, but nothing for me so far.

Makes me wonder if that’s why we held so many bwt last year. We had a solid 20acres or so nutria wiped out and was solid floatant/mud flat. We had some good hunts setting up on them


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Let the water flow and there will be land.


http://mississippiriverdelta.org/a-tale-of-two-basins-why-one-is-thriving-while-the-other-is-dying/?fbclid=IwAR38dhZ_rB3kYIY4peclUr0mEa9TLy_a8m34_ogVMpbAGSzxIuGMU4KdksQ

BGkirk wrote:Makes me wonder if that’s why we held so many bwt last year. We had a solid 20acres or so nutria wiped out and was solid floatant/mud flat. We had some good hunts setting up on them


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Now that I think of it, there was a pretty good sized area the nutrias had rooted out (and died off) that I saw fair many woodies and teal in last August. So barren would be hard to hide but the birds liked it since it was so shallow.

Dave - our last visit to the marsh was July 27 and our grass around the blinds was the best it has been in years. We will also have to cut the grass back in order to see the decoys, have not had to do this in for a long time. We had wigeon grass in most of our ponds, but in past years we had grass early - then by teal season it was all gone.
We are going back to the marsh Sept 7, to cut the grass back around the blinds, and pump out the blinds. We hunt our blinds during teal season.

Woohoo! This fires me up for the season. (read as sarcasm)

I ain't scared, I'm goin'.

DC you've been strangely absent from the discussions here and on FB regarding the harvest numbers from 2018 we've had since Monday, where, even in the worst season we can recall of recent times, Louisiana killed 200 THOUSAND more ducks than those darned corn farming folk to the north in Missouri. And in a normal season, 2017, Louisiana killed double what Missouri did, this in our modern time where Louisiana hunting is alleged to be but a shell of it's former self.

Yet some certain groups want to go to Missouri and raise hell telling them they're holding "our ducks" hostage? As Larry has stated many times before via various outlets, it's a tough sell for him to go making such claims with the harvest numbers the way they are.

What say you? How does this fit with the FF mission?

Didn't ask anyone about quoting them, so I won't name names, but I was with a few folks who'd just gotten back from the winter/spring(?) Flyway Council meeting and said the corn crew had created such strong backlash that Louisiana could forget about being heard on much of anything.

Darren wrote:DC you've been strangely absent from the discussions here and on FB regarding the harvest numbers from 2018 we've had since Monday, where, even in the worst season we can recall of recent times, Louisiana killed 200 THOUSAND more ducks than those darned corn farming folk to the north in Missouri. And in a normal season, 2017, Louisiana killed double what Missouri did, this in our modern time where Louisiana hunting is alleged to be but a shell of it's former self.

Yet some certain groups want to go to Missouri and raise hell telling them they're holding "our ducks" hostage? As Larry has stated many times before via various outlets, it's a tough sell for him to go making such claims with the harvest numbers the way they are.

What say you? How does this fit with the FF mission?

I'm tired of repeating the same thing over and over and over again on the interweb. We should hold and harvest more ducks than Missouri or any other far northern state. We're at the warm end of the flyway, for Pete's sake! The "HABITAT" en route has changed and the buffet is served. The duck migration numbers are falling. Do we sit on our hands and wait until they go the way of the Canada goose? Do you bring your vehicle to the mechanic with a check engine light on, or wait until it leaves you on the side of the road??

Rick wrote:Didn't ask anyone about quoting them, so I won't name names, but I was with a few folks who'd just gotten back from the winter/spring(?) Flyway Council meeting and said the corn crew had created such strong backlash that Louisiana could forget about being heard on much of anything.

The northern guys are elated that our duck migration numbers are down. They've had it in for us for some time, I'll use the word jealous, and they'd be happy to see us hit rock bottom. Just my opinion and observation over the many threads I've participated in concerning this subject. It seems I've brought out the true feelings of many people to our north at times.

DComeaux wrote:Do we sit on our hands and wait until they go the way of the Canada goose?

Why wouldn't the hardy field feeding ducks go the way of the Canada goose?

DComeaux wrote:The "HABITAT" en route has changed and the buffet is served.

Yes, there are far more refuges and safe havens that NEVER freeze.

Yes, there are far more acres of waste grain.

On top of that, there has been a pretty massive effort to restore wetlands up north that will also hold a lot more ducks in warmer winters.

I don't keep records, but I used to hunt geese on top of the ice for the last part of duck season (now I hunt ducks by the cooling lake when it gets cold enough to freeze these areas). I don't recall a sustained period of safe ice during duck season in awhile. We freeze. We thaw. We get the cold and snow, but it doesn't last for weeks on end. One of my favorite things to do when everything gets locked up tight is go to Starved Rock State Park and look at the Bald Eagles. We haven't had a good year for eagle watching in awhile. It takes sustained really cold weather to lock the rivers up. This concentrates the eagles below the dam there. Along with Canada geese and some ducks. Not the most duck friendly place with 50 eagles above your head

There have been MANY changes. That's not in dispute.

The Canada geese did not stop migrating south because of flooded corn. They stopped because of all of these other changes.

Those same changes and others are going to have the same effect on many of the duck species. The hardy cold tolerant field feeding ducks are going to get more prone to stick. Especially since those that do stick will be hunted a month less every year and will have lower mortality than the ones that head south. Why be in Louisiana in January getting shot up when you can be up north living in peace? Which is another change. Decades of long season and high bag limits are also likely to cause population shifts from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure.

When has waterfowl populations not been dynamic and shifting? That seems to be the nature of it. They are quite adaptable and they adapt.

Although looking briefly through the reports, it seems like the changes in hunter success are not that dramatic. The birds per hunter per year and birds per hunter-day don't seem to have changed dramatically. The number of hunters have, but the average success doesn't. There is always going to be a big dose of gold old days syndrome. Everything just gets harder as you get older so the same success feels much less worth it which is why hunting effort declines a lot with age. You weren't doing better, it just felt like it and you remember the good times and forget the poor days.

DComeaux wrote:The northern guys are elated that our duck migration numbers are down. They've had it in for us for some time, I'll use the word jealous, and they'd be happy to see us hit rock bottom. Just my opinion and observation over the many threads I've participated in concerning this subject. It seems I've brought out the true feelings of many people to our north at times.

And what would you have said to those who wanted there specks back when they showed up here?

Rick wrote:

DComeaux wrote:The northern guys are elated that our duck migration numbers are down. They've had it in for us for some time, I'll use the word jealous, and they'd be happy to see us hit rock bottom. Just my opinion and observation over the many threads I've participated in concerning this subject. It seems I've brought out the true feelings of many people to our north at times.

And what would you have said to those who wanted there specks back when they showed up here?

I'm not sure I know who lost those, and did they care? I know Arkansas hunters never really pursued the speck until recently.

Little doubt came from the west, just like the Richardson's and Ross that also passed through on their way to Yankee corn.

Starting to look like those greedy Northern bastages who think they should have birds, too, now have our bluewings penned up in flooded corn.

SpinnerMan wrote: There is always going to be a big dose of gold old days syndrome. Everything just gets harder as you get older so the same success feels much less worth it which is why hunting effort declines a lot with age. You weren't doing better, it just felt like it and you remember the good times and forget the poor days.

I agree in part, however, I do vividly remember actually seeing and hearing a migration every fall, and those numbers we'd experience at the duck blind as well. I haven't seen this in many moons. We've had our ups and downs through the years, but this current situation has me more than concerned,

Rick wrote:Little doubt came from the west, just like the Richardson's and Ross that also passed through on their way to Yankee corn.

Starting to look like those greedy Northern bastages who think they should have birds, too, now have our bluewings penned up in flooded corn.

Rick, I know that the migration goes through cycles and things do change, it's nature. It's just the unnatural enhancements that I feel exacerbate the situation.

I'm sure they do hold some birds up, just as "unnatural enhancements" have helped keep some coming here. Say, like flooding rice stubbles or rough plowed set-aside for hunting, instead of plowing them to dust. Or unnaturally flooded timber.

If the deep thinkers manage to set the bureaucrates (many of whom no longer give a rat's ass about hunters) to rewriting laws based on "natural" or "unnatural" you may well kiss your sport goodbye sooner than later.

Rick wrote:I'm sure they do hold some birds up, just as "unnatural enhancements" have helped keep some coming here. Say, like flooding rice stubbles or rough plowed set-aside for hunting, instead of plowing them to dust. Or unnaturally flooded timber.

If the deep thinkers manage to set the bureaucrates (many of whom no longer give a rat's ass about hunters) to rewriting laws based on "natural" or "unnatural" you may well kiss your sport goodbye sooner than later.

It should have been left to flooding harvested stubble only. Money to "conservation" got involved.

Rick wrote:Didn't ask anyone about quoting them, so I won't name names, but I was with a few folks who'd just gotten back from the winter/spring(?) Flyway Council meeting and said the corn crew had created such strong backlash that Louisiana could forget about being heard on much of anything.

Flyway Council was never the target audience anyhow. Takes changes in Federal Law and that particular group of stuffed shirts including our very own Larry Reynolds can’t and was never going to get it done. It’s going to take Trent Lott like political clout with many dangling carrots to change Federal Baiting Laws.

Tough uphill climb without a doubt!

Ducaholic wrote:

Rick wrote:Didn't ask anyone about quoting them, so I won't name names, but I was with a few folks who'd just gotten back from the winter/spring(?) Flyway Council meeting and said the corn crew had created such strong backlash that Louisiana could forget about being heard on much of anything.

Flyway Council was never the target audience anyhow. Takes changes in Federal Law and that particular group of stuffed shirts including our very own Larry Reynolds can’t and was never going to get it done. It’s going to take Trent Lott like political clout with many dangling carrots to change Federal Baiting Laws.

Tough uphill climb without a doubt!

The people with money to flood corn had the power to redraw or zones in their favor. They have the power to stop it.

And even if by a miracle it did change, it won't make a lick of difference. They will still have the money to legally bait. They will just grow something different. They are not going to decide they don't like seeing a lot of ducks. And all the other factors will keep changing the patterns.

It will probably just screw the little guy with more complex laws requiring a team of lawyers to know if you can hunt a particular area.

DComeaux wrote: It should have been left to flooding harvested stubble only. Money to "conservation" got involved.

There goes hunting in "baited" crawfish country...