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Sat. 11/10/2018 Coastal Zone opener
Delacroix, St. Bernard Parish, La
Phil, Johnny and I with Harry
Post-frontal passage winds 20-30 from north, temps unusually low (upper 40's), pt cloudy

Camp was rocking all night and front door was rattling when we got up to head out this morning, was a brisk and bouncy ride down to the lease. Put dekes close with such big winds and sure enough, right at LST first pair grays came floating in just as we'd hoped. Wasn't fast and furious but fairly steady flights got us to 18 just before 8:30am. One strange deviation from norm was lack of chances on green wings. Though we saw a good many wads, none gave us a pass and no ducks of any kind showed affinity for the lucky duck teal I'd put out in hopes of drawing teal off of other lines.......will keep it bagged tomorrow. Worth noting that we passed on a small group of buffleheads in the decoys early, which is pretty early to have them around.

Harry had really good day keeping me in the blind while he gathered up wind blown birds having fallen all over.

16 grays, 1 BWT, 1 dosgris





Other reports from area: our north blind unfortunately didn't get to hunt because of leaky boat problems, but two hunters hit our kidney pond blind and had easy limits of grays teal and a mottled. Will hunted his place near us solo, easy 6 with grays a mottled and a dosgris.

Look the big ducks.

Awesome start Darren

Niceeee. I hate bumpy rides. My other brother still has a “catch” in his back from sitting in bottom of boat one morning and hitting constant waves.
Bam......... bam........ bam......
thought for sure my welds would be cracked


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Sweet hunt dude....Keep it rolling.

Sun. 11/11/2018
Delacroix, St. Bernard Parish, La
Kyle, Johnny and I with Harry
Winds 10-15+ from NE, 50's, pt cloudy

Winds slackened to what seemed ideal speed and direction for us, we just apparently ran out of traffic quick. Fair amount of shooting around us but not on any of the three ponds hunted on our piece. Took the only two grays we fired on, that was it. Kidney blind had but 1. After a solo limit yesterday, Will scratched today.

1 gray

Kyle with the drake of the two



Bizarre to have now made two hunts here and now fired on a GW teal. Ray and I scheming to hunt the big winds Tuesday if we get a window, but have concerns for low water rest of the week down here.

Well rats. What a difference a day makes.

I think the green wings are still in Arkansas and in northeast LA. We’ve got so much more early November habitat than we have had in years, including naturally flooded stuff.


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There's quite a few over near us at the moment. I hope once the water level gets right we hold some like we did last year.

DComeaux wrote:There's quite a few over near us at the moment. I hope once the water level gets right we hold some like we did last year.

Good deal, but there’s still a bunch yet to come.

We didn’t see as many as we had last year at this time, but it was really dry last year. They are pretty hardy though, I love when they come through in January.




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Yea I got to thinking of the prospect of so much more shallow habitat around north of us than usual. Though drought was in play earlier in the year, there's been a good bit of rain up and down flyway, look at the Bunkie field we hunt that's holding water well before usual and has great habitat already.

Giving tomorrow a hard look, waiting to see how rain/storms timing might play out later today, hope it goes through for us.

We had the same hunts you did - lots of ducks on Saturday not nearly the numbers on Sunday

Sweet Opener Darren Love those Grays!! Crazy how your traffic disappeared for Sunday, and surprised you didn't see scads of bluewings, that were the majority of what we saw Saturday.

Tues. 11/13/2018
Delacroix, St. Bernard Parish, La
Ray and I with Harry
Winds 20-25+ from NW, 40's, heavy clouds/intermittent rain

Ray and I braved the winds and rain to give it a shot in our kidney blind, and thankfully were very much in "ducks is ducks" mode from the start so that we could hopefully head in sooner than later if action afforded it. Sure enough it was the buffleheads today that kept us on guard, with only a few of the more typical faces showing. Shot well with the little we saw and headed in about 7:30a. Saw very few grays or teal, or really anything else, disappointing with the big weather event. Very little shooting from those few parties that went.

9 buffleheads, 2 GW teal, 1 gray
*buffle total for the day is well ahead of an average season total



Though nice to talk about a limit hunt, can't help but be disheartened with the lack of grays and teal around. Will hunted again solo at his place, about 2 miles to our WNW, taking a solo limit of 3 dosgris, 2 GW teal, and a mottled; also noted a lack of grays from his vantage point.

Water was falling very hard as we headed in and is anticipated to continue doing so for the foreseeable. Contemplating heading north for the East Zone opener this weekend. Won't be much of any "weather" to work with, but hope opening day pressure moves something around.

Speaking of teal...https://extra.mdc.mo.gov/cgi-bin/mdcdev ... y/main.cgi

Ducaholic wrote:Speaking of teal...https://extra.mdc.mo.gov/cgi-bin/mdcdev ... y/main.cgi

Thanks for sharing. Looks like quite a few grays and GWT for sure, glad it's getting bitter cold up that way sooner than later. Think there's just a lot of sheet water between there and here at the moment, really need this coming (forecast) stretch of dry weather to drain off some of that excess habitat.

When the numbers are down, action is action, and glad you were able to fill your strap!

Deltaman wrote:When the numbers are down, action is action, and glad you were able to fill your strap!

If it wasn't a merganser, pelican, killdeer, or seagull..........we were letting it rip!

I noticed in one of your pics that you kneel in your Chapman Pirogue. Although my buds sit in theirs, like you, I am much more stable/comfortable kneeling, and found that the using a pad sure helps my boney arse knees from being sore. I use a green gardner's pad (from Lowes or Home depot), under mine, and it makes a world of difference. If you are not, might be worth a try for comfort.

Deltaman wrote:I noticed in one of your pics that you kneel in your Chapman Pirogue. Although my buds sit in theirs, like you, I am much more stable/comfortable kneeling, and found that the using a pad sure helps my boney arse knees from being sore. I use a green gardner's pad (from Lowes or Home depot), under mine, and it makes a world of difference. If you are not, might be worth a try for comfort.

That's Johnny kneeling, the favored position when more powerful paddling is required to either buck a wind or traverse a too-shallow area where the bottom is dragging. Other than those situations, I'm sitting on the back seat paddling like a canoe.

When push really comes to shove and it's mudded out......standing and poling is the way to go and by shifting weight as you push, you can really get to scootin'!

When push really comes to shove and it's mudded out......standing and poling is the way to go and by shifting weight as you push, you can really get to scootin'!

Not really - that's when I get wet

I grew up push-poling sneaks in a standing position as well, but over the years, have come to realize that my balancing skills now leave too much to be desired, and find the kneeling position works best (or at least is the safest)for my old clumsy arse

Deltaman wrote:I grew up push-poling sneaks in a standing position as well, but over the years, have come to realize that my balancing skills now leave too much to be desired, and find the kneeling position works best (or at least is the safest)for my old clumsy arse

Yea most of the older guys' go-to is kneeling, allows for best balance with knees out to the gunwales.

Sat. 11/17/2018 East Zone Opener
Bunkie area ag field, Avoyelles Parish
Phil, Corey, Johnny and I with Harry
Wind mostly dead calm, 30’s to start, clear skies

Hoped the opener pressure would be enough to stir the birds we saw yesterday afternoon and sure enough before LST we could make out some groups of teal working. Was tough shooting with all the pressure, everything super skittish. Managed down down 11 and strap 9 which apparently was as good or better than most on the farm. Big ducks stayed high, had to scratch and claw at the teal buzzing about. Though flight was all over by 8:15 or so, ended up seeing a lot of ducks overall and even pretty strong and mostly high flights of snows. Very few specks seen and the few that were callable just weren’t going to happen with all the shooting.

5 BW teal, 3 GW teal, 1 spoon





Think Johnny and I are going to stay to try it again in the morning, the other two had to head back.

Your fields are looking good. If the birds ever make it down here you'll be in business.

that's a solid hunt given the conditions, we did very similar. had we had wind i believe things would have been much better for you and I.

Sat. 11/18/2018
Bunkie area ag field, Avoyelles Parish
Johnny and I with Harry
Wind again dead calm, 30’s to start, clear skies again; my disdain for this weather condition continues

Weather was again just-as-forecast, no wind, clear skies, etc., conditions I'd usually never even attempt up this way but figured opener weekend pressure might make it worth staying for the night and trying today. Teal were moving right at LST just as day before but we were just never in the game, though some seemed to do a fair bit of shooting. Fired on a single teal at crazy close and a pair that worked in, taking just one total of the three ops. That was it, flight died a good hour earlier than yesterday's edition, we packed it up about 8:00a. Still seeing quite a few birds but they are staying very high and doing as they please, need the weather to turn the tide a bit more in our favor to get in the game.

Also need to get more water "show" to help us. Back cut is doing all the work drawing traffic but front cut isn't looking good at all with this strange weed that's apparently pretty hardy and still standing awfully thick most of the field and on a few others in the area, zero attraction for ducks. From our ride on Friday, its the large cuts with far more water showing that are doing the shooting right now, but even so the guys at the trucks are saying it's still very early for this area, doesnt really get going until later half of 2nd split. Eyeing the weather forecast this week to see where I may head next....

1 BW teal


Harry doing what we do



But mostly resting/snoozing


Good bit of snow goose traffic yesterday afternoon so looks like some kind of migration is underway.

What Camera took the pic of harry and the bwt


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BGkirk wrote:What Camera took the pic of harry and the bwt


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Canon Rebel T3

Yea Darren, no wind no good. We watched traffic coming out of Arkansas all morning till we left at 10:30 this morning. Just needed some wind to make them more vulnerable.

Hope you get in on a good blue bird hunt at bunkie this year, I know you’re having your doubts.


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