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Perhaps the best way to get over the poorest season in memory, my wife and I welcomed a new addition this week, one week ahead of anticipated schedule. My son showed up with the stork at 1:18am Wednesday morning, Feb 6 weighting 7lbs 15oz. Mom and little one are doing great, and we were able to come home Thursday afternoon thankfully.

Still hasn't sunk in on me entirely yet, but we are all sure excited, Harry as well as big sister. Hope to have the little fella rigging decoys shortly


Will have my hands full a while but will be working on some off season efforts for getting back to some of my old public grounds, partially of necessity to be closer to home/grandparent help with the kiddos. Have plenty of scouting to be done in some areas, ideally before it gets hot, knowing much of it will require re-scouting in sept. to see how the growing season may have changed the areas. Will also check with the guys to see what items we might put on wishlist for Bunkie camp off-season work. Will note here that last we've been told by farm hand, it should be back in rice this summer.

Congratulations to all - but especially the gal who did all the work. Don't s'pose "the little fella" has a name?

Congratulations - great everyone is healthy and doing great.
I was thinking the first two years you would be staying home and helping mom with the little one

Thanks! Will be trying to hunt close as I can next season, avoiding being so isolated down in shell beach save for a few choice weekends like openers when public pressure highest.

Name is Graham Emmanuel, and we're sure glad the wild card turned up "he" because we had no name for another girl. Just the night of his arrival we were frantically scrolling online name collections to no avail. Little fella is in my arms as I type this one handed on iPad.

Darren wrote:Thanks! Will be trying to hunt close as I can next season, avoiding being so isolated down in shell beach save for a few choice weekends like openers when public pressure highest.

Name is Graham Emmanuel, and we're sure glad the wild card turned up "he" because we had no name for another girl. Just the night of his arrival we were frantically scrolling online name collections to no avail. Little fella is in my arms as I type this one handed on iPad.

Congrats Darren! He’ll be a pirogue paddlin, jerk cord pullin, duck killing machine in no time!

Congratulations Darren!!!!!!!!!

Deltaman wrote:Congratulations Darren!!!!!!!!!

Thanks a lot guys! Trying to not get overwhelmed with what I'd love to teach a little one, and just let him be a 5 day old little critter. First dr. appt this morning went great


In mean time, lots of interesting reading coming out of this poor season:

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports ... 7lZGG5AdKU

Texas apparently got their birds as a state, but so many wondered where they are after they departed high pressure areas for lower pressure areas, imagine that!!

“It’s become painfully apparent that human disturbance is a factor in duck distribution,” Kraai said. When faced with steady hunting pressure, ducks will try to find areas where they aren’t bothered. This year, there were a lot of those areas, even on the coast, which sees the highest waterfowl hunting pressure in the state.

“Birds weren’t confined to traditional wintering areas,” said Kraai, who worked aloft on some of the midwinter survey routes. “There was sheet water everywhere, and ducks on it. Some fields around San Angelo looked like rice fields on the coast. You just don’t see that.”

Who woulda thunk it?

Rick wrote:Who woulda thunk it?

and for the record in future reference, the internets are absolutely on fire right now with Flyway Federation supporters basically taking on the duck hunting universe. Great time for sideline with

Looks like motion has been made to keep the 6 bird limit for this year's September season after initially bringing to the table a reduction to 4 which presumably caught a lot of backlash having no biological basis.

Of note, as brought to us by DComeaux, a shift in season dates is on the table:

Coastal Zone:
Nov. 2-3 (youth
only)
Nov. 9-Dec. 8
Dec. 21-Jan.19

West Zone:
Nov. 9 (youth
only)
Nov. 16-Dec. 8
Dec. 21-Jan. 26
Feb. 1 (youth
hunt)

East Zone:
Nov. 16 (youth
only)
Nov. 23-Dec. 8
Dec. 14-Jan. 26
Feb. 1 (youth
only)

This would take from hunters the third week of December, and give back the first week of December. Could just be a wash, will all depend on weather, as usual.

Love the East Zone Dates. The later the better and the possibility of losing significant weather days due to a 12 day split are completely removed due to the calendar. When we go back to traditional I hope the commission opts out of the 16 day first split and goes to 9 so that they 12 day split is as early as possible.

Ducaholic wrote:Love the East Zone Dates. The later the better and the possibility of losing significant weather days due to a 12 day split are completely removed due to the calendar. When we go back to traditional I hope the commission opts out of the 16 day first split and goes to 9 so that they 12 day split is as early as possible.

I like this as well

Lot of December helps me

See that I failed to acknowledge that my comments were Coastal Zone slanted, when in fact I'll mostly be hunting east zone areas this coming season with some limited Coastal Zone (Delacroix lease). Wife won't be happy with only 5 days off in the traditional gap between splits, but sure extends my season

Bunkie farm doesnt heat up until mid December anyway usually, so would be about the same I suppose, so long as we can go to late Jan on the tail end. Marsh success will likely be negligible difference.....do get to hunt on my bday so I'll take it.

I think this season was just an abnormal year and just down.

It will pick back up and get back to more historically normal at least I hope

Hopefully more arctic fronts next year,drier up north and no late spring blizzard to kill juvenile geese

Johnc wrote:I think this season was just an abnormal year and just down.

It will pick back up and get back to more historically normal at least I hope

Hopefully more arctic fronts next year,drier up north and no late spring blizzard to kill juvenile geese

Sure seemed like a perfect storm of unfortunate conditions for southern hunters. I'd say Louisiana, but Ark suffered as well, particularly with the ducks, maybe not as bad with the specks. Did hear reports of much fewer snows there as well, though. In Bunkie area, we never saw them in usual numbers on the ground but still fair bit of high daily traffic, mostly snows. On way home on closing weekend saw a good few piles of specks on the ground here and there.

Good article on speck trends

https://www.wildfowlmag.com/editorial/s ... oom/331011



“The mid-continent population is following the rice,” says Ducks Unlimited southern region director of conservation science and planning Dale James. “Historically, they mostly went to the rice belt along the Gulf Coast in Texas and Louisiana. Changes in water resources, including droughts in the 1970s and '80s, pushed a lot of rice out of Texas. That’s when we started seeing this shift in the wintering grounds of white-fronted geese. Instead of flying all the way to Texas, more and more birds are staying in Arkansas.”

Some still do migrate to the Gulf Coast. According to USFWS harvest data, Texas hunters shot 50,000 specks in 2016. Louisiana waterfowlers killed more than 68,000. However, harvest trends in both states have been relatively flat for decades, despite the long-term increase in goose numbers. That hasn’t been the case in Arkansas, the largest rice producer in the country. In 1994, Arkansas hunters shot about 7,000 specklebellies. In 2016, they bagged 70,000.

“Twenty-five years ago, speck encounters were much more rare in Arkansas,” says University of Arkansas associate professor Dr. Douglas Osborne. “Now, about 60 percent of the entire mid-continent population winters there.”

That theory only held up until they spread well beyond the rice.

They are being short stopped just like the rest of the waterfowl population. Habitat is king and the ever increasing preferred habitat to our north coupled with the our own dwindling habitat and warmer winters is the perfect recipe for our demise. The 1985 NAWMP duck use days mandates for X amount of waterfowl habitat sent DU/USFWS and other conservation groups on a mission. Eventually this plan will create and sustain enough habitat to our north that waterfowl will discontinue using La. as it't final destination in historical numbers. It's already happening. The only thing that will slow this progression down is colder than normal winters which is not likely or conservative regulations due to an extended PPR drought which ever comes first.

It is what it is!

See Darren! I told you so........ Very well put duckaholic.

yep it's done

work with the birds we do get down here and be thankful there is still something

Flips me out that anyone living in an area with a growing human population ever managed to miss the writing on the wall for hunting's future.

Regardless of what issues might be affecting the waterfowl, I've already resigned myself to the fact that in the not to distant future I may have to find something else to do in the winter. I'm just thankful that I got to experience something some may never get a chance to enjoy without traveling.....


I never thought for one minute that I'd ever think that in my lifetime.

Hell, Dave, when I moved down here in '83, I was very soon feeling sorry for the farm kids who couldn't hunt their own places because of leasing. The pinch then was nothing compared to now, but it was already on.

DComeaux wrote:Regardless of what issues might be affecting the waterfowl, I've already resigned myself to the fact that in the not to distant future I may have to find something else to do in the winter. I'm just thankful that I got to experience something some may never get a chance to enjoy without traveling.....


I never thought for one minute that I'd ever think that in my lifetime.

DComeaux wrote:Teal Season 6 hunts 14 teal

(2) Green wing (12) Blue wing

Regular season - 24 hunts 143 birds

54 - Green wing
4 - Pintail
10 - Blue wing
19 - Gadwall
42 - Scaup (one banded)
7 - Shoveler
3 - Mottled ducks (one banded)
2 - Mallards
1 - Wigeon
1 - Bufflehead

That's more ducks than my entire duck club shot this year. If 6 ducks per day on average is really not good enough, yes you do need a different hobby. I think there was only 1 day where the group shot 6 or more. And I really enjoyed my season. I guess that's what happens when you have it too good, anything less is disappointing. I wish I were so disappointed by a season at least once.

SpinnerMan wrote:That's more ducks than my entire duck club shot this year.

Does that mean we might not get your club's support for restoring Louisiana's fair share of the birds?

Rick wrote:

SpinnerMan wrote:That's more ducks than my entire duck club shot this year.

Does that mean we might not get your club's support for restoring Louisiana's fair share of the birds?

Where's our fair share? It used to be one of the top clubs in the entire state? Not any more

DComeaux wrote:See Darren! I told you so........ Very well put duckaholic.

It’s not a told you so it’s just something that stands to reason.

SpinnerMan wrote:

DComeaux wrote:Regardless of what issues might be affecting the waterfowl, I've already resigned myself to the fact that in the not to distant future I may have to find something else to do in the winter. I'm just thankful that I got to experience something some may never get a chance to enjoy without traveling.....


I never thought for one minute that I'd ever think that in my lifetime.

DComeaux wrote:Teal Season 6 hunts 14 teal

(2) Green wing (12) Blue wing

Regular season - 24 hunts 143 birds

54 - Green wing
4 - Pintail
10 - Blue wing
19 - Gadwall
42 - Scaup (one banded)
7 - Shoveler
3 - Mottled ducks (one banded)
2 - Mallards
1 - Wigeon
1 - Bufflehead

That's more ducks than my entire duck club shot this year. If 6 ducks per day on average is really not good enough, yes you do need a different hobby. I think there was only 1 day where the group shot 6 or more. And I really enjoyed my season. I guess that's what happens when you have it too good, anything less is disappointing. I wish I were so disappointed by a season at least once.

We did "okay" compared to some this year I guess, but it's far from what it used to be, and it's getting worse every year. Hopefully we get a couple of more years to sit in the blind and watch a few fowl in the air.

Rick wrote:

SpinnerMan wrote:That's more ducks than my entire duck club shot this year.

Does that mean we might not get your club's support for restoring Louisiana's fair share of the birds?

Ducaholic wrote:

DComeaux wrote:See Darren! I told you so........ Very well put duckaholic.

It’s not a told you so it’s just something that stands to reason.

That comment was an inside thing (funny) with Darren, but I'm with you.