Regular Season 2019-2020

[Duck Engr]

Date:11/23/19 opener

Time: early morning

Location: started at a favorite used to be “off the beaten path” spot and oh my goodness, what an absolute clown show. We pull up to flashing blue lights and the game warden writing tickets. Thought we could slip off in the woods to a walk-in spot just down the road but some young local boys that we met last year beat us there. Really nice guys and offered to let us hunt with them but that spot only shoots 4 safely, and they already had 4. I guess everyone and their brother heard all of the crowing on social media about how the state was “loaded” the 2 weeks prior to the season.

So after that debacle, we decided to punt and drive 5 minutes down the road to our leased field.

Cloud Cover: cloudy spitting rain

Wind Direction and Velocity: northwest 10-15.

Temperature: 40

Moon phase: not much. Crescent.

Special Notes: glad we’d planned ahead and brushed our pit and set decoys Friday so we’d have a fallback if the public land was crowded.

Waterfowl Activity: fairly disappointing flight for opening day. From talking to a couple different locals, our field was holding 8000-10000 ducks depending on who you talked to all week up until the warmup and big south winds Thursday. We maybe had 500-1000 by Friday, mostly teal and shovelers. They either went back north or spread out onto more fields that were pumped up during the week.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: most did as bid on an opener.

Hunters: 4

Guns: severely crooked barrels on early teal ops.

Malfunctions: new pit setup caused a few issues early but we ironed those out.

Dog(s): Legh and Boo, a new lease member’s dog. Was Boo’s first time in a pit in several years and he didn’t have a good day. Veteran dog that I’ve hunted over before that knows better, but didn’t care. Broke on nearly every opportunity to start the day, then wouldn’t listen to whistles for hand signals or come back to the pit after he broke. I felt bad for the guy by the end of the morning. Someone finally offered him a leash to tie him up.

Legh had a good day, except for one mistake that could have cost her life. A teal snuck in on us and belly flopped about ten yards right in front of her. She jumped out of the box then stopped, right as the teal flushed and flew out her end of the pit. I already had my 6 so my gun was unloaded and I was sitting back. My buddy to my right was swinging with the bird but pulled off because he was out of his shooting lane and he saw Legh jump out of her box. Had he pulled the trigger I’d be writing a different story. Just goes to show it only takes one mistake from your dog to be in danger. Boo was never close to being in immediate danger despite breaking multiple times because the shots weren’t on the water (though I still breathed a sigh of relief when he was tied up).

Special Equipment: none, just decoys. No spinners and no jerk chord due to wind.

Curses: dog behavior, early bent barrels, and lack of big ducks. Also the idiots in the field to our south who thought anything under 100 yards was in range.

Kudos: felt good to be back in the blind with ducks in the sky

Birds By Species: 13 gwt, 4 mallards, 1 gadwall, and 1 shoveler (we gave shovelers a pass today except for one that tricked me into thinking he was a gadwall after sneaking in).

Photo Ops: still forgetful.

Lagniappe: grateful we had a backup plan. Cannot believe the increase in pressure seen both on public and private ground this year from last. I bet I saw double the flooded fields this year from last, and saw more rangers up and down our road than in the last two opening days combined. A very large field near us that historically held a lot of ducks all year was void after opening day. A friend of ours used to lease it and would just hunt around the edges, and knew to kill his and get out of there quickly. This year, 10 guys came in and leased it out from under him. They paid 50% more than what he was paying. Looks like they hunted all of the pits on the field all 3 days I was there.

[Duck Engr]

Addendum: very slow goose flight. Saw several big bodies well south of us on Friday but not much showed over us.

[DComeaux]

What an experience. Never had the patience for public land, and I couldn't imagine doing it today.

[Duck Engr]

It was quite a show, and 5 years ago, I would have been furious and not had any fun at all. This year, I just relaxed and observed the shenanigans, and actually enjoyed it all.

[Deltaman]

Glad you had a private back up plan, and ended up having a good hunt to boot! Hope your new partner leaves his dog at home next time!

[Rick]

They all break sometime, glad Legh's was benign.

[Darren]

Sounds like your area is doing its best to match Louisiana's pressure woes. Just an indicator of where things are these days

Glad you had a nice hunt as your backup plan !

[Duck Engr]

The plus side is there are several fields that were too wet to be harvested and most fields weren’t tilled under. Fingers crossed most of the folks that have leased fields in the area will only hunt a couple, maybe 3 weekends of the season and the rest of the season their fields will contribute to the area’s ability to hold ducks.

[Duck Engr]

Pic addendum: I lied, I did manage to snap a pic of the pooch coming back with a Mallard.

[Duck Engr]

Date:11/24/19

Time: early morning again

Location: River, but a long ride from the hotel. Other half of the group had found a few ducks the day before, so we went to the same area but different hole. Ended up on plan D and a half because of a log jam that I didn’t want to test in the dark and some folks in the group not getting their arses in gear fast enough at the hotel. Ended up on a slough that was too tight once the sun came up and we could see better.

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: ssw light picking up to 5

Temperature: 32. Needed gloves to drive boat.

Moon phase: Crescent.

Special Notes: the other half of our group had found some breathing room from folks on a slough off the river the day before. “Couldnt make them finish in the clouds”. They were right about needing sunshine.

Waterfowl Activity: nice early flight among the treetops. As the morning wore on the ducks got higher and higher.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: good until 8 or so. Just couldn’t get the ducks to line up right and get into our tight slough before shooting or boat traffic banged them out. Had one group of 60-80 working that was particularly frustrating as they looked like they were about to make a mistake before a boat coming through the slough saved them.

Hunters: 3

Guns: m2 12 gauge

Malfunctions: not able to make them finish.

Dog(s): Legh and Trace. They were bored quickly.

Special Equipment: none, just decoys. No jerk chord due to current.

Curses: an assortment of aggravations but no curses per se.

Kudos: felt good to be back on the river and was fun to have a few ducks to play with.

Birds By Species: DNS. Could have treetopped several but that’s not our game. Had one sneak in with the wind on us and get out unscathed.

Photo Ops: nope

Lagniappe: went back to the pit to pick up a few decoys that afternoon and sat for the last hour of shooting light. Saw more big ducks than I figured I would. Fooled a single gadwall early into sitting in the decoys but a big gust of wind blew the blind door back on me right as I raised to shoot, jarring my bolt loose and rendering my gun unusable. He escaped before I could rectify the situation. Group of 20 gadwall came pretty as can be about 10 minutes before sunset. One split off on the upwind side of the pit. I killed him and by the time I turned to shoot the others on the downwind side, they’d already set their wings in the stiff south wind and were gone.

[Duck Engr]

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Photo Ops:

Lagniappe:

[Duck Engr]

Date: 11/25/19

Time: morning, slept in a little

Location: pit

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: steady southerly

Temperature: low 40s

Moon phase:

Special Notes: decided to cut the trip short a day early with the impending warmup

Waterfowl Activity: sparse

Waterfowl Responsiveness: teal very responsive. Otherwise nada.

Hunters: 2

Guns:

Malfunctions: none really

Dog(s): Legh and Trace. Trace made a nice mark on a chipped spoon that sailed.

Special Equipment:

Curses: warm weather and ducks getting smart quickly

Kudos:

Birds By Species: 3 gwt, 1 gadwall, 1 hen ringer, 3 shovelers.

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe: kicked myself for not going back to the river where my buddies had done well the day before after the poor showing at the field.

[Duck Engr]

Date: 12/14/19

Time: morning

Location: river

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: supposed to be 5-10 from NW. Ended up being SE 0-5. Led to some issues with shot calling and connecting.

Temperature: 35 degrees

Moon phase: briiiiiiiiiight full

Special Notes: heard waves and waves of mallards flying over an hour and a half before shooting light. Could actually see the ducks in the moonlight

Waterfowl Activity: good before shooting light. Not as good after.

Waterfowl Responsiveness:didnt have many ducks low and looking until 830 or 9, and that didn’t last long. The few that were low did as bid.

Hunters: 2

Guns:

Malfunctions: buddy forgot his dog stand, so Legh and Branch had to snuggle, much to Legh’s chagrin

Dog(s): Legh and Branch

Special Equipment: 2.5 dozen decoys. I recently bought some of the EVA plastic decoys with 3 oz Texas rigs and boy are they nice and light. We had about a 250 yard walk and I had a dozen of the EVAs over my shoulder with no problem on the way in to the hole. Went back to the boat to get my buddy’s old Dakotas and lord have mercy were they heavy.

Curses: full moon

Kudos: the few we killed bought in hook line and sinker

Birds By Species: 3 drake mallards. All came as singles. 1 wood duck that i pass shot from a group of 8.

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe: I had wanted to leave 12/11 evening and hunt 12/12 12/13 and 12/14 due to the weather forecast. However, Heather ended up with a work trip through 12/12, so we left early 12/13 and scouted that afternoon when we arrived. Our buddies had done well Wednesday and Thursday but their luck ran out on Friday morning, so we were starting from square one. We all split up Friday afternoon. One group was sure “it’s gonna happen here in the morning boys”. The scout cant make em fly when we need them to I suppose.

[Duck Engr]

Date: 12/15/19

Time: morning

Location: pit

Cloud Cover: supposed to be partly cloudy but I could tell the evening before that was wrong. Cloudy all morning.

Wind Direction and Velocity: easterly 10-15

Temperature: 38 but chillier in the wind

Moon phase: still full

Special Notes: added 6 dozen decoys to the spread we leave out all season. Didn’t matter.

Waterfowl Activity: decent goose flight. Very poor duck flight. Not even a spoon to keep the dogs happy.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: had two single mallards give us a look, and that was it duckwise. Saw a few high hard and hauling. Had two groups of specks and a single give us a few passes.

Hunters: 2

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Legh and Branch

Special Equipment:

Curses: no ducks

Kudos:

Birds By Species: Scratch

Photo Ops: not even a pretty sunrise to photograph

Lagniappe: the afternoon before we set a goose sock spread in the dry end of our field. Wind was whipping and sun shining while we set the spread, giving us high hopes. About the time we laid down on the boards the wind died and clouds rolled in. Had several groups lock up and pass over us, but they had to have easily picked us out.

[Duck Engr]

Side note to the log: A couple of things to mention, the first being you’ll notice my lack of Alabama wood duck hunts. Biggest reason is that my local lake that I like to hunt before work has been significantly lowered for work on the dam. I’ll be interested to see how much this 3” rain helped day before yesterday. Second I’m in the midst of a nearly two week “vacation” (aka forced time with my in-laws) across the big pond in England. So no hunting for me until January 3 at the earliest.

Merry Christmas everyone!

[Rick]

You bringing back fancy huntin' duds?

[Duck Engr]

My wife would love it, and I like to get dressed up now and again, but not while I’m hunting.

[Deltaman]

Thanks for the reports, and enjoy your trip across the pond

[Duck Engr]

Date: 1/4/2020

Time: morning

Location: not so local river, but hadn’t hunted with a buddy of mine that wanted to go in over a month, so we met in the middle.

Cloud Cover: heavy to partly

Wind Direction and Velocity: westerly building after overnight front passage.

Temperature: upper 50s. Didn’t need a jacket to drive boat

Moon phase: quarter?

Special Notes: basically a scout hunt. Hadn’t been to this location in 5+ years. Maybe even since college, which would make it nearly ten years.

Waterfowl Activity: turrible

Waterfowl Responsiveness: none

Hunters: 2

Guns: M2 12 and versa max

Malfunctions: none

Dog(s): Legh

Special Equipment:

Curses: None. Expectations were low. Just felt good to be back out there and going through the motions after being gone for 2 weeks.

Kudos:

Birds By Species: 1 wood duck

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe: scouted around a little bit post hunt and found a half dozen mallards and a few wood ducks in the bend of a creek.

[Duck Engr]

Date: 1/9/2020

Time: quick hunt before work

Location: local lake, which indeed had filled back up with all of the rain we’ve had.

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: barely a hint of northerly

Temperature: 35

Moon phase: bright

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: 40-50 wood ducks seen, but all farther up towards the head of the lake.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: none

Hunters: solo

Guns:

Malfunctions: location location location

Dog(s): Legh

Special Equipment: 3 decoys. 2 drake pintails and 1 Mallard hen on a jerk cord.

Curses:

Kudos: nice that my before work/church spot has water again.

Birds By Species: scratch

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe:

[Duck Engr]

[quote="Duck Engr"]Date: 1/12/2020

Time: quick hunt before church

Location: local lake

Cloud Cover: shew buddy was it foggy, but thankfully it didn’t extend more than 50 yards up. Boat ride was tricky. A lot of stumps and trees to dodge. Ended up turning my big light off and driving by the moonlight that was cutting through the fog.

Wind Direction and Velocity: light NE

Temperature: 53

Moon phase: bright enough to drive the boat by, even through the fog.

Special Notes:adjusted my location to where I saw ducks flying a few days before, but had to go farther than I would have liked due to other hunts already set up.

Waterfowl Activity: 20 or so woodies seen but heard more, just couldn’t see them.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: ducks that saw the decoys did as bid. No calling (can’t find my woodie whistle). Just a jerk cord.

Hunters: solo

Guns: M2 12

Malfunctions: I let Legh get tangled up in the jerk chord. I forget to pick it up when we hunt out of the boat for some reason. If I have my feet on solid ground I rarely forget.

Dog(s): Legh

Special Equipment: 3 decoys. 2 drake pintails and 1 Mallard hen on a jerk cord.

Curses: None

Kudos: felt good to connect on a couple shots again.

Birds By Species: 2 wood ducks

Photo Ops: anybody ever seen what I assume are leeches on a duck before? This was a first for me in 21 years of hunting waterfowl.


Lagniappe:

[Darren]

First I've seen of that myself as well. Bird must have been roosted/asleep a while, woke up to fly and, BANG, down he went

[DComeaux]

I've never came across a duck with leeches. Where ever it was roosted must be infested with em.

[SpinnerMan]

Yummy. That just makes the mouth water.

[Duck Engr]

Yeah it didn’t exactly make me crave duck poppers! I noticed them as soon as Legh got back to the boat with the duck. I thought it was just leaves and didn’t look again until I got ready to clean it. It also had some kind of white parasite crawling around in its feathers.

I gave Legh a thorough twice over. No adverse signs of hangers on so far.

[Rick]

Have seen leeches on ducks from time to time, but always hanging on to feathers, rather than flesh. Bugs are likely bird lice and a lot more common than most might think without looking for them. Have found the occasional bird louse on me after hunts, but I'm apparently not on their menu and would think most drop off without my ever noticing them.

Pretty sweet to have such a handy quick hunt spot.

[Darren]

Have routinely seen the little critters in their feathers, doesn't take much digging to find them on most birds. But the leeches........

[Johnc]

See this all the time in rice field after bird lays on water for even short period of time

I always assumed birds were clean when alive. Leeches attach from water

Doesn’t take long

[Duck Engr]

This one was on the water less than thirty seconds before Legh got to it. I was hunting in a bit of a slough off the river but the water was still moving there. Big rain the night before.

[Duck Engr]

Date: 1/16/20

Time: morning. Arrived around 11 pm 4 hours of sleep and to the ramp I went. I’m getting too old to keep those hours.

Location: river

Cloud Cover: high overcast. Aka the worst.

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE 10-15

Temperature: upper 40s

Moon phase: waning crescent.

Special Notes: had planned to strike off on my own but received a call from a friend that he’d found some birds the day before.

Waterfowl Activity: slowwww start had me questioning his sanity. Action picked up at 9.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: poor. Ducks have plainly seen it all, or all that I knew to do. Was able to talk one plainly blind mallard drake into giving it up along a flooded road we’d tossed a few decoys into as we were working on the boat motor.

Hunters: 2

Guns:

Malfunctions: outboard impeller sucked up trash and overheated the motor as we tried to move setups to get to where the ducks were landing. Ended up having to pull over next to a flooded gravel road to work on it mid morning because if we weren’t able to get it going, if was going to be a 3 hour float back to the ramp.

After we finally got it peeing we realized we were down to 2 cylinders, then back to 3, then to 2 and so on until we limped her back to the ramp at noon. Even after a mechanic looked at it, we still aren’t sure what’s going on. Outboards aren’t my thing but bad plug wires were the culprit I’m voting for because one shocked the hair off my arm as I wiggled it to “make sure it was connected”.

Dog(s): Legh

Special Equipment: didn’t take my boat. Rode in my friend’s outboard due to the long River run. Turned out to be a mistake. I know better than to leave my trusty slow devil behind. Second time that’s happened to me in the last 3 years.

Curses: stale ducks and faulty boat motor.

Kudos: guy I hunted with was a friend of a friend who’s relatively new to hunting in the area but scouts like crazy and is getting good at killing ducks consistently.

Birds By Species: 1 Mallard.

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe: long first day that cut into my planned scouting. Put me behind for the rest of the trip.