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Not a whole lot of pre-season left before we kick it off with teal this weekend. That said I haven't had a whole lot of preseason activities going on, the most of which was over Labor Day weekend when I checked the Delacroix lease and visited my public teal grounds.

Delacroix lease looked good, with fair amount of SAV though it was apparent we had significant tidal impact for Hurricane Barry back in July. Stuff left in the blinds (stools) was piled up indicative of having floated around within, and two of the three dog stands were MIA, likely having floated off. That said, marsh itself appeared to be in stellar condition with some nice growth around the blinds, especially my beloved south blind that appears to have some roseau taking root. Did a little clean up, took one stool home for repair, and made note to get going on some dog stand builds before November. These blinds would be hunt-ready for a teal hunt but we like our chances elsewhere better.





From out front:



Next day Johnny and I headed out to public teal grounds with hopes of seeing a few. Sure enough, it was the usual drill of riding miles and miles seeing not a single duck, but on arrival to the usual area flocks of mottleds were out and about, and a handful of teal were seen as well in same areas as before. Haven't been back since but plan to have a look on Friday of this week on the eve of the opener with hopes of seeing a few more and making ready a hide to give them a try Saturday.

What a nice little spot!

DComeaux wrote:What a nice little spot!

Not as nice as if I had a pit like yours on the point. Then again I do feel there's some advantage to being able to see further being higher up.....pros and cons. When the birds are in the area, they've shown no concern for even our largest of hotel blinds, and have left them landing on more than a few occasions.

With teal season behind me, back in regular season pre-season mode. Not a whole lot to do beyond watching the weather.

While it's been dry down our way, it's been on the wetter side north of us, as shown below.





Think I'd rather see it wetter here than above us but it'll be what it is. Hoping we get some rain in later half of October; first cool front currently forecast to come through next week.

If we don''t get early cold fronts with some pop it won't matter how dry it is north of us. November's numbers will once again be below long LTA. There is more managed habitat on the ground to our north than ever before. Where they couldn't plant the dreaded corn they have replaced it with millet and the like. Them boys to the north got a plan and they sticking it to it...lol

GFS buying into front late next week too for the weekend

Bring it on.

Darren wrote:GFS buying into front late next week too for the weekend

GFS front Oct 11.JPG

Saw some lows in the low 50’s coming up. Temps slowly getting back to normal. Need one of those early November blast similar to what we got in 2014 if my memory serves me correctly.

My log says it was "cold" on the opener and "warm" the next morning.

2014.

First three hunts

Major cold front just prior

Everything skipped over Arkansas to us initially—- they were dry and with the cold

That third hunt was November 23

That many mallards in November for us was not seen since mid to late 90’s

2011 hunt 3

Yea 2014 was ideal start for sure, not just cold but snow down to Ark. One step at a time though.......really need to cool down, and really need the rain for anyone not hunting marsh.

Darren wrote:GFS buying into front late next week too for the weekend

GFS front Oct 11.JPG

And showing another one late in the following week, Oct 17-18 ballpark




Looks like if we can just get this high pressure "heat dome" off of us after this weekend, we're in for (potentially) a train of fronts to include rain and cool downs.

State of our state, as of Oct 1



Hopefully rains in next couple of weeks help out.....just not more than we'd hope for a la fall 2018.

Drought years have been the only relatively recent ones when mallards topped my parties' species logs. So if we can't have snow the Ferris wheel's axle in Little Rock, I'll settle for drought. 2011 was a mighty fine mallard year at the mudhole.

Rick wrote:Drought years have been the only relatively recent ones when mallards topped my parties' species logs. So if we can't have snow the Ferris wheel's axle in Little Rock, I'll settle for drought. 2011 was a mighty fine mallard year at the mudhole.

Can attest to the 2011-2012 season's mallards at the mudhole


2011 was also very strong for us as well with the grays in the marsh

Guess my memory ain’t so bad after all...lol

Really good cool down next weekend!

Yea that'll work, keep 'em coming

Then there's this cheery news from The Pas, Manitoba:

It is very strange that there are so few birds up here in the boreal forest regions. We are in a producing region that has not changed in the 30 plus years I have lived here. Usually, on any given day, I can travel in the valley and see 5000+ mallards and pintails in various fields, ditches, or flying to and from the roost areas. I haven't seen 500 birds total since Sept 1st. There are NO ducks here. Kind of scary and makes for some hard hunting. I have had 6 zero bird hunts this year, and I probably haven't had that in the previous 30.

Rick wrote:Then there's this cheery news from The Pas, Manitoba:

It is very strange that there are so few birds up here in the boreal forest regions. We are in a producing region that has not changed in the 30 plus years I have lived here. Usually, on any given day, I can travel in the valley and see 5000+ mallards and pintails in various fields, ditches, or flying to and from the roost areas. I haven't seen 500 birds total since Sept 1st. There are NO ducks here. Kind of scary and makes for some hard hunting. I have had 6 zero bird hunts this year, and I probably haven't had that in the previous 30.

That’s gotta mean they left early and are already headed down to the states, right?!

Maybe there just aren't any...

Saw a report on the same forum last week that a fellow drove through the Devil's Lake region of ND without seeing much either.

(Managing expectations, so surprises are good ones, is such a big part of my game that regulars think I'm hosing them when I say it's sucked.)

Rick wrote:Maybe there just aren't any...

Saw a report on the same forum last week that a fellow drove through the Devil's Lake region of ND without seeing much either.

(Managing expectations, so surprises are good ones, is such a big part of my game that regulars think I'm hosing them when I say it's sucked.)

Bill Byers' club in AR had a bunch of specks to show for today on FB.

https://www.facebook.com/55690436766992 ... 83?sfns=mo

Not sure if that link will work for all......but for those that it does......it's some sweet music of fall.

Probably more in that little clip than I'll see from the blind this year.

The bug and I couldn't stay indoors this cool morning and took a hike in Klondike. He loved chasing rails through the shallows, and my goobered knee hated both plowed ground and hairy levees. Moved a handful of spoons and a few more mottleds, but that was it for waterfowl. Still no word of specks from my Thornwell sources as of this morning. But there was a Riceland in pocket, just in case...

Rick wrote:The bug and I couldn't stay indoors this cool morning and took a hike in Klondike. He loved chasing rails through the shallows, and my goobered knee hated both plowed ground and hairy levees. Moved a handful of spoons and a few more mottleds, but that was it for waterfowl. Still no word of specks from my Thornwell sources as of this morning. But there was a Riceland in pocket, just in case...

I would have loved to be with you this morning. I spent my early morning watching the sunrise through a windshield cussing at the I10 traffic.

Likewise, though given the option, I'd have gladly stayed indoors if it meant I could be out and about this SATURDAY morning instead for the first good front of season behind this weak one. Hopefully "Winter Storm Aubrey" gives some birds the boot southward. Looks like I got out of Nebraska just in time, was like a beautiful Louisiana winter day there yesterday, great one to be outside.



CenLa forecast

Friday Night A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1am, then a slight chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 52. North wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%.

Saturday Mostly sunny, with a high near 70. North wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

As an addendum from the ongoing weather report, its worth pointing out that though I didn't see much of any sheet water in fields around the greater Omaha, western Iowa area, the Missouri River is still well outside its banks and making for some primo habitat. Couldn't get shots of the best of it on Monday evening's approach into the airport but got these climbing out of there yesterday, you get the idea.

Johnny and I made it up to the Avoyelles Parish farm yesterday around 7:45a, pleasantly chilly ride on the bike back to the fields/camp. Most importantly, on arrival, found that there's some water on the field and others surrounding it......massive news given how inordinately dry it is throughout the area thus we'd fully expected to encounter a desert with rice stubble. Fired up on that news, got to working on a number of tasks in and around the camp. Also found that the attempt to patch the blind leak on last trip appears to have held.

To top off the day we indeed enjoyed one nice flight of mostly specks over the farm prior to our departure.

rear cut


Sweet to see, super sweet to hear


Lots of black widows in the blind again, doubled down on our spraying efforts. Most notably in driving around the area and heading home was how dry it is up that way, especially compared to this past season and even season before. Many bayous are mostly mud bottom showing, many ditches are cracked mud. Saw plenty of fields that are still dry but good many had pumps running. Back up that way in about 3 weeks for little more work but we're looking really good for now. Knock wood

Looks like second crop water and that that crop may be late (to my non-rice farmer's eye).