by Rick » Thu Mar 11, 2021 1:35 pm
Have put off closing the log on our 2020-2021 season for much too long, so "here goes nothing..."
Date: September teal was as strong as one could ask. Regular season's first split was "OK". Regular season's second split pretty much wasn't.
Time: Our ag land situation was such that I never made an other-than-morning hunt after the first week of September teal.
Location: Home semi-sweet home at the mudhole.
Cloud Cover: Fewest fog days in memory and mixed success in all weather types, but nothing to badly rattle my general faith in blue sky.
Wind Direction and Velocity: Came to dread westerly winds. Weren't all bad, but the smart money would bet on anything else. Even no wind.
Temperature: While early fronts seemed a good thing, there were more than a couple disappointing Northwesterly ones.
Moon phase: (Too lazy to go back and try to correlate moon phase success.)
Special Notes: Salt surges didn't make it to our marsh, so the only negative effect our hurricanes Laura and Delta may have had on our hunting was keeping a lot more hunters than ducks out of large parcels of affected marsh.
Waterfowl Activity: Don't believe I saw but two big, but all-too-brief, "migration type" flights all regular season. And on the less grand, local activity scale, a relative handful of jacks was all that wintered within hailing distance of the mudhole. The "veterans home" out front was all but barren once we clipped most of its mottleds, and a precious few jacks used the open ponds out back.
Waterfowl Responsiveness: Can't say I learned any new tricks, and the old ones may have worked too well on the local mottleds that usually seem to act as pilot ducks leading new birds to the VA Home.
Hunters: COVID concerns absolutely hammered the camp's business, but I stayed busier than I might have wished, given the givens.
Guns:
Malfunctions:
Dog(s): Proud of the bug. Marsh didn't find or catch them all, but was worlds better than doing without in that regard, didn't run anything I'm aware of off, and made a lot of friends.
Special Equipment: Had more, particularly second split, teal push off the spinners than in memory, but there's no telling how many might have been drawn from their more open water flyways at all without. And, while I don't think I've previously mentioned it, I experimented with synthetic cover called "Blind Grass" and was well pleased with it.
Curses: Aside from the lack of game, mostly just "crowd control" issues. And of special note this season, cell phones' contribution to those issues. Bad enough folks think birds are blind and worse when they're caught phone-handed.
Kudos: Took a lot of great folks hunting.
Birds By Species: Was a little better than last season, albeit much more appreciably so the first split than second. And a strange season in terms of species taken: with grays sharing the top spot with green-wings and mallards falling way down the list from their once normal second spot. We shot exactly one speck.
Photo Ops: Don't recall much of note in this regard, either. Must try to do better.
Lagniappe: Not sure what it means that I'm OK with how it went. Just hope to go again in September.