WaterfowlForum.Net

Date: 9/11/2021 (NEVER FORGET!) Opening day of teal season

Hunters: Me and Blake

Cloud Cover: Clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE 5 to 7 mph

Temperature: 68

Waterfowl Activity: Steady

Waterfowl Responsiveness: OH MY GOODNESS! It was wonderful. No hesitation to lock up and turn.

Birds total and by Species: 12 BW Teal

Photo Ops:
The air was cool and watching the sunrise from the blind was soul soothing, to say the least.


Blake and I were out of the blind on two separate occasions early to retrieve ducks while groups of 6 to 8 birds dropped in decoys. This is the pile with only one to go for the two man limit.


Always Blakes favorite way to take a picture of the birds. We were leaving the blind.





We didn't set out all of the decoys we had brought with us for lack of space, but set it up for a NE wind. They dropped right into the hole center blind, east and west sides as we had hoped. What a spectacular morning!


We went out late yesterday afternoon and got a limit of fresh shrimp (25#) as well. It doesn't get any better than this.

You were due


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Happy for you DC

BGkirk wrote:You were due

What he said. Well, that, and I'm jealous of the shrimp.

I hope to locate some shrimp last Saturday of teal season or first weekend of October when I'm back down.

Glad you had a good morning. Our birds were not responsive, don't know if it was too much motion or just lack of wind.

I always say sun and wind make my calls sound better.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Glad to see your luck return to that of yesteryear Dave!

Date: 9/12/2021

Hunters: Me and Blake

Cloud Cover: Clear early with building clouds and thunder in the gulf to the south and south east.

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE 5 to 10 mph

Temperature: 70?

Waterfowl Activity: Steady

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Same as yesterday, very good.

Birds total and by Species: 12 BW Teal

Photo Ops:
We had decided to call it at 8 AM this morning regardless of what we had or the activity level to avoid the heavy rain on the way. We did, and could have finished much earlier if the guy below didn't have a bent barrel.
Blake with the birds.


We ended up with another 25# of shrimp yesterday afternoon. It was a very nice weekend. Now we just need this new storm in the gulf to go away.

I want to barter for some shrimp


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

DC you’re the envy of the forum for this opener!

Great stuff, DC! Glad for yall

Great job Dave not only the ducks but shrimp too. You said your teal decoyed - ours not so much mostly passing shots - thankfully enough passed.
Looks like the next storm could drop a lot of rain in our area.

WoooooHoooooo.......... Well Deserved Dave, Congratulations and what a sweet kicker in the two boxes of shrimp

MARSH BEAR wrote:Great job Dave not only the ducks but shrimp too. You said your teal decoyed - ours not so much mostly passing shots - thankfully enough passed.
Looks like the next storm could drop a lot of rain in our area.

Thanks.....I don't mind the rain so much as the surge and wind. I left the decoys out and now I'm praying for a minimal surge for our marsh. We've got good weight and length so hopefully they'll hang in there. I really don't feel like spending a grand on decoys right now.

The birds worked great for us. Feet down landing in the spread. Some so quick that we flush and take on the jump. It was wonderful!

Wow!! Great weekend, Dave!

Lreynolds wrote:Wow!! Great weekend, Dave!

Thanks. I read that you did good as well. Did you hunt both days?

This short film was sent to me by the guy they interviewed at the 2:38 mark. He is the program manager for the refuge and very involved with the waterfowl. Most of the footage on this clip was shot near our camp and lease. The facility you see @ mark 6:22 is part of the Rockefeller refuge complex which is just a minute or so drive from the our camp. It's still being rebuilt from the 2020 storms. I'm headed there this evening. So Happy!

https://www.ducks.org/media/du-conserve

Combining the weekend here.

Date: 9/18/2021

Did not hunt.

Blake and I got to the camp at dark thirty on Friday and brought the boat to the marsh landing. Once in the water we found that the motor would only run for 3 to 4 seconds then it would shut off. We spent an hour or so working on it at the launch site, pulling the carb and checking fuel flow. The bugs were bad and we were drenched in sweat so we decided to drag the boat to the camp and deal with it in the morning.
We spent most of the morning tearing the motor and carburetor apart with no change. We took a break and over a ham sandwich conversation we decided it wasn't a fuel flow issue but may be electrical. I walked out to the boat when we finished eating and pulled the hot wire off of the emergency kill switch module at it fired up and continued to run. I'll have a new one this week. We were confused as how this kill switch issue would allow the motor to start and run for 3 to 4 seconds then die, and that's why we pursued it as a fuel issue early on.
This is one of Blakes arms on Saturday morning. The bugs were bad. I hate bug spray but eventually drenched myself later that night. My ears were swollen.






Date: 9/19/2021

Hunters: Me and Bennett (Blake had a vaginal issue)

Cloud Cover: Few clouds with building storms in the area

Wind Direction and Velocity: SE 5 to 10 mph

Temperature: 70? HOT AND MUGGY

Waterfowl Activity: We did see a few groups, but very few.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Teal didn't want it but did I turn and land a pair of mottled ducks. Seen a few groups of those as well.

Birds total and by Species: DNS

Water is extremely high with no exposed earth. Hopefully the front next week pushes the water out. Hardly any shooting in the area and reports from most both days were poor.

Yarch, frustrating all around.

Plenty of things I dislike in this world, but bug spray ain’t one of em. Looks like the bugs like blake about as much as they like me.

Rick wrote:Yarch, frustrating all around.

It was, but I was surprisingly calm. Last weekend for Blake and I was like the last hunt, last day of the bad for us 2019/2020 season.... We're content. We knew the water was super high and our odds of a good hunt were questionable going in. Not having to dump the predator motor in the marsh and spending a couple of grand on a new one is a BIG plus.

Duck Engr wrote:Plenty of things I dislike in this world, but bug spray ain’t one of em. Looks like the bugs like blake about as much as they like me.

I hate the stickiness and smell of most and I'll avoid applying it if at all possible. Friday night I had to.

Hope Blake gets to feeling better.......


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Haven't been keen on putting deet on my skin since having it make old Duck Commander calls stick to my hands, but was given some samples of "Mosquito Care" that I've been using on my skin with good results. Rubs being that it isn't (or, at least, the samples aren't) spray on and, like deet, it doesn't deter deer flies as well as it does mosquitoes. Can't speak to the gnats that appear what savaged Blake, as we seldom see them "up" here.

We have a similar kill switch issue. Except we don’t get the couple seconds of run time and ours is a 9hp Honda motor. It’s left me stranded before having to poll back. All it takes is a little wiggle and it’ll run like néw again


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Dave I dont like bug spray either but when it gets too bad I use the varieties of DRY sprays now, doesn't leave you greasy and grimy like the old sprays, some even smell real perty now too.

Most standard sprays do nothing for gnats though, and vanilla sprays or Amber Romance, etc. all HELP, but nothing's bullet proof for marsh gnats.

Sorry to hear your weekend #2 was not quite the bliss of weekend #1, hope yall stack again behind the front for the closing weekend.

Glad you figured out your motor issue Dave, and now one less problem to deal with going forward. Those bug bites .........holy cow!!!! I hate spraying that stuff on me too, but Blake could do a bug repellant commercial with that elbow

Dave we did not have ducks either, and all reports in the area said the same thing. Hoping the cold front later in the week brings new teal. I use Yard Guard to spray around my blind so I don't have to spray repellant on me.

MARSH BEAR wrote:Dave we did not have ducks either, and all reports in the area said the same thing. Hoping the cold front later in the week brings new teal. I use Yard Guard to spray around my blind so I don't have to spray repellant on me.

We have nothing for mosquitos or bugs at the blind, seems they're only on the Chenier ridge in the mornings and evenings, en masse. We aren't at the boat launch but for a minute or two before we're underway, so we have no issue. I don't think we'll linger like we did Friday night ever again.

I got the new kill switch earlier this week from go-devil and will install it this weekend. Had an eyewitness report from our marsh landing today that the water has dropped substantially on the lease, which is a very nice. We'll be down there tomorrow evening to give it another try. We did see a few groups last weekend and even jumped a few riding out on Saturday afternoon. I think we just had way too much water, everywhere.

Hope y’all rebound nicely from last weekend!

Date: 9/25/2021

Hunters: Me and Blake

Cloud Cover: Severe clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE 5 to 10

Temperature: Lower 60's

Waterfowl Activity: Next to nothing

Waterfowl Responsiveness: The couple of three pairs and groups we did see wanted nothing to do with us.

Birds total and by Species: 1 blue wing

The marsh was very quiet this morning with just a few shots heard in the distance. Reports down here were all poor, one's and twos. I took Ellie out this morning and was glad she was able to make the one retrieve she did. She is showing her age. We picked up the decoys and brought the boat back to the camp for storage. We're done with teal season.

Ellie's swim walk.