2022-2023 Season Log

[5 stand]

Yes sir, I remember his first Ducks earlier this year... You also mentioned something about him catching up to those teal, if I remember correctly that's why I brought it up... Shooting well with a big coat I'm sure that was an adjustment for him also... Kudos to him !!!
Killing ducks with Grandpa on Christmas morning, I don't think it gets any better....

[Duck Engr]

Sweet way to spend a Christmas morning, indeed!

[Rick]

Date: 12/26 Mon

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear to partly

Wind Direction and Velocity: light SE

Temperature: frosty

Moon phase: 16% waxing

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Fair show of this and that.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Pretty darn good.

Hunters: 3, JJ, Mark and a buddy of theirs

Guns:

Malfunctions: Yours truly had a big bunch of specks "on a string" - until they saw I forgot to kill the spinners.

Dog(s): The bug did a fine job (and is beat).

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Just the speck thing.

Kudos: Guys shot well and a fine morning was had.

Birds By Species: 2 blue-wing teal, 1 gadwall, 10 green-wing teal, 4 mallards, 1 ringneck, 4 shovellers and 2 wigeon

Photo Ops: My traditional photo of their traditional tailgate shot for the brother that didn't come:

002.JPG

[Darren]

Come on now, I know you're doing your darndest to save me a couple for mid week......especially the specks

Headed that way tomorrow PM, but first a field hunt.

[Rick]

Date: 12/27 Tue

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: N moderate to brisk

Temperature: 30s

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Blinds east, west and north of us were all rock and rolling early while we saw little and could get nothing in before it was banged out. Had just one poor teal that lit for a very long time. Only big ducks (other than mottleds) we saw many of were pintails.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Had a BIG bunch of specks broken down and on final banged out. Same with bunch after bunch of pintails.

Hunters: 3, father, Will, and sons, Barrett and Leum(sp?)

Guns: all inertia actions

Malfunctions: Ironically the youngest, Barrett, was the only one not struggling with operator errors. That and horribly bent barrels.

Dog(s): Let Marsh swim and he was plainly cold.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Dad had a loose round and dropped the gun. And there weren't remotely as many ops as they needed to get in the game.

Kudos: Awfully nice folks had a big time.

Birds By Species: 1 blue-wing teal, 8 green-wing teal and 2 pintails

[DComeaux]

Seems yall did well with numbers despite the malfunctions and bent barrels. Something we can't have happen if we are to leave with any.

[Rick]

Seems yall did well with numbers despite the malfunctions and bent barrels. Something we can't have happen if we are to leave with any.

Was their first duck hunt, and some were, allegedly, shot on the water.

[DComeaux]

Dad had a loose round and dropped the gun.

Does that mean what I think it does? If so, that is unnerving.

[Ricky Spanish]

Dad had a loose round and dropped the gun.

Does that mean what I think it does? If so, that is unnerving.

I'm picturing an old guy dropping a shell who then panics and tosses gun into the water and Rick had to get out of his guide chair and retrieve it hoping he grabs the right end. Close enough?

[Rick]

Dad had a loose round and dropped the gun.

Does that mean what I think it does? If so, that is unnerving.

Yup. Think he was reloading(?), when the gun went off unintentionally. Another reminder of why I won't allow a gun butt below the level of the bench we sit on.

(Lots of "inertia action" troubles until I educated their operators. Dad's SBE wasn't ejecting empties until I got him to shoulder it tighter, or at all - and not get kicked as hard, either. And older son's Franchi was "Benelli clicking" until I explained how to let the locking bolt face work as designed. Ironically, the wee son had no issues running his Christmas youth M2.)

Darren's in camp, so I'm hoping for an easier morning.

[Ricky Spanish]

Dad had a loose round and dropped the gun.

Does that mean what I think it does? If so, that is unnerving.

Yup. Think he was reloading(?), when the gun went off unintentionally. Another reminder of why I won't allow a gun butt below the level of the bench we sit on.

(Lots of "inertia action" troubles until I educated their operators. Dad's SBE wasn't ejecting empties until I got him to shoulder it tighter, or at all - and not get kicked as hard, either. And older son's Franchi was "Benelli clicking" until I explained how to let the locking bolt face work as designed. Ironically, the wee son had no issues running his Christmas youth M2.)

Darren's in camp, so I'm hoping for an easier morning.

unintentional discharge. I've seen quite a few of the clicks and tried telling guys why. Have even forced it to happen once.
If you run a binelli watch it closely because I know people that won't hesitate to set you up.

[Duck Engr]

Yikes!!!

[Rick]

Date: 12/28 Wed

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: clear to partly

Wind Direction and Velocity: nil to light ESE

Temperature: mid 30s and rising

Moon phase: 38% waxing

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Apparently, from the relative lack of gunfire, much less moving than usual but plenty for today's purposes.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Good enough.

Hunters: 2, WFN's own Darren and his pal, Johnny

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Easy morning with nothing long.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Can't think of any.

Kudos: Guys shot well enough to be first to fill.

Birds By Species: 2 blue-wing teal, 5 green-wing teal, 3 mallards, 2 pintails, 1 ringneck and 5 shovellers

[DComeaux]

Boy! the company you keep.

[Rick]

Boy! the company you keep.

Hell, think of the company they kept. But they're dumping me for Isaac tomorrow, might wish I could go with 'em...

[Rick]

Date: 12/28/22 Thur

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: light fog to hazy and partly

Wind Direction and Velocity: moserate SE

Temperature: 60s

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Didn't have the teal show we might have hoped, but more than enough for good shots.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Most everything came pretty.

Hunters: 2, Greg and Camron

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): easy morning with nothing long

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: none

Kudos: Guys shot very well, and we were out pretty quickly.

Birds By Species: 6 blue-wing teal, 1 gadwall, 6 green-wing teal, 2 mallards, 1 pintail and 2 ringnecks.

[Duck Engr]

Very nice strap

[DComeaux]

Awfully nice hunt.

Reports from our campground neighbors are not good today. These hunt north of 82, north of the refuge.

EDIT: Got a text from another neighbor while typing that above, reporting 11 ring neck and 1 teal. 2 man limit. They hunt 13 miles SSW of your blind location.

[Rick]

Reports from traditionally good areas have been just plain "spotty". A friend with what's been a really good Miami lease south of the Lake Arthur Club told me he didn't fire a shot this morning, and a grandson and his buddy shot their dozen teal in what I think of as poor duck rice this morning.

[Darren]

EDIT: Got a text from another neighbor while typing that above, reporting 11 ring neck and 1 teal. 2 man limit. They hunt 13 miles SSW of your blind location.

Was ringer day for us as well, thought it (pleasantly) odd to see them actually working decoys. Since teal weren't as prevalent as hoped, we let it rip on them and took it to the dock.

[Rick]

Too lazy to go back through the log, but I'm thinking two jacks on the same string qualifies this as a "ringneck day" at the mudhole, too.

[Rick]

Date: 12/30/22 Fri

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: Tail end of a storm front at LST to hazy.

Wind Direction and Velocity: Southerly fairly strong

Temperature: warm

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Lots of teal and lost squealers in the marsh.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Just fine.

Hunters: 2, Papa, Ronnie, and high school grandson, Tate

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): easy morning

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: zip

Kudos: The guys shot lights out, and we were out very quickly.

Birds By Species: 2 black-bellied whistling ducks, 1 blue-wing teal, 1 gadwall, 12 green-wing teal and 2 shovellers

[Deltaman]

Sounds like a mighty fine hunt!!!!!

[Bud]

Sounds like a duck blast to me. Yes, we all like big ducks. The fast and furious shooting, with good people, of teal has to be one of my favorite hunts to be involved with. Only two greater-billed teal, to boot. Thanks for sharing your hunts.

[Rick]

Fogged in this morning and likely so again for tomorrow's buddy hunt with an old friend, so the party may be over. But God bless the little ducks, might not be the most fun to work but certainly the most fun to gun. And good to eat...

[Rick]

Date: 12/31 Sat

Time: morning

Location: mudhole

Cloud Cover: dense ground fog eventually thinning

Wind Direction and Velocity: nil to light N?

Temperature: T-shirt, but chilly once the bug soaked it.

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Lots of Cherry Ridge's squealers were disoriented by the fog and flying our marsh early followed by scads of green-wings when the fog thinned some.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Much better than ours.

Hunters: 2, father, Jerry, and grown son, Will, neither of which seemed to have hunted much, if at all.

Guns: Father brought a 20ga SXS, which he didn't shoot much before switching to his second gun, a 12ga pump

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Couple squealers gave him a workout.

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Lots and lots of crowd control issues.

Kudos: Nice folks and enough birds for our purposes.

Birds By Species: 6 black-bellied whistling ducks and12 green-wing teal

[Duck Engr]

Nice way to finish the year Rick!

[Rick]

Nice way to finish the year Rick!

Always nice when folks who need a lot of chances get them, even if the the younger did lose his stuff and whack some decoys a bird landed in. Might not be so happy for them when I see what's sunk in the morning.

[DComeaux]

Give us the green wing back, please.

[Duck Engr]

Nice way to finish the year Rick!

Always nice when folks who need a lot of chances get them, even if the the younger did lose his stuff and whack some decoys a bird landed in. Might not be so happy for them when I see what's sunk in the morning.

I know you often talk of patching and painting decoys in the off-season as if they’re yours, but how does your outfit handle decoys? Are guides expected to provide (and replace) their own?