Preseason 2022-2023

[Ducaholic]

Restored, improved, added, engineered, you name it there is more than enough to consistently alter an entire migration due to its consistency and specialization. The old days only offered what mother nature afforded year to year. The great equalizer is weather. Hoping for a cold winter. And I mean cold!

[SpinnerMan]

Well that's what the cooling lakes are for. I'm right with you on the cold. The day after I finally get my big buck, then turn on the cold and about 6" of snow with piles more to the north.

We need millions more acres of wetlands up north. It's good for the environment. The problem is with all the dams on the rivers the floods don't flush out the backwater lakes and between that and the carp mucking them up, the habitat that hasn't been drained is steadily degraded.

We are getting better to some degree on wetlands, but a long way from where we should be.

[Ricky Spanish]

Send em south like the old days and before the NAWMP/DU/AHM spawned all the managed habitat that exist today.

Spawned the habit or restored habit that was lost early in last century

https://www.fws.gov/wetlands/data/Water-Summary-Reports/National-Water-Summary-Wetland-Resources-Missouri.pdf

Missouri wetlands occupy 643,000 acres. about 1.4 percent of the State's area (Dahl, 1990). Before the arrival of European settlers, wetlands occupied about 4.84 million acres, about 10.8 percent of what is now Missouri, and were a significant component of the landscape

Careful you don't go back too far into the old days

An additional couple million acres of wetlands in Missouri would seem to paint a different picture.

I totally blew up the internet when I posted that eastern Illinois was once a meca for waterfowl. It got drained for farmers back in the 1800s.
Believe it or not it wasn't always a duck desert here. To prove it I could go to a wetlands near here and take pics.

[Ducaholic]

So was Louisiana and it’s still pretty good most years. But ducks just don’t make it here like they used to in numbers of the past. Waterfowl are very adaptable and if the buffet is better somewhere else they sure will dine there for as long as possible. I don’t begrudge anyone for conserving and preserving. That video is a prime example of the extent some folks will go to in order to hold ducks for as long as possible. It’s a microcosm of the overall effort across many states and flyways.

[Ricky Spanish]

So was Louisiana and it’s still pretty good most years. But ducks just don’t make it here like they used to in numbers of the past. Waterfowl are very adaptable and if the buffet is better somewhere else they sure will dine there for as long as possible. I don’t begrudge anyone for conserving and preserving. That video is a prime example of the extent some folks will go to in order to hold ducks for as long as possible. It’s a microcosm of the overall effort across many states and flyways.

Most of the easy ducks I got last season were return migrating. They flew into bad weather ...and us.
GWT in late January was odd.
Could see when they arrived by the flyups.
Alluva sudden they were back..
When teal are using the refuge the flyups are like fireworks.

[SpinnerMan]

So was Louisiana and it’s still pretty good most years. But ducks just don’t make it here like they used to in numbers of the past. Waterfowl are very adaptable and if the buffet is better somewhere else they sure will dine there for as long as possible. I don’t begrudge anyone for conserving and preserving. That video is a prime example of the extent some folks will go to in order to hold ducks for as long as possible. It’s a microcosm of the overall effort across many states and flyways.

I think hunting pressure is underrated in it's effect over time. There's not one factor that is important. But we often neglect the simple math of Darwin when compounded over generations of ducks. The ducks that head farthest south face the longest exposure to hunters. Ducks that stop short see their season end a month or more before the ducks that continue all the way down the line. The time they are at threat from hunters is reduced by around 25% and when you factor in the much higher concentration of hunters further south, the odds of ending up in the pot if they go all the way to southern Louisiana is probably reduced by better than 1/3rd. Well on a yearly basis, this doesn't mean much, but compound that over decades and Mr. Darwin will tell you that that is all it takes to change an entire population in dramatic ways.

It's anecdotal, but the best duck habitat in my area is all habitat that was constructed in the last 15 years. Most places that I consistently see ducks did not exist when I moved here 20 years ago. They've built/rehabbed some really nice marshland and shallow ponds. Once that freezes, there is plenty of warm water discharges and further down the cooling lakes to allow the birds to find safe haven long after our season closes. It's typical for me to see far more ducks after the season closes than I did all season.

[Ducaholic]

GWT are my favorite fowl to shoot and eat. With that said I do enjoy working big ducks in close for easy kills.

[Darren]

Made my first trip out to some public teal holes on Friday afternoon, toted the little man along for the long flat boat ride as well. He fell asleep just a few miles from the camp but woke later to enjoy the marsh ride.

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Put eyes on some great looking holes that have the seed-bearing bushes all around them that we have killed them near in the past, also discovered a few past holes had succumbed to significant erosion being right off the shoreline of a major lake.

Harry came along to verify the appropriate water depth we're looking for, this (shown walking) at top of a very high tide range for the day, should be about right at low to mid tide for normal ranges.

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Cousin's blind was found to have rode out the storms of the last couple of years and is in a lagoon I've hunted with him in the past......with gray ducks in mind. The feed situation is pretty dang astounding with wigeon grass and other local favorites thick, thick, even though the water is on the deeper end.

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Trip was nice to put eyes on the area and answered a few questions I had that will save me some time later on now that I've scratched a few wild card holes off the list.


Local outdoor personality has long talked about "tickweed", though actually a gulf coast variety of hemp. I can't find any references to tickweed but lots of literature assimilating pigweed to southern water hemp. Whatever it actually is, it produces a lot of seeds that ducks enjoy.

http://www.southeastern.edu/acad_resear ... igweed.pdf

Pigweed: Amaranthus australis
Pigweed is also known as Southern Amaranth or Southern Water-hemp. The plant usually grows from 3-9 ft. in
height, though some have been known to grow up to 27 ft. tall with stems reaching up to 12 inches in diameter.
Pigweed is an herbaceous annual, meaning the plant completes an entire life-cycle in under a year. It is found
in many southern states of the USA, in Mexico, the West Indies, and South America, most frequently in wetland
areas. Pigweed occurs in a variety of salinities all across the Louisiana coast, mostly as scattered individual plants.
It produces an abundance of very small seeds that are feed for many different types of ducks, particularly
the Common Teal. Pig weed is suitable for human consumption and also quite nutritious.

Grows to 6-8 ft tall in some places out in the marsh, so I was most pleased to find it nearly as a forest along one of my tucked away holes I'd been eyeing. Jumped handful of mottleds in the general area.

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Harry got his first real preseason workout in some known safe marsh and did fine but was noticeably whooped after, a far cry from trotting around leisurely on the flat, firm ground of our backyard.

[Rick]

Reads like a most pleasant and productive afternoon.

[Duck Engr]

I’m jealous of the outing. Reads like a nice time afield, in season or not.

[Ricky Spanish]

Send em south like the old days and before the NAWMP/DU/AHM spawned all the managed habitat that exist today.

Spawned the habit or restored habit that was lost early in last century

https://www.fws.gov/wetlands/data/Water-Summary-Reports/National-Water-Summary-Wetland-Resources-Missouri.pdf

Missouri wetlands occupy 643,000 acres. about 1.4 percent of the State's area (Dahl, 1990). Before the arrival of European settlers, wetlands occupied about 4.84 million acres, about 10.8 percent of what is now Missouri, and were a significant component of the landscape

Careful you don't go back too far into the old days

An additional couple million acres of wetlands in Missouri would seem to paint a different picture.

Wait. Careful what we wish for.
Every year I drive to big lake. I get there and moan.
All the rice fields full of ducks are COTTON NOW
FUCK.

So I pray for rain. A month later it finally does rain 6 inches in neark and semo.
It takes three days to notice?
Yup. 3 days later my decoy strings went from3 to 10 feet long and ....it's a flood.
So please if you're going to rain-dance just do it a little.

[Darren]

The struggle is real apparently with all these duplicative posts


Indeed was great just to be out there, run the boat, poke around the winding waterways, and with my son along as lagniappe. Likely won't head back out in that direction until reason to believe a few birds might be around, closer to labor day weekend. Still keeping an eye out for good high tide to get the new lease blind in.

[Duck Engr]

The struggle is real apparently with all these duplicative posts

Yeah not sure what’s going on. Might be a Tapatalk issue. I did a little cleanup.

[Darren]

The struggle is real apparently with all these duplicative posts

I did a little cleanup.

much appreciated, DE

[Darren]

CenLa ag belt along Highway 71 looked to get a good rain yesterday, hopefully did some good for farmers. This blob just sat there a good part of the day

rain.jpg

This week's map

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[Deltaman]

Glad to see rain for y'all, and hope it is beneficial!!!

[Rick]

Can't cut rice in the rain and can make an equipment-breaking mess cutting after significant rains. Kind of a laugh-so-you-don't-cry joke that summer rains start when the combines come out.

[Ducaholic]

Darren...Yesterdays rain was a good dusting but nothing close to enough to replenish what this years semi-drought diminished. Bunkie however did get more than most. I heard as much as 6" in some areas but I'm not sure what they got in Whiteville.

[Darren]

yea that red blob shown looks to have sat over the greater Bunkie-Whiteville stretch, i bet the bayou behind the lil camp is rollin.

Headed back south later today for some more planned marsh activities tomorrow AM

[Darren]

Thankfully the stars finally aligned when the morning high tide matched up to my availability when it's coolest for the day, and extensive preparation led to success in getting a new blind in within an hour on site.

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We had it licked in no time given everything was pre-measured, cut, painted, etc. as we luckily watched morning showers skirt us just near enough to give us a welcomed breeze. Slipped in behind one of them back to the camp without a drop. Feed situation is strong as expected, just watching the tropics....No ducks of any kind seen but likely fair many mottleds in the area. Figuring the first teal sightings will be coming in the next couple of weeks.

Checked south blind on the lease and found it buried in a roseau jungle well beyond what was last year's magnitude. I'm calling it a no-go for teal season since we've got other options, but that jungle should be really nice for November's interests.

[Anotherone]

Nice spot, picturing blue wings crashing in that hole as I view it.

[Rick]

Bet it felt good to be working in the marsh. Always find myself thinking our camp's hunters are getting cheated out of the pleasures of preparation.

[Darren]

Nice spot, picturing blue wings crashing in that hole as I view it.

Water was UP about 6-8 inches from normal, but that hole is really shallow typically and matted with grass on surface. We've had some luck in September there with them not so much using that hole but the tons of tiny puddles that surround it, and just letting the squawking bring them for a look. It's a gray duck powerhouse, historically, though.

Wanted to get it done ASAP to give time for the grass to grow up through it, etc. before Sept and for sure Nov.

[Darren]

Bet it felt good to be working in the marsh. Always find myself thinking our camp's hunters are getting cheated out of the pleasures of preparation.

It's absolutely a critical part of the whole deal. I've found myself more and more wondering if I'm not hooked on the preparation activities as much or more than the hunting/killing these days, honestly. Love to have success from a blind we put the sweat into, but also had a ball designing it, piddling with the pre-fab work in offseason, etc.

[Deltaman]

Sweet blind build Darren, and glad the weather and tide cooperated
I agree about the preps, they help build the anticipation of the season.
We sure are a hopeful bunch, given the downturns we've seen over the last 10 or so years.
Gotta have Hope!!!!!

[Darren]

Sweet blind build Darren, and glad the weather and tide cooperated
I agree about the preps, they help build the anticipation of the season.
We sure are a hopeful bunch, given the downturns we've seen over the last 10 or so years.
Gotta have Hope!!!!!

Oh no doubt we're always optimistic, but this pond last year:

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Hasn't been too shabby, even when other areas in the region had slowed. What will be really interesting is whether or not the grays return in historic numbers or if last year was the start of something being way down on grays to start the season compared to usual.

[SpinnerMan]

Always find myself thinking our camp's hunters are getting cheated out of the pleasures of preparation.

Last couple years I've had more fun preparing for duck season than actually hunting ducks

We deer hunt near where we duck hunt. My buddy texted me joking about my photos on his trail cam. I was mowing/trimming the parking/access which is where he has a stand and apparently a trail cam. My response "I still get excited about duck season even though I haven't had a good duck season in a while."

I may need a good season soon or I worry that will wear off. Last year I spent more hours prepping for duck season than hunting ducks. But I'm back out there going above and beyond getting ready for the upcoming season.

On the other hand, I put a lot of work in for deer hunting as well. That paid off. A big part of why I didn't duck hunt much. After a slow start, I saw deer up close almost every time out. Got a little buck on a new food plot and saw some really nice buck in an area that took me a few false starts to find. One I think that will be my go to spot for years to come. We'll see, but the stand will be up by mid September and the alternative spots prepped by the same time. Last day I hunted last year, I packed in seed and fertilizer, so I hope that gave the area a boost. It's public land and I can't access the area until Sept 1. I'm itching to get back there and see what's up.

Yep, I think the preparation is a big part of the entire enjoyment.

[Duck Engr]

Bet it felt good to be working in the marsh. Always find myself thinking our camp's hunters are getting cheated out of the pleasures of preparation.

It's absolutely a critical part of the whole deal. I've found myself more and more wondering if I'm not hooked on the preparation activities as much or more than the hunting/killing these days, honestly. Love to have success from a blind we put the sweat into, but also had a ball designing it, piddling with the pre-fab work in offseason, etc.

I’m absolutely hooked on the preparation.

[SpinnerMan]

It is a year-round hobby in some form or another.

I saw a bunch of geese in a parking lot the other day. I decided to drive by and look for bands. I saw one band.

[Ricky Spanish]

It is a year-round hobby in some form or another.

I saw a bunch of geese in a parking lot the other day. I decided to drive by and look for bands. I saw one band.

I'm focused on keeping my dog in shape and not fat.
This year I'm barely going to make it on harvesting honey before conservation goose season.
It just keeps flowing. We had that 3 week drought and I thought it was over.
The rain turned on and I'm back to making honey.
I've sold $1500 worth so am beginning to feel like I'll make it to arkansas. Wasn't looking too good back in July.
Now it's looking great.
My entire world is random as hell its not just me.