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No direct reports yet as family obligations kept me on the sidelines opening weekend. Hope to make it out Fri, Sat, and Sun this weekend.

General reports from our blinds were that everything was on fire Saturday with limits had by almost everyone. Sunday and Monday were much slower with some limits but more than not <10 per blind. The marsh has been slower than is typical but our neighbor limited in <30 minutes Tuesday after zeroing Sunday and Monday. Some of our ratoon rice is getting flooded this week so it should be great this weekend. Can't wait to get out there!

Lived in rice country since '83 and had to look up "ratoon" rice. Never heard it called anything but "second crop".

Date: September 17

Time: Morning

Location: Jackpot (saltwater marsh)

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Saw very few birds with hardly any shooting in the area

Waterfowl Responsiveness: The couple of groups we saw came in and our fair share stayed behind

Hunters: 8 friends from Louisiana

Malfunctions: In the rush to leave the house and gather all the things I needed to host 6 guests for the weekend, I forgot my hunting bag. I am someone who needs a routine and not having my typical accessories had me feeling lost all morning.

Dog(s): None

Special Equipment: 2 mojo teal

Curses: The ducks are in the area are apparently sitting on the refuge all day and are feeding at night in the rice.

Kudos: After talking to all the guide services in the area, our slow hunt tied for the second highest blind.

Birds By Species: 6 BWT

Photo Ops: None

Date: September 18

Time: Morning

Location: East Flats (freshwater marsh)

Special Notes: First hunt at the new blind we built in this hole over the summer that I have posted pictures of here. Very happy with how it hunted from a comfort/convenience standpoint.

Waterfowl Activity: Saw way more birds than the day before

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Most of what we saw didn't want anything to do with our spread.

Hunters: 6 friends from Louisiana

Malfunctions: Forgot the mojos which I think really hurt our ability to attract the birds to us. Wouldn't have turned a slow hunt into a barrel burner, but I think we could have easily scratched out 6-10. Still didn't have my hunting bag.

Dog(s): None

Special Equipment: None

Curses: With once a year hunters on both ends of the blind, we had multiple passing shot opportunities go by without a shot. Still not the bird activity we usually see during teal season. Hope it isn't a glimpse into what we will see during big duck season.

Kudos: Saw lots of mottled ducks flying around in small and large groups

Birds By Species: 1 BWT

Photo Ops: None

Date: September 21

Time: Evening

Location: Jackson Ranch (rice field)

Special Notes: Decided at the last minute to shift to an evening hunt (vs. the next morning) since the birds are still not moving in the mornings.

Waterfowl Activity: Morning hunts have continued to be very slow, but there clearly are a bunch of birds in the area. It was really slow the first hour and a half, but the last 30 minutes before sunset was quite the show. The flight really picked up steam post shooting time.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: The bigger groups were either flaring or wanted into the center of the rice field but the smaller groups were responsive.

Hunters: 6 management team of one or our companies from Denver

Malfunctions: None

Dog(s): None

Special Equipment: Mojos on and off

Curses: If shooting time could have just extended another 15 minutes past sunset we could have made quite a pile

Kudos: Some pretty good shooting by a group of hunters that don't get out much

Birds By Species: 12 BWT

Photo Ops: None

Date: September 24

Time: Evening

Location: Rolltop blind (rice field)

Special Notes: Grant brought his .410

Waterfowl Activity: Saw 3-4 groups all afternoon. Was hoping for a better showing as the blind shot 24 during the morning hunt. Have had some great afternoon teal hunts from this blind in the past.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Had one group of two come close enough for a shot

Hunters: 2 me and Grant

Malfunctions: Forgot the mojos yet again

Dog(s): None

Special Equipment: None

Curses: The few groups we saw seemed to fly by just as Grant was practicing his shooting on a sinking decoy

Kudos: None

Birds By Species: 1 BWT

Photo Ops:

Date: September 25

Time: Morning

Location: East Flats (freshwater marsh)

Special Notes: Grant shot his first duck!

Waterfowl Activity: Saw more birds this morning than on all other morning hunts combined. Flight completely shut down by 8:00.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Could not have asked for better response. Ducks were landing in the decoys.

Hunters: 2 me and Grant

Malfunctions: Grant's .410 is still blowing the primer on the Boss shells causing the shell to not eject. I sent the barrel to them this summer to get it reamed which was supposed to fix the problem. Not a big deal because we are using it as a single shot anyway.

Dog(s): None

Special Equipment: 2 mojos

Curses: Probably 40% of the plants we transplanted to the island are dying. Not surprising given the dry weather. Grant and I watered the survivors for an hour with the bilge pump.

Kudos: Thanks to the teal for landing just perfect for Grant to get a good clear shot. I had my 6 in the first 20 minutes with some much needed good shooting given I have been off on most of my other hunts this season.

Birds By Species: 7 BWT

Lagniappe: Am really liking this blind setup now with clear visibility and water 360 degrees around.

Photo Ops:

Good Job Grant and Dad

Congrats Dad!
Great reports, and hope you were able to save some of your planted grass.

An ear-to-ear success.

Well that's just some great stuff, congrats.

Love a 360 deg blind myself, but dont have one at the moment, best I've got is a maybe 270 deg in one marsh pond.

Congrats on the first duck, and may there be many more.

Somehow I missed this...
Glad Grant was able to connect, good times and memories right there...
Hope you and Grant are still after them...