Duck Season 2023-2024

[Darren]

Sat 12/23/2023
Bunkie farm
Johnny and I with Harry
Winds E/SE/S 5-10+, pt cloudy to hvy clouds then back, 50’s

Drove through patchy fog heading up and had some light fog initially that turned to a haze. Similar story from last hunt, few birds working us but not as many as normal. Field water is lower than last trip but still just fine, just enough to mostly float most of the spread. Missed a few here and there but scratched and clawed to our little stringer. Even took a break to be checked by state game wardens, one even came on into the pit! All was well, they did their job and went on their way, first time for that ever out here. Very little speck traffic, mostly snows moving today. With ace shooting we get to 12 probably.

(7) 3 GW teal, 2 BW teal, 2 spoons

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With big rains coming in tonight and tomorrow, likely won’t try it tomorrow. Need a shake up though for sure, seemed stale today, though maybe saw few more overall than last hunt. Fewer snows seen on the ground in area for sure, though. May see what Tuesday looks like behind the front. Merry Christmas, all.

[Ducaholic]

Fair amount of shooting y'all's way this morning...nothing on the east side of 71.

[Darren]

Some pretty good volleys on east end of the farm but we are on west side and it was pretty quiet overall.

[Darren]

Tues 12/26/2023
Bunkie farm
Johnny and I with Harry
Wind mostly zero to eventually light NE/E, 40’s, mostly clear, big moon almost full

Heard grays circling when walking back to the pit from parking the bike. Pair of mallards off the bat seemed to try to work pretty but the op presented hard to see below the tree line backdrop. After that was just the usual occasional teal and spoons, though pretty scarce today on the latter. Other than one comical op that Harry boogered for us, shot decent with our few chances, last one being about 8:15a and pretty much zero activity thereafter. Specks, and geese in general, were mostly MIA today.

(9) 6 GW teal, 2 BW teal, 1 spoon

Right before this crip BWT made a clown of us then ran off nice bunch of decoying green wings in the process of doing so. We got him back but not the spooked off bunch.

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Nice morning with Harry enjoying easy hunting. Report from Will at our marsh lease was “at least y’all got 9 ducks, I don’t know that dad and I SAW 9 ducks, never raised the gun.” Despite seeing comparatively few ducks, the chances were there for our 12 so that’s hard to gripe about given how poorly it’s going for many this year.

[Darren]

Thurs 12/28/2023
Bunkie farm
Johnny and I with Harry
Wind zero mostly to slight out of the predicted NW when we picked up, clear as a bell, big moon, 30 deg to start

Given conditions noted above, log and gut said don’t go, but we’re off of work and it’s an easy hunt. Probably saw 1,000+ teal burning over in the minutes leading up to LST, same flight I’ve noticed on other days of this condition, like a leftover flight from the overnight partying they’ve done under the gleaming moon. Likely were birds just bumped from the farm by hunters going in. Couple lil bunches worked us, one really nicely into the hole though too dark to really capitalize. Initial “flight” quickly shut down and all was soon quiet across the area in all directions. No goose flight of any kind today, packed up early.

2 GW teal (both hens for our other thread discussions)

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Saturday or Sunday may be next time we try, also eyeing Monday with weather system coming through.

[Darren]

Need a shakeup, maybe this will bring it in the coming week(s):

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Sure wish it was more like….today!

[Ericdc]

Needs to have a lot of snow with it.

They calling for light winds and frost in the morning tomorrow, and I've decided I'll probably deer hunt.

One of the guides south of us is struggling mightily this week with the full moon and stale weather.

I'm looking at Monday. First good NNE wind we've had in a while.


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[Darren]

Needs to have a lot of snow with it.

They calling for light winds and frost in the morning tomorrow, and I've decided I'll probably deer hunt.

One of the guides south of us is struggling mightily this week with the full moon and stale weather.

I'm looking at Monday. First good NNE wind we've had in a while.

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Most everyone is struggling this week with this fair weather on the big moon. Likewise, I saw forecast for tomorrow and thinking I'm staying home, just dont want to bank on simply weekend pressure to move birds. Tonight:

clear, with a low around 29. West wind around 5 mph.

, no thanks, with the lingering big moon.

Sat night into Sunday the winds go south so that might warrant a trip, and Monday is the most exciting forecast we've had in a week!!

[Darren]

Back to looking a bit down the road, this is NEXT Wednesday (Jan 10)

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Note those temps

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[DComeaux]

I'm not confident that a cold push would do much for us this time of year. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm not a fan of hunting in frigid temps anymore. It was almost too cold for me this weekend. Give me a south wind with temps in the upper 40's.

[Rick]

It was almost too cold for me this weekend.

I'm thinking the humidity had to be stupid high, no lower than the temp was. Or I'm old.

[Darren]

Monday 1/1/2024
Bunkie farm
Father in law Mike, Johnny, Graham and I with Harry
40s, winds N/NE 10-15+, mostly cloudy, rain shower passed through before we got set up

About the only good news here was the company shared and it being 100% more productive than the last hunt. One little bunch of apparently mixed teal worked pretty off the bat and we did OK with that. Good thing, never thought of shooting again. Saw but a couple of little single teal and that was it before it shut off for us before 7a. Few other blinds did some sporadic shooting but we had zero duck or goose traffic other than a few very high birds.

3 GW teal, 1 BW teal

Object of our exercise completed, though, so thankful for that on this first day of 2024. First time FIL has gotten to share a blind with his grandson/my son. “It was a good hunt dad!”

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Talked to the regular crowd at the barn who said yesterday’s VERY light south winds brought swarms of teal, “all you wanted.” Grrrrrr. And also “we never do well on north winds” from one of the longest tenured fellas. Will keep that in our data collection. They also applauded our four birds as high blind of the crew, we’ll take it! Happy New Year, all

[Duck Engr]

“It was a good hunt dad!”

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Mission accomplished!!

[Darren]

Actually went ahead and put aside one of the green wings for potentially adding to an existing blue wing standing mount I have. Not so much that it's a stud bird, but the circumstances of the hunt would give it a lot of meaning on the wall.

The blue wing came from Rick's famed Mudhole!

[Deltaman]

Nice for Graham to get some added Grand Pa time in the blind, and agree with you on the added value of the additional teal mount!

[DComeaux]

That picture made me smile.

[5 stand]

What a great way to start the new year...

[Darren]

Wed. 1/3/2024
Bunkie farm
Todd C & I with Harry at Todd's blind
Rain storms before LST clearing out, heavy clouds to start then cleared to bright sunshine, winds E to NW 10-15, 40 deg

Been wanting to join Todd to see his setup on opposite end of the farm, hoped it would reveal some wizardry that helped him usually do better than us.....no dice. His setup looks identical to what we usually do when we're in rice stubble, though he's on a N-S levee instead of an E-W, I'd prefer to be on a N-S myself. Lone sprig lit the decoys off the bat so started off nice, even had a couple of bunches of teal make a few circles but not finish but then it shut off. When sun eventually came out the pintail were out and about in nice groups but most not working us. Did down another one that winged off to middle of east cut only to dive and swim off on Harry and I. Beyond the pins, there was basically nothing else out and about.

1 pintail (and another lost)

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Was absolutely astonished at the number of blinds we passed coming in, had no idea there were so many between his and ours, but certainly had noticed there to be seemingly more trucks at the barn these days than in the past. Went by our field on way out and didn't jump anything other than the myriad of shorebirds.

[Darren]

Didnt hunt this weekend but Will took two grays (said he SAW maybe 10) and a speck (from a group of 4 overhead) in local public land, then hit our lease on a whim this AM in calm conditions and reported quite an uptick in fowl all around so may bode well for next weekend.

With the big storm coming through tomorrow and SE winds overnight, thinking about trying the field in the AM.

[Darren]

Mon. 1/8/2024
Bunkie farm, usual GDL blind
Son Graham and I w/ Harry
Winds ESE 10-15+, pt cloudy to heavy clouds to spitting rain when we picked up, upper 40's

Field hadn't been hunted in a while and was hoping for more SOUTH than EAST in the wind but was what it was. Few little flights right at LST and not a whole lot thereafter. Did see more speck activity, some at right height if not for the additional spinners I was running today without remote, wont do that again. Graham continues to be absolutely nails when it comes to spotting working ducks or even those in stratosphere, and even knows them from the myriad of shorebirds we have on hand. Without his eyes, may not have killed anything today alone.

1 spoon, 1 BW teal

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Worth the trip, this alone

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Eventually want to pick up all the decoys and only put out 12-20 or so max each hunt, today started chipping at that with a sled full picked up. Also noted good bit more water on the landscape this trip and with today's rain storms coming in, figuring that will continue to grow. Rear cut even showing signs of it possible starting to fill.

[Ericdc]

I'm going to try them tomorrow and see what this low pressure and wind does for us.


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[Rick]

Graham's photo reminded me of my oldest grandson, Cole's first hunt. Like a lot of little Cajun kids he had more camo clothing than most adults, but when we let the then 4yr-old pick his outfit, he chose electric blue camo PJs. Great memories.

[Darren]

Fri. 1/12/2024
Bunkie farm
Johnny and I with Harry
60's, hvy clouds with sideways rain (strong SSW winds) off and on to start, then eventual clearing with rippin WSW wind and sunshine

Had high hopes of that whole south wind phenomenon everyone wants to worship but not even that could salvage this bizarre '23-'24 season. Flat got it handed to us today, didn't see a duck for first 20 mins or more then surprised by some teal and spoons, none of which gave us more than a glance despite being pretty dang low. The very few ducks that came thereafter did same, few pins would lock and circle then move on. Probably could have gotten 1 of the pair of blue wings that buzzed by hot that I let pass hoping they'd get in right (and didn't), but otherwise just took our scratch. Lot of goose traffic today but they were headed to their recent X which is a few hundred yards to our north on same farm, and couldn't be pulled off that line.

Scratch!


Debating whether to get up early and head to marsh tomorrow morning for the 3rd Split Opener hoping for sufficient water, or just go see if the light winds and sunshine brings out any flight at the field.

Made most of the field trip today, though, by picking up all the specks entirely, leaving just 6 FFD's in the pit for next trip, and also hauling off another sled full of duck decoys. Had to go round up my egrets the wind blew far and wide as well.

[Darren]

Sat. 1/13/2024
Bunkie farm
Johnny and I with Harry
Winds mostly zero to light out of south, upper 20s to start, clear

Hoped weekend pressure and less wind may do something for us but really didn’t. At some points saw some impressive (high) flights of ducks, mostly teal, but very little low and working our area. Tried a couple of iffy duck ops to no avail. Again lots of goose traffic but they’re laser focused on the X to our north, hard to compete.

Scratch!

[Darren]

Mon. 1/15/2024
Bunkie farm, Todd C blind on east end
Todd C and his brother Paul C and I with Paul’s lab
20’s to start, wind rippin from the north 15-25, heavy clouds, sleet and snow flurries before LST

Big weather system has some major roads in north La already closed, historically just the morning you really need to be out there. Thankfully it delivered, though off the bat was pretty slow, ended up seeing some serious numbers of ducks and geese. Specks wanted to be on cuts just to our south but got a couple to come get too curious. Big ducks worked pretty as you’d want, teal less so, only the ones and twos committed. Left em flying at 10:45a with biting wind chill. Really happy with the hunt, can only kick ourselves for not filling on ducks but all smiles for this crew today. Paul’s lab was clutch on a lively hen mallard that had swam a long way from our mark.

(11) 3 GW teal, 1 BW teal, 1 gray, 2 pintails, 4 mallards + 2 specks

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Doubt we’d done anywhere close to that at usual blind on west end, just a lot more water showing (and rice!) on the east end. Great hunt to be a part of, needed it.

[Duck Engr]

Sweet! Classic weather day hunt!

[Deltaman]

Glad to see that some birds showed up for y'all after the slow weekend.

[BigHutch]

It looks like Duckaholic and I should have been in our blind to your east this morning.

Nice straps for a tough year in our area!!

Big Hutch

[Rick]

I'm jealous as can be. Didn't get to hunt today and won't again tomorrow. Lordy do I miss Doug's: would be out there with the grandkids when the paying guns wussed.

[DComeaux]

Spectacular!

One of my camp neighbors made a hunt this morning down in Chenier and scratched. The ducks haven't made it down there.