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Date: 11/15/2025 Opening day first split

Direction and Velocity: just a puff from the SE

Temperature: 59 Ground fog on the ridge but crystal clear south of 82 at the blind.

Moon phase: Not sure

Waterfowl Activity: Fair early then died

Waterfowl Responsiveness: not a chance. They all had full afterburners going, and they wanted nothing to do with us.

Hunters: Me and Blake

Malfunctions: None

Dog(s): Remi

Special Equipment:

Curses:

Kudos:

Birds By Species: 1 BW 1 GW

Our water is extremely low. We need rain. I was told by the landowner that the new bigger levee has been completed, and they have no plans to let saltwater into the marsh. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

We did catch 56 crabs and a few redfish. Some of these will be in a Sunday afternoon stew with a side of fried redfish nuggets.

Date: 11/16/2025

Direction and Velocity: none

Temperature: Didn't check but was warmer than yesterday

Moon phase: Not sure

Waterfowl Activity: Early flight died at 8

Waterfowl Responsiveness: N/A

Hunters: Me and Blake

Malfunctions: Remi seems to have a case of swimmer's tail.

Dog(s): Not today. I did some research and decided to leave her at the camp this morning. This is new to me, and I'll keep her as still as possible for the week and monitor her condition. I've read 2 to 14 days for recovery. It appears to be painful. She seems to be doing a little better this evening.

Special Equipment:

Curses: Not having Remi this morning.

Kudos:

Birds By Species: 4 GW

It was pretty sporty for a short time but petered out quickly. Without Remi we passed on a few shots that would have had them falling in an area too shallow for recovery. There were a lot of high flights of teal and others heading for the gulf.

At dusk yesterday afternoon many witnessed thousands of ducks lined up from east to west as far as they could see headed north. They said it continued into nightfall. One person I spoke with when I arrived at this hunting camp shindig who is as creditable as it comes told me the majority were big ducks with pintail making up the majority of what he had seen. He was definitely impressed, and he told me the refuge is not holding the numbers of waterfowl he saw in that mass flight. He said they had to be sitting in the gulf.

It will never cease to amaze me where they go and why.


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Ericdc wrote:It will never cease to amaze me where they go and why.


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The number of waterfowl he estimated while watching the flight until dark blew my mind. If it were anyone else, I'd have my doubts.

No pic of the crab stew?

So you're saying they'll be hammering them in Missouri this morning...

Rick wrote:So you're saying they'll be hammering them in Missouri this morning...

I sure hope they didn't do that.

Duck Engr wrote:No pic of the crab stew?

I did take one picture. I had golden redfish nuggets as well. This food disappeared quickly. I had a few overripe bananas on the counter so I turned those into a banana nut bread for dessert. It's gone as well.

I had just dropped the shrimp in the pot and brought it back up to a boil. It was so damn good!

Ericdc wrote:It will never cease to amaze me where they go and why.
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My thought is that the bulk of what we continue to uncover is just how much we don't know.

Glad to hear of the sightings, DC.......seeing is believing, right!? Even if through the lens of an apparently highly trusted source.


Swimmer's tail is new to me, so had to look it up myself.

Swimmer's tail in dogs is caused by muscle strain or injury to the tail, most often from overexertion like long swims or intense exercise.

Hope she's on the mend !

Darren wrote:Swimmer's tail is new to me, so had to look it up myself.

Swimmer's tail in dogs is caused by muscle strain or injury to the tail, most often from overexertion like long swims or intense exercise.

Hope she's on the mend !

She's lot better this morning and wanting to be her wild self but she's reminded every time she try's that its not healed yet. I did get a mid height, energetic, happy wag out of her this morning. I hope to see a big improvement by mid week if this trend continues.

She's very active and turns a many ass low, high speed pirouette's (zoomies) on our walks. She's a wild child.

Young Indy's a feisty one herself and I look forward to, and dread, her time to take the reigns on hunt duty. For now, my man Harry is looking great, knock wood.....turns 11 in a few weeks.

DComeaux wrote:

Duck Engr wrote:No pic of the crab stew?

I did take one picture. I had golden redfish nuggets as well. This food disappeared quickly. I had a few overripe bananas on the counter so I turned those into a banana nut bread for dessert. It's gone as well.

I had just dropped the shrimp in the pot and brought it back up to a boil. It was so damn good!

20251116_155836.jpg

Myyyy goodness!!

Dave, your back up plans with crabs, shrimp and fish, never disappoint

Deltaman wrote:Dave, your back up plans with crabs, shrimp and fish, never disappoint

The duck blind has become a place to sit and watch the marsh come alive in the mornings, then we move on to other things.

Scene's like this don't get old.

Date: 11/22/2025

Direction and Velocity: none

Temperature: warm. Heavy fog till 8:30

Moon phase: Not sure

Waterfowl Activity: none

Waterfowl Responsiveness: N/A

Hunters: Me and Blake

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Remi. Need more birds on the water for my little girl.

Special Equipment:

Curses:

Kudos:

Birds By Species: 2 GW

Probably the least amount of shooting heard during our years at this place. A lot.of 3sand 4s down here with a couple of heavier straps north of 82. Teal make up the majority of the birds on the straps with most I've seen. I went off track early this morning in our adventure through the fog and ended up grounded. We had to get out a push to deeper water. The hard bottom is nice until.you beach your boat. Our extremely low water leaves no room for error.

Fog is brutal even in familiar paths in the marsh !

Date: 11/23/2025

Direction and Velocity: NE 5 to 10

Temperature: I think I remember seeing 58 in the truck. Very comfortable hunt.

Moon phase: Not sure

Waterfowl Activity: Very few seen

Waterfowl Responsiveness: N/A

Hunters: Me and Blake

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Remi. Again, need more birds on the water for my little girl.

Special Equipment:

Curses:

Kudos:

Birds By Species: 1 BW

Our water is disappearing at a rapid pace through evaporation and absorption. Our depth currently varies by wind speed and direction, sloshing north to south in the bowl. Our pond is most likely the deepest spot on the property, and I think we average about 6 inches. I have a pretty good ditch cut out in our boat run to the blind, but I don't know that we'll have the water to cover it this weekend without a good rain.
The habitat (food) south of 82 in our area is nonexistent and it shows by the lack of shots heard this weekend. The managed place to our west is almost dry and they are not able to hunt it. They actually have a boat with a surface drive stuck out there until they get water to float it. I'd assume they were picked up by airboat.
This will be the first Thanksgiving Day that I don't leave for the camp after the meal. I don't think I've ever spent thanksgiving night at home in my adult life. The 3 days of scratch hunts over Thanksgiving last year made the decision easy, especially in our current situation. The refuge numbers are extremely low due to poor habitat. It's all but empty on the usual route we take to look at waterfowl.

We did get a few crabs, and I ate well tonight.

It got me.

Happy thanksgiving to everyone.

Thanksgiving weekend 2011. Something i'm longing for.

That was a major drought year and the Bpop numbers were very good.

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Back to back drought years in 2010 and 2011, and, oh my, but a lot of mallards made it down here then... Saw one today.

Date: 11/29/2025

Direction and Velocity: East moderate

Temperature: a cool 57

Moon phase: Not sure

Waterfowl Activity: Very few seen

Waterfowl Responsiveness: N/A

Hunters: Me and Blake

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Remi. She did well on these few retrives with one being a lively bird and another a long glide dead bird then drift of 100 yards or more.

Special Equipment:

Curses:

Kudos:

Birds By Species: 3 GW
The 3 birds were shot at 10 this morning. We had a flock or teal land in the east decoys silently while weren't looking. When I looked up and that way they were very still and it seems my decoy spread had grown. When I asked Blake if those were ducks they took off. One other bunch came low from my blind side and I gave them a waring shot as they continued on their way.

Very little shooting heard this morning and now we are the only ones left here in the camp ground. Waterfowl are not in this area. We are packed up and will be heading home in the morning. We are not going to deal with the rain forecast for tomorrow. Our water is critically low and if we don't get a substancial rain down here this week we will not be able to hunt next weekend. My prodrive earned its keep today.

It looks like we'll have have enough water to hunt this weekend. This is a second and heavier round.

Good news for you and Rick both !

Bad news in that it'll scatter 'em far and wide across ag land too. New water always wins out.

Darren wrote:Good news for you and Rick both !

Bad news in that it'll scatter 'em far and wide across ag land too. New water always wins out.

I don't think it will affect us much. Nothing from nothing is still nothing.

An updated accumulation map. We'll have some blind bailing to do.

Marsh is still low after the last rains, but might shouldn't have to crank the pump again after this next round.

Posting for future reference.

More Records Could Fall
We could see another dozen or so daily record lows across parts of the Midwest and Northeast Friday morning. Among them include Chicago, Pittsburgh, and both JFK and LaGuardia Airports in New York City.

We may also see record cold daily high temperatures through Friday, primarily in the Midwest, but also a few in the East. Among the cities that could be record cold during the day are Detroit, Milwaukee and Roanoke, Virginia.





4 Snow Systems To Watch Over the Next 10 Days ❄

Next week is looking incredibly active with a parade of fast-moving clippers sweeping through the Great Lakes and Midwest. This type of pattern is usually a January thing… but like everything else this year, winter is showing up early.

TIMING:

System #1 — This Weekend
The weakest of the bunch. Light snow showers Saturday and Sunday with totals likely under 1 inch. Nothing too disruptive.

System #2 — Tuesday
Our best chance at accumulating snow. The track is trending a bit north, which may shift heavier totals into Michigan. Where it hits, several inches are on the table.

System #3 — Wednesday
The strongest energy of the week. This one may pull in enough warm air to mix in rain. If it stays all snow, it would easily be the biggest event of the four.

System #4 — Late Week
Another quick clipper. Looks weaker, and likely the last system before a brief pattern shift brings a few days of milder air.

Now or never. No one can say the weather other than the lack of precipitation has not been forthcoming.

Ducaholic wrote:Now or never. No one can say the weather other than the lack of precipitation has not been forthcoming.

Been outside today? We got precipitation. Think Baton Rouge set a new record for rainfall for the calendar date.