Duck Season 2015-2016

[Rick]

Mighty deep flood on that "La rice".

[DComeaux]

Mighty deep flood on that "La rice".

Copy and paste error with no chance for correction....

Nice hunt, Darren. Nice to see the need for a jacket.

[Darren]

Mighty deep flood on that "La rice".

Copy and paste error with no chance for correction....

Nice hunt, Darren. Nice to see the need for a jacket.

Just lucky I didn't have Ed as guiding us on SE La Public Marsh

Note to Log for today's hunt: Klondike, La area fresh marsh, not Gueydan rice

[Darren]

After browsing at G&H, took a nature tour to see what might be about with this front passage. Lot more goose activity around the camp than yesterday

Found some mixed geese off the highway nearby

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[Darren]

Tues. 12/29/2015
Klondike, La fresh marsh
Mark L. and I joining Rick and Peake
Wind mostly 0 and occasionally up to 5+ or so from NW, 40's to start, mostly cloudy

Morning 2 in Klondike, joining Rick in the mudhole. Had a few early teal chances we didn't make the most of and just steadily picked away at what came by sporadically, saw much fewer birds than day before. Most of morning we did well making hay with what was offered, teal and spoons primarily. Did have one speck skirt our south (my) end and failed to bring it down on it's pass.....I've got excuses for days. Really enjoyed the morning and got to see some up close working birds that has made the mudhole one of my favorite locales, including some dressed up bluewings. Lost two long off crips

(16) 2 GW teal, 5 BW teal, 1 mallard (hen), 8 spoons

mudhole 2015 edition - complete with bizarre cloud hole formation in background

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This fella came in with a wad of green wings and I'm told I shot it, think his new home might be my home. Been looking for one

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Mark & I at the boat house

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Looks stormy tomorrow, will stay in and see if Thursday might be worth a shot at home

[DComeaux]

That is one good looking blue wing. I hope we get into some this weekend.

[Rick]

"I'm told I shot it..." Looked like a dang harlequin duck compared to the rest of the crowd, and I was going to do my best to see that it didn't get out, but Darren killed it with the first shot. No question. Believe me. I was watching with keen interest.

Dave, we had three other blue-wing drakes that weren't even close to full dress yet. You might have to look pretty hard - or be lucky.

[Deltaman]

Beautiful bird Darren!!!!!!

[simplepeddler]

great bird!!

[Darren]

Thurs 12/31/2015
Gueydan, La rice
Wind N/NE 10-20+, heavy clouds with periodic spits of rain, low 50s
I joined D. Comeaux and Ellie

Great conditions with a really strong northward goose flight from the marsh low and high but overall not many ducks working. Shot well with what we had, should have had probably one more gray but that's about all that got away from us. Gave a couple tries on some working specks but wouldn't quite get right for us. Ellie was stellar with gathering up our wayward crips, including one gray that crashed into the bushes across the west ditch.

(9) 5 grays, 1 GW teal, 1 dosgris, 2 mottleds

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Ellie returning with our prized scaup/dosgris

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Back to my stompin' grounds in the salt marshes for the weekend. Happy New Year!

[Darren]

Sat. 1/2/2016
Delacroix marsh
Johnny & I
Wind N 10-20+, 40's to start, heavy clouds

Back in usual location in Delacroix area, had been spotty for others who tried it earlier this week. Fewer birds overall in our immediate area, though Friday afternoon boat riding showed us a good many birds in places we hadn't been seeing any so far this season. What came by generally worked well but we let a few get away from us. Harry made a nice recovery of a looong off crip to the south to make up for a couple of times he balked on the retrieve, his first hunt in 2 weeks.

6 grays

Johnny's bacon-wrapped duck poppers on the grill last night, good stuff

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Another SE La gray duck comes to the blind

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[Darren]

Sun. 1/3/2016
Delacroix marsh - SE La
Johnny, Raymond & I with Harry
Conditions pretty ideal for us, wind 10-15 from North, temps in 40's, cloudy, few sprinkles

Another great night at the camp with Johnny's (now trademarked) "Razzle Dazzle Ducks" after the raspberry reduction coating the duck poppers. Made a move to try another location that we'd been seeing some birds using. Went with our public land guerilla style blind using cut palmettos and some misc branches around an overturned pirogue we all sat on.......it ate their lunch today. Was nothing fast and heavy about it but the grays just trickled, mostly in pairs and singles with a few small groups, some from waaaaay up dropping on a dime. Was really something to see. Stuck it out 'till 10:25 when the 18th hit the pond, with flights better from 8:30am on to when we finished. On way out saw some other hunters leaving and running some nearby bigger waters that are known to be really shallow......birds like mosquitos that largely went right back down.

Harry is back in the saddle and not too sharp on the casting. He's finding everything I let him hunt up, which is handy, but he's balking on casting out at times. If you give him a bit of a shove, he goes and completes the retrieve. Know the shallow ponds we're hunting are not his favorite areas to work, just hard on him not being able to swim. That's where the birds want to be, though. Following my own rule of pirogue retrieves also paid off today when a crip stud gray flushed from the island I took Harry to for hunt and recovery. Thought he'd glide down but kept gaining altitude and had to be shot again; never go on retrieve without the gun!

(18) 16 grays, 2 dosgris

Grays on grays

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[DComeaux]

SWEET! Love the grays.

[Rick]

And with duck candy for desert. Hard not to be jealous of that.

[Darren]

And with duck candy for desert. Hard not to be jealous of that.

The duck candy even made it to the blind Sunday morning, maybe it was the lucky snack. Cold and chewy, sure was good waiting out the flights.

[Deltaman]

Great reports Darren and the raspberry reduction on the duck fillets sounds damn good!
Who shot the pintail decoy?

[Darren]

Great reports Darren and the raspberry reduction on the duck fillets sounds damn good!
Who shot the pintail decoy?

Noticed that after I'd posted, looks like it's sunken but actually was just in the trough of a small "wave" on the pond. First weekend with those out, figured I'd throw something different at them and they seem to show up well.

[Darren]

Thurs. 1/7/2016
SE La public marsh
Solo w/ Harry
Wind ENE 10-20, temps in 40's, heavy clouds, water way up with easterly winds

Well my gut told me to hunt one area, I went to another just because I like the comfy blind and hadn't been in the area in a while. Had one gray work well, made a nice shot, Harry made the retrieve, and that was it. Picked up dekes at 7:30 with rain approaching, of course had 4 grays on approach before they saw me in the decoys. Other than that, saw very few birds in the area, hardly picked up a call much less did any other shooting. On the way out made a pass through area I'd considered hunting given the favorable conditions for that location.........stacked. Good sign at least, try them there next week if water stays up.

Buddies in another blind nearby took a pair of mallards and let a third get away when sunken pirogue they stood in started floating up as they shot. Water is way up!

1 gray

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Harry with our lone bird

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Out for this weekend, try again next week and weekend.

[Darren]

Hunting buddy in our home marsh took this bird today, with some speculation of it being a black or some kind of hybrid maybe.
After doing some research, looks like they may be on to something.

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Another group waited out the passing storms and hit our usual location in Delacroix, reported very few birds and closed with a scratch.

[Rick]

Looks like a black to me: no buff "v"s within the back feathers, just thin trim.

[DeadEye_Dan]

+1 for Black Duck

[Darren]

Thurs. 1/14/2016
SE La public marsh
Raymond & I with Harry
Winds 5-10+ from ESE, temps upper 30's to start, cloudy

Back in area of the marsh we were hitting last year at this time, Ray had good hunt yesterday in this location. I also scouted and saw fair many grays in the area yesterday afternoon. Today they just didn't show up for us, or perhaps have moved on. Took a suicidal green wing and a pair of working wigeon, that was it. Had one group of 8 greys work us to death before moving on, and had another trio of GW's skirt us. Not another duck seen, others in area DNS. Could be that they just didn't show, or have moved on, or are patterning to come into the marsh in the afternoons, hard to tell. Others we know hunting in general area have been getting some decent flights in recent weeks so maybe today was just an off day. Scout again tomorrow for the weekend hunts

2 wigeon, 1 GW teal

Harry with a too-rare wigeon; can't recall the last time we took a pair

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Our big haul fits atop a blind bag with room to spare, unfortunately

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Did talk to one fella who made a solo hunt along the nearby shoreline of a local tidal lake. He had his 6 buffleheads in an hour, may have to resort to giving that a try like we did when we first got started in this area in the early 2000's

[DComeaux]

Love the wigeon. I wish there numbers would climb and they'd spread out out like the grays.

http://www.ducks.org/conservation/waterfowl-surveys/2015/duck-numbers/18#ad-image-0

[Darren]

Harry and I spent much of the afternoon in the marsh. Water is way up again and that had me thinking of the location I should have hunted last Thursday on the solo jaunt, only to find it post-hunt full of birds. It was again stacked today on arrival and then I found some other areas with some new faces as well, with a fair showing of mallards for the first time this season.

After a thorough tour built a little hide by moving an old one and was excited about that prospect for tomorrow. On way in decided to just drop in that other hole that I'd swung by earlier and bumped them out of only to find it again stacked up. Fool me once...........

We're planning to give that a try in the AM, and will fall back to the relocated hide in the event something keeps us from Plan A. Hope a few stick around to enjoy the weekend with us

[Darren]

Love the wigeon. I wish there numbers would climb and they'd spread out out like the grays.

http://www.ducks.org/conservation/waterfowl-surveys/2015/duck-numbers/18#ad-image-0

Their numbers appear to be at least above that of the (Katrina) 2005 season when we made some impressive piles of them here in our area of SE La marshes, 35 on the season. Since then, very few hit the cleaning tables.

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[Rick]

Look the baby face on that guy.

[Darren]

20 year old punk college student !

As a note to the log, I forgot to mention the geese yesterday in our area. Right off the bat spotted 5 low white geese, looked to be Ross's as they were short and stumpy. Then had a bunch of about 30 specks cruising by a little higher only to be followed by two more small packs of specks LOW over the marsh. Of course they won't show this morning.....

[Darren]

Sat. 1/16/2016
SE La Public Marsh
Josh R. joining Harry and I
Wind ZIP to approaching 10 from N/NE, 40's, pt cloudy to clearing

All went to plan in getting set up in our makeshift hide at what looked awfully like the "X" just the evening before. They failed to show up this morning, unfortunately. Bumped a few mottleds and mallards on arrival then otherwise saw very very few birds after LST. Pair of blue wings lit not 10 feet behind the blind, fired an errant shot through the brush at them and was able to coax them back with the call for another pass which put one of them on the water. Little later a lone ringer came swinging in and fell for same teal call, lit next to me. That was it. Bummed to disappoint a friend on his first trip with me, and worse that the couple of ops were all on my side so he didn't get to fire his sweet Remy 870 Wingmaster. Going to change the scene for tomorrow, unless my pending afternoon trip to the marshes to just go piddle doesn't find me something else worth chasing.

1 BW teal, 1 ringneck

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[Rick]

Looks ducky - which may show how little I know.