Preseason 2016...

[Rick]

Big marsh day coming up. Though we drove through water much of the way to the farm our boathouse is on, the farm's being pumped off and its road is now passable. But the hounds and I opted to walk the mile into the boat house, rather than put a truck over the still flooded portions of unpaved road, and found the marsh still higher than we'd like:


But it has at least dropped well below the 2013 flood's level that last popped the blinds:




Liked to died of hypothermia re-anchoring my blind that January. (Hint: doesn't do much good to get naked to keep your clothes dry if you've nothing to towel off with before putting them back on and wetting them, too.) But by leaving ballast water in the blind to prevent re-popping, we were able to hunt it then. So I'd like to think that will do the trick again.

Also found our blind still on its side:


Dogs were cooking in the boat, and I didn't want to walk the mile from boathouse to truck in wet humus-filled britches, so I settled for hauling the cattle panel that holds cover in front of the blind, the boat hide roof's frame and wire and the one cover I could readily pull out back to the boathouse and out of the real work's way.

Not looking forward to today's task of hopefully righting three blinds - just to having it behind us.

[DComeaux]

and I didn't want to walk the mile from boathouse to truck in wet humus-filled britches, .

HAHAHAHA! Blake chuckled at this as well.

[Rick]

Doesn't seem like it's ever going to stop raining long enough to get back to normal. Klondike got two inches in a blink yesterday, and it either peed sideways of sprinkled pretty much all day in our marsh today. Consequently, water is dropping ever so slowly both on the road to the marsh and in the marsh itself.

And progress on our marsh blinds hasn't exactly been quick and easy, either. Did get the popped and rolled blinds righted and squared up:


It leans a bit back and toward the dog stand to put the deepest rainwater in the blind under my seat for easy bailing and was still filled from setting its anchor chains and new turnbuckles, while I waited for my turn with a jaeger pump that showed up inop. I hoped in and bailed it with a bucket to below seat level for the time being and will decide just how much lower I dare go when we see where the outside water is Friday.

Also got my little Go-Devil boat with its "crawfish"-tailed Go Devil motor prepped and in the water today and made some real progress on cutting my pond. Had done little but frustrate myself with our bigger, more powerful but full-tailed Go-devil boat:


But it's shaping up now:

[Ericdc]

Nice and tight, one of the ponds of my brothers lease is the same way due to all the lilies and lotus?


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[Rick]

Might note from that last pic that the flotant around the mudhole has risen with the water, so there'll be no picking up what falls outside the normal pond by boat, and young Marsh Fire best be ready for the big league. Just too risky to work the veteran but stone deaf big dog, Peake, this time of year with so much deep water around. Especially since the guys fishing the gators couldn't find solid anchorage for their usual lines in the run just before and after the mudhole, which generally take the marsh's biggest gators. Grrr...

[Ericdc]

We almost hit one today that was trying to get to other side of road in a hurry. 6-8 ft


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[DComeaux]

The struggles of a duck hunter, but yours take precedence over most. It's those who will not understand, or more the truth, don't care about your efforts to make things work. I would think/hope your early bookings would be those who are experienced with you and would ride the wave.

[Rick]

Doug says, so it may or may not be the case, that there's a group of 12 who'll cancel if they can't hunt the marsh. Says he's offered to send them video of birds in the rice and told them the marsh is a mess, but no dice, they want the marsh. History suggests that he just wanted us to get six marsh blinds ready to ease self-inflicted stress elsewhere, and he'll have to settle for sending three each to four blinds, when push comes to shove, as two blinds were set so low that they'd have to be raised considerably (sinkbox style) to be huntable without wetsuits - and the three of us who've been working ain't doin' it. Though since he's doesn't seem to have figured out who's going to guide and ready the fourth blind (which should just need bailing and bush work, knock wood), we may find him trying to cram four and a guide into 8' blinds. Lordy, I'm getting old and cranky.

Anyway, if whoever comes to the marsh isn't ready for some nuisance and perhaps no birds (have seen exactly one teal between our marsh and Cherry Ridge's to date), oh, well...

[Ericdc]

Rick, kind of a personal question, but how long will you guide? Would you want to go back to just hunting at some point while you're still spunky?


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[Rick]

Doug says, so it may or may not be the case,

I've learned over the years that you have a special talent, you can be in two places or sometimes even three different locations at once.

For whatever it's worth, I had a voicemail from your farm's landowner when I got out of the marsh a bit (shower and lunch) ago saying they're still cutting rice, but will have ponds ready for Saturday. Said they had a flood over there.

I've still several things to do before stepping into that mess, but will get back with him this evening.

[Rick]

Rick, kind of a personal question, but how long will you guide? Would you want to go back to just hunting at some point while you're still spunky?


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Eric, I've never even considered not guiding somewhere, but I suppose they'll make me stop eventually for fear I'll croak on 'em.

[Ericdc]

Rick, kind of a personal question, but how long will you guide? Would you want to go back to just hunting at some point while you're still spunky?


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Eric, I've never even considered not guiding somewhere, but I suppose they'll make me stop eventually for fear I'll croak on 'em.

Good deal, that means you love it.


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[Ericdc]

Also means I'll probably not have the opportunity to invite you to hunt northeast LA with me though. Which would be most enjoyable.


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[Rick]

Storm cells were passing through when I got to the marsh this morning, so I weed ate most of the jungle on the boathouse's island in the rain while staying near cover until the thunder-popping moved on. Maybe just putting off getting back in the water to install the cattle panel gizmo's I use to keep most blind cover out of guests' reach and tackle the misery of breaking titty deep flotant to clip the amazingly lush, fat canes growing up through the west end of my boat hide's top wire:


Don't mind admitting some initial discomfort at having my face at snake level in that tangle, but all the damn ants soon took my mind off cottonmouths. But I think that will be my last dip in the slush for a while.

And I'm also thinking, OK, hoping I got the pond knocked out today:


Should be plenty open enough for decoys to make some show when the chopped stuff settles.

[Rick]

Assuming it was cut before the flood, as appeared the case from the road, the rice west and north of your blind may well be second cropped. Don't know about the rest. Or Burton's farming in general...

Pretty informative fellow I am, huh?

[Rick]

Forgot to mention in the above account of my marsh day that a flock of something ripped by sounding like teal while I was buried in the canes. All we've been seeing are some wood ducks, but I sure want to think they were teal.

[DComeaux]

You'll have teal....I have no doubt. The ruckus in the rice will have them on the run.

[Rick]

That's always been the plan - and it usually works.

[Ericdc]

Yep same for us at my brothers spot. Right about sunrise we start seeing them, makes for a pretty sight.


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[Rick]

Also means I'll probably not have the opportunity to invite you to hunt northeast LA with me though. Which would be most enjoyable.

Missed this earlier, but you've struck on one the downsides of guiding. I'm usually anchored here when such opportunities arise or too fried from the season to want to travel anywhere.

[Rick]

Yep same for us at my brothers spot. Right about sunrise we start seeing them, makes for a pretty sight.

Sometimes they show pretty quickly for us, presumable moved by folks going to their spots, and sometimes they're scary slow starting, while we sit and listen to distant shooting. I tell my folks to expect the later, but don't mind being surprised.

[DComeaux]

That's always been the plan - and it usually works.

Re: Preseason 2016...

Postby Ericdc » Tue Sep 06, 2016 6:14 pm
Yep same for us at my brothers spot. Right about sunrise we start seeing them, makes for a pretty sight.

We were talking with the guy that manages our property this weekend, and he gets a little animated when talking duck. He's pretty passionate about duck hunting, to say the least. He started describing opening morning of teal in that marsh. He told us that about 45 minuted to an hour after LST it's like someone opens the flood gates. Pretty close to the same words I highlighted above was how he finished the explanation.
He also mentioned that for the following days of the season the birds are there and moving early.

We shall see.......

[Ericdc]

That's always been the plan - and it usually works.

Re: Preseason 2016...

Postby Ericdc » Tue Sep 06, 2016 6:14 pm
Yep same for us at my brothers spot. Right about sunrise we start seeing them, makes for a pretty sight.

We were talking with the guy that manages our property this weekend, and he gets a little animated when talking duck. He's pretty passionate about duck hunting, to say the least. He started describing opening morning of teal in that marsh. He told us that about 45 minuted to an hour after LST it's like someone opens the flood gates. Pretty close to the same words I highlighted above was how he finished the explanation.
He also mentioned that for the following days of the season the birds are there and moving early.

We shall see.......

Seems like where we hunt it's always a little slow until sunrise.


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[Rick]

He also mentioned that for the following days of the season the birds are there and moving early.

That would be sweet, we're pretty much joined at the hip to what's happening, or not, in the rice for traffic until the big season, when greenwings will sometimes take the marsh.

Hope they swarm you "just like the old days".

[Darren]

I often wonder if the numbers we have seen on occasion for an opener are there following disturbance from arriving in hunters in Krotz Springs to Bunkie area rice, maybe even Catahoula Lake area. Because otherwise there's no rice or other fields in our immediate proximity

[Ericdc]

2009 opener of teal season there was some sort of tropical disturbance hitting the coast. We were hunting bundick lake where we grew up hunting near Deridder. As soon as we could see through the heavy rain and heavy cloud cover we were swarmed by huge bunches of teal. We killed our 16 quick and just watched the show. Any of you guys remember that opener?


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