Post Season

[aunt betty]

We don't hate you. Envy maybe.
First time down rt 49 in Arkansas around Christmas will blow you're mind.
Never went any further south to hunt than DeWitt.

It's two different worlds. Two different cultures.
Blending the two is rough but it can be done.
I think, I mean I KNOW I'd be happier further south but then wherever I landed the happiness level would go down a notch or two.
Damn Yankees.

Am sort of blessed in that half my family are Tennessee/West Virginia hillbillies so I can fit right in just about anywhere for a little while. Other half are Germans. Guess what? There are a whole lot of Germans in Stuttgart. Go figure...

[DComeaux]

On the last couple of trips down to our camp I've noticed the low water in our marsh, which is a good thing. Last night the weather guy displayed a drought map and our marsh was shaded in as part of the drought area. He made the comment that he wasn't sure how the weather service derives info on drought conditions in a marsh, but here it is.

I really like the fact that our marsh was low, and is staying low through the growing season. The guy I lease from was a bit concerned, but I'm not. The other guy's have bigger, heaver boats with large surface drives, and we have a poor mans, leaking, lighter than air flat bottom, with a go devil. I've been to our launch site and the water doesn't seem much lower that what we had during the season in north wind events. I'm going to see if we couldn't run out to the blind in the not to distant future.

I need to remove a couple of three abandoned crab traps near the beginning of the boat run. I've found those, and continue to do so on every run. This low water, clearer water should make em easy to find. It's getting hard on my wrist.

[DComeaux]

https://www.facebook.com/buster.cooper.5/videos/1253406858050064/

[Rick]

I'm old and stuck in my own little rut enough that I had to borrow Sweet Chereaux's FB account to watch ol' Buster say "Get off my lawn!"

And be reminded of an essay my tenth grade English teacher, Miss Goodwin, read a portion of to us about how fast the younger generation was hauling civilization to hell in a handcart, and hell being right around the corner. Turned out it was written by one of those old Greek guys I never could keep straight.

Which isn't to suggest that I approve of everyone else's approach to waterfowling or hunting in general. I flat abhor a lot of it. But I've done so at least since the indelible mid '70 memory of running into a couple young bucks in an upland WMA wanting to know if I'd, "Seen anything to blast?" (Shades of "Bust a Duck".)

Not long after that, I ventured into public land waterfowling and encountered bad manners and sky-busting that would still rival anywhere today's. In those pre lead ban days, #4 buckshot was a popular goose load. And a factoid I recall from time spent with then Senior USFWS Agent, Dave Hall, was that the battle to retain the use of shotguns larger than 10ga was carried all the way to the Supreme Court. If you think about it, folks have probably been stretching barrels, just for the sake of busting ducks, about as long as there's been "sport" hunting. Could well be argued precisely as long.

And who among us doesn't sometimes take stupid shots in hopes of connecting? Maybe Buster's record is clean on that count, but mine isn't.

That said, there's a line I've seen credited to RNT's John Stephens to the effect of, "Some folks like to see how far they can hit them, and others like to see how close they can get them. I'm an 'other'." Me, too. Fellow who guided for us into the '90s used to call me a "workaholic, because you're still wanting to work them when we ought to be shooting them."

Not a lot in life that still tickles me like watching ducks or geese buy in completely and drop into gimme range. Hell, I'll still stop what I'm doing in the yard to watch my pigeons glide home from their travels, I suppose because they remind me of waterfowl.

But folks of a different mindset are nothing new.

Nor are they what's going to be waterfowling's end. Folks making more folks will eventually shut it down.

[DComeaux]

I'm old and stuck in my own little rut enough that I had to borrow Sweet Chereaux's FB account to watch ol' Buster say "Get off my lawn!"

I swore I'd never, ever get on face book, but in light of the recent FFL thing I did, just to keep up with things. Was told it was put there to reach more people. As soon as this settles, either way, I'll probably dissolve my page.

Not a lot in life that still tickles me like watching ducks or geese buy in completely and drop into gimme range. Hell, I'll still stop what I'm doing in the yard to watch my pigeons glide home from their travels, I suppose because they remind me of waterfowl.

But folks of a different mindset are nothing new.

Nor are they what's going to be waterfowling's end. Folks making more folks will eventually shut it down.

....and that is what it should be about, and I agree with him that most are preparing for combat. I know a few guys that hunt ducks all season long and don't eat them. I figured he was a little perturbed about being the camp B, as he put it, and was watching some "sky-busting" that further irritated him. He just had to get it off of his chest....Killing Time.

[Rick]

....and I agree with him that most are preparing for combat.

I don't know about the "most" thing, but that part of the rant hit home with me, too. Could just be happenstance, but I don't see the packs of young guns acting like they're going to war with birds as often as I once did. But if I had to choose just one dumb-assed thing some hunters do to bitch about, analogizing their sport with war would be it. Almost didn't try RNT's neat sounding but stupidly named "Daisy Cutter" call because I've seen its namesake's work first hand. (And I missed out on a few hundred dollars of resale profit on that early, "half-scroll" model, because I had them leave the just as sorry duck skull and cross-bones engraving off mine.)

I think, however, that the guys who just see the birds as targets are a whole lot more common. Though I guess that could be because most who can afford to hunt with us have some age on them.

[DComeaux]

I know some of you guy's train with pigeons. I just saw this on facebook and thought I'd pass it along.

DOG OWNERS PLEASE READ:
We've all heard the phrase "It won't happen to me" Well, it happened to my dog Doc & I wasn't even familiar of what it was. It is a fungal infection called "blastomycosis". It is in the soil where we train & hunt our beloved four-legged hunting buddies. There is no vaccination for it. It entered his body through a cut on his foot & spread to his left eye. After consulting a veterinary ophthalmologist in Nashville, the eye had to be removed. Treatment is commonly 3-6 months, He is recovering nicely now. I'm trying to spread the word about "blasto" to all dog owners. Attached is a short video I highly recommend you watch to familiarize with blastomycosis.

Actually there are 4 major fungal infections. My dog Ammo is 97% blind caused by cryptococcosis. I had no idea what was happening to him until it was too late for his vision. Crypto lives in the soil and is prevalent in pigeon feces. Many trainers innocently use pigeons to train. Glad you posted, Barry

I lost my lab to it and 5 more dogs up and down the road. All with in a mile or 2 on the lake bank roughly 20 yers ago!! The vet sent a culture to Knoxville at UT. When it was discovered it was too late!! First he has ever heard of it!! It was nasty bad infection!

They told me it can be inhaled and affects mainly dogs with there nose to the ground!! ( hunting. Bloodhound coondogs beagles. Etc.......)

[Rick]

Bad stuff sometimes happens, but if pigeons are vectors, it's pretty sure thing ducks are, too. (Though most folks getting pigeon related diseases get them from chickens.)

[Rick]

I could care less about scrolling on a call---but those early daisy cutters---jewels

I probably have some of the ugliest goose calls on the planet(experiments and customs out of scraps)but I have killed a lot of birds with those ugly calls

For the record, my disdain for the Daisy Cutter's dumb-assed duck skull and crossbones engraving is ethics, rather than esthetics, driven. We've had some fun over the pretty lavender, "girly call" color of the Deceiver that proved so useful last fall. And when the grandkids managed to split my favorite speck call's hedge barrel in three, I thought about having the guys make a nice (and more kid proof) blackwood replacement barrel - then said screw it:

speck call 004.JPG

[Rick]

May very well be my tin ear, but I find hedge (hard but not dense) has a resonance I like that other woods I've tried don't, and blackwood (hard and dense) comes as close to acrylic's crispness as I've tried in wood. Still have a fine sounding GVCC XXX Canada call in blackwood, but it's the only such I still own - and the Canada call I carry is the same model in hedge. I was thinking of a blackwood barrel mainly for wood durability. To date, and knocking wood here, semi-annual treatments with Howard's Butcher Block Conditioner have kept my hedge stuff from drying out and splitting, at least until one gets stepped on.

Re: delrin, I like feel but haven't been as tickled with the tone as some, perhaps more discriminating, folks.

[aunt betty]

Stabilized hedge. The stabilization process makes the wood a lot like acrylic. I'd like to catch the little *%^$# that stole my gun and bag a few years back. All I want is the hedge duck and goose calls.
The rest can be replaced.
Something about that hedge throwback I had was magical. Have had a handful and none of them sound quite right to me.

It's got to sound NASTY to be right but I'm just calling stupid park ducks.

[Rick]

Something about that hedge throwback I had was magical.

Can't help but wonder how much of what we think a call's "magic" is just coincidence that's given us such great confidence in it that that confidence is really producing most of said magic? I do a lot of otherwise head-to-head call testing between old favorites and new contenders on birds but figure the confidence factor just has to skew what I think I've learned from it.

[DComeaux]

If you have a little time, Delta would like to know a little something. You may even win a prize. Things are stirring...

[url]
http://go.pardot.com/webmail/188022/176 ... 8c1836f796
[/url]

[Rick]

done

[DComeaux]

I don't think there's transmitter studies at the moment on other species, except for the specks. Most transmitter studies are kept quiet, real time info, to avoid disturbance, especially during the season.

[Rick]

Could remember a site showing where a number of transmittered mallards were and found a 2007 link to it on the refuge board, but the link is no longer active. Haven't a clue if they learned anything.

Also recall a more local mallard tracking study and Larry saying that rather than all shifting to refuges hideouts, most remained out among us. Suppose one lesson from that study was that they're better at our game than we are.

[aunt betty]

One of the hen mallards in that study stayed at Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge and never left.
Not sure what happened to the collar.

My father along with a woman named Judy Montgomery designed and patented them wildlife tracking collars.

[Darren]

Could remember a site showing where a number of transmittered mallards were and found a 2007 link to it on the refuge board, but the link is no longer active. Haven't a clue if they learned anything.

Also recall a more local mallard tracking study and Larry saying that rather than all shifting to refuges hideouts, most remained out among us. Suppose one lesson from that study was that they're better at our game than we are.

There was one with grays not long ago; can't recall any official results or reports from it that I had a look at. Did find the following on a refuge forum thread Larry provided some feedback on back in 2009. Of note this is largely a SW La study, not statewide.

What we have learned thus far:

1) Gadwalls are difficult to get on bait. Despite having LOTS of gadwalls on bait during the trapping phase of the mallard telemetry study in SW Louisiana a few years ago, we ended up trapping most of the gadwalls for this study without it. Jacob Gray would set rocket-nets in scouted habitat and fire it when a few gads were "in the area". That meant few ducks captured per rocket shot, extended trapping period, and more technician help.

2) There seemed to be no difference in habitat-use data from birds with external backpack transmitters and those with implanted transmitters. So we should be able to lump the data across transmitter type in estimating habitat use because of similar (or no) effect of transmitter.

3) First year analysis showed gadwalls spending 2/3 of their time in intermediate marsh, 15% in fresh, and 15% in brackish, with very little use of saline marsh, swamp, or agricultural habitats.

4) Because of the extended capture period, there is a problem generating survival estimates.

5) There seemed to be no problem with radio-marked bird making the spring migration.

Obviously, these are very cursory results with very little detail as Jacob has recently completed the data-collection as his marked birds have migrated north. He is now analyzing those data and writing his thesis.

[DComeaux]

Could remember a site showing where a number of transmittered mallards were and found a 2007 link to it on the refuge board, but the link is no longer active. Haven't a clue if they learned anything.

Also recall a more local mallard tracking study and Larry saying that rather than all shifting to refuges hideouts, most remained out among us. Suppose one lesson from that study was that they're better at our game than we are.

There was one with grays not long ago; can't recall any official results or reports from it that I had a look at. Did find the following on a refuge forum thread Larry provided some feedback on back in 2009. Of note this is largely a SW La study, not statewide.

What we have learned thus far:

1) Gadwalls are difficult to get on bait. Despite having LOTS of gadwalls on bait during the trapping phase of the mallard telemetry study in SW Louisiana a few years ago, we ended up trapping most of the gadwalls for this study without it. Jacob Gray would set rocket-nets in scouted habitat and fire it when a few gads were "in the area". That meant few ducks captured per rocket shot, extended trapping period, and more technician help.

2) There seemed to be no difference in habitat-use data from birds with external backpack transmitters and those with implanted transmitters. So we should be able to lump the data across transmitter type in estimating habitat use because of similar (or no) effect of transmitter.

3) First year analysis showed gadwalls spending 2/3 of their time in intermediate marsh, 15% in fresh, and 15% in brackish, with very little use of saline marsh, swamp, or agricultural habitats.

4) Because of the extended capture period, there is a problem generating survival estimates.

5) There seemed to be no problem with radio-marked bird making the spring migration.

Obviously, these are very cursory results with very little detail as Jacob has recently completed the data-collection as his marked birds have migrated north. He is now analyzing those data and writing his thesis.

I'm hoping our water stays low, as well as salinity. I'd sure like to get the gadwall back.

[aunt betty]

Two weeks until the season starts.

[Darren]

3) First year analysis showed gadwalls spending 2/3 of their time in intermediate marsh, 15% in fresh, and 15% in brackish, with very little use of saline marsh, swamp, or agricultural habitats.

I'm hoping our water stays low, as well as salinity. I'd sure like to get the gadwall back.

They sure do like them some salinity over on my east side marsh. There's some really nice fresh marsh available in the area, but you won't find grays there. Head out to the fringes of Mississippi Sound and other large bays in the area, you'll find grays for days.

[DComeaux]

Salinity level is what I should have said. Wigeon grass needs some. It just has to be right. We didn't have much, if any food this past year. I don't know what the teal were grubbing on. Invertabrates?

[Darren]

Salinity level is what I should have said. Wigeon grass needs some. It just has to be right. We didn't have much, if any food this past year. I don't know what the teal were grubbing on. Invertabrates?

Yea they find shallowest stuff you've got and feed on mostly bugs and seeds on or near the surface, not as much dipping and rummaging the bottom as compared to grays, etc.

Honey hole pond we lost access to on our lease two years ago was locked up in wigeon grass when I visited it last September, and I did see my share of birds work it this past season. It's got just the right hydrologic combo to have some salt but not as much as our other ponds which have more coontail and other similar SAV. Entire area over that way is VERY grassy right now so should bode well if we can keep storms out this summer, knock all the wood we can find.

[Ericdc]

I guess that study was for coastal gadwall. I know we have a bunch of them up here in cypress brakes and Ag land. They consistently are the #2 or #3 bird in our season tally.


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