Season Log 2024-2025

[jrock75]

Rick,

What is/has been your curfew time for hunts? Is teal any different than big duck? Am going to put one in place this year at our blinds and am interested to hear what you think has been effective. Also I debate whether we have one for Sunday since our places typically don't see much activity Monday - Wednesday.

[Rick]

Was a 9:30 curfew in our lease at my old camp, and the current one stops shooting at 10. Kind of like the notion of leaving Sunday afternoons open, if there's not a lot of weekday pressure. Would think Sunday football would hold numbers down, anyway.

FWIW, we could/can hunt all day on the last day of each split - and it's usually best early after normal curfew. They've got us patterned.

[Rick]

Date: 9/19 Thur

Time: morning

Location: AW's

Cloud Cover: partly

Wind Direction and Velocity: calm

Temperature: sauna

Moon phase: still full

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Slower yet and well after 9 when we finished, but enough for guys who shot well.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Mostly excellent, perhaps in large part because there's so little shooting to spur them elsewhere.

Hunters: 2, Mark again and his SIL, Conner

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s):

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Just worry about how tomorrow's guests will fair.

Kudos: Given the givens, we've been blessed.

Birds By Species: 18 bw teal (15 drakes and 3 hens)

[Duck Engr]

Keeps on keepin on

[Rick]

Keeps on keepin on

If we come up short today, it's on you: I'm playing the "jinx" card.

[PorkChop]

[Duck Engr]

lol I’ll wear it

[Deltaman]

Great reports Rick

[Rick]

lol I’ll wear it

Gonna have to.

[Rick]

Date: 9/20 Fri

Time: morning

Location: AW's

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: nil to light NW?

Temperature: still freakin' hot

Moon phase: still big

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Least movement to date where we were, but the blind nearest the body did fill.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: If I'd turned everything we saw, we'd still be short.

Hunters: 2, Donnie and Jim

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s):

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Duck Engr slathered us with gris gris.

Kudos: Good guys still had a good time - or did a damn fine job of faking it.

Birds By Species: 4 bw teal (Had another get up out of range and fly off when I approached it with the boat.)

[Duck Engr]

Woof didn’t mean to put the juju on you that bad! Maybe weekend traffic will fix you up tomorrow, or not now that I’ve said it.

[Ericdc]

Woof didn’t mean to put the juju on you that bad! Maybe weekend traffic will fix you up tomorrow, or not now that I’ve said it.

With friends like this


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Rick]

Woof didn’t mean to put the juju on you that bad! Maybe weekend traffic will fix you up tomorrow, or not now that I’ve said it.

Have a young grand nephew making his first shooting hunt with me and his dad, who isn't a hunter but loves his sons, with me in the morning, so fingers and toes are crossed for a weekend bump. Last time he was too young to shoot, but talked his mom into bringing him (note the camo tied into her hair) after I'd taken his dad and older brother:

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[Duck Engr]

Sounds like the young guy had a big time despite my jinxes. Glad you were able to get a few birds in front of him!

[Rick]

Sounds like the young guy had a big time despite my jinxes. Glad you were able to get a few birds in front of him!

Oops, left some out of that one and deleted it, but, yes, we were blessed with enough game for our purposes.

[Rick]

Date: 9/21 Sat

Time: morning

Location: AW's

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: nil

Temperature: still hot (and humid)

Moon phase: still big

Special Notes: a boys first shooting hunt

Waterfowl Activity: Still slow despite weekend hunters, and downright spooky slow for teal early on, while squealers, mottleds and woodies covered up a frustrated youngster, then picked up some.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Thankfully excellent.

Hunters: 2, father, Josh, on his second shooting hunt and young son, Deacon, on his first

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s):

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: No curses, just gratitude.

Kudos: Both father and son were apparent naturals who shot surprisingly well and had a nice mess of birds before an early departure for Deacon's ball game prep.

Birds By Species: 11 bw teal (9 drakes and 2 hens)

Photo Ops: The Breaux bunch:

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Lagniappe: Gave me a chance to remind Deacon of a conversation I overheard after our hunt with his mom a couple years prior, Heard him tell her "When I grow up, I want to help Uncle Rick guide." Followed by, "Wait, will he still be alive?"

[PorkChop]

Rick not sure if you report your bands or not but if you do that blue wing and the bander is Chris Nicolai he would love to know.

[Rick]

Rick not sure if you report your bands or not but if you do that blue wing and the bander is Chris Nicolai he would love to know.

I don't keep bands, and that one went home with Franklin. Hope to take him again this week and will ask if he (and his more computer savvy wife) got it reported. Curious myself, as I've been on some pretty big (1,000+) blue-wing banding parties. Darren, too, at least once, if not more...

[PorkChop]

Chris and I hunted once or twice up in Alaska. My buddy that comes here from Kansas daughter shot a bluewing last year and it was banded by Chris. He was also up in Alaska at the same time as Chris and I.

[Rick]

Date: 9/22 Sun

Time: morning

Location: AW's

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: zip again

Temperature: Not quite as hot as it has been, though perhaps only because we finished so quickly.

Moon phase: still big

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Not fast and furious, but big bunches moving fairly early.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Excellent.

Hunters: 2, a late friend and camp owner's great grandson, Cole, and my grandson, Preston, both now high school seniors and whom I've been carrying hunting most of their lives.

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s):

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Nope, no way I had a blast.

Kudos: Pretty sure both boys made triples. Know birds regularly fell in bunches unlike any previous hunt this season and we finished fastest to date. "Taught 'em everything they know." Cough, cough.

Birds By Species: 18 bw teal (15 drakes and 3 hens)

Photo Ops: Cole and Preston in boat, because i just then remembered the blind pic Preston's mom wanted and I forgot:

thumbnail_PXL_20240922_124911204.jpg

And with the camp's bragging board

thumbnail_PXL_20240922_125445501.jpg

[Duck Engr]

Back on track! Makes your job easier when they fall in big bunches like that!

[Rick]

Lot easier to toll birds when the guys help hide themselves - which the great majority don't.

[Darren]

Good to see Cole, can't believe he's a senior! Know for sure you had plenty to do with his hunt acumen, probably amongst a lot of other good influence when he needed.

[Duck Engr]

Sounds like you’ve trained some jam up hunters, not just shooters.

[DComeaux]

That is awesome, Rick. Love to see that.

[PorkChop]

Making it look easy!!

[Rick]

Good to see Cole, can't believe he's a senior! Know for sure you had plenty to do with his hunt acumen, probably amongst a lot of other good influence when he needed.

P1020682a.jpg

Kinda scary that he's all grown up and, given the givens you probably know against it, something of a miracle he's turned out so well.

[Rick]

Date: 9/23 Mon

Time: morning

Location: AW's

Cloud Cover: partly

Wind Direction and Velocity: nil

Temperature: still muggy

Moon phase: still bright

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity: Been spoiled enough to let several early twos and threes pass before we started and began to think it a mistake while waiting for our last pair. When they quit, they quit.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Thankfully very good.

Hunters: 2, long time favorite hunting partner before he married and all but quit, Mike, and JJ

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s):

Special Equipment: SOS

Curses: Just that I'd gotten cocky about what we'd see.

Kudos: Good hunt with good guys.

Birds By Species: 18 bw teal (didn't track ratio)

[jrock75]

From talking with guys that mostly hunt the rice in SETX, it seems like the coast got an influx of birds on Sunday. Your reports suggest the same.

[Rick]

From talking with guys that mostly hunt the rice in SETX, it seems like the coast got an influx of birds on Sunday. Your reports suggest the same.

Maybe? Boys shot so well and we filled so quickly Sunday that there wasn't much way to gauge that. Know we didn't see what it had me expecting today, and that the spinners had to killed in order to finish much of what we started, which, I think, bespeaks many of the same stale birds we've been working. That, and a blind that normally fills before mine and had three accomplished guns was still out after I'd sent my guys on their way home and tightened a leaky mudboat packing.

But i want to think we'll have new birds for Uncle Franklin in the morning. Not that I think he really cares, as long as he's in the marsh.

Expecting (OK, hoping for) new birds with the coming wind (northerly breeze), in any event.