Season

[Ericdc]

Borrowing Rick's template as always


Date: November 22, 2025 east zone opening day

Time: left at 9:20

Location: the 86 pit

Cloud Cover: partly to clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: light W to SW becoming 5-7 out of SW for last hour or so. Thankfully it never died.

Temperature: mid 60's (felt very hot down in pit) warmest opener I can remember for a while.

Barometer:

Moon phase:

Special Notes: we had good preseason prep which allowed us to show up, put out decoys and hunt. This year we are using 2 dozen new dakota mallards, 1 dozen dakota pintails, and 4 wigeon and 6 pintails of mine for the duck spread. Along with 15 FB speck and blue goose decoys. We are picking them up each hunt.

Waterfowl Activity: a lot of spoons on our field for last 2 weeks and could hear them before LST. We chipped away at them all morning. Didn't see much else outside a few singles or small groups of big ducks. No geese using immediate area but did see some traffic once morning passed on.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: typical opening day skittish birds. Speck worked the best out of anything we shot. Hope the teal settle down.

Hunters: Martin, Hutton, and I.

Guns: Martin brought his 10 gauge and I enjoyed the show.

Malfunctions: none

Dog(s): none

Special Equipment: 2 mojos on remote

Kudos: we shot pretty well outside the teal. Good front coming next week and plan to hunt the big north wind Wednesday and enjoy needing to wear some fleece.

curses: teal didn't decoy well or we would have gotten closer to our 18.

Birds By Species: (all hens except the gadwall)
8 shovelers
1 gadwall
1 wigeon
1 green winged teal
1 blue winged teal
1 speck

Photo Ops:







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[Darren]

Nice one to start !

[Ericdc]

Catchup post:

Sunday morning Hutton had a great solo hunt yielding 4 green winged teal and 2 shovelers. Reported lots of birds.

Nobody hunted Monday or Tuesday.

Yesterday 3 of us went with high hopes under clear skies and perfect north winds, but the teal and spoons had moved out and were not really replaced with anything new from what I could see. Saw a few more mallards and gadwall but they were headed north on mission.

Decent speck flight but was only able to get 1 single to do it. Harder to break birds out of big groups. (50-200).

Going to go back Saturday in hopes that the south wind and approaching cold front will bring some birds.

Looking at possible trip up early next week once forecast firms up.




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[Ericdc]

Date: November 29, 2025

Time: left at 9:20 during a good break in the rain

Location: the 86 pit

Cloud Cover: heavy to high clouds, on and off light rain

Wind Direction and Velocity: calm to light SE to 5-8 or so SE

Temperature: 40's

Barometer:

Moon phase:

Special Notes: hunted with a good friend l and his son

Waterfowl Activity: slowest of the year so far

Waterfowl Responsiveness: local ducks not interested, speck worked good for cloudy rainy weather

Hunters:Todd, Andy, and I

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s):

Special Equipment:

Kudos: I have been able to get a speck each hunt so far. Pretty skies early

curses: no bird on a "ducky" day with a blizzard going across the Midwest

Birds By Species:
1 speck





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[Ericdc]

Date: December 2, 2025

Time: left around 11:30

Location: 86 pit

Cloud Cover: heavy to almost partly back to heavy (disappointing because weather said partly to mostly sunny)

Wind Direction and Velocity: 8-12 North

Temperature: upper 30's to low 40's

Barometer:

Moon phase:

Special Notes: last hunt of the first split for me. Taking the wife on a long weekend getaway. Will be ready when December 20th gets here. This week can be slow for us with Arkansas closed.

Waterfowl Activity: quite a few ducks buzzing early then died they picked up a little. Geese got going and stayed going

Waterfowl Responsiveness: blue winged teal came pretty. Big big wave of green wings did decent.

Hunters: Hutton, Austin, and I

Guns:

Malfunctions: Hutton was late and may have missed up an early speck op

Dog(s):

Special Equipment: we put the 2 mojos out once it lightened up some. Can't really tell if they are helping or hurting. Running them intermittent and turning off once big ducks lock up

Kudos: most green wings I've seen all year (came later in morning from south)

curses: all the green wings came in 1 huge group (200-300), and specks were finicky (I'm blaming clouds and huge body of geese to our west)

Birds By Species:
3 blue winged teal
5 green winged teal

Photo Ops:
Why are they here?



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[Ericdc]

We are running about half the birds we used to harvest in first split from 2014 to 2019

Seasons of 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 are following the downward population trend.

Nothing else has changed


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[DComeaux]

The farmer wont leave stubble in your fields?

[jrock75]

We are running about half the birds we used to harvest in first split from 2014 to 2019

Seasons of 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 are following the downward population trend.

Nothing else has changed


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Knowing how good that farm was back in the day it is hard to see how you are now faring. During the heyday in the late 90's there was a blind there that shot limits every single day of one season.

[Ericdc]

The farmer wont leave stubble in your fields?

No, but 1 of the best years in this field it was beans. )haven't had stubble since 2019. Guy i know south of us has excellent moist soil and they aren't doing any better than us. Big slick shallow water generally wins out. We have our water level pulled down on 1 side to be able to put realistic FB ducks and geese out in water and off levee and I'm hoping that helps as season wears on.

Our farms loads up pretty good later in morning. I can only assume it's a loafing spot for them.


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[Darren]

All the fields I see at Top Gun and Dave's Bayou seem to just be big slick water floods, very little stubble, if any.

[Ericdc]

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[DComeaux]

NICE!!!!!

[Duck Engr]

Awesome! Way better for the freezer than these stupid ducks anyway.

[Darren]

Good one Eric! congrats

[Deltaman]

Sweet neck shot too!!!!

[Ericdc]

Sweet neck shot too!!!!

Thanks. It was intentional. I've had a lot of success hitting them there and not having to do any tracking. I believe it preserves a lot of meat as well except for some of the neck meat.


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[Ericdc]

Date: December 20, 2025 opening day 2.0

Time: left at 11

Location: 86 pit

Cloud Cover: beautiful clear morning

Wind Direction and Velocity: 5 mph SSE early then 10-15 by the time sun got on water

Temperature: lower 40's warning up quick

Barometer:

Moon phase: new (saw something really weird in sky before daylight, looked like Star Trek)

Special Notes: thankful to have a place to go, see some birds, and enjoy the day. (Always got to remember that)

Waterfowl Activity: pretty good all morning aside from lack of teal. Think we saw 4 total.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: mallard came very pretty. Gadwall did good enough. Speck's were tough because of all the gunfire in area then they bodied up north of us.

Hunters: Hutton, his dad, and me.

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s):

Special Equipment: 2 mojos on remote

Kudos: we shot really well and I got my water on north side exactly how I want it. (Had shore birds landing in decoys)

curses: gotta have teal to make a big hunt

Birds By Species:
2 green winged teal
4 gadwall
1 shoveler
1 mallard (first of the season, at 10:00 am)
1 snow
1 speck

Both geese I'm pretty positive had bird flu based on body condition but the speck was a trophy.

Photo Ops:

Star Trek (note the line of "aircraft"

















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[Darren]

The thing in the sky is probably StarLink, we've seen it from the bunkie field a time or two. Pretty birds, congrats!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink

[Ericdc]

Thanks for info. First time I've seen them. Pretty neat.


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[Ericdc]

Decent front Sunday night. Going to take off next week I think and hunt hard unless it's just really slow.


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[Ericdc]

Date: 12/29/2025

Time: packed up at 12:30

Location: 86 pit

Cloud Cover: clouds to SE cleared by time sun would be on decoys

Wind Direction and Velocity: WNW to NNW 10-15 (perfect)

Temperature: upper 30's

Barometer:

Moon phase:

Special Notes: took off this week to relax and hunt after losing my grandmother last Saturday, having Christmas then her funeral this past Saturday.

Waterfowl Activity: pretty slow early (lack of teal in area) but picked up as morning went on including steady high formation flights of ducks and geese. Decent sized body of snows seen west of us on way out.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: gadwall and teal came pretty. Landed 2 specks just outside speck decoys.

Hunters: Dylan and I

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s): Ted

Special Equipment: 2 mojos on remote

Kudos: seeing birds work and decoy was refreshing. Don't know if we had 1 bird before 8:30

curses: Dylan was off his game this morning and missed several easy shots on decoying birds, it happens. Lost 1 gadwall that sailed on us.

Birds By Species:
2 gadwall
3 green winged teal
2 specks

Photo Ops:









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[Deltaman]

Glad to see you getting some action during the holiday, and sorry for the loss of your grandmother.

[Ericdc]

Date: 12/30/2025

Time: left around 10:30

Location: 86 pit

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: WNW 5 then 5-10 NW by 8 or so

Temperature: truck said 27. Ice on north side.

Barometer:

Moon phase:

Special Notes: specks worked pretty today, including one from way up. Hoping they'll do same tomorrow with a buddy and his son.. then I'm sleeping in Thursday.

Waterfowl Activity: 2 small bunches of teal. Worked a few gadwall and some specks but overall pretty slow.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: teal worked decent. Specks did real pretty.

Hunters: Hutton and I

Guns:

Malfunctions: I had a cycle failure, put a little oil on bolt and no issues after.

Dog(s):

Special Equipment: 2 mojos on remote

Kudos: specks can save a hunt. (Been texting with Pat Pitt from northeast Arkansas and they're had a terrible duck season, specks have bailed them out too.) Joey (service manager at bayou power sports in Monroe had the part I needed and installed for free.

curses: shifter broke on my 4 wheeler backing out of shop. Very dry farm roads allowed me to just take my truck to the turn row. Messed up the call and 2 specks working in good and a small group of teal.

Birds By Species:
1 green winged teal
3 specks

Photo Ops:











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[Ericdc]

Date: 12/31/2025

Time: left at 11

Location: 86 pit

Cloud Cover: clear

Wind Direction and Velocity: nice SW to W 5-8 mph from time we got there. Better than I expected

Temperature: truck said 28 when I left house. Frosty

Barometer:

Moon phase:

Special Notes: farm roads are so dry right now that I drove truck to pit and dropped everyone off. Felt like we were hunting out west.

Waterfowl Activity: very slow. Goose body north and SW of us (mostly snows) very few ducks seem. Didn't see a teal

Waterfowl Responsiveness: pair of specks worked in picture perfect and were shot right in the goose decoys.

Hunters: neighbor Jacob and son Shepard and me.

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s):

Special Equipment: 2 mojos on remote

Kudos: Shep was excited about geese and thankfully we fulfilled that wish

curses: getting bad dry and guides are switching to geese more often in our area. We need some of that early to mid December weather we had.

Birds By Species:
2 specks
1 pintail

Photo Ops:






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[Darren]

Good work showing them how specks should do!

[Ericdc]

Speck shrimp and sausage jambalaya



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[Duck Engr]

I can almost smell that pic. Looks great!

[Ericdc]

After Wednesday and with very poor reports in my area, I decided to deer hunt last couple days, which was unproductive for deer but did a lot of thinking while in the stand. Hoping the weather will turn soon, but for now I'm looking at leaving the ducks alone until next Saturday. Showing some rain towards end of work week. In the past, I'd be in a bad mood about the lack of birds and weather, but I've learned to accept it and try to make the most of the season. We've got 4 weekends left after this one, which is a lot and weather can change quickly in January. I'd sure like to see some snow and ice before it's over.


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[Ericdc]

Date: January 10, 2026

Time: left around 11:30 I think

Location: 86 pit

Cloud Cover: low and heavy to almost clear around 10 back to cloudy

Wind Direction and Velocity: WNW 5 then 8-12 NW

Temperature: 58 then warmed a little then started dropping

Barometer:

Moon phase:

Special Notes: low expectations turned into a pleasant surprise

Waterfowl Activity: pretty good all morning. Not as many geese in area as last time I was here before new years.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: teal came pretty. Gadwall and pintail were interested but finicky. Lots of shooting noise in area. Neighbors did a lot of skybusting

Hunters: Hutton and I

Guns:

Malfunctions: Hutton's 4 wheeler battery was dead when we went to leave. Rode out on mine. Trip to Oak Grove and back to install new battery made it a long day. I got home around 5 after a short stop in Monroe to eat.



Dog(s):

Special Equipment: 1 of my mojo remotes not working. Brought home to work on or replace.

Kudos: we shot decent after not shooting as well on first bunch.

curses: had 1 teal fly off and a gadwall sail and we couldn't find. Neighbors called at a group of 5 specks I had working good and messed them up.

Birds By Species:
7 green winged teal (#8 flew off)
1 gadwall (lost 1)
1 ringneck
1 speck

Photo Ops:
Hutton happy despite dead battery




fixed and headed to shop




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[Darren]

Nice birds !

Report from bunkie blind was 3 spoons, 3 sprigs, 2 snows yesterday