Worst I have seen in 35 years,anybody having luck

JD

It has been pretty good here on the South Texas Gulf Coast. Lots of Pintails, Redheads and Bluebills. Some Teal, Gadwalls and Wigeon but mostly pins and reds.

In general weather has been too warm to push them south. We've got a fair amount of ducks right now in NE Texas but they have just arrived in last few weeks.

Nasty cold(for south Texas)weather has been here the last couple days. Hope it pushed a bunch of ducks down here. Looking forward to whacking some this weekend. I'll let you know in few days.

I hunted the MS Delta north of Vicksburg a few weeks back and there were very little big ducks around and absolutely no teal. In 3 days of hunting, the only thing I shot were wood ducks.

JD,

I am hunting in south of Franklin and have been on the same lease since 1973.

Around 2002 our bird hunting starting turning bad. We have enjoyed a couple of decent seasons in the last 10 years but even those pale in comparison to the one from 2001 and earlier.

This year has been hit and miss. I was in Africa for the first split but my buddies did not have much success. Second split has been more of the same. I have killed my limit a couple of times and even killed several mallards; however I did not fired a shot on other hunts.

Here are a couple of pictures from this season.



Max



Max and Raven



Raven



Low water muddy day.

Love that last pic......

quote:

Originally posted by Mike70560:
JD,

I am hunting in south of Franklin and have been on the same lease since 1973.

Around 2002 our bird hunting starting turning bad. We have enjoyed a couple of decent seasons in the last 10 years but even those pale in comparison to the one from 2001 and earlier.

This year has been hit and miss. I was in Africa for the first split but my buddies did not have much success. Second split has been more of the same. I have killed my limit a couple of times and even killed several mallards; however I did not fired a shot on other hunts.

Here are a couple of pictures from this season.
on just about everry hunt


Max



Max and Raven



Raven



Low water muddy day.

Thanks Mike,I love the photo's. We should meet. If you get near New Orleans Pm me, I will buy the first round. We share a lot of the same passons.


Up to about 10 years ago, I was able to get a limit for everybody in the blind on just about every hunt. I remenber sitting in the blind on opening mornings , any where I would look, ( 360 degrees's around) I would see 8 or 10 flocks of ducks at a time, sometimes more. This would go on for a hour or two for every hunt for most of the first split. I would see a thousand ducks a hunt,now if we see a hundred or so its a good morning. There have been mornings I have not see any at all.

Then We had two bad years, one due to a storm and no feed, the other due to airboats running the marsh all season searching for oil. Our birds found some place else to visit, then along came the surfacedrives. With every one being able to run the internal marsh,the ducks got no rest during the day ( except off shore in the big lakes). They would visit mostly after shooting hours. Sight seeing got to be a real problem. Our lease here may only be a couple hundred acres.


I think what realy killed it , is the no till farming that goes on now. The farmers were told not to plow under after harvest. When the ducks leave the nesting areas, instead of seeing sterial field, they are finding grain and other types of feed. They don't come down now until it is frozen to hard to feed.

Hunting pressure went way up all the way down the flyway, so did the harvest of ducks. They now come later, get shot to hell on the way down, the ones who make it, are plenty smart!


It's those dam yankees (That's anybody north of Baton Rouge)who are stealing our ducks. yea it's their fault!!!!

JD

JD,

Will call if on that end. If you are near New Iberia do the same.

Some issues here with the surface drives also.

No duck hunting this weekend, too hot. May go during the week when it cools down.

Did y'all avoid a lot of the rain? Pretty bad around here, we do not need anymore.

It's the damn yankee's, (anybody north of Hwy 90).
Was about three miles South of the Wax last weekend and kicked up maybe 10 thousand birds rafted up. Blacked out the sky. Where the water went from 4 feet to 8 feet.
I guess just too much pressure at the Wax. Redfishing out of Burns Point, didn't hear much gunfire, birds know where to go.

JD:

I hunt near Scarsdale if you know where that is. We did fine the first split - mostly limits of grays and teal with mottleds and a few pintails thrown in. But it was tougher than the preceding few years. The 2nd split started out really slow, which isn't a good sign, so I've been hunting in SWLA to avoid the lack of birds near NOLA. The last few years we've really pounded them after a slower 06-08. I blame Isaac for this year's troubles. For what it's worth, there are tons of birds in SWLA this year. I also have plenty of friends killing lots of ducks in NLA. It is what it is - hopefully, no storms next year and the feed and the birds will return.

At the camp by myself tonight. Plan on hunting in the morning. Cold and misting on the way out. It is time for the rain to end here!!!

Actually I do have my two labs with me, so I am not totally alone.

Good luck in the AM and be safe.

Good luck. I believe the ducks are even tired of this weather.
Be nice to see the sun again.

Wet and cold, at least cold for South Louisiana. Two teal, saw very few ducks. Still love being out here though.

Raven made the first retrieve, Max the second.





JD,

Still not much luck west of you. This will be the last weekend of a painful season.

More ducks than I seen in years today,but tides are so low, you can't get to them. Before we put the boat in the water a mudbuddy,a prodrive and a inboard mudboat all running 35's came in. They were not able to get out. My GD rig and kevelar hull that is coated with werlin waterman" ran like a bat out of hell". That is until my buddy sent me down the wrong narrow cut, I had to get off plane to turn out. We came down in a 1/2" OF WATER AND FIRM MUDD. It was 15 min later before and 30 or so feet beforem; we could get on plane. We made the blind set up north of a 1000 gray ducks ( about 1/2 mile away) We shot 11 and retrieved 8. thr deep mud and shells wore the dog out. I sted out oh the hotel blind out to the dog stsnd to take leak. There was so much mud on it I sliped off and fell 3 feet landing flat on my back 3 feet below.
I think I will sleep in tommarow.

JD

I hunted the last day. We killed 8 grays,the late fog hurt, the water came back, weup hunted the same blind as friday but with a outboard. Worse season in 35 years.8 hunts( 6 were 2 man hunts 2 were 3 man hunts ) 35 ducks whole season 1 dog 3 mottle rest were grays.

I got the boat problems worked out, new two man blind will be a killer set up, the new rig disappears The 12 ducks we shot while in it were trying to land. It runs real shallow but needs a set of pods on the back due to motor weight, the stage 2 35 gdsd is pushing it at 25 with a hunting load in deep water. 31 by my self with blind in place.

There is always next year.

JD

Nice pics Mike thanks for sharing. The storm really messed me up in the reggio,delecroix area this year. Salt water killed all my grass. No food no ducks. killed some birds on the fronts but the season was very hit and miss.
JD where you located?

quote:

Originally posted by chrystech:
Nice pics Mike thanks for sharing. The storm really messed me up in the reggio,delecroix area this year. Salt water killed all my grass. No food no ducks. killed some birds on the fronts but the season was very hit and miss.
JD where you located?

Old Jefferson, hunted hopedale and reggio this year. ponds south of hopedale lagoon, hunted both sides of the scooner in reggio. I hunted reggio for 25 years or so, moved over to hopedale after katrina. First year hunting reggio since then. When hunting reggio I was know has the Terminix man due to my company truck. I had the lease just west of howards ditch for 10 years,and various ponds off the schooner.

JD

quote:

Originally posted by J D:
Hunting pressure went way up all the way down the flyway, so did the harvest of ducks. They now come later, get shot to hell on the way down, the ones who make it, are plenty smart!

J D

How is it that we're always hearing about declining numbers of duck hunters? Then we hear about record numbers of breeding pairs the last two years. I'm just not seeing it......I know a lot of it is weather-related but, what say ye?