re: Maurapas wma

Appreciate you reading all that, but believe me, I had more fun writing it than you did reading it. The stories you heard of the 80s were true.

Looking back on it all these year later, the thing that still amazes me is the lack of pressure on those ducks. We knew we weren't supposed to be pulling off of i10 and launching, but lots of folks did that back then. (Sidebar......the "thing" at garyville hunting club was to pull off the interstate, park at the bridge where I 10 crossed garyville canal, and "bugle" w/your weapon. Someone would come pick you up in a boat, as the camps not 500 yards off the interstate.). Anyway.....the lack of pressure......literally, the few times we showed up to camp, the other folks there WERE PISSED that we were duck hunting. I mean, there's 50 ppl in a camp chasing probably 100 deer on that lease, which sat on the greatest mallard flight in the world, an NO ONE was hunting them.

To my knowledge, there was ONE permanent duck blind built on that whole lease, which ran from airline Highway to the lake. It was built by MF'er himself, and I'm sure the hole can be seen on Google earth to this day. Find i10, find garyville canal, look a little west of the canal, and a little north of 10. Less than 500 yards off canal, and less than a mile off 10. And I'm talking NO ONE was in there. You know that familiar rumble you hear in known good duck hunting areas? We never heard it.

Yall remember the early duckmen videos w/Phil and Warren Coco? Those were made in the same general area. And other than them, man THAT WAS IT.

In the evenings, the sky would be dotted w/thousands of mallards, making what many hunters refer to as "the feed call." Which is obviously not a feed call. As a wise duck hunter once said, "they ain't eating at that altitude......know how I know? Rice and corn don't grow that tall."

Really was awesome, and the best I can tell, pretty much anywhere there was continuous water (be it off of reserve canal, garyville canal, blind river), the mallards were there too.

I'm so glad I got to see what it's "supposed" to look like.