re: Cold weather- no duck…WTH???

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Yep. I stopped telling people how many ducks we took each year from 75 - 85, I don't think they believed we had that many ducks during that period.

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My biggest gripe is with the people that say how many “limits” they would shoot a day, and now they complain about there not being any ducks.

grew up hunting labranche and manchac
late 70s early 80s
i wish that my son could experience what we had back then
good knight, mallards, woodies, greys…

Too many high dollar farms throughout the Midwest. Getting sick of watching Tony Vandemore post videos of thousands of mallards in ponds kept open by ice eaters.

Actually it’s been really good as far as number of birds killed. Averaging around 5.5 birds per/hunter per hunt. Made over 30 hunts.

Nearly all birds taken have been ringnecks and blue wing teal. Killed 2 wigeon early. No grays.

Have seen large groups of canvasbacks, but they aren’t coming near me.

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Actually it’s been really good as far as number of birds killed. Averaging around 5.5 birds per/hunter per hunt. Made over 30 hunts.

Nearly all birds taken have been ringnecks and blue wing teal. Killed 2 wigeon early. No grays.

Have seen large groups of canvasbacks, but they aren’t coming near me.

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That’s awesome. I built a makeshift blind for the second split and did much much better. Actually had a lot of big ducks a couple weeks ago. We've out down quite a few Cans, wigeon, and grays recently. My "best" hunt was a midday with my 2 youngest kids while my wife and oldest were at the Saints game. I hunted 11 to 1ish. Got a can and managed to snag a couple grays from a flock of probably 15 that came in on a string.

Like the good old days, most every big duck came after 10am. Luckily I couldn't care less about a limit nowadays. I just like watching and helping my 9yr old bang em, so the wait is worth it.

lol passing on teal, spoons and divers. What is it about those birds anybody would want to pas on? Teal are arguably the best eating and exciting shooting. Divers are fun as hell too when they're in groups. They'll eat great too if you can make a proper recipe. And spoons decoy so well.

Would I rather be bagging greys, widgeon pintail or mallards? Yeah probably. Is there something weird going on with migration. Yeah def. But damn, a duck is a duck and if it flies over the decoys I'm pulling the trigger with a smile on my face. It's a real gift to be able to get out there and chase birds in what habitat we have available. I'll never take any of it for granted.

Yeah for sure. Dog just wants to work. A merganser if need be will hit the water lol.

Before the first freeze last week we went and spread 400lbs of corn, 300lbs of milo and 300lbs of millet on a big duck area and another woodie area. All in expectation of fresh birds and trying to hold them in general area until the 18th for this 3rd split. I've went and watched it from a distance with bino's at daylight and dark 3 times. Big duck hole not a single duck. Woodie hole has the same 5 coming and going no fresh ducks. Went back out Saturday midday to actually check and all the feed is still in the water and on the ground....so we loaded up another 1000lb mixed feed and headed to another area and spread it out in hopes to draw some to that place and hunt far enough away not to attract Green Jeans. Gonna pick a day after this next freeze passes mid-week and hunt if I can glass and see them show up. Looks like at this point the 18-19th gonna be sleep in days and try to jump some creek ducks around home at best. If this next freeze don't bring some ducks then i believe we are finally gonna give up the lease. Been in the family over 40 years. Family tradition, pride and fellowship has kept us in the fight this far. But we are officially done. My great grandpa leased this piece Schoolboard property for $37.25 back in 1980. We have the agreement framed at home one of the few things we found after Rita smashed it. Same piece now is $15k a year and we sub lease 2 blinds to help pay. Hard to ask someone to sublease knowing damn good and well its wasted money. We consciencely cant do that part anymore either. But we do feel good about breaking all ties with DU in the early 2000's and mistakenly joining DW to only see them make the same choices and Left them in say 2010 i believe. Those organizations do not invest in Louisiana. They tease you with small projects so your wallet stays open.

I’ve seen this and follow them all year. I have been in NE Ark for 7 of the last 14 days. I have not seen any decent number of ducks to prove this. I have Hunted and scouted hard; driving hundred of miles looking at rivers, fields, sloughs, woods, cypress holes, etc. if they are there they are hiding deep.

Even the wood ducks in sloughs and creeks are scarce. I’ve walked 4/5 miles over last couple weekends looking in places that have held woodies my whole life. And struggle to get a couple