re: Duck reports, feet hanging, we banging

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We will send a few through the nets as long as the white shrimp boot wearing coon-assess don't invade Tensas to bad. If it is an outright invasion, we keep the nets up all season.

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they cannot be stopped. Go see them at the little campground in Westwood!

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BUT most acknowledge that the greater Kaplan/Gueydan/Thornwell/Hayes/Bell City region is not what it once was. Theres a lot of rice in central La now (Whiteville/Bunkie, etc.) with a lot of geese and also NE La is getting a lot of geese these days.

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I grew up in SWLa. And I remember the huge flocks of geese that used to migrate in the fall. In fact with a good early cold front I used to love to listen for them when outside. So fast forward to 2004, I moved to west Houston near Cypress. And again there were large flocks of white geese migrating down. By the time I left in 2011 they were almost gone as there was such a reduction in rice farming out on the Katy Prairie. But I moved to Oklahoma and that place is loaded up with geese in the winter. So with changes in agriculture I guess they stay up north. I've seen you guys write about it. And hunting in the rice fields and fresh water marshes back in the late 70s/early 80s we used to kill the hell out of mallards south of Lake Charles. I guess not so much anymore.

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he said that there was plenty feed left after the storms

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I know who you’re talking about. Their big lease is further west and a little more inland than where we are so maybe it was more protected.. or they’re not gonna talk about their marsh that got wiped out. Time will tell with pictures I guess.

Our water needs to drop about 2’. Seems to be a reoccurring thing the last few years. Water levels don’t get right until 2nd split.

Rice farming acerage in Arkansas has been about the same since the late 70’s. They plant a million to million and a half acres per year, depending on the prices. There hasn’t been a significant increase in rice production in 40 years.

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I grew up in SWLa. And I remember the huge flocks of geese that used to migrate in the fall. In fact with a good early cold front I used to love to listen for them when outside. So fast forward to 2004, I moved to west Houston near Cypress. And again there were large flocks of white geese migrating down. By the time I left in 2011 they were almost gone as there was such a reduction in rice farming out on the Katy Prairie. But I moved to Oklahoma and that place is loaded up with geese in the winter. So with changes in agriculture I guess they stay up north. I've seen you guys write about it. And hunting in the rice fields and fresh water marshes back in the late 70s/early 80s we used to kill the hell out of mallards south of Lake Charles. I guess not so much anymore.

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Totally different region of the country but there is a WMA on the coast of Georgia which has been managed in some form or fashion for waterfowl since the 1930s. There is a log book in the admin building lobby where kill records are posted for the public. They are available from year one. Between 1930 and 1940 there were a BUNCH of Canada and Snow Geese killed on this WMA. Shortly after WW2 corn became more viable in Maryland and Virginia and the method of harvest resulted in far more spillage. By 1950 there were only a few geese of any color killed on this WMA and I don't think there has been a snow goose killed in nearly 70 years. The numbers of puddle ducks killed also nose dived, even Teal, the mainstay puddler in the area. Between agricultural changes, private management of massive tracks of waterfowl habitat and warmer winters waterfowl have no reason to go as far south as they once did in the same numbers. Most years when they do get as far south as the gulf coast in numbers it is so late in the season that they are starting to display courtship behavior and may have already paired off....shooting them in large numbers at this stage is a bad idea....that's why all of us in the south always talk about the season starting to early and ending nowhere near late enough to see most of the migtration in season. It has to be painful for those of you who remember having world class waterfowling within minutes of the house. For traveling hunters it only means the difference between going to Arkansas and Oklahoma instead of Louisiana. We have never had great waterfowling in Georgia as the western half of the state is blocked by the Appalachians and the coast is to far south for birds to arrive in season in numbers....but for those of you in Louisiana and Texas where I can remember raft after raft of BIG ducks and gees of all stripes lining bar pits and rice fields it has to be maddening to see what sounds like very reduced numbers.

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hat did SE Arkansas have planted before rice? Like say 15-20 yrs ago

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Stuttgart Arkansas has been called the rice capital of the world for as long as I can remember. Probably a misnomer, I don't know, but I hunted the area heavily in the 1980's and it had been going on for many years prior to that....it is east central Arkansas but as far as I know they grew rice in the state anywhere it was flat enough to be practical....

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In my experience rice in a rice field only lasts a few weeks into the season if that..

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Incorrect. . We kill ducks with rice in their craw the entire season

Just told our field for tomorrow may have been manipulated in a way inconsistent with green jean's desires. Hunt aborted.

Any new coastal reports? I have enough farming reports lol

Delacroix report from yesterday was thin. Bring a fishing pole.