Went ride out to the camp yesterday to get started on a bunk room addition, saw more damn ducks in 30 minutes than we saw all year!
Thanks a lot LDWF!!!

How did the Gatortail run?

No. He's correct. The last few years bird migration numbers increased dramatically after the close of the season. The migration numbers didn't begin to increase until the second to last weecend of the season. There were occasions this season that I would only see a total of about 50 birds on a hunt. Now I see that every day flying over the house.

I have long said the duc season should be operated the same way as the shrimp season. Open the season when birds show up. Close the season when the birds leave.

I had the worst year ever as far as numbers. But we were at flood stage before the season started with water everywhere you looked. About mid season I started getting decent numbers moving back into the area I hunt as the water was getting back inside the banks. The birds didn't have to work the normal areas with all the water we had which also killed our feed. They could sit out in the middle of normally dry grain fields in the potholes that held water all season. Just about the time they started moving back we had a second round of storms which flooded us again. The birds moved back out the water and ended any chances of a good season. We are now back up around flood stage for the 3rd time in 6 months. I don't think W&F could have got a good count no matter what they did as the birds could go in any direction and were not on their normal places for easy counting. I believe early indications are showing harvest numbers are up though state wide.

That 10-4 on the new experience. Say good-bye to the back and shoulder pain after a weekend of the grind. Started adding on to the camp, hope to catch you out there soon and take a ride.

while yall were watching the superbowl,i was catching up on a slack season.3rd split baby!i would post some pictures but i dont want The Big Sissy to throw a fit like he did one time over a pintail.
they never really get down here good till it closes.
thanks,NO SERIOUSLY,THANKS.....

I dont get it. A week before the season ends, our birds leave.... Maybe its all of the ice. Hmmm coldest winter in Oklahoma since god knows when.

My season sucked.

TBS you really do not understand and never will. The reason that folks from down here think its so cool to outlaw is due to the time spent listening to the old timers talking about the old days. I'm not advocating over the limit hunting and fishing or anything but alot of folks here were raised in areas where money and work were hard to come by. Hunting,fishing, and trapping were a way to make money not a sport. They went hand in hand to put food on the table as well as money to put clothes on their backs.

My father did not have to do this to feed me or my brothers but my grandfather and father in law did and they have no shame in telling people what they had to do to make ends meet. They had a dislike for the GW's only because they were taking food or money off the table when they got caught not because they wanted to kill everything in sight.

As far as a dislike for conservation groups in my area it mostly stems from years of everyone screaming at the top of their lungs that we were loosing all of our coastal land and no one seemed to care about it until the chocolate city went under stranding thousands of democrates on their roofs. We have not seen a single DU project in my area yet my parish consistanly ranked in the top of donations made, not that should have enfluenced where projects should go. My area wintered hundreds of thousands of birds and it is disappearing faster than anyone can imagine.

The list can go on but you already think that I'm just an ignorant fork from south La. and I just go out there to kill. I never watch or maintain my land by removing nutrias even before there was a bounty on them. Planting trees throughout the marsh not only on my land but all over in my area to try to build foundations for the land to stay together and slow the erosion down somewhat. So no I do not know anything about "giving back". These are just some of the things that I have been doing for my whole life. The men that brought me and taught me to do this were the same men that outlawed to provide for their families.

For the record I have no problems with the GW's as a matter of fact I'm GW friendly

I don't know what it is but something makes the birds show up in coastal La after the season. I heard my lease in Golden Meadow is covered up in birds now and I haven't shot a bird there in probably 5 years.

I hear it and see it every year. The marsh is full of birds around Mardi Gras. I have no explanation for it. I'm not sure if they migrated or just came out of hiding. I wish the LADWF would do a February survey to either prove or debunk what I'm talking about.

Wilson,

I know a few duck hunters that really know their shit. Regarding the lower regions of the state, especially the coast, these boys say there are more birds down here during the season than we know. They believe they are offshore during the day, and come feed at night. When they say offshore, they mean way out 10-20 miles or better. Pressure is what does it. Anything that is huntable in the State is usually covered by a hunter, so they could be right. IDK.

mornin' mr tbs,in reply,my family eats every duck,pouldeau,curlew,robin,crab,shrimp,oyster,fish,frog,alligator,turtle,etc................... that i bring home.sometimes i like to eat ducks in the summer,so i stock up.wasting is another story.it takes a sorry sob to kill something and not eat it.
also,since you seem soo concerned about the stupid poachers down here,
feeding the family aint the excuse,its feeding the addiction.....you got any help hotlines?at least i aint no crackhead.also,i dont really HATEgame wardens,when the good lord thinks its time,i'm prolly gonna get busted again....

never asked for any awards a$$hole,my awards are in the freezer.
would you like me to jes fwd.my address to ladwf?dumbass.
you also shouldnt wish bad things on other people,that would be like me wishin your dog would run away or something,that wouldnt be nice would it?
i realize,i started this crap and dont know why i did,my bad.
you done give me the red-ass,you will get no moe replies from me.
phuck you if you cant take a joke.
damn.........gotta go kill somethin now!