Lower Lafitte Duck Hunting

Guys,do any of you hunt the lower Lafitte area,say perhaps the Mud Lake,Bayou St. Denis,Bay Cray area? Trying to find out how the duck hunting has been that far out in the past few years and what kind of ducks are bagged. Thanks for any responses.

No one hunts the lower Lafitte area?

It's not that nobody duck hunts there...I just don't believe there is any public hunting around that area. Try doing some asking around for Salvador, Pass A Loutre, or Biloxi WMA's. Good luck, and stay safe.

I wasn't looking for public land. I may have a chance to get a lease in the lower Lafitte area and just wanted to know how the duck hunting has been in that area recently. I had been hunting Delacroix for years but lost the lease and started looking for one elsewhere.Delacroix has gotten so crowded; Not looking for public land and I don't trespass on other hunters' leases.

Laantlers13,Wish I could help ya but I lost a lease in Delacroix many,many years ago and have ALWAYS been a Public/Federal Land warrior and those who put in the requisite time and effort are OFTEN richly rewarded.Do not think Lake Salvador produced much but do know some young guns that hunted Venice area(never have and will NOT ask for specific spots)and they did extremely well,better than LOTTA guides,I might add.It turns out they put in countless hours of scouting and know they have mudboat(I still hunt de ole-school way)and coincidence of all coincidences,chatted just today with a fellow Abita KC Member(Medicare Client)and he and I only made ONE hunt in Venice area,probably about 6 years ago,and we did NOT limit out(knocked down our 12 just lost 3)and we saw NO ONE on a Public Land hunt,so quite possible dat a fellow who is industrious enough could have hunts off de charts in Fed/Public Lands.Just my 0.02!!

Mandevillian

The past several years has been terrible in that area. May get lucky and get a few dos Gris coming off the lake. Another issue is when fronts blow through It blows all the water out the good ponds. If it’s available for lease, there is probably a good reason. No one gives up a good or descent duck lease now a days.

got a limit-Excellent point-my Delacroix lease was LOADED with grass and we only had it for a few years,split it with another hunter,had one square mile,think that was 641 acres and was sorry to lose it but ya know de saying-money talks and BS WALKS.Actually enjoy the challenges of Fed/Public Land hunting and it is extremely gratifying to emerge with either limits of quality ducks or a few trophy greenheads when others emerging with wonderful scaup!!!Think I pass on tons of scaup and see where their limit is severely restricted(good thing but some folks really gonna struggle if dat all dey gots to shoot)!!!Did chat with veteran of MANY Venice hunts over about 30-40 years and we just may have to bite de bullet and make some MAGICAL Venice hunts(he may have access to a few Venice camps).Still aggravated at whoever is re$onSible for $3/person charge at Cane Bayou Launch,doggone un-improved DIRT LAUNCH!!!Beware-they have at least two surveillance cameras set up out there!!

Mandevillian

Got a limit--Thank you. I was thinking along those lines but just thought I would ask. I mostly hunt alone because I can only go during the week and my friends almost always have to work. However,I don't let that stop me from going. Would love to go to Venice but that is a hunt I would not want to do by myself. I might try the Biloxi marsh. Really wanted another lease though it is very hard to find one. I thought I might have gotten lucky and found a decent lease but didn't know about that area.

Mandevillian,thank you for your input also.

LA duck/deer hunters are extremely fortunate to have more than ample Fed/Public Lands to pursue our quarry and most of my most successful duck hunts happen to be solo hunts-easy rationale-one hunter calling,one hunter well-hidden,one hunter not making lotta movements.Ya may or may not know this but quite a few duck seasons ago,I was more than blessed to bag a true once-in-lifetime trophy duck,true black duck,drake to boot and the taxidermist who did a superb job preserving dat duck told me my black duck was the VERY first back duck he mounted,killed in LA,and this fellow has mounted PLENTY of trophy ducks,so it definitely can be done.Guess my luck also allowed me to bag an exotic Ringed Teal,hen,but there is a reasonable explanation-buddy of mine has friend with Slidell aviary and he lost a flock of 6 Ringed Teal(native to SAmerica)and little-to-no chance this particular duck migrated that far!!!Was ultra-cool!!!I pride myself in out-working the average-to-above average duck hunter,pride myself on calling skills,concealing skills.When I bagged the true black,the flock had NO idea where I was hunkered down and just a few years ago had small group of hunters SWEAR I was surrounded byy nice flock of greenheads with few hens mixed in(was me calling and hunting solo)!!Get on Google Maps,maybe get the ON-X app and ya never know,ya might stumble upon some Private Land open for lease.Good luck and now opportune time to scout and I should be getting de ole SouthFork back on water by end of next week,at the latest!!!

Mandevillian,Never NOT scouting for hard-to-access areas(ducks know where there is LITTLE to NO pressure)and on Google Maps RIGHT NOW!!

Laantlers13,Saw maybe 4-5 teal today on NShore and did see two other boaters,each with pirogue on rack most likely they were scouting for teal as well.One thing for certain about teal,they so flighty that just because ya spot em now or do not spot em now,they very well COULD show up just before Teal Opener.Many,many times I have lamented lack of teal sightings,only to have em show up overnight.Conversely,have seen flocks of em in ponds I scouted,hit dem ponds next day-zero teal anywhere!!!Good luck!!

Mandevillian

Thank you Mande. Gotta take the Southfork in Monday morning to have the motor tuned up and after that I will be ready to go. I think I will give the Biloxi Marsh a try this year. Gonna make a couple of scouting trips to learn the routes in and water depth in canals and bays.I will also have my pirogue. I don't think i will go when the water is low. I guess I will have to go alone cause it will be during the week. I will have my marine radio because I heard that there is no cell phone service out there. I am starting off from scratch out there so it is gonna take me a few trips to learn where to go.

Laantlers13,Did not know ya also got a SouthFork,love mine and she has been through lotta rough seas and spent considerable time and effort,plus money,to fully restore her and getting prop back tomorrow.I have her camo'd on sides and inside a dark green Grizzly Grip and we cover the motor(gonna be even more important as I just repainted entire motor OMC white)!!Who knows,ya might have some folks like us dat are free during week and I do not like to travel in SouthFork solo,though sometimes my wingman is working during week and I do travel solo!Yep cell service in Hopedale is very spotty at best.Hopefully ya have a good mapping GPS and we used mine to navigate Lady P in pea-soup fog last year,never a fun trip!!Good luck!

Mandevillian

Mande,I love mine also. It is an 1860.I will be going in within the next two weeks to scout a couple of places. gonna try the Stump Lagoon route. Forgot what has been previously said about crossing Stump Lagoon. I think you have to stay closer to the north shoreline of Stump to the first cut to go to Crooked Bayou. I will just take it slow and yes I do have a GPS.

Laantlers,Dat is perfect-sized rig!!Mine is slightly smaller,16 by 52 but she has wide-open layout and I had real nice set of aluminum pipes fashioned into pirogue rack(might use Smith bunk carpeting to cushion horizontal portions)and the fellow who expertly welded rack designed rack so center-of-gravity is totally unaffected.We typically hunt with two die-hards,de Nuck and Futz Duo,sometimes add a third hunter and dat is most I would transport.Love my solo hunts,kinda like having a wingman with me transporting pirogues but have made totally solo hunts,little bit of a chore getting Chapman pirogue into and outta SouthFork but certainly doable,just not the safest idea and ya never know what could transpire at times when low-light conditions are when ya traversing to de ponds!!!What is ultra-cool bout de Biloxi Marsh area is not only the vast size but the possibility of destroying teal and specks and reds on same trip.Route back to Hopedale Marina offers PLENTY of likely spots to target reds and specks,even might nail some big ole bass!!!

Mandevillian

I hunt off of Airplane Bay in lower Lafitte. Last year was marginal at best but the previous two years were really good for me. We kill mostly Grey ducks and Teal. Lafitte is very different in the aspect of you definitely dont want to hunt the north winds because you kill ZERO but whe the winds turn back around with any southerly component you will kill birds.

Thank you Duckguy 1515. That is what I wanted to know:
1. The kind of ducks killed in the area
2. How were the past seasons in that area

to help me decide if a lease in that area is worth getting in on. i have also decided to take the advice of some of the hunters who responded and go to the Biloxi Marsh and and scout a few areas. I will do that next week hopefully. Thanks again.

Laantlers13,Now that ya finally got a reply ya can formulate a plan and at least ya found out what the typical lease in Lower Lafitte might yield.I have quite a few cousins that lived on WBank for quite a few years,they have migrated over to NShore and know that one of my cousins hunted mouth of the River as well as Salvador area and he loved both areas.Wifey picked up my prop today from Precision Propellor in Metairie and hope to have SouthFork on water by end of this week.Was supposed to fish the T-Funky tomorrow with a Medicare Client(Abita KC member)but I must be de jinx for power trim units as he and I chatted briefly few hours ago and his power trim picked today to go S!!!Told him I do have wrench that should fit to take off cap on hydraulic cylinder and might be able to lend a hand in rebuilding his power trim!!!Gotta love this site as Proud Pop chimed in on Delly-Croix teal situation and have a few of my duck Mafia that hunt down there and that should be awesome area!Good luck on ya quest for either Lower Lafitte lease or hunts on Fed/Public Land!

Mandevillian

Duckguy 1515, thank you also for the tip on not hunting the north winds. That definitely is different. I may try both areas this year if I can leave the deer alone for awhile.

Mande,brought my boat in today and now it is ready to go. Next Wednesday or Thursday I plan to go and with any luck it MIGHT be a little cooler according to the weatherman.

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