Second Split Blues

De Nuck,Futz and recent addition,AJ,making this the Trio,has had some terrible Second Split duck hunts with only a dogone Tree Duck to show for three hunts(AJ did not hunt yesterday,lucky guy)and De Nuck and Futz Duo made a low-water hunt yesterday,nada to show other than finding awesome route to use for future low-water hunts.Shoulda taken de hint this am when we saw NO ONE at launch,noticed water levels down close to 1.5 ft(makes for mudflats pretty much everywhere we tried today)and our ole stand-by spots from at least 20 years of exploring possibly may have had some huntable water.De Nuck and Futz Duo headed to Honey Island Swamp tomorrow hoping my lil woodie honey hole has a few willing participants!!!Did get a few pics from John Manion and lucky fellow had fine greenhead and also killed fine sprig,a duck that so far has eluded me,have killed a few immature drakes and few hens but no mature,mountable drakes!!!GB3 sent me pics of fine 9pt he just killed,hint,hint,even more of a nudge to ditch rotten Second Split in favor of deer stand time!!Did buy 4-35 lb sacks of corn plus got new SD cards for Browning Strike Force game cam!!!Hope other diehards fared better but with the mudflat situation we faced plus hearing reports of even more mudflats in Delacroix area,doubt anyone fared worth a darn!!Happy and Prosperous New Year and Ole John C needs to find his OWN fish(LOL)

Mandevillian

Just curious have you heard any reports on Big Branch from today

nutsabtfishing,Do not have any creditable reports from de Marsh but will say that the water was incredibly low and everywhere we woulda tried today was solid mudflats and guess I realistically coulda hunted one of my ole-time standby spots(shoulda opted for that vs what we did today).Not sure if ya caught wind of gent who was bragging bout limits hunting Bayou Liberty and if dat is indeed de case his party MUST be only ones doing worth a damn out there and bear in mind,I have been hunting those areas for over 20 years,know it extensively and yesterday heard very few shots,sounded like they came from either Lake shoreline(nuttin but buffleheads out there)or the Private Land out there.Did chat with a gent who definitely hunts the Private Land and he had fine greenhead in his surface drive,lucky gent!!

Mandevillian

thanks for the update I had a friend of mine tell me he saw ducks from the road there but he can embellish quiet a bit lol if the guy was in the surface drive on the right he may have got him on the refuge in the back they do like to go hunt those areas instead of there lease.

nutsabtfishing,To add more misery,de Nuck and Futz Duo took a ride to fine Honey Island Swamp early this am,saw at least two big flocks of woodies with at least 8-10 in each flock,saw a few pairs and one 4-duck flock and took prayer of a shot at small flock(had I connected,duck was gonna fall for LONG time)(LOL).I am fairly certain the gent we saw Sat before last shot the fine greenhead on Prieto Lease right off Cane Bayou.Years ago,older son and I would paddle towards their in-holdings and stay W of their boundaries(well-marked with PVC poles).On my last hunt out that way,heard decent amount of shooting,sounding like it was coming from the lease.We did not see any hunters on our way back,but I typically take an excursion to not only get away from MotherShip but to access tree-line ponds where lotta ducks seem to hang out!

Mandevillian

I would normally hunt off of cane road past the lease towards cane bayou almost to the back side of goose pt. never really ventured towards the tree line though we always used to do good in the big ponds in goose pt as well till they pumped all that sediment in there and clogged everything up. Never really has been the same sense then not like the good old days back in the early 90s that is for sure.

nutsabtfishing,What is truly a shame is the lack of ducks out there with an over-abundance of feed and when I first started hunting out there,we would be amazed at the shear size of the flocks of greys and widgeons,flying side-by-side and I would alternate blowing mallard call with widgeon whistle and I really think the widgeons would decoy so beautifully that they would draw in greys and our typical bags would be 2-3 widgeons mixed in with possibly a greenhead and few greys and sometimes if we stuck it out later and refrained from shooting teal,the bags would be nothing but big ducks and sometimes a bonus mottled duck!!!Still think about true black duck I killed bunch of years ago,be nice to bag another and if it don't happen,so be it!!Still looking for mature drake pintail and hoping for banded duck!!Always looking at Google Maps and there are so darn many ponds that are a bear to get to but the payoff MAY be there,just not sure this season,one of the leanest of the lean!!I need to have my damn head examined for even venturing out there this past Sunday!!!Good luck,we may cross paths one day!!

Mandevillian

P.S. Bagged my first greenhead out there in '03!!

Yes I remember those days we would go out with 4 people and kill 24 big ducks almost every time we went. Like you said a good mixture of widgeon and Grey ducks I probably have killed 4 to 5 mallards out there as well. Remembering the good times keeps you going back hoping things will change again but not sure it ever will with the loss of land down south and the abundance of food up north but I do have those great memories and photos. May have to get with you and bring you fishing sometime as well :)

nutabfishing,Not surprisingly,I was just scoping out Google Maps and think I may have found exact spot I needs to be tomorrow,SE winds gonna make my paddle a lot less of a chore AND I have spotted ducks in this one particular pond EVERY time I have to paddle through it to get to MotherShip!!!Hint,hint,why do I need even more of a hint!!!Depending upon how successful tomorrow's hunt is,might go back to same general area OR may head back to Honey Island sloughs Th.Love my salt/fresh water fishing as well and told Wifey she and I may take grandson fishing this Fri,weather permitting.Just knowing that there is awesome potential where I am hunting tomorrow excites me and makes me wanna keep the faith and stay de course,but hard getting ZERO opportunities on three consecutive hunts!

Mandevillian

Well good luck to you there and I hope you get a couple of mallards and a couple of widgeons and a couple of greys let me know how it turns out there :) I am busy running traps right now so do not see me making it down that way.

nutsabtfishing,Getting ready to pen report,wish I had cashed in on two golden(green)opportunities!!At least the SAME pattern played out today,I whiffed,not the ducks' fault!!Good luck with your traps and got me enthused just seeing some green EXACTLY where they have been for the past 20 years!!!

Mandevillian

nutsabtfishing,Getting ready to pen report,wish I had cashed in on two golden(green)opportunities!!At least the SAME pattern played out today,I whiffed,not the ducks' fault!!Good luck with your traps and got me enthused just seeing some green EXACTLY where they have been for the past 20 years!!!

Mandevillian

Sorry to hear you did not get any green there. So far this past year with our pig trap we are up to 200 pigs caught and out of the environment but so many more to go and have to start putting in more coyote traps so that will keep me busy in the coming months. I do hope you can get at least one good hunt in before the end of the season there.

Paul

Older son told me he knows a few folks that have gotten deer past few days,helped him butcher big sow hog he raised from a piglet,was about 250 lbs of very fine lean pork,and one of these folks hunted some private Lacombe land and got limit of woodies!!!De Nuck and Futz Duo had yet another non-productive hunt,saw quite a few mottled ducks,ZERO mallards and had pair of greys(only ones I have seen recently)damn-near land on me AFTER I had taken our protective ear plugs and HATE shooting shotgun without hearing protection!!!Happy New Year-do have at least a hand full of duck hunts in ole body!!

Mandevillian

you have a happy new year as well. I have gotten one 8 point this year that weighed 182 a respectable deer but up here i know people that killed a lot bigger deer this year it does seem like a lot more people killed good deer this year. One of our sows we caught in the trap weighted 210 and had 11 little ones fixing to be born. We cannot keep any wild pigs all have to be killed in trap. I am sorry you had another slow hunt there but at least you are able to get out and enjoy the great outdoors. :)

Paul