After chasing birds all over the Venice marsh this weekend I have finally made the decision to get a lab. Most interested in blond and chocolates. Any suggested breeders from those in the know out there? Looking for top quality.
Back to chasing birds, it seems that Venice is back from the way I remember hunting down there 10-15 years ago. I saw flocks of pintail and gadwall as far and high as the eye could see coming down all day Saturday. Limited both days but had to work for it. Did not see as many teal as I'm used to but the other hunters came back with plenty so I must have just been in the big duck area. Had a pile of great pics but decided to drop my second Iphone in as many trips in the water. Planning on going back down next Wednesday trough Sunday.
Question: When staying on a remote house boat and/or campground for several days of hunting, what are the rules on limits for ducks? Can you bring three limits of birds back to camp if you are out for three days? Is there a special permit that I need to bring limits for multiple days back up river?
Looking for some proven models / ideas for blinds in the Venice area. It is my understanding that blinds are not supposed to be built on public land there but I saw tons of them last year so I guess I'm going to give it a shot.
Did see some birds down there this past weekend.
Also, just spent $900 getting some electrical systems repaired on my boat. While at work the other day (where boat is parked) I heard a loud bang outside. Walked out to check on it and found smoke coming out of the back of the boat from a battery that exploded. Luckily damage was minimal to structure. What could have possibly caused this?
Went down to Venice this past weekend to make a tuna run with Superstrike and do a little trout and redfishing also. Charter was canceled thanks to 20-30knot winds forcast.
Decided to run down river to try at some trout and reds Sunday and couldn't seem to pay attention to fishing with all of the ducks flying over us SO we made the 40 minute run back up river, grabbed our shotguns and killed a mess of ducks from 9:00am to 11:00am. Now I need a 14' fiberglass or aluminum boat to put my go-devil on. Turns out that walking through the Venice mud is not as easy as it looked. Looking for something that can run the river or be towed behind a bay boat. If anyone has anything please let me know. Trying to get it before the second split. Looks like I have ANOTHER hobby! Wonder how I'm going to fit this in with the obsesive deer, turkey, inshore and offshore fishing habits I already have?
Carruth Higgins killed this deer 11/2/06 in St. Francisville. Had over 15 pics of this guy throughout the season all over the property. Guess I won't be seeing him on the cam anymore. Deer weighed 230#, 9pt, 9" brow tines.
Can anyone tell me where I can purchase bulk rice bran (2 tons) around the BR or St. Francisville area? A few years ago, we bought some from a man advertising on this site but cannot locate the phone number. I believe he was from the Pointe Coupee area???
This is the best buck I have pics of to date. Having him on my wall is definitely on my list of things to do this year. I have a bunch of pics of him last year, but he has definitely grown, especially that kicker on his right side. We had 64 pictures of "shooter" class bucks over the past week. Looks like it might be a good year. (Hey Andy & Todd, these were taken close to where ya'll hunted)
Finally got a day off work and made my first bow hunt of the year. Saw one spotted fawn. Most exitement of the weekend was the trail cam pics. In three years of putting these cameras out, these are the best by far. It's going to take me three posts to fit them all in. THIS IS WHY IT PAYS TO PASS ON SMALL BUCKS. Enjoy!
Just got the first trail cam pics back and they're not too bad. The camera took over 200 pics in 4 days but mostly does. There were a few small bucks in the mix and one decent one still in velvet.
Has anyone been finding many overcup or white oaks dropping yet? All of our trees at the property in St. Francisville seem to be bare this year.
Well the cameras have located another beast. Everytime we put them out now, we are getting pics of big bucks. It has become more exiting checking the pics than sitting in a stand. It's great to see what can happen with a few years of patience and a lot of work. With the cold weather this past weekend I expected to see more bucks. Wrong. But we did see quite a few deer. I counted 14 does and a spike Friday evening. Looks like the rut should kick in a little early this year. I am guessing we will start seeing some activity next weekend in W. Feliciana. A friend of mine missed a nice buck as it was trying to mount a doe up near Angola Rd. He also saw three other bucks chasing does up there. Anyway, I hope the one with the large brow tines makes a big mistake.
Check out this monster. One of two really nice bucks caught in the act this weekend on the trail cam. Action this weekend was pretty slow. Actually only made the Sunday evening hunt. Two small does, 23 turkeys and 6 racoons.
This is the fourth time in a row this same buck has shown up at the rice bran. He is visiting two piles within 600 yds of each other (opposite ends of the cut-over). Notice all the pics of bucs have been at night. Kind of discouraging. Sooner or later they have to start moving during the day...I hope. Anyway, still some nice deer to look at, but still nothing real big. Going up tonight and will make an EARLY morning hunt before heading back to BR and watching LSU kick bama's ass.
My friend just e-mailed me these pics from his camera. Check out the trespasser. Hope he comes under my stand this weekend. This camera is about 600 yards from the place where the last pics I posted were, but it looks like one of the same bucks. Hopefully these guys will bring their daddy around for a glamour shot. Also, looking for four or five good climbing sticks for lock-ons. Any suggestions? I don't want to spend a fortune.
Here are a few more pics from last weekend...Also, failed to mention that all pics were taken in one night, starting 45 minutes after camera was set up.
Just downloaded my first set of trail cam pics of the year, and wouldn't you know, 16 of 42 pics were of bucks. Nothing real big, but they should be VERY nice next year. Andy C., if you are reading this, these pics were taken in the woods right behind the stand you killed the 11pt in last year. Looks like its going to be a better year than last year, which was our best year yet. Because of work, I have only made 3 bow hunts, but have killed two does. Hopefully this work crap lets up by the rut.
I'll be back at it next weekend.
I heard a rumor the other day that Buzzy and Wayne (keepers of Port Eads marina) tried to ride the storm out at Port Eads and have not been seen since. I couldn't imagine that someone would actually do this, but it came from a respectible source. Does anyone have any info on this?
Chris
Can anyone out there tell me where I can have a go-devil motor repaired around Baton Rouge? It hasn't been run in two years and I would like to have it cleaned and tuned up before the hunting season arrives.
Thanks In Advance
Yeah I don't believe they were getting along too well. We ended up doing ok the next morning. Should have been a great hunt but poor shooting resulted in only five birds. We had one flock of over 100 pintail, widgeon and gadwall drop in on us and we only knocked down one. I was trying to wait on the first group of 30+ to land and try and let the next large group get in range. Not a good idea. As with the other hunts, saw a TON of pintail. We will also be down the last weekend. Hopefully this time the temp won't keep us enclosed in our heated canopy.
That is a snow goose / blue wing teal hybrid.
I thought I recognized that picnic table! Nice bunch of ducks. I was one of the other guys camping down there with with the giant blue tarp that kept blowing around everywhere. Going back this weekend and next to try and find more birds.
Yes that is actually what I was referring to...should have clarified that better.
Yeah, I figured that the G0-Devil would be tough in the river. I will be towing it with my bay boat. Not quite ready to make the jump to a gator-tail since I have a go-devil in my garage. But there is always next year...
Is that a 35mm????? I thought it was the digital. If it is 35mm, STAY AWAY!!!!! Very expensive and time consuming getting pics developed.
I have the same cams and have left them in the woods for a month, taking 700 pics a week each (bought additional memory) without changing batteries once.
Anytime you try to guess age from a pic, you are doing just that...guessing. I have seen a few deer killed that I have pics of that I would have thought were 5 to 6 yr old deer that ended up being 2 to 3.
But, if I had to GUESS, I would say 2-1/2 judging by the slender neck and body and thin horns. Most older deer I have seen have a potbelly and thicker neck, even when out of rut. Check out my new post, that deer was aged at 4-1/2.
These cams are the best for the money in my opinion. If you want some examples of some quality picks, send me an e-mail and I will respond with some. The only problem I have with these cams is the slow response time, as it will normally miss deer passing by.
Unless your checking my camera, that is definitely one of the same pics I took.
I already asked this question on a previous post, but did not receive many answers. Has anyone seen white oak or overcup acorns on the ground yet around the St. Francisville area? For the past two years, most of the surrounding property has been loaded with acorns, but the piece of property I'm on has been bare. Does anyone know what may cause this?
I can tell you from experience that the stealthcam digital cameras do not spook the deer, including older deer. Last week alone I had over 70 pictures of four different large bucks over the course of 6 days.
I believe I have pics of both these deer last year. The big eight without the kicker hasn't grown too much, but the one with the kicker has gained a LOT of rack. I have some other deer about the same size I didn't post during the same week. I wonder what the one with the loop would score...my guess is 140's. Anyone else want to take a guess?
These were taken with a Stealth Cam digital. Forgot the model number. With the addition of a larger card, you can hold over 700 pictures. This is a must for this place because it is nothing to get 700 pics in a week. In fact, two weeks ago we had a cam that took over 700 pics in 3 days.
St. Francisville area.
What part of LA was this pick taken in?
That is Rice Bran. You can buy it at just about any feed store. I normally pick it up at Sportsman's One Stop on Hwy 61.
I don't think that deer will score more than 120...probably less.
No point in letting him spread his genetics more than he already has. He is definitely an older deer, probably upwards of 7 yrs. He seems to be on the decline and probably won't last another year. Any deer of that age with horns like that need to be taken. Where were these pics taken? His neck is SWOLLEN.
I'm assuming you are talking about poppers for tuna, mahi, etc. if so, i use 100# power pro. The poppers I use are heavy enough where you can still cast a mile. One tip is to put it on a very good spinning reel with a lot of line capacity. I recently had a tuna lock up the drag on my Fin-Nor spinning reel. Bye bye $30.00 popper.