Just moved to Hammond and was looking for a fishing spot so despite all the bad reports of lake maurepas I decided to go anyway. Cut a few pearch up and before long wham! After that i was hooked and so was the fish. The first was 30lbs then I passed the rod to my son to land a 5 pounder then wrapped up the 2 hour trip with a 40 pound bruiser that my son enjoyed fighting. All in all it was a great trip. Dont count maurepas out for some good fishing action! Any tips on some sac au lait would be appreciated! Cheers to bent rods and slimy tails!
Made it to my spot for 610 am and had a limit by 635. Fired the first shot at 630. Hung out 10 more minutes to watch the show and by 645 had so many teal in the decoys I couldn't pick out the decoys! Picked up and headed home. Ended up with 5 gwt and one gray ( my first big duck this year!) Never saw so many teal at my spot. Was an insane 15 minutes to say the least. Hope it keeps up!
Morning started out rough. My pond was bone dry. Not sure how since I hunt a closed in levee system with a controlled gate. Need to locate who operates it and tell them to keep it closed on low tide. Smh. Any way I'm mobile so quickly set up on another location with my buddy in tow. His 3rd hunt ever and he's almost 40! Well 630 came around and not a duck in sight. Then the heavens opened up! Couldn't load fast enough! Teal everywhere! Ended up with 11 teal, mostly gw, and one ruddy duck. Left one in pic. Lost a gray, a dogrie, and 2 teal to the 12ft tall rosseaus. Sickening to say the least. Not a bad hunt tho. Shots were badly placed and I ended up 2 boxes down for the day. Not good shooting in my book. I think they put on some fat and thick feathers over the split. But over all I got 36 ducks now in 6 hunts so that averages out to straight limits. ( helped my buddy get a couple since we hunt together and he drives 2 hours to get here.) Overall a good season besides the low water and lack of big ducks.
Another limit before 630 am. Teal galore. Still no big ducks. Hunted with my buddy in separate blinds. Had my limit by 630 he wasn't as fortunate and we ended up with 10 birds. 9 teal and a ring neck. The last gw teal I bagged was banded. Only my 3rd band in 27 years and 2 were gw teal the third was a scaup. Been years so I was pretty excited. Wish it was a trophy drake cuz I would have had it mounted but I kind of blasted it pretty good lol. My buddy caught a nice red on the paddle back to wrap up the day. Hope the 2nd half brings more big ducks.
So today I hunted the pond that I scouted yesterday. Had 5 teal in a matter of minutes. Left one spot open with the hope of a mottled or grey but nope. After 930 I threw in the towel. No big ducks around. Could have killed dozens of teal tho so wasn't a total waste. No pin feathers either so they will bake nicely.
So I hunted Pac wma and did fairly well. Upon cleaning the birds I found this in the necks. So it was freshly consumed. Can u guess the species?
Another limit this morning. I hunted alone. Got 2 scaup then 3 gwt. Not many big ducks in Pac but for me a limit is a limit. I'm not picky about divers or puddle ducks. All cooks good in a black pot with onions and gravy with a side of white beans and deer sausage! Ended up with 3 coot and 2 gallinue on the way out. All in all 11 birds with 14 shots. Missed 2 early teal. I'll hit em again tomorrow and saturday. Hope this front brings some gadwall.
Took a buddy on his first duck hunt to PAC WMA and had a blast. Had our limit within an hour. Mostly teal with a few scaup. Also got 2 coot and a gallinue (which my buddy flipped his pirogue trying to shoot. Glad it was a warm day!)
Good luck to you as well. There's plenty room to hunt out there. Let me know how it goes. I won't be out there this weekend. Wife has kidney stones. Next weekend I have to work so only a couple hunts left for me. :(
Sorry I meant West side of Montegut unit. That's where the land owners hunt. That's where I access from.
I'd say the south side on Montegut unit is the least crowded. Most ppl hunt the West side of the unit. I won't disclose my spot because I'm the only one that hunts there but there are ducks all over. Larger ponds are crowded with scaup. The East side of the unit is where all the bordering landowners hunt. Same ppl been hunting there 20 plus years so tread carefully on the east side. Hunt during the week if you choose that route. I recommend the southeast side if u can get to it. By the dam. Not many ppl hunt that area if any at all. PAC side LAA is harder to access but usually holds woodies and mallards. Not crowded last I checked. Avoid the area by the warden camp and boat launch. Too many kids that shoot at anything and usually crowded. Had a guy set up 50 yards from me after daylight once. He actually shot a duck that fell in my decoys! So that's my opinion. Best to scout first instead of showing up blind. Everything looks different in the dark and also if u scout u can tell where ppl hunt by the matted grass and shell casings. Avoid those areas if possibe. I know its public land but as I said it's been the same ppl there for as long as I remember. They might get moody to suddenly find someone in their spot lol. Good luck and happy hunting.
You can't enter before 4am and have to be out by 12. Other than that I think you can park on side of road anywhere as long as it's not someone's house. I park at a relatives house that borders the wma so I'm not completely sure. Good luck to you. The teal are thick. I might make a Sunday hunt.
PAC WMA
Haha it won't let u down. Just baked 5 teal last night mmm can't ask for better. I did manage to knock one gray down last hunt but lost it in the 12ft rosseaus. I was bummed out for sure. Not often I lose a downed bird. This front coming will hopefully freeze the northern fields and push the ducks down. My new spot is a medium size pond that opens up to a large pond and it's really shallow so I think that's why the ducks like it. It's almost completely closed in. I think I will have a great 2nd half in that spot. Hopefully I can manage about 5 to 7 more good hunts.
Yeah I have little competition where I am in Pac. Usually it's loaded with grays and pintail but not this season. They should open the teal season in November and duck season December 1st. By the time the ducks come down the season will be over. I've never killed this many teal in one season before. Killed like 20 or so in 5 hunts lol. Last year I hunted the opener and killed 3 teal, 2 grays, a mottled, and 15 Coots. That was my only hunt last year because my daughter was born. Year before I killed mostly grays. I think around 40 for the season. So this is a strange season no doubt. I have family hunting by their camp in dularge and I think between 3 ppl and around 10 hunts each so 30 hunts they didn't even bag a combined 10 birds so I consider myself lucky this time.
First half was ok for me. I made 5 hunts and bagged 28 ducks, 3 Coots, 2 gallinue, and 2 nutria. A mix of teal, one redhead hen, 2 ringnecks, and 6 scaup. One gwt was banded. Called in the band and they have no info on it lol but oh well still another band for the lanyard. Went Saturday and had my limit in the fog within 20 minutes of shooting time. Was my best hunt this half seconded by the opener hunt. My buddy only managed 1 bwt and he was 100 yards from me. Guess I'm in the right spot. First year ever I didn't get any big ducks in the first half. Hope the 2nd half changes things.
Yes I agree. I'm at work in lake Charles. Trying to find public land I can maybe score a couple geese on. I'll make one more hunt Saturday before the split. I've hunted/eaten nutria my whole life and it's amazing. Tonight will be nutria spaghetti and next week I'm doing a nutria/sausage gumbo. Can't go wrong. 2 easy shots that cost around a dollar and got about 9 meals out of it. I was raised on the poor side of things so we were given one box of shells a season so I found it a lot easier to shoot a still nutria than a flying duck and there's a lot more meat. I'd save duck shots for big flocks on the water where I can kill a few at one time. Never really hunted a blind as a kid always used the stalk method to sneak up on the crowded small ponds. Fire 2 shots and pick up a limit and then go find a few nutria. These are the first I've had in years only because I havnt seen any where I hunt because of the salt water intrusion. Now it's closed off and fresh again so they are back but only problem is the gators are back too. Have to collect downed birds quickly or a gator or hawk will steal em!
Actually some nutria. Was quite tasty too. Easy shot, clean kill, lots of meat. Like hitting Wal-Mart and picking up free groceries lol.
Got some wild game about to hit the cast iron. What you think it is?
Nice blind. I pitty the fools that hunt these big permanent blinds on a lease block for 2 to 3000 a year. They have no idea what they miss out on. I see the ducks holding in one pond I move to that pond and it don't cost a dime! Been hunting public land all my life and if you know where to go and when to go you'll have the best hunts ever. Only difference is ppl like us don't get followed by fancy cameras. Hunting solo is my passion because of the peace and serenity. All the millions of stars before sunrise, then the sunrise itself paired with ducks buzzing every which way. I'll probably pass a way in my blind lol.
Haha. I paddle for over an hour to get to my spot. Not many ppl have that drive. Very rarely is there a hunter close enough for me to see. Usually the closest person to me is a quarter mile or more. But that's where the ducks are due to minimal pressure. I remember when there was a hunter every 100 yards but now it's few and far between. Maybe get 4 hunters within a mile of me on opening weekend but that's the most it gets. Sometimes that's bad because the ducks find a quiet spot and they never get up so after 7am the flight is over.
I just usually climb into a pack of roseau and break em over. Grows back every year. Sometimes grows so much I have to find a new spot because it's too much work to break it all down. That's my buddy in my blind 2 years ago. Can't hunt it anymore cuz it just grew out of control.
Yeah that new pond I found is the ticket. I only hunt once or twice a week so every time I go it's like the first time and the ducks have no clue I'm there. I had 2 teal land close enough that I could have whacked em with the paddle lol. Hopefully the big ducks like the spot too if they ever show up. It only has about 6 to 8 inches of water and it's crystal clear with plenty of fish and grass and seeds. Think that will be my spot till the end.
I usually pluck the teal and skin the rest. I debone the breast and cut it into cubes, marinate in coke overnight in the fridge (fresh can coke works best because it's the acid in the drink that tenderizes the meat and the sugars cut the game taste.) The next day I cut a pack of bacon in half and wrap each piece. I leave the coke on for the flavor. I don't use any other seasonings. Then I bake or grill em until the bacon is golden. Superb! The wings, legs, heart, liver, gizzards I marinate in coke overnight then drain and season with Tonys, lemon pepper, garlic, worsteshire sauce and cook down in a cast iron pot with onions on the stove top then add chicken stock, cover, toss in the oven on 325 for an hour and a half to 2 hours. While that cooks I fix up some beans and rice. Delicious. I don't like to waste and think breasting the birds is wasteful. I take the animals life so I eat whatever I can off of it. Only time I throw a limb out is if the bones are shattered to the point where I can't remove the shards. Don't want anyone choking on bone fragments. My buddy showed me the coke trick about 3 years ago and I live by it now. Works for any wild game meat.
I love eating all ducks so if you have any unwanted divers send em my way. A limit is a limit for me lol. Coca cola overnight and bam taste great. Actually cooking nutria now lol.
2 bw 4 gw
Yes I know that. I was asking what species of duck you think it was found in. I killed a limit of teal and every one was packed full of fish. So it just proves to everyone who refuses to eat divers because they are fish eaters that all ducks feast on fish. Not one of the 6 teal had seeds or grass just fish and sea snails. Opening day I killed 3 scaup and none of the 3 had fish, all were full of seeds. So I stand my ground and say it's a mental thing to say there's a big difference in taste between puddle ducks and divers. Only difference I see is that divers have bigger legs and smaller wings. I marinate in coca cola over night and I've served divers to friends who refuse to shoot divers and they had no clue until I told them. Ok sorry for the rant but that's my point for the day lol.
You do any good in PAC 225buckinduck? I didnt go this weekend and wont make it next one either. Looks like work has my remaining hunting days limited.