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Bark up the right tree – How to make the most of squirrel hunting with dogs

January 1, 2013 John Flores

Somewhere inside the small patch of woods surrounded by sugarcane fields, Hoke hunted. Maybe no more than 20 acres in size, if you flew over it the woodland would resemble a postage stamp stuck in the middle of an envelope.

A mix of hackberry, swamp maple, water and pin oaks, the isolated habitat wasn’t large enough to support a deer population, but it’s perfect for big red fox squirrels.

Hoke was used to the terrain, having hunted it before. There’d be no surprises on the afternoon. The goal was simply to spend a couple of hours hunting on a day already short because of winter, and if all went well the day would culminate with shooting a couple of the tree dwellers for the pot.[…]

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Sibling Rivalry — How this brother-sister team hunt Atchafalaya WMA ducks

January 1, 2013 John Flores

A midmorning hunt with a late arrival on the Atchafalaya Wax Delta was the plan. Adam Rhodes had no desire to get up at 3 a.m. to beat the weekend crowd to some of the better locations he already scouted and plugged into his GPS.

The diehard Morgan City waterfowl hunter had done the middle-of-the night thing before in order to beat others to a preferred location.

And he figured out it isn’t always necessary.

Rhodes is now accustomed to making later-in-the-day hunts on the Atchafalaya Delta Wildlife Management Area, understanding the tidal conditions and advantages of scouting prior to hunting the vast 141,000-acre refuge that can only be reached by boat.[…]

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The more things change — Fishing for trout, bass, redfish at The Pen

January 1, 2013 Chris Ginn

Change is inevitable in coastal marsh.

The tide gives when it rises and takes away when it falls.

Land piles up in some places while washing away in others.

Fish that you couldn’t stop from biting one day cease to exist the next.

Nowhere is this change more evident than in The Pen. One of the most-famous fishing holes in all of Southeast Louisiana, this Lafitte hotspot once wasn’t even a lake.[…]

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Tadpole’s Tensas — Tactics for Tensas NWR deer hunting

December 1, 2012 Keith LaCaze

It was Jan. 7 of this year and Alton “Tadpole” McLeod was hunting an area of Tensas National Wildlife Refuge he had not previously hunted. He found a deer trail and a suitable tree for his climbing stand overlooking the trail and got set up.

Around 4 p.m. buzzards (of all things) began to congregate at a roost tree nearby.

“They were making a lot of noise, landing, flapping wings and breaking branches,” McLeod said. “There must have been 30 or 40 of them.”

Tadpole was discouraged and did not expect any deer movement due to all the noise. He considered moving, but since it was so late in the day he decided to sit it out till dark.

Around 5 p.m. he heard something moving in the palmettos, coming from the direction of the buzzard roost. He suspected either a deer or bear.[…]

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Wilkerson’s Wonderland — Myrtle Grove’s Wilkerson Canal offers great redfishing options

December 1, 2012 Rusty Tardo

Maybe you’ve thought of Myrtle Grove as a mere blip in the road, a tiny hamlet somewhere between Ironton and West Pointe a la Hache, a place you whiz by on your way to more notable destinations, such as Buras, Empire and Venice.

But it’s time to think again.

Certainly, many old timers remember Myrtle Grove as an outstanding wintertime bank-fishing destination, where you could pay a small fee and pull your car or truck up near the edge of Wilkerson Canal and fish for trout and redfish.

It was well known for producing excellent catches of specks and reds in the most inclement weather. It actually seemed that the colder and more bitter the winter weather was, the better your chances of catching fish.[…]

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Second Split Stand-off — Move stands to see more late-season deer

December 1, 2012 Humberto Fontova

Da Saints had just stomped Da Falcons in Da Dome. Da Tigers were scheduled to stomp Bama at the championship the following week. And a perfectly-timed (for hunting) holiday cold-front was barreling through.

So spirits were soaring high at Da Camp as we converged the day after Christmas, with Da owners Eddie and Artie arriving elegantly late, as usual.

Exactly which one of Dem owned and ran the deer-club had never been precisely nailed down. Artie’s uncle more or less “founded” Da Lease back around the time “Bum” Phillips resigned as Saint’s coach in a huff.[…]