Despite warm conditions and relatively few birds just prior to the season, Louisiana duck hunters remained hopeful that they’d get a good push of winter weather in mid-November as the season kicked off. Well, we all know the rollercoaster ride that transpired throughout November into early December as we closed out the first split.
Record warmth throughout the Midwest and our home state kept duck numbers far below the long-term average, although an equally unusual number of bluewing teal helped fill early season bags.
Weather did turn cooler around Thanksgiving, and just this weekend a real winter storm swept through the state with a mix of sleet and snow. Unfortunately, even such bitter cold weather has failed to drastically improve the overall hunting prospects of the state, with most reporting that the birds just aren’t here yet.
In the northern end of the state in the Tensas area, Hunter Shaffett of Cypress Point Hunting Lodge (225.301.7335) reports a slow first split.
“Usually we have plenty of grey ducks and ringnecks in the first split to hold us over until the mallards show up, but they just haven’t been in here at all,” Shaffett said. “Even our wood duck hunting has been tough due to all the high water spreading them out.”
Shaffett indicated that water levels have been high throughout the split and are just starting to go down.
“Fletchers Lake is usually 15 feet deep, and it’s been 25 to 30 feet deep. The timber holes have been 10 to 12 feet deep when they’re usually 4 to 5 feet.”
However, as of the closing weekend Shaffett did note some new birds showing up and even some promising numbers of early mallards – so he holds hope for a good second split.
Down in Southwest Louisiana, Rick Hall of Doug’s Hunting Lodge (800.888.0960) in the Klondike area was able to sum it up quickly.
“It stinks!” Hall said.
Hall reports that bird numbers overall have remained far below what’s usually around by this time of the season. Although he’s had a few strong days here and there, he feels waterfowl numbers remain weak overall.
“The speck hunting showed some improvement after Thanksgiving, but ducks have remained pretty slow overall,” Hall added.
Erik Rue of Calcasieu Charter Service (337.598.4700) also reported a very slow split for ducks in and around the Hayes area.
“This is the worst I’ve seen it: We’re down about 34 percent in total duck harvest for the split,” Rue stated.
He, too, has seen far fewer ducks than the norm for his area and didn’t see much of any increase following the cooler weather the last week of the split. Even with rain events, Rue noted that the ducks just didn’t show up in the ag fields they usually frequent this time of year.
Fortunately for Rue, the specks seem to be half-way cooperating for him though the overall harvest was still down significantly from the same period last year. He also reported strong numbers of arriving geese on Sunday as the split ended, so he’s hoping for a strong start to the second split.
Heading to the east side of the state, Mike Smith of Louisiana Marsh Guide Service (504.682.1966) in the Delacroix/Reggio area reported strong numbers of teal, mainly bluewings, sticking around and his clients have been happy to have them.
“This last weekend was fantastic with early limits on Saturday, and we waited just a little longer to bag limits on Sunday; but plenty of birds are around, albeit 95 percent teal,” Smith said.
Smith reported that teal are holding well in the shallow marshes on the Delacroix side whereas his Reggio lease has been very slow when it’s usually full of grey ducks. He’s hoping the next split brings the greys in, but overall feels that it was a good first split.
Another bright report on this end of the state came from the Venice area by Capt. Damon McKnight of Super Strike Charters (985.960.1900).
“The first split started strong, but seemed to get a bit weaker up to last week,” McKnight said. “But we saw a strong showing of new birds this last weekend. We’re killing good numbers of grey ducks but also pintail, wigeon and teal.”
He added that with each passing front the hunting was improved in that there were new birds around and there was weather to make them fly.
“We had a lot of calm, clear days so a lot of times birds just rafted up in the big bays and never flew,” McKnight reported.
Although he feels he’s had a slightly above average first split, McKnight indicated that overall Venice has been mediocre compared to other years. He’s hoping that the new birds seen this last weekend will be a precursor to a strong showing in the second split.
Hopefully the rollercoaster ride of weather we’ve endured will settle into a more typical winter pattern bringing new birds into our state in a hurry. For many die-hard hunters across the state, the new birds can’t come soon enough.
