Right on the heels of Hurricane Francine, hunters were eager to head to the marshes and fields to see what her strong winds and torrential rains left behind. While the storied grounds of southwest Louisiana still produced with plenty of migrators on hand for solid outings, many others hunting marshes to the east had spotty results.
Quitman resident Eric Kirk hunted the freshwater marshes near Creole with family and friends for the Sept. 14 opener and had a great hunt, despite fewer overall birds seen compared to recent years.
“We didn’t see the big wads we usually do in this area for an opener, but the small groups of five or less birds worked really well for us, especially as it got a bit later with more sunshine and wind,” he said.
Kirk also noted how lush the marsh looked in the area, a welcome change from storm impacts and infestations of invasive plants like salvinia that previously carpeted much of the area waters.
Groups hunting the Gueydan area with Haiden Richard of Southern Parish Outdoors (337-230-8157) still had plenty of success, though a bit slower than other openers of recent years between the added pressure around and weather challenges.
“The fog really hurt us on Saturday but we still managed good shoots, Sunday was decent as well though the fog had cleared out,” Richard said. “Overall it was a pretty good weekend, just nothing special like we saw last year.”
Delacroix hunts
Over to the east, Mike Smith of Louisiana Marsh Guide Service (504-228-4506) had a solid start to the season in the shallow marshes of the Delacroix area. Focusing on the shallowest water around, especially with the lingering high tides, Smith was able to put his clients on good shooting both days of the opening weekend.
“The birds were following sloughs and bayous and we got set up on a good flight path each day that worked out well for us,” the veteran guide said. “We didn’t see all that much on Saturday overall, but Sunday saw quite a few really large flocks trafficking from west to east.”
The habitat type, ultimately hinging on water depth, tells the tale as my family and I made two hunts in the outer marshes of Delacroix with much less luck.
Deeper water
While we saw a few nice bands passing through the area both days, we were only able to take a pair on Saturday then didn’t fire a shot on Sunday. Reports out of the nearby Biloxi Wildlife Management Area were similarly poor, citing lingering high tides making the area far less appealing to trafficking flights.
The difference? The ponds are deeper in the outer marshes, much more favorable to larger dabbling ducks to come like gadwall, but is a huge disadvantage for early arriving teal given they much prefer extreme shallows. As a result, the teal my groups observed were simply passing through seeking ideal habitat, and not actually using the area.
Teal were also observed using flooded pastures in the areas following the heavy rains from Hurricane Francine, a common occurrence when a storm passes right before or during the September teal season.
Of note, all hunters polled from the weekend reported straps being dominated by mature drakes, an indication that we’ve only seen the front end of the migration while the bulk of the hens and juvenile birds are yet to come in significant numbers. Hunters across the state are hopeful that the upcoming full moon will help move more birds down in time to chase them before the season wraps up on Sept. 29.
