Duck season not all it’s quacked up to be
Published 6:54 pm Sunday, November 26, 2017
The second week of duck hunting for the Coastal and West zones and the first for the East Zone was just about the way most hunters predicted.
“It was somewhat spotty,” is the way Sammy Faulk described the second week in the Coastal Zone, while D.L. Benoit summed up hunting above Interstate 10 to be so-so.
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“Just about like the start was a year ago,” Faulk said. “Still spotty early on. Some have had good hunts, some have not.
“For a change we have seen more mallards this early and there have been a lot of gray ducks (gadwalls) flying around. The pattern seems to have been a lot of teal and then the gray ducks move in with a smattering of mallards.
“We also have had some hunters do good with a hand full of snow geese.
“But I really haven’t heard a lot of shooting. Down around Little Chenier and Grand Chenier there have been mallards, and I understand that some good hunts have been made south of Hackberry and east of Creole there seems to be a lot of gray ducks.”
He added that the short stand of cold weather could help but that there seems to also be a warming shift coming on.
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As for Benoit and the East Zone in the Pine Island area, he and the other hunters are looking for the green-winged teal to come around. It seems that that is the turn that brings on a good season.
“It was the fewest ducks I have seen on opening day,” he said. “The three of us did get our limit, but we saw no big ducks.”
His later hunts during the week had the hunters nailing a few pintails and some gray ducks, but no green wings.
Those green wings just may be laying in wait. According to the Louisiana Depart of Wildlife and Fisheries’ aerial survey, the green wings in the area were second in number only to the gadwall, 144,000 to 523,000.
Hunters hope that the best is yet to come.
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The eagle has landed — bald eagle that is, and two of them south of Lake Charles.
For several years now I have had reports of people spotting eagles in the area — at Sam Houston Jones State Park, in the Westlake area, in fields around Vinton.
I saw one in Lacassine Reserve several years ago but it was too far away to get a good picture.
Last week — a Friday afternoon at Gray Plantation — I saw two.
I don’t have a picture (never have a camera when you need one) but witnesses I do have in Ron Hayes and Morris LeBleu.
It was late in the afternoon — closing in on 5 p.m. — and we were headed down the No. 15 fairway. A bald eagle flew over (that’s an eagle Hayes said), being pursued by what I think was an osprey (I do know that they will attack because they are territorial).
The eagle landed on a stump in the water and the osprey made a dive at it before it flew off.
The eagle then lifted off and touched down on the other side of the lake, up against the bank of a large partial of land that is being developed. There it joined a mate.
We watched them as we played Nos. 16 and 17 and they were still there when we left.
Club assistant pro Jonathan Jester said he has had golfers asked him if he has ever seen any eagles in the area, but this is the first time he has heard of someone seeing one.
Maybe it was a chance sighting. And, maybe not. There are more of them now in the state and they are moving closer to us.
Hunters in the Pine Island area are looking for an influx of green-wing teal.
