Hit-and-miss kind of duck season

Published 8:04 pm Sunday, January 14, 2018

What are your feelings about the current duck season?

How has it been for you?

There’s one week left in the season for the Coastal and West zones (closes Jan. 21) and two for the East Zone (closes Jan. 28).

It appears that it hasn’t been a normal season.

Warm weather early, then a cold front, another warming spell and now we are in another cold snap.

It’s probably been as confusing for the ducks as is has been for the hunters.

Longtime hunter and local taxidermist Steve German said his hunting party, who hunts the area between Holly Beach and Johnson Bayou, said they had a wonderful first split but haven’t seen many ducks since then.

“I haven’t been back since last Sunday,” he said on Thursday, “but we didn’t see a lot of ducks then. I talked to some other people who hunt the 4-mile square and some of then haven’t even fired a shot.

“The ducks are there. They are just not moving.”

He related a story that brought out that fact.

The Sunday he was hunting, German said a hunter a distance away must have left something back where he launched his boat because he soon kicked his motor off again and took off. When he did, hundreds of ducks took to the air.

“They made a big loop,” German said of the ducks, “and then sat back down. When he came back they did the same thing.

“Those ducks are pretty wise now. Our first half was unbelievable. The second half has just been tough.”

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Mike Soileau hunts the Little Chenier area and said it has been a lot of hits and misses.

“Lack of ducks and the weather has made it the lowest (kill) total I have had in 17 years,” Soileau said. “One day you hit and then the next few days it’s a miss. The same for all the hunters I have talked to down there.”

Soileau added that he was having success with specklebellies and that has kept him hunting.

“No snows,” he said. “They just won’t decoy, but we have had good luck with specks.”

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From those hunting the rice field areas, there has been better news.

During the hard freeze there wasn’t much activity, but the few days after, hunters were taking good numbers of teal, pintails and shovelers. 

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Just a reminder about the goose season. It runs until Jan. 31 for Canada and until Feb. 1l for light geese (snow, blue, ross) and specklebelly.