Regular Season: Day 22

Bagged 2 Ducks - 2 Hooded Mergansers. A lot of Dove are visible now that the season has ended, we could have limited out from the duck blind.

Weather
Temperature: 37F
Barometer: 30.15 Rising to 30.25
Skies: Overcast w/ Lt Rain
Wind: 5-8 mph

Regular Season: Day 21

3 in the Bag - Shot 2 Gadwalls and 1 Common Merganser. Looked like the Full Moon affected some of the early duck flights.

Weather
Temp: 33-40F
Barometer: 30.45 Steady
Skies: Clear - Scattered Clouds
Wind: NNE 5-10 mph
Moon Phase: Full Moon

For Those Who Eat Crawfish

Sunday it became apparent that the ducks are still sunbathing and not flying. 1 Common Merganser, known for its crustacean-eating diet, was taken and another 6 ducks were spotted in two separate flights, but none passing within shooting range. Wednesday cooler weather should finally arrive and hopes are great that the ducks will follow the front down.

Temp: 60-64F
Barometer: Rising from 30.02 - 30.07
Skies: Overcast
Wind: 0-5 SSE

Almost Wood...

There were some new arrivals at Isom this weekend. The normal early flight of 4 teal buzzed through at Mach 5 a half-hour prior to sunrise. The next birds that decoyed in were 3 Mallards they responded to a simple "quack" and cupped their wings - they were about to set down east of the point opposite the original blind before I shot.

About 8:00 AM some ducks were spotted high and I hailed them down, while I was working what appeared to be a flight of 3 Widgeon, 2 small ducks cupped in from behind and landed in the decoy spread. I thought the 2 small ducks were Wood Ducks, but kept working the on the Widgeon. I did not get a shot at the Widgeon, but the apparent Wood Ducks turned out to be Hooded Mergansers.

A total of 3 ducks were bagged.

Decoys: Teal in close, Widgeon & Mallards in Deeper water - 16 total
Skies: Overcast w/ light rain
Wind: South 0-5 mph
Temp: 59-65
Barometer: 29.91 - 29.95 (Dropped early, then steadied up before rising slightly)

Sunday, Bloody Sunday

Sunday 7 Gadwall and 1 Teal were bagged.

Weather:Temp: 62-65F
Barometer: 30.00 rising to 30.05
Skies: Overcast, then clearing
Wind: Calm until about 9:00 then from South at 10-15

Week 2 Woes

Saturday's ducks proved to be elusive as the big ducks did not fly through and the teal did not stick around. There was a flight of 6 teal early while setting up decoys, a group of high fliers, a group of 8 teal about 9:10 and finally another group of 3 teal about 9:30. No shots fired.

No ducks were bagged.

Weather:
Temp: 62-70F

Barometer: 30.06 rising to 30.09 then steady

Skies: Overcast, then clearing

Wind: Calm until about 9:00 then from South at 10 mph

Solid 2nd Hunt

Sunday morning's hunt provided a better bag from Blind #1. There were 3 of us in the blind. The bag consisted of 5 gadwall, 2 widgeon, and 3 teal.

Weather:
Temp: 51-62F
Wind: Calm then from the south at 5 mph
Skies: Clear
Barometer: Rising through the hunt.

Opening Day

5 of us hunted on opening day - taking 6 ducks (4 gadwall and 2 ringnecks). We saw our first flights around 7:20 AM and were pretty steady until about 8:00 AM.
We had flights of gadwall, ringnecks, and finally at 10 AM a flight of teal.
Decoys used were gadwall, mallards, teal, and a roboduk (approximately 18 were used).

Weather:
Skies: Partly cloudy early, but clouds burned off toward mid-morning.
Barometer: Rising throughout the hunt.
Temperature: 52-56 degrees.
Wind: Calm