John K. Flores: Some hunters found success when duck season opened

When it comes to numbers, 802,000 may seem like a lot. Unless it’s the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ waterfowl population estimate.

Point of fact, the 802,000 ducks estimated during the November 2022 survey for coastal Louisiana and Catahoula Lake was the lowest since the survey began in 1968.

According to the aerial estimate that was reported on the eve of the 2022/2023 waterfowl season opener last weekend, the number was 38 percent lower than last year’s November (2021) estimate, 28 percent lower than the recent 5-year average, and 48 percent lower than the 10-year average.

Once again, the lion’s share of ducks counted were found in southwest Louisiana, totaling 644,000, followed by 105,000 in the southeast, and 38,000 on Catahoula Lake.

No matter what the duck numbers are, few diehard waterfowl hunters will ever miss the season opener.

One hunter who hunted the southeast region of the state was Bill Lake, owner/operator of Bayou Guide Service. Lake’s duck lease is close to transect line number 20 of 27 south of Gibson that the LDWF flies over. He and three of his friends hunted opening day and were surprised how well they did.

Lake said, “Man, I hate getting rained on before getting in the blind. Good thing the front Saturday morning came in after daybreak as it would have been a cold and miserable pre-dawn ride. We had a better opening day than expected. We didn’t see any birds while brushing our blinds a couple of days before the season. We didn’t get full limits, but we shot enough ducks for supper. We had teal, greys, widgeon, ringnecks, spoonies, and a summer mallard. So, it was a good start.”
Across the state, Brian Windsor hunted south of Highway 82, east of Cameron in southwest Louisiana. Windsor said they saw plenty of ducks along the coast and lots of high flight birds. He and his partner were able to limit (12 birds) by 8 a.m. on opening day.

On Sunday, he and two other friends limited out again killing 18 ducks prior to 8 a.m.

Windsor said, “The majority of birds were teal, mostly blue wings. Other species we killed were grey ducks, spoonbills, and a few widgeons.”

Ben Givens hunted the Atchafalaya Delta Wildlife Management Area on opening day. Givens brought his 8-year-old son Harper who would be making his first ever duck hunt. Givens was hoping his son would have fun hunting ducks and make the connection that comes with being down to the camp with a bunch of guys.

Father and son hunted with four other duck hunters that put out some 50 decoys with hopes of attracting a few birds.

Givens says up until around 7:15 a.m. things were unusually quiet for the group of hunters. In fact, across the WMA there were few shots fired. Then a few birds started flying only they weren’t committing to the decoys.

They witnessed lines of diving ducks flying high, saw decent flocks of teal buzzing over distant tree lines, and lonely pintails every now and then looking for anything but them Givens said.

After a while, things changed, and the group of hunters started getting a few passes. All total they killed 19 ducks that was a mixed bag of blue and green winged teal and scaup.

Givens said, “We had a few opportunities, but you had to act quick and take long hard shots. Fortunately, we shot well. That really was the saving grace of our hunt.”

Thomas Landers and his friends hunted in Gueydan. Landers reported he saw more ducks on Saturday ahead of the cold front that passed through than he’d seen in 10 years.

Landers said, “We had good hunts both days with easy limits. We had a banded mottled duck on Saturday in the mixed bag of 18 and over the two days of opening weekend we harvested 9 different species of ducks. We shot blue winged teal, green winged teal, mottled ducks, gadwall, wood ducks, scaup, ring necks, widgeon, and the ever-present spoonbill made his appearance. I’m looking forward to more of the same with any luck this season.”

Jack Cousin, who guides for Sportsman Charters in Gueydan, mainly hunt white-fronted geese (speckle bellies). Opening weekend wasn’t very good for goose hunters says Cousin.

“It was pretty slow to nonexistent for us, but we’re starting to see some birds now. So, hopefully things will start to pick up for us,” Cousin said.

With the waterfowl season only a week old, there’s still a lot of season left for duck numbers to hopefully increase as the migration continues southward. It usually only takes a few cold fronts in the heartland with a mix of snow and ice to push ducks south. Here’s hoping that occurs over the next few weeks.

John Flores is the Morgan City Review’s outdoor writer. He can be contacted at gowiththeflow@cox.net.