Buras Teal hunt

Opening day of Teal Season is always a special time to get back to the delta to enjoy the first opportunity for wingshooting on early migrating teal. The birds did not dissappoint and quick limits were on the water in short order. It would have happened sooner, but rusty shooting skills made the first passes difficult. Once that was out of the way, we capitalized on most of the chances and limits were done. My hunting property was largely spared adverse conditions from Hurricane Ida. All of the blinds are intact, the ponds have plenty of submerged vegetation and the bull tongue and delta duck potato that ducks love so much rings all of the ponds. The water did get up over six feet and flushed most of the floating vegetation out. We got lucky as the devastation to Plaquemines Parish was most evident in the daylight as we headed back up river toward home. Here’s to a quick recovery for South Louisiana! Cant wait to get back to the delta for more teal action. Be careful out there this week.

Captain Jeff

Buras Duck Hunt – 12-29-2020

The duck action has slowed down in the Mississippi River Delta. We hit the marsh this morning to great conditions, cool and breezy. We quickly discovered that the water is super low and the tide was still falling. Only one of my blinds was huntable as the rest were dry holes. We were able to get into the pond and we set up a big spread of teal, gadwall and pintail decoys. Sunrise came to relatively empty skies. Nothing moving at all and very few hunters around to stir them up. Soon enough a pair of gadwall decided we looked good and dropped in for a visit and never left. The teal then started buzzing around and a few large flocks of 25-30 banked close to us, but we did not get a shot off. Another group approached and we got 1 Green Wing Teal. Then the action slowed to nothing and the decoys started to lay on their sides as the water was still falling out hard. We decided to get out while we still could and call it a day. While we did not get limits, it was the best hunt until the next. We have some weather expected toward the end of the week and it may bring some new birds in to the area. Good luck out there!

Captain Jeff

Buras Duck Hunting – 12/19/2020

Great duck hunting in the Mississippi River Delta this weekend. The water table is very low right now with only a couple of my blinds hunt able, the rest are inaccessible as they are sitting in nothing but mud flats. A stiff breeze out of the North East had the birds looking for some small water protection. We set up in a medium sized pond that had enough water close to the Mississippi River. We set out a small size spread of teal with a couple of Pintail on the leeside and a half dozen Gadwall on the windward side of the blind. As the legal shooting time arrived, shots were raging in the distance but it took a while for the birds to start moving around us. Then slowly they started pouring into our pond. A pair of Gadwall decided to take a look a little too close and it was on from there. The Green Wing teal made an appearance in a flock of 30 plus and several more ducks made the bag. A few more Gadwall and we finished up early with the rest being GW Teal. My guests shooting was fantastic today. The Green Wing Teal were the dominant species today, but we saw Mottled, Pintail, Mallard, Shovelor and a few Dosgris. Best hunt until the next! An artic front is expected to approach south Louisiana later in the week and may bring another influx of birds, but it may also reduce our water level even further. Fingers crossed on both. Good luck out there!

Captain Jeff

Buras Duck Hunting – 1/2/2020

The duck action is heating up at the mouth of the Mississippi River Delta. After going through a lull in the action late in the first split, the second split has provided lots of opportunities. The Mississippi River is still high for this time of the year and has provided plenty of water in the ponds. The daily bag still is primarily Bluewing and Greenwing Teal, but the last few hunts more Gadwall, Mottled and even a greenhead found their way into the boat. There is another front headed out way now and hoping more birds will ride the winds down to the Louisiana coast. Good luck out there!

Captain Jeff

Duck hunting report – 12/29/2018

Fog and rain this morning made for a challenging ride across the Mississippi River. Using skill and modern electronics, we were able to easily navigate into the blind. A brisk North East wind was perfect for a rarely hunted shallow water slough blind. The birds were easily fooled by the setup and dropped out of the fog and into gun range. On point shooting led to quick limits of Pintail, Gadwall, Mottled and Blue Wing Teal. The birds are beautiful this time of the year as their full plumage is on display. The season runs until the 20th of January and we will keep at it until then. Good luck out there this week!

Captain Jeff

Duck hunting report – 12/15/2018

Fast and furious was the way to describe the morning hunt in the Mississippi River Delta. The west wind was pushing 15 mph and the water in the area was very high. We hit a blind located in a typically very shallow slough that was not so shallow with the high water. The blind is set up for an East wind, but you have to do what you have to do with the conditions we faced. The situation worked well although the shots were very challenging. The Bluewing teal started pouring into the slough as soon as we got positioned into the blind. The Mottled ducks were checking us out from on high before shooting time too. Once the time passed into legal, we unleashed the guns and very quickly limits of Bluewings were on the water. We saw a few Gadwall, Greenwing Teal, and Northern Shovelors, but it was the day for Bluewings. The fantastic hunting continues in the Mississippi River Delta! We will be back at this week. Good luck out there this week!

Captain Jeff

Duck hunting report – 11/18/2018

The excellent hunting continues in the Mississippi River Delta. We had hunts Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Each hunt had full limits for the group. The species composition has shifted to more GreenWing and BlueWing Teal in the bag. We are still harvesting Pintail, Gadwall and Mottled Ducks too, but they seem to be more skittish right now. The weather has been good with the recent cool down and the winds have kept the birds from rafting up on the big open water of the Gulf of Mexico. The property is still in great shape as the ponds are full of feed and we have been moving to different ponds each hunt to limit pressure in any one area of the marsh. The Mississippi River is high and still rising. It looks like a small weather system is scheduled for tonight and into tomorrow morning. Might move more birds into the system, time will tell. We are back at it in the morning and will report. Good luck out there!

Captain Jeff

Delacroix Report – 11/17/2018

Beautiful weather on Saturday! Light winds out of the East and cool temperatures made for a nice ride out and pleasant day on the water. There was little to no water movement which makes catching tough, but my guests were determined to make every cast count. We hit a couple of windward shorelines targeting redfish with live shrimp and dead shrimp carolina rigged. It was slow at first as the water temperature was hovering just above 55 degrees. Once the water warmed, so did the fish and the catching got better and better till we ran out of bait. We got into a redfish bite that was very strong. The fish were 14-29″ and good fighters. We tired of throwing back redfish as the bull reds were coming in 2 and 3 fish at a time. We moved down the shoreline slightly and got into the Black drum with some nice speckled trout mixed in. The drum were perfect size between 16-20″ and the trout were between 16-18″. We also had a few Sheepshead, Largemouth Bass AKA “Green Trout” and a flounder hit the shrimp. All in all a very good day on the water. It looks like the trout are starting to show up again which is a welcome sight. It has been a tough season on my usual target species. Good luck out there!

Captain Jeff

Duck hunting report – 11/11/2018

Still windy, but much less than yesterday made for a better trip across the Mississippi River this morning. Winds were still high out of the Northeast, but were doable in the dark. We hit another blind set up for a NE wind and were set up and ready for legal shooting time. My guests shooting was not quite as fine tuned as Saturdays bunch so it took a little longer, but limits were achieved quick. We bagged Gadwall, Pintail, Mottled, Bluewing Teal, and Greenwing Teal. The action was non stop as thousands of birds passed through the pond. The birds were slightly more wary as the pressure of the opener was fresh on their minds. Nasty weather is predicted for early in the week and it should send even more birds down our way into the Mississippi River Delta. We will be back after them very soon! Good luck out there and be safe.

Captain Jeff

Duck hunting report 11/10/2018

Tough weather conditions for the big duck opener this morning as we faced 30 mph winds blowing into our face as we arrived at the launch. The Mississippi River was raging to say the least. It was just too rough to face in the dark and we decided to wait till daylight to see what we were facing and where we were going. I am glad that we exercised caution because a boat capsized downriver at 5:30 AM and one of the passengers is still missing. The Mississippi River is nothing to play around with. We were able to make it across just after daylight and pulled up into a brushed blind just right for the strong northerly winds. We set out a small spread of decoys and pulled into the cover of the boat blind. We had thousands of ducks screaming through the pond and birds landing 5 feet from the blind – incredible! Great shooting and we were limited out in a very short amount of time. Our bag included Gadwall, Pintail, Mottled, Bluewing Teal and Greenwing Teal. The season is off to a bang up start. More reinforcing weather is predicted for the upcoming week and the hot action should continue. Good luck out there this week and please, please remember to wear your PFD.

Captain Jeff