by Johnny Manion
Marsh & Bayou Staff
Face the fact, it’s still hot September. The
fronts which duck hunters are anxiously
watching the nightly news for haven’t
made it to south Louisiana yet. The mosquitoes are still swarming and the marsh
mud is oozing that unmistakable aroma.
What in the hell is that smell anyway?
Words can’t really capture its essence, but
Die Hards will tell you one thing, they love
the smell of marsh mud in the morning.
“It smells like…. Victory!” Thank you,
Robert Duvall! Actually, if you’re a south
Louisiana duck hunter, all this can only
mean one thing - it’s preseason, and we
ain’t talking football.
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September 2016 www.marshandbayou.com
A
lthough they ain’t
the big ones, they certainly
are ducks. The blue rockets
are on a beeline south; and
after seven months, they’re
a sight for sore eyes. After
that long hiatus, the first
swarm of blue patches
buzzing over your decoys is
certainly enough to make a
duck hunter’s eyes cross.
This also usually concludes
with everyone in the blind
squeezing off three shells as
quickly as possible without
cutting a feather! But that
first barrage of panic fire is
classic teal season.
There isn’t an expert yet,
from Phil Robinson and his
Duck Dynasty Army to the
proclaimed Die Hards, that
has espoused the secret
tactic, calling technique, or
decoy spread that’s guaranteed to produce limits of
teal. Everyone’s heard the
conventional advice about
shallow freshwater ponds,
ponds with grass, being on
teal fly ways, yadda yadda
yadda. But it really seems
to boil down to a single
linchpin – you either have
the birds or you don’t.
And last season they had a
few show up in the marshes
and bayou on the
Northshore.
In contrast to “regular season”, Landon and I sat in
the September morning
darkness not even talking
about teal. “Man, was I on
fire last weekend shooting
skeet!” Landon said.
“Teal ain’t skeet!” I cut him
off quickly. “You know the
difference with shooting
skeet?”
“No,” as Landon prepared
himself for my sarcastic response, “What?”
“Can’t eat skeet,” I said
grinning. No reply from
Landon, just dirty looks.
And with the game’s
over/under at 4 ½ on a twoman teal limit, we weren’t