Sabine or lacassine or bust
 

I'm curious how many of us free bee duck hunters are going to the reserve next weekend?

i used to be one of them i couldn't guess a number on how many ducks i've killed in sabine reserve. I had some potholes i would hunt and murder the greys and mallards back there.

I'll be there

I might have to go to one of them, I got ZERO water in a field I am allowed to hunt! I have heard really bad stories from Lacassine. I wouldn't know where to start there either! My son was real disappointed this morning because he didn't get to go on a youth hunt! Come on Lord give me some rain!!!

Rain in the forecast the next 2 days. Doubt it will be enough to make a difference but its a start.

I've been hunting Sabine a long time and the birds really haven't been there like they used to. But I've been reading all these post of people seeing ducks everywhere and it's getting me excited. Im not looking forward in 100 mile dash with 1000 hunters so I might just take my time and get a late start Saturday and see what I'll see. If anyone wants to invite me to a nice rice field pit blind Id probably take that offer to. Maybe one day I'll join the club and get me a duck lease. I'd love to have one just love not to pay arm and leg.

I won't be, but for some reason I miss hunting in lacassine like I used to

Now sure but was told the west pipeline ditch is plugged the whole way with Lillie's.

ill be in sabine.. im takin a new approach this year.. taking the boat, and i bought the wife a kayak, so im hijackin the yak and see if i can find some holes deeper in the marsh away from the crowds.. pretty excited about the season.. good luck guys and stay safe out there

I hear ya Micah!!
 

all it did hear was wet the dirt!!! Nothing to report at all! How was it on your side?

Same thing

I miss lacassine the way it used to be.

Use to be great hunting. Everyone respected each other. Once you clean a spot everyone left you along.

4 or 5 years ago is when it started to be a chore for me. Used to hunt a pothole in streeters canal and kill a lot of mallards, mottled ducks, and specks. No one hunted around me and then the pond turned to nothing but flotant. Started hunting a few secluded potholes on the north side of pipeline canal and people started just trying to beat us there because they heard us shooting. I guess that's the new mentality of today's "hunters"

Yup. We never really had a trouble with people. Just disappearing marsh.

I have done great in sabine the last coupke of years. Just takes a little paddleing. I take the yak about 2 miles in the marsh and see ducks and no hunters. Most just hunt the edges.

Same in Sabine!
 

it happens alot the same way in sabine refuge. We hunted a spot for five years or more and nevr saw another hunter. One day we show up and set up ten minutes later some guys show up and set up a decent distance from us. While we were hiding the boat we had to pass them. They had put out their set all wrong for the conditions. We offered to have them come hunt with us. Because we knew we were gonna kill. They declined and my buddy asked them if they had hunted this area before. One of them said, "no we heard alot of shooting the past couple hunts so we decided to check it out." then i hear one of the others say jokingly to another, "we would have never found them without following their lights this morning". What a bummer!!!! Needless to say they made the hunt more difficult for us cause they kinda cut us off from the flight path th birds were taking. We killed our 18 by 930 and passed them on the way out. They stuck out like a sore thumb in there above ground make shift blind. We wished them luck and they just stared!

That suck. I understand first come first serve, but following the shooting is disrespectful and not at all hunting IMO. Doesn't do much for me to hunt ducks someone else found

Yup, it's called boom scouting and it has happened to us quite a bit!

Back in the early 90's, Laccasine was as good as it could get for mallards but with each bag limit increase brought more hunters. Of those hunters, 95% were just like those mentioned above. Sabine/Laccasine poor harvest are due to the increased breeding success and bag limits. When the Feds back it down a couple birds those who only hunt ducks to Kill will go away again.

Yea. Hopefully this major drought up north will lower the limits next year and shorten the season and a lot of the tv hunters and facepainters will start watching the buck commanders and start deer hunting. And maybe the price of blinds will be reasonable again. Maybe a 30-3 season. I've heard rumors of no season at all.

Sabine marsh is starting to open up quite a bit and it isn't stopping. Go look at aerials, even after Ike/Gustav year it is still getting deeper and losing marsh in a lot of places.

One of our best spots opened up after Ike. I mean it was on for like 2 years. You couldn't get in there except with a canoe, and even that took a little work. Maybe one or two groups of hunters we would pass on the way to our spots. We piled the ducks and times were good. Well the marsh continued that opening process until boats could just drive in with trolling motors or outboard motors and blaze right into the spots we hunted a mile back or more. During the freeze a couple of years ago a guy with 3 hunters came idling through our spread with a bass boat??? He came from further back in the marsh too. We were 1.5 miles back in the marsh.

Last year we made the final trip to our dwindling honey hole on opening day. There were like 20-25 boats in the same area. Hunters every 200-400 yards. It was dissapointing to say the least.

Of course you take the good with the bad. With the opening of the marsh comes new opportunities for new areas, but you've got to wonder how long that will last. There is only so much land mass that can open up before it all goes to water.

Not sure what the solution is just wanted my .005 cents in there.

The solution is for the USFWS to get off its azz and manage some of the best public hunting opportunities in the country. Sabine is full of saltwater intrusion and is almost silted in beyond repair. Lacassine is completely overgrown with cat tails and salt grass, and almost no potholes left to hunt. People run their outboards in the marsh, threaten other people when they hunt "their" spots, and even hunt on days the refuge is closed. No game wardens to keep everyone on a level playing field. But hey, you got people who are sending our LA tax money to DU so they can work in Canada and the Dakota's. I hope there's a 30 and 3 season next year or no season at all. Refuge Pilgrims!

Federal budget cuts to the NWR system has left Sabine with only 2 wardens and Laccasine 1-2. They can't handle the numbers and thus don't want to or have the money to make any improvements to either. Prior to Rita, Sabine had 5-6 wardens to police the Gong Show. Atleast 2 wardens were at the ramps at West Cove each morning to deal with the high traffic, now it's doubtful there will be any during the week. A lottery system on the NWR's could possibly alleviate all of the crowding and hostility. It's done on many NWR's up north but that would require more money and it just ain't there and probably never will be again. Of the 100,000 + acres Sabine NWR encompasses, barely 10% is huntable which is a shame IMO. Our problems are due 100% to our success.

Yes federal cutbacks have devastate the NWR's, but food stamps are at an all time high. Lets pray some real change is coming after today.

Been hunting Sabine for about 6 years now scouted it yesterday and saw the most birds I've seen yet out there

My buddy said lacassine is full too.

Bunch of birds in Sabine right now

Saw more mallards last weekend In lacassine than I've ever seen this early in the year. Should be good this year.

The river is loaded with mallards right now. Unfrickinbelievable

And specks!

Ran laccassine and scouted some new holes.. Son they got some birds

It's true, it's on the Internet.

Oh yea. Black hoodie, face paint, beany,nand I'm rolling to Lacassine.

i gots a "meatstick" sticker on my gun barrel

Just got my back window decals of ducks cupped up.

Meatstick sticker...check
Black hoodie...check
Face paint...check
Cd of slipknot...check
Robos...check
Duck commander call...check
eBay bands...check
Case of blindside...check
Duck commander DVD...check


I'm ready!!!!

Haters

Everyone that hunts the coastal marshes of Louisiana should take pictures every single time you go out hunting because its not gonna be there forever:redface:

It sounds like you are being a smart elick! I really do have all that stuff so I am ready!!

Hey now i have a meat stick sticker on my gun so be nice!!!! Lol

Well I'm going to Sabine so I hope who ever went scouting and said he saw alot of birds is not tell a fishing story lol. I used to hunt way in the back and we used to smoke them. After Rita, it has confined all hunters into one big area. We've had good times and bad. Most people are respectful but some are not. Just hope everyone tears em up and is safe.

Me too, I pray everytime I am in my pirogue following the rules that I don't get run over by the normal law breakers who run their boats through the marsh. I hear there is going to be some enforcement in the back of sabine this year so hopefully we won't get killed.

its about time they need it. too many people running with no lights and running in the marsh! brother in law lives in TX and during Teal season they had 2 teal come in shot both and then heard an air boat start up and come straight to them. It was Game Wardens they asked who shot the birds and proceeded to check them. they were all legal and it was on public land. i would hate for the GW to bust in on my hunt but i know some people need it in Sabine and Lac!

Last year they were at the mouth of the marsh and checkin people. Not ruining anyone's hunt just checkin afterwards. The main thing is deterring people from running in the marsh and running with no lights. I've done it but they had some Vinton HANDS! on here bragging about it, and sayin they weren't gonna stop.

Here's what Laccasine and Me used to look like back in the 90's. Quite a bit different than what the marsh south of the pipeline canal looks like today.

Very nice looking string of ducks

Hunted Sabine every Sat,Sun, and Wed back in the late 80's and early 90's. We actually walked in on the east side. Used to be a big pond and several pot holes. We hammered them for 3 +/- years. People around us thought it was the spot we were in and started getting there earlier and setting up so that has been going on forever. The problem was - it wasn't the spot as much as it was the set up and everything else. Then we got sick of it and said we would get there first everytime. We were in playing shape back then and we had about 1/2-3/4 mile walk through marsh grass and another 1/4 mile walk through a pond. I think back then you could enter refuge 2 hrs before shooting time. We were parking and crossing the fence at the 2 hr mark. 1 of us would carry the 2 bags of decoys and his gun. The other one only carried his gun. We got our prime time pick of the litter everytime, but even 20-25 years ago, people were still disrespectful - maybe just clueless or both, but they would come and set up 200 yards from us and sky bust. Not much of anything more aggravating than working some birds and then have a couple of idiots try and shoot them from 70 yards while you are working them and they are circling your decoys. It got to be a miserable. I've never been back. Back then Sabine was unbelievable. If I remember correctly, the warden told us several time that the average birds per hunter was just short of a limit and that included the idiots and rookies.

200 yards away? I wouldn't mind that to awful much. I've had people set up so close their dog was breaking, trying to retrieve our ducks!

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Now that right there is a classic!! :rotfl: