Slow Day on Mobile Bay

Carl

Carl

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Staff member
Headed back out for my 3rd trip of the season. Man, things changed from opening weekend!
The previous couple of days we had a neap tide and a east to south east wind. This resulted in my opening day spot and another spot I found being too deep to hunt. Hunted a backup blind for an hour or so with only one ruddy to show for it. Water was getting deep, so I picked up and started scouting. Found some big flocks of birds rafted up in open water 5-6' deep but very little anywhere else. Where they had been piles of bluebills and buffies last week, there were one or two, maybe.
I finally headed to a spot this is normally un-huntable during regular winter water levels but should be good as the tide continued to come in flooding the eelgrass beds.
Set up again and watched empty skies. Did hear some shooting east of me, need to check those spots next time I get out.
Had a big flock of coots feed into shooting range. A pot of coot gumbo in the slow cooker this weekend sounded good, so I changed out my #3 for #6 steel game loads and let'em have it. 3 shots, 7 coots floating feet up. Nope, not the most "sporting" way to get a pot of gumbo, but it works.
My little girl helped me clean them, she opened bills, poked eyes, checked out the funny feet, pulled feathers until she had a baggie full and insisted we cut one open to check out the innards. At 7 years old, she takes ballet, plays with barbies and is as girly as can be at times, the rest of the time she's hand's deep in fins, scales, feathers and fur. Gotta love it!
The days bag, some big bull drakes in this group, don't you know.


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Here is what I refer to as my brown furry handwarmer. She will play fetch with dead birds in the backyard for hours but is not thrilled with the idea of jumping into cold water. Oh well, she's still fun to have in the boat with me.
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I have a little girl Terra (retriever) just like that. She has a JR title and does OK with warm weather stuff. I usually take her when things are slow in a easy spot so we can cuddle in the Kara. In serious weather or locations Trader gets the job. he is a lot more intense and does not settle in like her but has lots of GO.
Never ate a coot but they eat veggies right? John
 
Never ate a coot but they eat veggies right?
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Yep, on the wintering grounds the are almost strictly vegetarian. They love milfoil. They do get some inverts with the grass (but then so do widgeon, gadwalls and teal too), but they are mainly feeding on the vegetation.
Most people who say "Coots? Yuck!" have never tried them. There is almost more meat on the legs than breast, so if you shoot some, take off the breast fillets and the leg quarters.
 
Hey Carl,

I purchased a bunch of decoys a while back and there were a few Coot decoys mixed in. I don't hunt Coot so if you want them just pay the shipping and they are yours. I think they are Herters.
 
John, if Carl does not take them Rufus and I will! We have a huge raft of coot where we hunt and Rufus has been talking about filling out the rig with them.
 
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Most of my friends down here in florida use coot decoys among their regular spread. Seems that the coot always know where the feed is! Rich
 
Your slow day, Carl, still sounded like fun to me. Got a kick out of what you had to say about your daughter. That makes you one lucky man! I liked that picture of your brown furry hand warmer.
Al
 
Guy,
I take the easy route: get a box of Tony's Gumbo Mix (without rice), follow the directions and simmer in the crockpot for a couple of hours until the meat falls off the leg bones. Make a pan of cornbread to go along with it.
 
Carl,
I have eaten some coots and thought they tasted pretty good....much better than some divers I have eaten that had been feeding entirely on inverts
 
Most of my friends down here in florida use coot decoys among their regular spread. Seems that the coot always know where the feed is! Rich
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Carl has a nice cork coot...just sitting on a shelf in his office, what a shame...

Chuck
 
Most of my friends down here in florida use coot decoys among their regular spread. Seems that the coot always know where the feed is! Rich
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Carl has a nice cork coot...just sitting on a shelf in his office, what a shame...

Chuck
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It will be on the water on Tuesday!
 
The only thing that makes a better gumbo than poule d'eau is gallinule.

Ed.
 
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Enjoy these days with your daughter and may they continue. When my daughter was 6 she went with me for field hunts and trips to Arkansas. She watched me clean ducks and called the gizzard the grinder after I showed her the grit and corn in it. Now at 17, she won't go with me. She shops at Ulta and posts videos on how to properly do make up. But on the good side she lifeguards at the "Y", runs cross country, and can swim 50 meters in 26 seconds (would like for her to get it to 23 and a scholarship).
 
I haven't shot any gallinules in years. Back when I hunted early teal season, they could make a slow down in the blind tolerable.
 
When I was a kid I would just about get my limit of both poules d'eau and gallinules every hunt. I hunted this one place which was unusual in that I could walk the marsh. Most of that freshwater marsh down there in Terrebonne Parish is floatant and you can't walk it. This was some relatively firm stuff and I would send my lab, Jack, along the edge of the pond and he would flush the birds out of the grass and I would shoot them. One time, he goes out and without flushing anything comes back with a gallinule. I figured a cripple. I carelessly grabbed it from him and it scratched the bejeezus out of me, got away and flew off. Jack growled at me. He went back and got another one. He had learned how to creep up on them and catch them alive. There'll never be another one like him.

Ed.
 
But on the good side she lifeguards at the "Y", runs cross country, and can swim 50 meters in 26 seconds (would like for her to get it to 23 and a scholarship).


Richard, if she gets to 23 seconds, she should skip college and become the female Michael Phelps. She'll have the world record by over a second. My swimming days were a long time ago, but back then 26 seconds for 50 meters would have been pretty good on many men's college teams. Even 26 seconds for 50 yards would make her competitive for many Division 3 teams.
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Coots and gallinules are quite aggressive, I've seen them grab onto a dogs ear and not let go, drawing blood in the process, which will really piss off even a soft-mouthed dog! And I have picked up cripples that tried to peck and scatch too. Nasty bills and nails on them water chickens.
 
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