Southeast Louisiana duck hunters have had a so-so first split season, so some have heeded advice from long ago: "Go West, young man! Go West!"
It's not just speculation or rumor - southwest Louisiana has always held more ducks than southeast Louisiana.
"It's just the habitat here," said Capt. Kirk Stansel of Hackberry Rod and Gun Charters. "This marsh we're hunting here is one of the few areas that has freshwater. It's a freshwater marsh and Cameron Parish has been known for its waterfowl."
"My partner in crime in the duck blind is Clyde the Glide. He's my six-and-a-half-year-old black Lab. He does a good job. Look at that - five ducks," Stansel said.
"DU Magazine said a few years ago there are more ducks shot in Cameron Parish, than the entire Atlantic Flyway. We do real well, we shoot a lot of ducks."
Not only are there a large quantity of ducks here in Cameron Parish and southwest Louisiana but there's quite a variety. Today we got blue wing teal, green wing teal, gadwall or gray duck, the treasured canvasback, ring necked duck, pintail and scaup - or as the Cajuns call them, Dos Gris.