SABINE NWR
Dale Logan used to make the one-hour trip from his Iowa, Louisiana, home to the Sabine NWR, which is located eight miles south of Hackberry, on a regular basis during duck season.

"I used to get my fair share down there," he said. "Sabine can be awesome, but hunting it correctly is pretty tough. I still wander down there every now and then."

Sabine NWR is located along state Highway 27 -- the Creole Nature Trail All American Road, in Cameron Parish. It occupies the marshes between Calcasieu and Sabine lakes in southwest Louisiana. Like Lacassine NWR, Sabine attracts ducks from the Central and Mississippi flyways.

The mix of open water and marsh offers plenty of opportunities for hunters willing to put in the work. Approximately 34,000 acres of the 124,511-acre refuge are open to public waterfowl hunting.

"It's all just brackish-water marsh hunting," said Logan. "Hunters typically hunt in the grass or with a boat blind on an aluminum boat. Once you leave the canals, you've got to use a trolling motor or a push-pole."

Hunters may not use air-thrust boats, ATVs, personal motorized watercraft, Go-Devil-type or air-cooled motors at Sabine NWR.

Hunting at Sabine is only allowed on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays during the teal and waterfowl seasons. Hunters can enter the refuge and launch after 3:00 a.m. and must be back at the check station by 12:00 p.m. All boats on trailers must launch from the West Cove Recreation Area boat launches. Hunters may also access Hunt Unit E by driving on Vastar Road.

"We used to kill a lot of gray ducks (gadwalls) at Sabine," said Logan. "Teal are always plentiful, and we get a few widgeon and pintails. If you can find a little pothole off the beaten path, you're liable to find a couple of mallards, but you likely won't kill anything else."

Sabine NWR hunters must remove boats and decoys at the end of each day's hunt. Hunters also have to use native vegetation to make a blind or use a portable blind.

Logan said that hunters who scout Sabine will eventually learn where the major flyways are and what part of the marsh the ducks tend to favor.

"After hunting out there for 10 years, I eventually figured out the areas where the ducks wanted to go and the routes they flew to get there. In all the years I've hunted there, I've always hunted within about a one-square-mile area."

One of the keys to consistently killing ducks at Sabine is hunting areas that allow you to work the ducks no matter what direction the wind is blowing.

"That's why you'll tend to do better hunting the points," said Logan. "You can handle the wind however it blows if you set up on a point. There are actually are few areas out there that I would consider more of a peninsula than a point. I've done really well hunting those areas. Just set up the decoys based on the wind and you can handle anything. Hunters venturing to the potholes need to set up according to the wind."

Logan said that hunters who do their homework and who hunt on Wednesdays could get away from the crowds and have excellent hunts no matter what the count numbers say.