Tag: texas duck hunting

Texas Duck Season Looks Fair

Waterfowl hunting reports have rolled in from Texas’s High Plains Mallard Management Unit and it seems goose hunting has been very good, especially with colder temperatures. However, limits of Canada geese have been taken over corn and wheat. Snow geese have been cooperating over salt and pepper spreads. Goose season runs through February 8. Duck numbers continue to improve with each passing front. Freezing and iced waters to the north have pushed many more mallards to the High Plains: however, few duck hunters have taken advantage of plentiful ducks on playa lakes. Good ducks hunts have been had around Knox City for mallards, wigeons, gadwalls, and other puddle ducks. Duck season ends on January 25 and it with the cold weather ahead it looks good from here on out!

Mallard numbers have improved on area lakes and reservoirs in the North Zone. Freezing temperatures and frozen ponds in the northern states have prompted ducks to move south across the Red River. Hunters working backwater sloughs and timber ponds have scored limits of mallards. Lake and reservoir hunters have had to find secluded potholes to bag their birds. Continue reading Texas Duck Season Looks Fair

Texas Teal Season: Just Add Water

Green winged teal 

The Texas teal prospects are plain and simple: if you have water, you should have birds when the hunting season opens on September 13. However, coastal hunters have another variable — where is Hurricane Ike, forecasted to come ashore sometime Saturday, going to make landfall?

And, if winds blow at hurricane force, what will that do to the teal in the area for the remainder of the season? Good numbers of teal have been reported along the coast, but water is scarce, especially along the coastal prairies. Some outfitters say they cannot get water from canal systems since farmers are using so much water to pour over second-cropped rice.

Those with wells have water, but they paid a heavy price to pump it with farm diesel still hovering around $4 a gallon. Tides have risen on the coast and should rise even more with the approaching storm. That should push new water to barren tidal flats and ponds.

Regardles, teal hunting prospects are good for those with water, unless, of course, the hurricane hits somewhere along the middle or upper coast.