Duck hunting on public land

[friscopaint]

Go to the Migratory Bird section on THF and ask that question.....you will quickly find that duck hunters are the most sensitive group on the planet and every lake in Texas is a secret that nobody else knows about......also use google earth to find out of the way ponds on "other" hunting areas, LBJ grasslands, Caddo grasslands, etc......then scout, a lot of them may not have water with the drought. On public, if it's easy for you to get to then it's easy for everybody. And remember, as on THF, if you are hunting public and you don't get any ducks it's every other hunter on that lakes fault, not yours......many duck hunters, at least the online ones, were born experts and it's all the rookies that ruin their hunts.....I sometimes go there just to yank their chains

[friscopaint]

Oh, on Ray Roberts on the weekends when I drive to work virtually every bridge has trucks parked at them, weekdays very few. There is one group I see a lot and they evidently have permission to cross private ground and they must do ok because they hunt a lot and always parked in the same spot at private gate which I'm sure shortens their walk immensely and with all the timber it would be a heck of a boat ride in the dark.

[Lungbustr]

Just get a few feeders and trail cams. Set them in some likely areas and go from there. The animals get used to the dinner bell everyday. Once they are good and trained, showing up everyday you hunt.

Almost as easy as deer hunting except the shots are harder.

[Sabineshooter]

Several places along Toledo bend / Sabine River north of Toledo . Haven’t had much success over the past few years though

[CaptJack]

Lk.Somerville

[ultralite09]

Not too difficult to have success on public land...just find public land close to you. Then do the opposite of what every other hunter is doing. If they use large spreads and mojos, throw out a small spread. If they are all calling their arses off, don’t call. If they are all on big water, find small water, if they are all hunting on Saturday, hunt during the week. If they are all hunting out of big blinds, hunt in natural cover. You get the idea.

I killed a lot of birds on public land in my college years, but I had time, scouted a lot, and observed a lot of other hunters.

Bingo.


I hunt public land almost exclusively anywhere from 3-4 days weekly and we do fairly well. As far as spots, the TPWD public land book and google earth is your best friend, your next best friend would be a good pair of binos, lots of gas money, windshield time and a boat if you have one.

[Williams4298]

Go to the Migratory Bird section on THF and ask that question.....you will quickly find that duck hunters are the most sensitive group on the planet and every lake in Texas is a secret that nobody else knows about......also use google earth to find out of the way ponds on "other" hunting areas, LBJ grasslands, Caddo grasslands, etc......then scout, a lot of them may not have water with the drought. On public, if it's easy for you to get to then it's easy for everybody. And remember, as on THF, if you are hunting public and you don't get any ducks it's every other hunter on that lakes fault, not yours......many duck hunters, at least the online ones, were born experts and it's all the rookies that ruin their hunts.....I sometimes go there just to yank their chains

Lol the guys over there are something else. They get all worked up over nothing.

[texan4ut]

Granger Lake near Taylor TX.

[Kingfisher789]

Guadalupe Delta.

[Pilgrim]

Cooper. They're wearing em out at Cooper.

[ColinR]

For east Texas North Toledo Bend WMA. Haven't hunted it in years but I used to hammer the ducks there every winter. 90% of the time we limited out. That was back in my high school days so things might have changed. We used to just about have the place to ourselves for ducks. Most folks were chasing deer and squirrels.

[NF HUNTER]

For east Texas North Toledo Bend WMA. Haven't hunted it in years but I used to hammer the ducks there every winter. 90% of the time we limited out. That was back in my high school days so things might have changed. We used to just about have the place to ourselves for ducks. Most folks were chasing deer and squirrels.

Duck Dynasty changed all of that for us. That show made everybody a professional duck hunter with a full beard.

[Randy Madden]

Duck Dynasty changed all of that for us. That show made everybody a professional duck hunter with a full beard.

Yep! How many of y'all remember duck hunting before it was "cool"?
Those were the days!

[hopedale]

For TPWD WMAs, you'll need a APH permit.

http://tpwd.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=c9788957300943559f7b49206e8ef153

If there is a lake you want to hunt, find out who manages it. Then look at the rules for that lake. Each one is different, but if duck hunting is allowed, you'll need to see where. Most have designated areas.

Here is a ton of information that you can comb through for more info:

http://texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/5268623/Texas_Public_Hunting_Links#Post5268623

[tradtiger]

Used to hunt Lake Tawakoni growing up in '70s. Great success in flooded timber and below the dam on the Sabine River backwater. Fast forward four decades: have tried to hunt Granger Lake with little success and a lot of work; discouraging enough to quit trying here. Not to be negative. That's when I took up bow hunting with a trad bow. Guess I'm a glutton.

BTW, Curt is right. If I had a great place, I probably wouldn't tell you.
Reason: ducks move from hunting pressure; scarce resource.