2021-2022 Duck Hunting Thread

[150class]

Looks like we will be headed back to chambers county Saturday fighting the wind!

Might do Sunday also

Jealous of that stringer Gander!

We are looking for some property around the Devers/Hanamaker area as a new Duck hunting spot.

[Chronotrigger]

I've driven from Rosenberg to Thorndale and back at least 6 times going through Eagle Lake, Columbus, LaGrange, and Lexington. A few times have taken 79 and hwy 36. Out of all those drives I may have seen a handful of ducks. It seems unless you are on a hunting club or lease that's being managed for waterfowl, then you are SOL. No one in my family duck hunted and didn't really get into it until about 15 years ago. Man, looks like I really missed out. Even worse it's looking like my son won't get to experience the excitement of watching a group of birds working the dekes. Sad times for sure.

[Mitchell8]

Hunted yesterday morning with my brother and 3 other friends on some of their property in Hankamer. Hunted an old oxbow. Before shooting time had thousands of Greenwing flying overhead but they were on a mission to elsewhere. Killed some wood ducks and a couple green heads and mottled ducks earlier in the morning. We were sitting at about 12-14 birds at 9:45 and it's like a switch turned on and the mallards started to dump in. By 10:30 we were done with our 30 birds. Our last two groups we killed 3 greenheads and the final group we dropped 8 green heads out of it.

Real nice strap for that area.

[bollomb]

Hunted yesterday morning with my brother and 3 other friends on some of their property in Hankamer. Hunted an old oxbow. Before shooting time had thousands of Greenwing flying overhead but they were on a mission to elsewhere. Killed some wood ducks and a couple green heads and mottled ducks earlier in the morning. We were sitting at about 12-14 birds at 9:45 and it's like a switch turned on and the mallards started to dump in. By 10:30 we were done with our 30 birds. Our last two groups we killed 3 greenheads and the final group we dropped 8 green heads out of it.

Awesome hunt man!

[bollomb]

We had a pretty good hunt on a farm pond this past wknd.

[150class]

[ATTACH]1076988[/ATTACH] We had a pretty good hunt on a farm pond this past wknd.

Those spoonies starting to look pretty!!!

I haven't seen a single plumed out spoonie yet this year.

[b.latiolais]

Hunted yesterday morning with my brother and 3 other friends on some of their property in Hankamer. Hunted an old oxbow. Before shooting time had thousands of Greenwing flying overhead but they were on a mission to elsewhere. Killed some wood ducks and a couple green heads and mottled ducks earlier in the morning. We were sitting at about 12-14 birds at 9:45 and it's like a switch turned on and the mallards started to dump in. By 10:30 we were done with our 30 birds. Our last two groups we killed 3 greenheads and the final group we dropped 8 green heads out of it.

Daaaayyyyyuummm!
How much to be a member of the "Oxbow Club"??
That's an awesome hunt!

[Pin Oak DXT]

I definitely can agree that habitat change has forced birds to move outside of traditional migration routes. I farm rice on the Gulf Coast prairie and I think the Honeybrake guide is off the mark on the Clearfield variety of rice not being preferred by waterfowl. It is just not true. In our area, the growth of outfitters has led to significantly more pressure and these birds simply won't tolerate it. I mean almost every pond has a pile of brush with gun barrels hiding in it. No longer are guides hunting Fri-Sun. I leave my place on Sunday afternoon to return to work in the big city and around 11am on Monday my Instagram is full of guide posts with half limits. This goes on all week. And then people want to complain about the lack of ducks. Those birds are sitting unmolested on stock tanks and ponds in Central Texas and South Texas where nobody is hunting them. My opinion so open to discuss.

The next thing to remember is we have experienced terrible duck production the last 2 summers. The birds numbers are down. Not having young birds in the sky makes it tougher to kill these mature birds. I prefer to call less. I am working harder to keep my blinds brushed better. I have pulled my mojo more times than not this season. May not even take it the rest of the season. But the boys and I are killing ducks. Just not as many as past seasons and we are working harder to get limits. I still love every minute of it. A question to everyone here is how much do you love it? Enough to hunt next year if the limit is 3 ducks and the season is shortened? I think that is coming.

[Pin Oak DXT]

Hunted yesterday morning with my brother and 3 other friends on some of their property in Hankamer. Hunted an old oxbow. Before shooting time had thousands of Greenwing flying overhead but they were on a mission to elsewhere. Killed some wood ducks and a couple green heads and mottled ducks earlier in the morning. We were sitting at about 12-14 birds at 9:45 and it's like a switch turned on and the mallards started to dump in. By 10:30 we were done with our 30 birds. Our last two groups we killed 3 greenheads and the final group we dropped 8 green heads out of it.

Congrats on an awesome hunt!

[RockTippedStick]

I wish it would go to a 3 bird limit to help recover but we need some water up in the prairie too. Hope they get a ton of snow and some Spring rains. What I find odd is the limits on the way the Fed sets the upcoming years. On restrictive years it is a 3 bird limit but the next limit up is 6 but cuts down on certain hens like mallards from 2 to 1 and shortens the days available to hunt for the season. Then the next jump up to a good production year is 6 with more days added. Why not drop down a bird from the great to the average years? Just seems odd to me. I agree with the above about hunting ponds and areas everyday of the season. It has happened on our place. We would rarely hunt during the week except during Christmas/New Years. Only weekends, and we would be shooting 30-35 every hunt between two blinds. Now guys are pressuring it too much hunting a pond a couple times a week. No rest for the birds to get comfortable. Add in a lot of other variables like poor nesting and some warm Winters and changing migration paths. Things have just changed.

[Pin Oak DXT]

I wish it would go to a 3 bird limit to help recover but we need some water up in the prairie too. Hope they get a ton of snow and some Spring rains. What I find odd is the limits on the way the Fed sets the upcoming years. On restrictive years it is a 3 bird limit but the next limit up is 6 but cuts down on certain hens like mallards from 2 to 1 and shortens the days available to hunt for the season. Then the next jump up to a good production year is 6 with more days added. Why not drop down a bird from the great to the average years? Just seems odd to me. I agree with the above about hunting ponds and areas everyday of the season. It has happened on our place. We would rarely hunt during the week except during Christmas/New Years. Only weekends, and we would be shooting 30-35 every hunt between two blinds. Now guys are pressuring it too much hunting a pond a couple times a week. No rest for the birds to get comfortable. Add in a lot of other variables like poor nesting and some warm Winters and changing migration paths. Things have just changed.

I agree on the heavy snow and spring rains. The pond count needs to explode. I think I read the pond count last summer was down 82% over the long term average.

[3rdCoastHunter]

Come on 3 bird limit we ready!!

[unclefish]

Hunted yesterday morning with my brother and 3 other friends on some of their property in Hankamer. Hunted an old oxbow. Before shooting time had thousands of Greenwing flying overhead but they were on a mission to elsewhere. Killed some wood ducks and a couple green heads and mottled ducks earlier in the morning. We were sitting at about 12-14 birds at 9:45 and it's like a switch turned on and the mallards started to dump in. By 10:30 we were done with our 30 birds. Our last two groups we killed 3 greenheads and the final group we dropped 8 green heads out of it.

Congrats on an incredible hunt! That's what dreams are made of....and in Southeast Tx to boot!

Do they shoot mallards like that every year on that place?

[justletmein]

How's the birds looking on the coast right now, specifically POC area? I'm looking at going the next two weekends but haven't been hearing much info.

[RockTippedStick]

I agree on the heavy snow and spring rains. The pond count needs to explode. I think I read the pond count last summer was down 82% over the long term average.

To add to your other post, all the outfitters lease up every bit of land that is left out around Eagle Lake and Garwood and hunt it every day. Where are the roosts now. I hunted Geese down there years ago and saw tons of Geese coming off the roost next to us. We shot some birds and saw a lot. I mentioned it would be nice to have that piece of land over there and the guide said that it was historically a big roost and didn't get hunted because of that to keep birds in the area. Are there any of those left?

Gander, I would be interested in how long that oxbow was rested since the last hunt?