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You never know where ducks are going to be along the Texas coast from one day to the other. So far, teal have bene filling out most limits.
Opening weekend of the Texas duck season in the South Zone was one that had lots of hunters heading out of the field with a limit of teal and scattered pintails. Needless to say, there was a whole lot of high fiving going on. But something happened between opening weekend and the North Zone opener on Nov. 13. All the birds that had hunters blazing away with steel shot packed it up and went south, leaving a lot of us looking at empty blue skies and no ducks at shooting time.
One of the best shoots that I ran across was just south of Lavaca on a string of freshwater ponds. Opening weekend, the blind we hunted produced over 60 ducks in two hunts. This past Saturday it produced a three-duck hunt for four of us. We sat there in stunned silence as shooting time came and went with not a single shot being fired. When it was all said and done, we hunted three hours and had two teal and a spoonbill.
To give you an idea of how good the South Zone opener was check this out.
Todd Steele, manager of the Thunderbird Hunting Club near Wharton, says their first weekend of hunting, Nov. 6 and 7, they had 588 birds that were harvested by 105 guns for an average of 5.6 birds/gun/day or 22.4 birds/four-man blind/day. Twenty-four out of 28 groups shot full limits for a success rate of 86%. Most of those birds were teal, pintails and gadwall. For Saturday, 392 birds were harvested by 65 guns for an average of six birds/gun/day. For Sunday 196 birds were harvested by 40 guns for an average of 4.9 birds/gun/day.
That’s your basic incredible duck hunting. But that was just one area.
Here in Southeast Texas, most hunters were lucky to get a shot at a single duck on opening weekend and the second weekend.
“We don’t have any ducks south of Winnie,” says John Blackwell. “My sons went this past Saturday and didn’t see much of anything.”
And on the J.D. Murphree Wildlife Management Area, hunters really struggled to get shots at any ducks.
The front we got in last week moved thousands of ducks well south of the middle Texas coast. It was hoped that we would get new birds in behind the front. Didn’t happen, and that made for some pretty slow hunts.
Sabine Lake fishing
is a little on the slow side
Guide Jerry Norris says that fishing on Sabine Lake is a little slow with plenty of small trout under the birds.
“It’s usually a lot better about this time of November,” he says. “But it’s definitely not happening now. The best bite is from bull reds along the beach and at the jetties. Some slot reds are being caught under the birds on bottom with jigs.”
Deer hunts improving
in the Pineywoods
Hunters are seeing more deer movement around feeders as the supply of acorns begins to run low. The rut has slowed up a good bit. But there are enough big bucks running does to make hunts along game trails and harvest plots worth it.
James Logan is an East Texas hunter that makes it a point to target big bucks. He mainly does a spot-and- stalk type of hunting.
“I prefer to hunt backwoods areas where I’ve seen does with mature bucks right on their heels,” he says. “Some of my best hunts right now are along creek bottoms where deer are still feeding on acorns. If I’m on one particular buck I’ll set up a popup blind in his area and hunt as much as possible. That’s one very good way to get a shot at a big, and mature buck with a trophy class rack.”
Don’t forget that snipe season is open now through Feb. 20; quail season is open through Feb. 27; the Rio Grande turkey season is open in the North Zone through Jan. 2, and the South Zone through Jan. 16.