High Plains Mallard Management Unit: An abundance of playa lakes have given birds plenty of wintering habitat on the High Plains and many duck hunters are taking advantage by bouncing from playa to playa. Good numbers of mallards, gadwalls and teal have been harvested, along with wigeons. Goose hunters have enjoyed steady shoots for Canadas. Best goose hunts have come over wheat and corn in the Panhandle. Lots of Canada geese on Lake Etter. Snow geese have been tough to decoy with light winds and blue skies. Outfitters are reported larger Canada geese (westerns and greaters) with the freeze-ups in the northern states. Peanuts have been best for geese around Lubbock and Abilene. Prospects are good.
North Zone Duck: Pineywood and Northeast Texas hunters have enjoyed good shoots for mallards in backwaters along sloughs and swollen river bottoms. Wood ducks have been a given at first light, but many hunters have opted to pass on woodies to take greenheads later in the morning. Caddo Lake and Lake O’Pines are solid for divers, gadwalls and a few mallards. Lake Fork and Toledo Bend saw good shoots in shallow creeks and coves for mallards, canvasbacks, gadwalls and green-winged teal. Diver ducks have been better on the big waters of reservoirs. Hunting remains steady around the zone boundaries of IH-10 around Sealy, Brookshire, China, Winnie and Columbus. Lots of green-winged teal have filled the bag, along with gadwalls and shovelers. Hunting should along get better if the weather dries a bit and allows water to recede even more. Prospects are good.
South Zone Duck: Gadwalls, wigeons, teal and pintails continue to be the mainstay on prairie ponds near Wharton, El Campo, Eagle Lake, Garwood, Lissie and East Bernard. Many hunters have noticed a significant influx of gadwalls this season compared to previous campaigns. Another surprise has been the number of wigeons on the prairie. Some hunters have reported steady shoots where half the bag was comprised of baldpates. Bay hunters enjoyed limits to half-limits near Port O’Connor and Rockport. Redheads have been steady, but those willing to scout have rounded out limits of wigeons, pintails and gadwalls. Marsh hunters near Collegeport have struggled at times, probably due to too much water. Goose hunters suffered this week with light winds and a high ceiling. Many outfitters are saying the juvenile population of snow geese is less than five percent. Specklebellies have cooperated at times, but have shied away from calling; however, specks hitting rice fields have cooperated better. Sandhill crane hunters have not had sufficient weather to push birds within shotgun range, but many hunters have hid along canals and embankments and taken their two birds by patterning the large gray birds from the roost to feeding fields. Prospects are good.
