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The South Zone duck season opener was better than expected, with the best shooting taking place on flooded fields and small lakes. A whole lot of teal fills limits, with a scattering of pintails.
The deer season across Texas opens this Saturday at first light, ditto that for the South Zone duck season and when you stack college football on top of that it’s going to be a busy day for thousands of hunters. But, on the flip side of things if you like to fish places like Sam Rayburn and Sabine Lake there will be very few boats out and the fishing should be good.
The big event is the deer season opener and by now hunters have got their rifles sighted in, the blind is cleaned up and the corn feeders are going strong. But there is one little glitch, especially here in East Texas. The deer have so much to eat, especially with acorns falling like rain, that they don’t have to move much for food.
I spent a few days last week at a friend’s lease and we had very few deer coming to the feeders. Deer like acorns, and when they have them along with plenty of forbs they are not real keen on stepping out of the brush to eat corn.
Based on what I’ve seen the past couple of weeks your best bet is to hunt where there are well used game trails and scrapes. Deer are definitely in the rut on the right side of Texas and that’s when it’s prime time to spend as many hours as possible on stand. For the next couple of weeks trophy class bucks will throw caution to the wind as long as the rut is going strong.
The South Zone duck season opens Saturday, and this weekend is also designated as youth only duck hunts in the North Zone. The official opening of the North Zone, for the regular season, is Nov. 13.
With millions of ducks in the Central Flyway and promising conditions in many parts of the state, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologists suggest these factors could indicate a good waterfowl season is ahead for Texas Hunters.
For the second straight year, the May Breeding Waterfowl Survey was cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns in both the United States and Canada. Instead, TPWD biologists largely relied on fellow biologists in the breeding grounds of Canada and the United States to help with the Texas forecasts for this season.
“Duck production in prairie potholes of North Dakota, South Dakota, Saskatchewan, and Alberta were reported to be below average due to extensive drought this summer,” said Kevin Kraai, TPWD Waterfowl Program Leader. “With that said, there are still millions of ducks in the Central Flyway and we are on the heels of multiple excellent breeding seasons for ducks over the last few years.”
“We are already hearing good reports of birds building in many flooded rice fields and coastal marshes along the Texas coast,” Kraai added. “Most successful hunters will be mobile and always have been. Hopefully, we will continue to see more great cold fronts, lots of cold temperatures and snow to the north of us, and frequent and timely rainfall to attract more birds to Texas.”
Coastal Texas has experienced many extended periods of rainfall, as well as periods of dryness, this summer and early fall. Overall, conditions are in better than average condition across much of the coast. Landowners and managers are currently busy pumping and managing water, and growing foods in the rice prairies. Ducks and geese will concentrate quickly on these locations and hunting success should be excellent in these areas.
East Texas has seen above average rainfall most of the summer. Soil moisture is high and any new rainfall this winter will begin to pond quickly creating conditions important to duck populations. Reservoirs are higher than normal for this time of year and the shallow shorelines and river mouths will be a big draw to ducks very soon.
The playa wetlands of the Panhandle experienced a greater amount of rainfall this summer compared to 2020. Unfortunately, some of the hottest and driest weather of the season was in late August and September. Temperatures exceeding 100 degrees, coupled with high winds, has caused a loss in surface water over the last few weeks. Canada geese will likely still be abundant in this area due to their newfound attraction to waters in urban areas. Hunters hunting grain fields closest to towns with multiple city lakes and ponds will have higher success.