After a few weeks layoff chasing venison, spent the weekend making up for lost time. Mad Mallard, One Year Wonder, and myself hunted Saturday and then called in some support for Sunday. The pool table I was talking about was there.

Saturday, 3 hunters with 3 mallard limits .......no "kickers"...




Sunday was one of the tops in my duck hunting experience. 5 hunters ...25 mallard drakes w/ two "kickers" ....a gad drake and a woodie drake. The combination of mallard numbers, the view of the hole we hunted and the way they worked made for a helluva memorable hunt.

nice, wish i was seeing that much

Nice report gentlemen, and a great looking hunt.

what part of the state do you hunt?
I have only seen a handful of mallards from comanche to college station.
kirk

any bands this weekend on any of those birds?

Drive around Haggerman Wildlife Refuge; Leave the gun at home ; The well pads on the west side of the Refuge; Everthing is DUCKIE. All sorts, sizes and colors.
Actually I have see bunches on ponds Problem is; I don't have permission or I am working and can't be Duck Hunting

Awesome hunt. I am still waiting for the perfect hunt and will probably never find it hopefully. It makes every trip feel like that is the one.

What county are you hunting in? We hunt Fannin county and have not shot a single greenhead. I have only seen two in a pond the size of a house. That is normally all we shoot. It has been all widgeon, gads, and rings this year. My friend has pictures like your before the sand company moved in and destroyed all of the wetlands. Thanks to Frisco and new developments for that.

Nice hunt and great photos...the second photo on the tailgate and the greenhead on the right in the photo which would be the left side of the truck or passenger side....well, that beak looks a lot bigger then the other ones.....we had a few that were huge compared to the others we shot last weekend.....cannot wait to go hammer on the greenheads next weekend........the last weekend...it will be an all drake weekend....he who shoots a hen....buys a big expensive dinner and if that is not enough he has to buy drinks too. The past 10 years nobody has shot a hen that weekend...and let me tell you one pair of gadwall that somebody got lucky on early in the morning.....whew.....

Birddog14, I can't believe you are surprised by that! BTW - Where are your GPS coordinates for you favorite hole? I yet to get hurt for asking. Where is Green Head, TX which you list as your home? Oh, you might give away your spot if I new where that town is located.

Our mallards are not in our specific pond so my hunch is the mallards have soooooo much water to choose from they are hiding in the thick flooded timber and anyone hunting an open pond or lake might have no chance at them. I saw this from my hunt on Monday. They were in the thick flooded timber but not on our pond.

I am hunting a top secret flooded slough on some river in east Texas (can't believe I gave away the state) on the last weekend. I'll let you know the name of the river (man, I hope there aren't 50 guys there now) and county after duck season so someone doesn't secretly find it.

Bradbury, make sure you go back and edit every post on duck hunting west of Fort Worth.

LOL....I can tell you exactly where I hunt.....can tell anybody.....but it would not do anybody any good unless they know the combo and have permission to be there..LOL

I talked to a friend who went out to Eagle Mountain, got there at 5 in the am, during the week....six duck boats had launched and two were behind him.....forget that, those days are behind me(except at the coast) I hunt all private now. And the word on my hunt for one of the remaining days of the month and season will be in a flooded low spot in a winter wheat field....birds are coming in all morning and the afternoon...my buddy is so convinced that he is going to have the hunt of a lifetime...that he is going out there about 10 at night to dig a pit blind...


Hey, when I hunted public water back in the 80's I would not take anybody who might go by themselves...not even my closest hunting buddy.....did it once and went back and found that guy sitting there with 4 others.

Kinda like where did you catch the fish.....my new answer is in the lake out there on a hump or flat or whatever....no specifics,,,,I get that from a buddy of mine who when asked by the federal game warden..."why are those birds coming to this field" he says I guess it is all the sunflowers.....and the warden then asked "where did you kill those birds" my friend said...in that sunflower field......luckily I was behind them as I almost died laughing.....then the same guy was questioned about where he had caught the fish with me one day at CC and it was by a guy at the marina I told nothing to.....he told him when asked "where did you catch all those fish?" in the lake.

I guess we hunt public sometimes but it is the Red River so you need an airboat or private access to get there.

Man, I really wish we would have hunted the flooded wheat field this past Saturday like we did the last week. My buddies bro said there were more birds in the pond... But those birds are more than likely to keep hitting the field throughout the morning as opposed to the pond where you only get a large influx of birds in at first flight. Good luck on your field hunts. I am going to attempt to take this weekend off and then we are heading east for 2 1/2 days of wood duck, hog, and squirrel hunting on my friends deer lease.

All I was doing was trying to see where the mallards are.It is this secret, hush hush thing that turns people off.ask me where I hunt and I will tell you.I have three places, one public the other two private.You guys act like I am asking to hunt with you.

Obviously they think letting someone know the county they hunt in will give their whole area away. I am sorry, I just don't get it. Guess there are people out there that will figure out what lake or river you are in if you let us know the county and they will take your spot? Don't most duck hunters already know where they are hunting??? I hear great reports from Toledo Bend but I didn't know what was a secret with 100,000 acres!

I dont understand why you guys are so Paranoid........You think yall are the best duckhunters and live with this big ego I have seen for years..........If you were any kind of real "Duckhunters" you would at leat try to help others out with general locations of migrating ducks, not the GPS co-ordinates but at least some general info........

Not everyone is going to see it Skacks way. He is right IMHO but if some folks get rubbed the wrong way, suck it up! It is mighty tempting to ask folks where they hunt after seeing great pic's of the pile O ducks! Am I jealous......HELL YA! But I am sure things will roll my way next season. Then I will be posting pic's to Big Time you guys..........

Wow, that was beautiful.

Skack,

That is probably the best come back post I have seen on this particular subject!

I haven't killed near as many birds as you and Mad Mallard have this year, but that is fine by me. I have not been skunked this year and keep hammering away to a better season than last year.

Keys to success have been putting in the extra mile! I put 1,000 miles on my truck over New Year's weekend to shoot 3 ducks in 2 days. The last 200 miles was the best, because we ended up shooting 5 Greenheads, 2 Woodies, and 1 Pintail the last day of the weekend.

Scouting and working to find your ducks is the most important part of hunting. This year I have hunted several different lakes, rivers, and private places.

For the others wanting to know where the ducks are being killed, go out and look for them. If you have an area that is FLOODED, go to it as it should have Mallards. That is all I will say!

Again, great post Skack!

Those are awesome pictures. Congrats. I would also like to put my two cents in. I am new to duck hunting, and have been helped tremendously by a guy on our lease who didn't mind showing me a thing or two. He pointed out some probable spots and gave me tips on calling, locating, and decoying. Did he tell me his "secret spots"? NO, do I expect him to? NO. Like the other guy said, sometimes you have to get out and find em yourself. I am very thankful to the many people who have helped me, but I don't expect them to hand ducks to me. I am not very good at putting thoughts into words, I hope I haven't rambled to much. I do appreciate a scouting tip such as ducks are in the flooded timber, in open water, etc. I can figure out the rest.

We know you work hard to get your ducks and you are an awesome hunter. So do others too. I have not been skunked on my hunts either this year. But it is also nice to have a story and some info behind a picture that is posted. I really like to know what county game is taken in regardless of type. Since we normally have mallards on our spot and this year and we don't, it would nice to know just have some excuse. I am not going to change where I am hunting. I just want to give my buddy some excuses. It has nothing to do with chasing the dream... Expect people to ask some general questions. I don't have a boat and do not plan to ever hunt public like you do except some rivers which are about impossible to access unless you have private property. I enjoy knowing the whole story behind a picture though. I don't think knowing what county the ducks are shot in is a big deal. I like data and facts. Send a PM if you like. And I have yet to see a single reason on this thread about why putting a county to a picture is giving up a spot. Can someone explain without going into a manifesto about driving 1,000,000 miles and working hard and getting off your butt why county is such a taboo subject?!?. That is a ridiculous excuse for not answering a simple question. I have yet to see an increase in hunter numbers in Fannin County where we hunt. And yes, there are ducks in flooded fields there.

Or just tell me to shutup and hunt. Only issue is I can't while sitting here at work.

To you guys hatin' on ole Skack......how could you possibly call yourselve's a "duck hunter" and want to ask where he's been hunting? So all you asked for is the county? Well, I guarantee it wouldn't take very long to get a general location as to where they've been hunting. Where's the fun in that? That's exactly why I hunt public.....because it's fun and challenging. I could've gone private this year, but with the high public water levels I knew it was going to be a banner year. Has it been a banner year for me?....Nope. I've killed my fair share this year but like Skack, in over 30 hunts I've only hunted the same spot twice. Sooner or later I'll find that "pool-table" honey hole, record some perfect hunts, and keep on looking. That’s what it’s all about to me.

Sorry, just had to stand up for a stand-up guy. Skack doesn’t have ego issues by a long shot. Him and his hunting buddies are just proud of their success and choose to be tight-lipped because they’ve seen what running off at the mouth can do to a good spot.

BW