I only know of a handful of people in texas that could offer a real timber mallard shoot, and itll have to rain a lot and rivers come out of their banks to do that for some. A lot of these self proclaimed guides out there today, anything they call a hole with a tree nearby is advertised as flooded timber. Ive seen flooded willows, dead snags in lakes thatve been flooded since the lake filled 30 years ago, oxbows and sloughs with trees around them be advertised as flooded timber. If you want to go on a real "bury your face in a tree" mallard hunt, itll be hard to find an opening this late at a reputable outfit...and itll cost

Like others have said in TX it's gonna be highly dependent on rain. With that being said, the closest consistent flooded timber hunting to Houston is probably gonna be at Moody Ranch outfitters

even there, you have to depend on the navasot being out of its banks when you have your hunt booked or you'll be out on an open pond somewhere. even when that's flooded, you are still hunting short, bushy, squatty post oak trees. ducks coming into that is not even comparable to them back flapping into a hole from the top of willow or pin oaks at 70'

Hence notice I said it's highly dependent on rain....And obviously it's not Bayou Meto, but the OP asked for a closer option. And when you say it's not comparable I disagree.

pm sent

GT, that's a nice hunt and place. I get your point, its comparable I guess, but not quite the real deal. A lot of people are into this "flooded timber" hunting, but unfortunately very few actually get the real experience. flooded timber is a pretty vague term so I guess there is flooded timber hunting all around Houston.