Texas Hunting Forum
Slow?
Seems like no one is showing off any pics. Everyone posting on facebook and Instagram? Or is it that bad all the way around? Been a tough first split, but we've managed. Here's a couple of limits from today
Posted By: BradyBuck
Re: Slow? - 11/27/16 01:56 AM
Had a 4 man opening day, limit on a solo and a couple other hunts got 4. Hoping for some better numbers in December.
Posted By: pervis
Re: Slow? - 11/27/16 02:13 AM
I prefer forums. I'm sure fb and Instagram are killing these types of forums. I like em cause I don't do the social media thing. This is as social media as I get
Posted By: Hopedale
Re: Slow? - 11/27/16 01:28 PM
Its probably a combination. I know no one around me is getting any birds, and those that are have been posting on FB.
Got a text from the coast yesterday and they saw a total of 3 birds. Of course they went fishing, and the Texas coast is huge, so take that info with a grain of salt.
But nice pic BTW.
Posted By: sallysue
Re: Slow? - 11/27/16 02:28 PM
Saw 4 birds and an Eagle wow and seeing Eagle in E Bell county aint normal
Posted By: jonesy84
Re: Slow? - 11/27/16 02:34 PM
Yesterday saw nothing but gadwall
It's been slow enough, this is the look I got yesterday when I told Hattie we were hunting today.. never had a dog give me the whatever before
And boy was she right today. Looking forward to 2nd split
Opening day was the better, by far, of the three hunts I've been on so far. Second day was an afternoon hunt and didn't see any birds. Hunted the next morning and saw maybe 30 birds and the ones that were even remotely interested were very skittish and wouldn't commit.
Have hunted solo 3-4 hunts pre split- not including teal- primarily of duck numbers. The lack of water is really hurting Northern North Texas. I had about 400 birds last year's opening because my millet and smartweed was flooded.
Today saw significant pick up in birds. Tons of grey, some mallards, lots of GWT, mix of others.
Seems like the ducks in North Texas are favoring bigger water at the moment-I guess the shallow flats are holding more food- shot 3 Friday- only saw 6, over 100+ today, scratched out 6 and a few mergansers.
Central Oklahoma is holding tons of birds. I expect things to get better
Posted By: Moto382
Re: Slow? - 11/27/16 11:12 PM
I saw more deer today than I did ducks and I wasn't deer hunting...
Posted By: GoBears870
Re: Slow? - 11/27/16 11:44 PM
I call this one "Why did you bring me out here?"
I've been sick the last 4 days. And I stayed around home for Thanksgiving, planned on hammering some non-existent dux!
Posted By: BDB
Re: Slow? - 11/28/16 01:07 AM
I just tallied up my first split totals. 73 ducks on 9 hunts. Some were solo hunts, some were 2 man hunts and some were 3 man hunts. All public lakes. Had one hunt where we scratched and another only 1 bird. Both of those were 3 man hunts. So all the rest were decent hunts. Looking forward to the 2nd half also.
Fowl Dreams, Bet you got some spoonies behind right tree
I shouldn't talk- doubled on 2 pair of mud stompers today- mergansers and spoonies.
Posted By: FowlDreams
Re: Slow? - 11/28/16 03:41 AM
Haha no spoonies. Widgeon, greys and a couple teal.
Posted By: smirly22
Re: Slow? - 11/28/16 04:02 AM
Been a tough first split for me. Bjt havent had others depending on me for birds this year... which was refreshing. Got a few nice birds, but have a feeling the pressure is about to be on my shoulders again soon. Stressful, but fun. We shall see how it goes!
Sat this afternoon from 2:45-5:15. I saw two high flyers go down the middle of the lake around 4. I saw three swimming in the middle of the lake headed for the other end but I never saw them flying. I saw three more, or possibly the same three, land in the middle of the lake but they never got above the tree line. They stayed out there. Pretty good wind, low cloud cover.
Posted By: Dave Speer
Re: Slow? - 11/28/16 04:22 AM
2.5 bird per man average over here so far. No skunks yet knock on wood but hoping to up the average a little in the second half. Still, have had a lot of enjoyable mornings and it was never so slow I wished I'd slept in
Posted By: wal1809
Re: Slow? - 11/28/16 11:17 AM
I am,in port oconner right now. We fished yesterday afternoon. Hammered the trout, reds and one huge sheephead on spoons. Fish were on! Now the ducks was a different story. We saw maybe 10 groups in 20 miles of boat riding. The flip to that is There was 2 other boats in that 20 miles. There was nobody here to stir any birds. It just didn't feel like duck season.
We made 7 hunts during the first split....greenwing teal saved us for sure.
We killed 106 birds for a little over 5 birds per man average.
61 greenwings
23 Gadwall
10 Pintail
and a small mix of Mallards (all killed saturday), wigeon (non-existent for us), a couple spoonies, and a couple Black Belly Tree ducks.
We hunted 6 different lakes over those 7 hunts. Lots of scouting and not quite as much hunting so far this year. Going to take a couple weeks off and chase some deer, then back at the ducks starting middle of December.
I had a nice little morning to finish the first split. I would post more pictures, but the photobucket website is a pain in the arse.
Posted By: M Wilson
Re: Slow? - 11/28/16 05:25 PM
we need a cold snap up north to bring some more birds, i feel like i have been hunting the same birds for two weeks and they know my license plate number by now.
Posted By: john paul
Re: Slow? - 11/28/16 08:12 PM
I believe a lot of people quit posting on public forums like this and many others because they get tired of people hiding behind an anonymous username trolling them and trying to start [censored].
Saw more birds flying yesterday than we have all season. Only had 3 come in and land, get spooked, and take off real quick. A lot of high flyers and none of them were interested in slowing down to take a look. We tried morning and afternoon hunts during the 1st split and couldn't put anything consistent together.
I hope it picks up, I am going on a hunt in Eagle Lake on the 10th, hope it actually gets cold!
We had a great opening day, but since then we haven't killed a limit. We have only zeroed once, but we haven't even come close to a limit since the opener. 1 bird, 3 birds, 6 birds, 4 birds basically any amount of birds other than a limit. I alway hunt with a buddy or two.
We hunted up north near Abilene and got lucky. We were covered in birds everyday but one w/no wind.
15 Wigeon
12 Gadwall
7 Pintail
7 Redhead
6 Ringer
6 GWT
6 BWT
1 Hoodie
Posted By: Gengo
Re: Slow? - 11/30/16 02:40 PM
Pretty good start for my group. Right at 70 birds on 5 hunts, all on public.