I will be in Port Aransas from Jan 1-5 to celebrate my 40th birthday, and want to do some duck hunting. Could someone post some GPS coordinates of some good spots to hunt? I don't mind hunting close to someone else as I have a 10 guage and can really skyblast. I'M KIDDING!

I was really wanting some guide recommendations. I have found online a couple services that will take you to a blind with deeks already out and pick you up around 10 or 11. This is great as I've been duck hunting since I was 8, but I have never hunted that area.

I would like to hire a guide the first day to bring me up to speed, and give me a crash course on the behavior of the local birds. I've never hunted the coast, nor have I hunted redheads. I think it would be wise to have a local brief me on the "unwritten local rules" to avoid being a nuisance.

Can yall suggest anyone? Who should I avoid? Anything else that I might need to know? Any response is appreciated.

Pick out drakes, shoot em over the decoys. You don't need a guide

We used this guy for the last weekend of season last year:

http://texasgulfduckhunting.com/service.htm

Basically you're kind of overpaying for a glorified ride, or underpaying for a "guided" hunt depending on how you look at it. You'll hunt out of a nice blind with dozens of decoys pre-set. You get to sleep in, meet the guy around 530, cruise to your hole, sit down and wait for legal and then shoot and wait for your ride back. Pretty straight forward.

I disagree highly with you dave...Infact from years of experience on the coast that way of thinking can get people in a bind in a hurry. The coast is a different animal

Your example isn't a guided hunt, it a safe access hunt....true guided hunt will get you into the backwater and help break ducks

The bay is not friendly to newbies!!! There are places on the coast that with out a real good understanding of what's under the water can get you killed or severely injured ie- Baffin and long reef,

The bay isn't a lake, tide changes and weather can be deadly...

Probably the greatest thing about the coast is its uscg regulated...their for you need a capitans license to guide...wish they did it on freshwater also

Bobo that aint no joke, I have seen many boats destroyed by Baffin Bay. You better have a good GPS and a cell phone of your heading out on coastal waters.

A guide on the coast is worth the $. They know those waters an will keep you safe. If your out on your own you can run into a lot of problems quick.

MMMMM redheads redheads and more redheads

we won't make it this year, but let me know how it turns out...we want to do that as part of our port a trip next year.

The duck that sounds and tastes like a feral cat.

I was stationed at the Port A Coast Guard station as a response boat driver for 4 years. What these guys are saying is no joke. During the time your talking about going, the weather can be horrible and dangerous. During my time there I picked up more than one dead hunter and or fisherman that treated the bay like a lake. Oysters, rays, tide change, something little can get big real quick. There are quite a few good guides in the area, I guided there myself for almost 10 years. If I can give a little advise, dont choose a captain off of craigslist. Lots of fly by night college kids and lowlifes trying to make a quick buck. I would personally recomend going to the Coastal Bend Guides assoctiation website and start making some calls off of there list of members. This is a great group of guides that have to be let in via vote from other members and a board of directors and have to prove that there papers are up to date, ins, Capt. lic. etc. Good luck! iF you have any questions shoot me a pm. I know most of the guys down there and can help you out more.
Capt. john

You've eaten feral cat?

Soak in butter milk over night, season and blackened(don't over cook) and it pretty Damn good

I should mention that I agree with these guys, my comments about picking out drakes and shooting them over the decoys were meant to be inline with an airboat ride to the spot... not a freelance DIY trip where you get yourself to the spot...

It was a bit of an easier transition for me because I had been fishing the bays for 10 years.

So yeah I can see you hiring a real guide. Someone to sit with and warn you about shuffling your feet and be in charge and show you hazards etc...

good advise...

Hire a guide

more good advise.

^^^^^ This!! I wish you had to have some kinda of license and it wasn't cheep!! It would stop all the fly by night wannabe guides that give guides a bad a bad name.

I agree with you Jeff. I have seen some terrible guides on the bays, all they do is make our future customers not want to pay to go on another hunt.

I am in the process of getting my my USCG Capt. License, The course is right at $1,000. Then you can add the insurance and the other permits. It totals to a little over $3,000 when all is said and done. Its a good way to separate the "serious" guides from the other guides with a boat.

Texas needs it for ALL hunting guides on or off shore. Would clean this business up

Couldnt agree more! It would make things better for those who put in the time to do it right.

I am for less government regulation. Let the poor experience the hunters have make the clean up. You give poor service and word gets around, give great service and word gets around. So I am against any more restrictions delivered by big brother.

AMEN!!!!! Brother....

Those that do bad things to others will pay one day, in this world or the next.

I appreciate all the responses and advice. I will definitely be hiring a guide for the first hunt or 2. I'll then buy the $85 ride to the blind if I feel confident enough. I'm just a bit wary about not having a way to bug out in a hurry if things get hairy.

That brings my next question. If I do enough research, and put a lot of effort and due diligence into it, will I find places I can walk into? I don't mind a long walk, but I don't want to waste my time, or crowd the locals who have spots they've hunted for years, and have dibs on. I want to respect the entire system,.

Well then I should just be able to pick up a badge and say Im law enforcement then. If Im a bad cop then people will hear about it and I wont be able to get hired to be a cop. Or how about I practice medicine " My friends all say Im really good at putting band aides on "

By the way I stopped dipping today

when you get your badge I wanna do a ride along...should make for an interesting night

Heck Im just going down to the store here in a bit a buy my badge. Come on up

There are pretty much no walk in spots in Port A anywhere. The road to Aransas Pass has channels on both sides and the road going down Mustang Island has private property between it and the bay till you get to Fish Pass on the bay side. You can walk in hunt there but you'll be joined by about 15 people on any given day and the hunting is not very good there. If you have a kayak your options are endless, you just need it to cross channels to get back in the skinny water. I'm sure you can rent a yak in port A from just about anyone. As for the locals, there is a few clubs and larger guide outfits that are in a few spots close to Port A, to get away from the crowds your better off going closer to Aransas Pass. You should be able to pick up on everyones habits around there pretty quick. Good luck

Not really, but possible the main bays have the intercoastal running close the the mainland...so you have a 20' deep trench before you get back into the flats. There are a few back lakes you can possibly wade to in redfish bay