After hunting several different locations this past winter and seeing first hand how low the area lakes are we could be in real trouble come the fall of 2014 if we don't get some rain. I could see the public lake I hunted last fall shut down to duck hunting if we lose much more water, not to mention the fact that the ducks will not stop here if things get much worse. Pray for rain guys, because north Texas duck hunting could be in real trouble if this drought continues.

The lakes I hunted were ok.

I have better luck during dry years

Lakes? Where we are they are now called ponds or mud holes. No rain and the they will be completely dried up. Medina lake is almost gone. 3.3% full, might as well be dry.

Excellent site for lake levels
http://waterdatafortexas.org/reservoirs/statewide

find water, find ducks... pretty easy

^

Works when it's freezing out as well... find open water...

Definitely in bad shape for many places. I understand when water is short birds can only be in so many places. However if we could get some serious rain the forage in the water where the grass has grown tall should make for an amazing year.

Yah it's not good man, south texas has been hurtin pretty bad for a long time. Last year we got lucky right around October and got some good rain to hold a few good playa lakes throughout November but those had been dry the past 2 or 3 years. This season was nothing like it was then, we still have plenty of divers in the salt water but it was a sad season for the puddlers even though the honey holes had water the ducks just weren't here. We need to have 2 or 3 tropical storms to really saturate the ground again this year to keep it consistent again

For anybody that think we have enough water please open your eyes. We are in a drought that's worse than the dust bowl era. The only reason we even have drinking water and any crops is because if the improved farming practices and technology. Water is becoming the new oil in Texas. Just this week Wichita Falls passed a bill to pay for cloud seeding. Look up the lake levels the vast majority in Texas is under 35% capacity and where I live there only 2 lake within 70 miles you can even launch a boat.

Water restrictions in many municipalities only have 4 stages and they are working hard to figure out what to do in a stage 5 drought.

Very well said

This past year I drew a spot and picked my blind, it had water in July then by September the spot was bone dry. the second weekend of teal season it rained like 6 inches and my spot filled with water and still has water today, but I will tell you I was getting kinda creeped out after the first weekend and having no water

Sorry if I offend others in advance. I make a living off of waterfowl hunting but if anyone is only concerned about us having water to hunt over than you friend need to think again. Almost half the STATE of Texas that depends on lakes for drinking water has 18 months or less of water. Why do you think that all of these grants are getting approved for city wells and multi 100 million water treatment projects are being installed. At one point last yr we were below a yr for city water but done rains have us an additional 4 months

Farmers have quit irrigating crops because they don't have enough water to do it or they can sell water to oil companies for fracking and make more.

It's rough and I hope things change.

Couldn't have said it better myself.
We need a hurricane across the whole state. We need much needed rain.
Let it pour. Fill up the lakes, reservoirs, stock tanks, etc....

This water issue is going to be first and foremost a people issue if we don't get some real good rain soon. Look at the posts from Aggiegadwall. On the hunting side of this, if we lose much more water, the ducks will leave this area, I've seen it before. During the flood of 1993 in the Midwest all the food sources were gone or covered in flood water. This forced the ducks to alter their migration routes and seek food else where. The ducks were not overly dispersed due to the flood water, we killed our fair share but the following year there was a noticeable reduction in the ducks in the area in addition to reports of ducks showing up in places they hadn't been in before. Ducks must have two things, food & water. As the big safe waters continue to recede and the flooded vegetation the ducks rely on for food sources in this area dry up we will see a reduction in our duck numbers in north Texas.

No doubt there will always be ducks here but the vast majority will overfly us or adjust to other areas like La or Ak. Bottom line, we need rain bad!

Droughts are an inevitable natural weather cycle. We went through one in the 50s that was much worse than this.
Droughts in Texas end with a flood so don't pray too hard for rain or you might get too much of what you're asking for.
Start changing cities landscape ordinances and you will see municipal water usage decline.
People have to water the landscapes they are forced to plant.

Just like everything else in this world, there's a solution to help water shortages due to human consumption. Politically, it will never happen. I understand for some of y'all, human consumption has nothing to do with water on your property being dry, but these 2 things go hand in hand

I'm not sure what you are suggesting, but as a registered Landscape Architect in Texas I deal with it everyday. I have been in the landscape industry my entire career and now work for the world's leader in drip irrigation manufacturing. I talk to people everyday in regards to saving water by using less. It is difficult to convince some contractors who have been using a conventional spray / rotor type system for their entire career that there is another way....but I am trying. One of my points of emphasis is that if we don't conserve the cities will pass ordinances that reduce the amount of landscape area (turf and ornamentals) allowed on a property and that will have a very negative impact on the landscape industry's economy. Many Texas cities have already implemented ordinances that limit the amount of outside watering with conventional systems, but allow the use of drip irrigation on a daily basis. Not to be a salesman here, but the reason is for efficiency. A standard spray irrigation system is only about 50% efficient. That means that nearly half the water that comes out of the nozzle ends up somewhere it wasn't intended to. With drip, it is 90% efficient.

Bottom line is that we can ALL help reduce water consumption and keep our lake levels higher for drinking....and the ducks! If you want to know more about how drip can help save water, send me a PM.

To touch on what Justin is saying, if you haven't been out towards Haskell and that area, take a road trip...

A large area of that landscape is almost void of water...

Ponds and lakes are less than 50% if not 30%, 20% or completely dry.

Several ponds on a property I just leased are less than 25% and the landowner has wells to put water in troughs just so the deer and wildlife have some water to drink.

It is BAD!

Even North Texas, I went and looked at some sloughs to lease and they were completely dry! Landowner said he hasn't seen them dry in over 20 years. (since he had had it)

We need Rain, and unfortunately it will take a major hurricane type system to help us!

J.J.

My properties, even van zandt are 80% to full flood level. If u have an area of good water shed- you should be in real good shape.


More concentration of birds 12-13 season

Bad for fishing and use of lake house- but BETTER for waterfowl hunting

fify

Just mentioning that I saw on the weather channel they think there will be another El Nino this year like the 90's one. For our benefit they said the central pacific has to warm up. Said it is hard to predict which area will warm but said they think it will be this year.

Heres to hoping.

The Central Pacific has to warm up? I figured Global Warming would have already caused it to warm up.

Water alone won't do it, need food or ducks won't stick around, mud holes they are here one day, gone the next. I for one would love to see all lakes full again. It is nice to have more places to hunt, you have to scout harder, but when you find them they should stick around and also hopefully not as crowded with more places to hunt.

this

All of these issues seem to be ignored by the general public. I was out in lubbock last summer and half the TT campus was being watered in the middle of the day with spray nozzles. Embarrassing! It goes back on people just being selfish. Drive around DFW or any other big Texas metro area and look at all the green yards in the middle of the summer. Sure their are restriction in place in some of them but they are not strict and people break the rules all the time. All the offseason light moisture in the fall, winter, and now spring has me worried about fire. This type of moisture is perfect to let the tall bunch grass and such stay thick but still dry just waiting for a lightning build up to start more fires like we have had in recent years but worse. Anyway drought is bad but brush fires are nutz. With the right winds in the right parts of this state who knows what could happen.