hi im from minnesota i have duck hunted since i was young i am 18 now just moved to san angelo just curious if anyone can give me some advice to how duck hunting works down here wondering if its the same for public hunting where u wake up go out on a lake or a river find your own sport and go at it till u decide to be done or till u hit ur bag limit what type of equipment do you guys use to set ups i rather hunt water so im looking to get a small boat soon just curious if someone could give me some advice all i brought down with me was my gun having my calls mailed to me if anyone can give me some advice on gear cause up there its cold as hell during the season water freezes before the end usually so just curious to climate of season and all that jazz gna be a solo this year so if anyone wants to group up and start planning stuff more then happy to

It would be wise to invest in a Type 2 permit that gives you a booklet on public land to hunt. It cost $48 and you can get one from Texas Parks and Wildlife. Lots of places only allow hunting until noon.
Welcome to Texas!

I almost passed out reading that.

San Angelo is a tough spot to be a duck hunter.

Lets put it this way,Texas is nothing like Minn.,expect to pay for any type of hunting,unless you have a boat or want to do some walk in hunting,don't know much about the area your in,should be some good bird and Goose hunting up that way.Areas like down here around coast most farmers lease out their land to outfitters,most of the duck hunting season is over before they get down here,plan on humid and hot days, unless we get early northers then maybe, lack of rain and the drought has changed a whole lot in the past 3 years.
I ma from the midwest IL and i remember the days well,been in Houston area for 30 years. Instead of frost bite you have to contend with mosquito's and Fire ants and water snakes

Welcome though. For public laking, you might want to wake up at 1 am, or actually not sleep at all to claim your spot.

Did anyone else read that with a Yankee accent?

It doesn't.
You obviously got off the bus one stop too early ( in the middle of a desert ).
Louisiana was the NEXT stop.

.

He's 18

I used a Mina shoda accent

haha well ended up moving here for work and missing the season in minnesota was just curious to see if its fun around to hunt. just want to start getting prepared now instead of last minute. dont have a boat so was going to get one if need be but what kind of birds are around the area really that come through? And is water hunting down here anything like minnesota?

and being from minnesota and my area we had to camp out over night for the spots we wanted cause of so many dang people in our areas

Sent you a private message

Hunt opening day with an outfitter, and chat with him after the hunt. He will give you loads of info.

I would try Twin buttes.

Mine was more Canadian ehh

Man....I hear ya...

Dude, slow down a bit! Duck hunting is not all that hear in Texas but these guys should give you some good tips.

There are ducks here?

They not use periods in Minnesota?

Its sooo cold out here, u dont have time for that. Imagine, a few periods and your teeth freeze

Welcome to the THF Snider. San Angelo is going to be limited for public stuff. Here is some advice and this will help anyone moving to a new area or traveling to somewhere in TX and looking for a place to hunt.

Google is your friend to start. Look both at your location on Google maps online and take note of every lake within the distance radius your willing to drive.

Some are as simple as putting that lakes name into Google. But a faster option is to go to the Texas Lake Finder Map on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website. The link will always be included in the sticky at the top of the migratory forum as well.
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fishboat/fish/recreational/lakes/
From that link look each lake within your driving distance that you took note of. You can obtain the controlling authority from each of those lakes this way.

Almost all those lakes hunting allowed or not have the respective rules for each lake somewhere online. Some of those lakes will be corps of engineers, some are water authority, some TPWD, Some city lakes, etc.
There is a PDF on the corps website that gives the basic regs for each of their lakes, TPWD lakes under the APH permit are on the TPWD website in the APH book pdf, Most cities and water authorities have ordinances online that you can read through and find the hunting rules. Check the links in the sticky at the top of the forum or go to the main website of each controlling authority and click through to each lakes page or ordnance.

If that information is not online for a particular lake, use the contact information from the Lake Finder site and contact them directly. Many will be dead ends that don't allow any kind of hunting, but sometimes you will find a small city lake that even those local to it don't even know can be hunted. For example I have found a lake previously closed to hunting that is now allowed. And I have found an entirely new area opened to public hunting that only insiders know about. So don't rule out the smaller lakes on the map. The only way to find the good secrets is to contact the controlling authorities directly and ask.

Extend you driving radius to overnight trips from San Angelo and you may have some real unique places to try hunting that are just too far for the majority of urban weekend warriors like the Bluff that is Red (coded words) that is a water authority lake that TPWD leases for their APH permit about every other year and the AM stad (code worded) which is a national recreation area. You will see those large lakes on the map 3 to 4 hours away from you.

I am tempted to spend some time hunting the Bluff that is Red later this season just to be different. But in September I will be Teal hunting the Bluff with Cedars in KS. And that is the true secret to duck hunting if your in Texas. Instead of spending your time camping out on an Urban lake to defend your spot all night, spend that time driving. Get far away from Urban areas, be willing to cross state lines, and you often will have entire lakes to yourself.

Final word for your situation. Most of the lakes in your driving radius are going to be very low. Get a low profile layout blind if you don't have one. And divers are just fine for sausage makings. Good luck this season.

Don't ya no!