As a kid growing up in the SHNF we had a lot of birds around and my Uncle would come up from Houston for the spring hunt and had some luck. Now the season is gone and it seems that the birds are too, at least in our neck of the woods. From what I understand, they still have some birds in the woods further east and I am itchin to get after them. I am excited to put the work in and am looking forward to the challenge of taking one of these birds, or at least attempting to. I'm not asking for anybody's spots or what have you, just a little bit of a kick in the right direction.

For you hunters in the Davy Crockett, Angelina and Sabine national forests, how do you select your hunting areas? From what I understand, they need a mixture of forest and grassland, so do you hunt clear cuts in the woods or possibly forest boundary areas where private lands offer the clearings needed?? As far as I know, there aint much grassland out that way. Any pointers or information would be greatly appreciated.

TPWD's re-stocking of eastern birds in east Texas over the last 40-50 years hasn't really worked as well as they hoped it would. There's pockets of birds here and there that are stable, but overall it's been a bit disappointing. Don't really know why,multiple reasons I suppose. Too many predators,fire ants,poachers,etc And apparently eastern bird are more finicky about their habitat than Rios.

What I have never understood is it works every where else, louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama.....with the same fire ants, predators, poaching, climate, forest practices..... I wish one of those super biologist we pay would explain to me why not east texas.