Had a friend of mine tell me last week that he had heard that TP&W is considering or has voted to have a 39 day duck season for 2022-2023 season.

Has anyone else heard this? I understand there is some drought area's in the duck factory but I thought we were still above our long term average on total population. If this is true, who picks the dates and will it still be a six bird limit?

I tried a search for it but came up empty. Hopefully just a rumor.

Yep I've heard similar, it won't just be texas, all the US and Canada will likely see reduced seasons and limits.

Rumor................you'll see them drop limits before closing dates. I would not be opposed to them dropping limits.

If the season is cut to 39 days we will have a 3 duck limit. With only 1 mallard hen
If the season is 60 days we will have a 6 duck limit, with 5 mallards only 1 mallard hen
If the season is 74 days we will have a 6 duck limit with 5 mallards only 2 mallard hens

These are the only 3 season options the feds gives us for the central flyway.

Lets roll with the 39 day. Drought up north, no official counts in 2 years. Won't surprise me one bit to see 39.

I hope they do 39 days with 3 duck limit for 5 years.

Where are y’all hearing this information?

I heard it from a friend that guides in the El Campo area and he said he got the information from Parks and Wildlife. Now that doesn't mean that the Parks and Wildlife person is a 100% accurate. That's why I posted here to see if anyone else has any information. It could be just talk but I just read a Delta Waterfowl article that showed the drought map etc. which indicates lower numbers of breeding this year.

Sounds like some have heard the same talk going around.

Delta Waterfowl Article

Delta Waterfowl Forecasts a Reduced Fall Duck Flight - Delta Waterfowl

May have to google this the link isn't working.

https://www.realtree.com/the-duck-blog/delta-waterfowl-forecasts-a-strong-fall-duck-flight

This is what DW said last year in September. Ended up being a horrible year all the way across the board. Especially in the Central and Mississippi flyways.

The whole 39 day season was also brought up by guys in 2012 and nothing ever came of it.

Same here. Our season was around 50-60% of what we normally end up with.

On the opposite side of the drought, there were virtually no birds shot in the breeding grounds last year. In normal year there are one heck of lot of birds taken before our seasons even open. On a yearly basis the migration vary's a bunch, from area to area.

Season won’t be shortened unless the feds mandate it. South Texas doesn’t have the rice it once had, North Texas doesn’t have the peanuts it once had, Oklahoma doesn’t have the millet program it once had, and Kansas and Nebraska doesn’t have the winters they once had. Therefore the migration patterns have changed. It’s not gonna get better anytime soon. Probably gonna get worse actually.

THIS^^^^^

That is interesting about the OK millet program, I remember hunting the Red River and seeing it. When North Central TX had all those peanuts, we sure shot more little Canada Geese down here and Mallards.

There was a pretty large pissin' match on another forum about this topic a few weeks ago.

Wonder what it would do to the waterfowl industry down here. Folks might lose interest in spending small/large fortunes on leases, hunts, gear for only a 39 day season.

Thats the deal, the feds are mandating it bc of the drought in the breeding grounds and no counts the last 2 years. It has noting to do with poor duck season in texas and everything to do with the drought.

The feds look at 2 things pond counts on breeding grounds and mallard numbers.

If pond counts ans mallard numbers are down we get the restricted season of 39 days
If pond counts are up and mallards are down or vise versa we get the modified season of 60 days.
If pond counts and mallard counts are both up we get the liberal season of 74 days which we have had for a number of years now.

The problem is they haven't done the mallard counts in 2 years bc of covid. But they now for a fact due to the drought the pond counts are down.

Worse case scenario we get a 39 day season next year, best scenario we get 60 day season.

Yep, leases will become more reasonable and you will probably see alot of duck rugs on the market in the next 2-3 years if we do not get alot of rain on the breeding grounds.

That’s what I hope for. 10 years ago a friend said “I wish we’d go back to the points system or a 3 duck limit” I was like what? He was right it would push out a bunch

Problem with the point system is us Arkansas boys can’t count that well!

Take off your cousins shoes!

Yes, on the screws for sure. Our numbers were down primarily because of my efforts/ lack of focus on concealment. Didn’t spend enough time brushing blinds because ofCovid. Lack of motivation. Ducks were definitely stale, but weather played major part in that. We’ve had days in past that we only saw 25 ducks or so, but managed to scratch out 2-3 limits on many of those hunts.


This fall and upcoming spring will be critical. There will be significantly reduced juvenile ducks to hunt this year for sure. If drought continues, especially this fall and spring, we will have a reduced season next year. Ramsey Russell addresses this subject often with biologists from DW and Du all the time. Last year, IMO was 100% weather and maybe little pressure in Canada, but mainly front related.

Weather can change things dramatically. Pond counts can go up and down 50-75% per year in breeding areas. 2011 was a very dry year, but limits were not reduced and the population didn’t really change. It’s all speculation at this point.

Direct from the mouths of some muckity mucks that make and vote on the rules: If we have a repeat of this years harvest numbers and breeding ground counts, we WILL have a 3/39 season. The discussion now is how to split it up. My vote- first 7 days of nov. 7 days at Christmas break. Last 25 days of January.

I could live without the Nov days and have 14 in Dec, but I could lose my mind if I had to wait until Dec.

How does early teal get dictated? Will there be no teal season or just a 9 day season with reduced bag limits?