Just moved to the DFW area, and looking for duck hunting locations. The first lakes I looked into are managed by Corp of Engineers and very regulated. Are there any others that you can just simply show up & hunt at? I don't mind traveling a ways, but this is crazy to have so many reservoirs and no access.

One other note to add.....I do have a boat for access if that helps on the suggestions. Thanks

nobody is going to give up that info on a public forum.

Look through Corps regulations and TPWD for public hunting opportunities.

Link top of forum. Those links with a few click throughs cover pretty much EVERY possible public waterfowl hunting area in Texas. I have not updated the links yet this year, but if any don't work, you can use the link title info to google up a current link or use to find the contact info for the area controlling authority.

I checked and updated all the links in the migratory forum public hunting sticky and added a couple new hunting area links as well. I will update the more expanded version in the public hunting forum at a later date, but the one in the migratory forum is all up to date for the new season. Hope it helps someone.

https://texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/5268623/texas-public-hunting-links

It is difficult to hunt the public COE lakes without a boat. You may want to purchase a Annual Hunting Permit, and scout out some walk in areas. Another idea would be to meet some duck hunters. and go with them. Good luck.

pm sent to OP.

Thank you for the responses. It is amazing to me that there are so many lakes in North Texas, but no public hunting. I have never been seen a state that is so controlled, which explains why every hunter/neighbor that I talk to drops $$$$ for a lease. How do kids grow up here with nowhere to go?

You can duck hunt just about every lake in Texas, a few exceptions, Ray Hubbard, Bonham, Joe Pool, about the only ones I can think of you can’t hunt. Identify the lakes around you, and call the lake office as a starting point.

It is different than other states. There is a lot of duck hunting available though if you pay $48 for the Annual Public Hunt Permit.

If you want to hunt an area identified as a “WMA”, you need the permit. Otherwise you don’t, and there are plenty of public places to hunt that are not WMAs. Every lake can have their own hunt regulation, a good place to start is call the lake office, and local GW as well with questions about a particular lake.

You have not looked very hard then. There are dozens of places to hunt waterfowl within 2 hours of DFW and I have hunted most of them. It is the one kind of mostly free hunting that is still widely available here. The trade off with that is bad hunting pressure having an impact on the quality of hunting.

This!!!!

Lots of places in DFW and not far from DFW that are public.

Guys trying to fend off everyone from his 3 honey hole lakes... well besides DucknBass. They be known to get in a blind together

me trying to figure out if this fella is trolling or not.

He’s looking for someone to tell him where to show up and kill birds. Part of hunting is the homework.

Maybe he checked white rock and bachman then lost hope.

Wow....welcome to Texas. Not sure how a simple question gets turned into "tell me where to show up & kill birds". However, I do appreciate the private messages on where to find information thru the state.

There are 7.6 million people in "DFW metroplex" there are probably less than two dozen legally huntable public lakes within a two hour drive. If you break that down to into "huntable water" it becomes a really small figure very quickly. Roughly 6% of the population in the US hunts - say only 2.5% of that of that 6% are duck hunters. Say only half of that (1.25%) only hunt public - you're talking 95,000 people competing for only a couple thousand "quality" huntable acres of water. That is why people are tight lipped.

Yep, you'll learn real quick how over hunted our public lakes are. None of them are managed for waterfowl they are just bodies of water that are in place to provide flood control and water for the masses.

I dont know how hard-core of a duck hunter you are. If you are just looking to get out a few times during the season your best bet is to go on a couple guided trips. If your set on hunting public be prepared to spend alot of time scouting and dealing with other hunters for marginal success. Especially for what looks to be a tough year with very few young birds.