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Re: What happended to the birds??
[Re: 7mag]
#8374188
09/03/21 11:51 PM
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Joined: Jul 2013
Posts: 133
3kcattle
Woodsman
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Woodsman
Joined: Jul 2013
Posts: 133 |
5 hunters in Throckmorton County. 2 hunts opening day, 21 birds total. Thursday morning, 4 hunters 2 birds total. Fewest in 15 years. Multiple 5 gallon buckets of dead birds picked up while feeding cattle during week long freeze. It ain’t the same, but the red legs will show up at some point.
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Re: What happended to the birds??
[Re: 7mag]
#8374269
09/04/21 01:43 AM
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Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 4,478
4Weight
Extreme Tracker
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Extreme Tracker
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 4,478 |
Gonna take some cool fronts
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Re: What happended to the birds??
[Re: 7mag]
#8374479
09/04/21 12:29 PM
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Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 121
shalor
Woodsman
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Woodsman
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 121 |
My sunflower field project worked pretty good. These birds have been sitting on it for 2 to 4 weeks. My 12-year-old son and I are shot limits pretty easily and my ten-year-old got his first five dove ever. Overall a success. But we were not just covered up in birds. Probably saw about 300 resident birds come to the field. Going to take it pretty easy on them because I don’t know that they have reinforcements coming for a while. Everyone keeps saying that we need cool fronts to bring birds in, but if the freeze killed them north of us also, where are these birds going to come from? Did they fare better in Oklahoma or Kansas because they’re a little different strain of northern birds that handles cold-weather better?
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Re: What happended to the birds??
[Re: 7mag]
#8374487
09/04/21 12:43 PM
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Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,481
hawk
Pro Tracker
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Pro Tracker
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,481 |
Not many birds yesterday at Vancourt. Milo's being cut now. Hopefully it will improve when we start getting cooler weather.
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Re: What happended to the birds??
[Re: hawk]
#8374493
09/04/21 12:56 PM
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Joined: May 2005
Posts: 2,408
Huntmaster
Veteran Tracker
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Veteran Tracker
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 2,408 |
If Stompy didn’t have birds; there weren’t many. I’m hoping this was a one off; the freeze. I really hoping it’s not a trend of evolution that the bigger birds shoving the more fragile morning dove out of nesting sites in town. Thus no babies. And those big birds stay in the trees in town and won’t fly out to the fields.
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Re: What happended to the birds??
[Re: 7mag]
#8374515
09/04/21 01:22 PM
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Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 8,311
Herbie Hancock
THF Trophy Hunter
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THF Trophy Hunter
Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 8,311 |
No doubt the freeze had a direct affect on bird population this year. As others have said once those fronts start pushing we will see better numbers.
It takes beer to make thirst worthwhile - J. Fred Schmidt
The internet is an I.Q. Test, people post their scores in the comment section.
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Re: What happended to the birds??
[Re: 7mag]
#8374522
09/04/21 01:26 PM
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Joined: May 2013
Posts: 291
Longhorn74
Bird Dog
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Bird Dog
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 291 |
We hunted in Haskell county on 9/1 and all got our limits, but it was hard hunting. We saw very few birds in the evening. On 9/2 in the morning on the same tank we saw even less birds.
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Re: What happended to the birds??
[Re: 7mag]
#8374545
09/04/21 01:51 PM
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Joined: Aug 2017
Posts: 2,765
spacejunkie
Veteran Tracker
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Veteran Tracker
Joined: Aug 2017
Posts: 2,765 |
Sat outside this morning for about an hour to drink my coffee. I only heard about 10 shots and usually it sounds like a war zone. Also have not seen as many on my bird feeders. Hope a front brings in some birds for you guys.
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Re: What happended to the birds??
[Re: 7mag]
#8374578
09/04/21 02:40 PM
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Joined: Dec 2016
Posts: 3,791
Wytex
Extreme Tracker
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Extreme Tracker
Joined: Dec 2016
Posts: 3,791 |
They should be coming down pretty soon. We had a nice cool front move through yesterday. Saw a ton of ducks on water that was bare 4 days ago. Tons of blue wing teal, they are on the move starting down.
Saw few dove yesterday before the front and I bet most started down too.
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Re: What happended to the birds??
[Re: Wytex]
#8374611
09/04/21 03:38 PM
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Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 4,478
4Weight
Extreme Tracker
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Extreme Tracker
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 4,478 |
They should be coming down pretty soon. We had a nice cool front move through yesterday. Saw a ton of ducks on water that was bare 4 days ago. Tons of blue wing teal, they are on the move starting down.
Saw few dove yesterday before the front and I bet most started down too.
Thanks for sending them down. The teal too....
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Re: What happended to the birds??
[Re: 4Weight]
#8374695
09/04/21 05:23 PM
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Joined: Mar 2019
Posts: 19,125
TCM3
THF Celebrity
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THF Celebrity
Joined: Mar 2019
Posts: 19,125 |
Gonna take some cool fronts Yessir, that's usually how it works down here.
Do not forget to entertain strangers, For by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels Hebrews 13:2 (R-TX)
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Re: What happended to the birds??
[Re: 7mag]
#8374736
09/04/21 06:05 PM
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Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 3,309
Stump_jumper
Veteran Tracker
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Veteran Tracker
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 3,309 |
I think the killer part to the freeze was the snow cover and frozen water holes. The birds could not eat or drink for days.
2017 Tundra 5.7 CM 4x4 2006 Champion 2200 Bay Boat
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Re: What happended to the birds??
[Re: 7mag]
#8374856
09/04/21 08:17 PM
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Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 121
shalor
Woodsman
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Woodsman
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 121 |
Not to beg the question, but why do we think the birds to the north of us fared better? Obviously it was colder further north… Do birds from Oklahoma and Kansas just tolerate zero or below zero much better than our birds because they are a little different strain of dove? I hope you guys are right, I just don’t know why there would be birds that did better north of us. I would think these birds to the north of us had a significant kill also.
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Re: What happended to the birds??
[Re: shalor]
#8374923
09/04/21 09:23 PM
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Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 3,309
Stump_jumper
Veteran Tracker
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Veteran Tracker
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 3,309 |
Not to beg the question, but why do we think the birds to the north of us fared better? Obviously it was colder further north… Do birds from Oklahoma and Kansas just tolerate zero or below zero much better than our birds because they are a little different strain of dove? I hope you guys are right, I just don’t know why there would be birds that did better north of us. I would think these birds to the north of us had a significant kill also. They did better because they were all in Mexico.
2017 Tundra 5.7 CM 4x4 2006 Champion 2200 Bay Boat
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Re: What happended to the birds??
[Re: 7mag]
#8374947
09/04/21 09:43 PM
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Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 15,962
Jimbo1
THF Celebrity
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THF Celebrity
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 15,962 |
Opening morning 1st bird went down with the first shot. Wahoo!! Shot twice more that morning with 2 misses. That afternoon only a few distant birds, not a shot. Next 3 days very few birds seen, out of the next 10 shots hit 2 birds that got lost in the very tall grass. That sucked. Didn't hear a single shot either morning or evening yesterday. Have 1 lonely breast in the freezer. Saw 2 damn snakes, pretty sure one was a fat rattler. He was next to the chairs that I left out and moved quick into a bunch of dead trees when I approached. Gave me the heeby jebbies! Made going in that tall grass a little more dicey.
FJB - Lets Go Brandon BBB - Bring Back Better Awake - Not Woke!
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Re: What happended to the birds??
[Re: Stump_jumper]
#8375011
09/04/21 10:21 PM
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Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 7,972
Stompy
THF Trophy Hunter
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THF Trophy Hunter
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 7,972 |
I think the killer part to the freeze was the snow cover and frozen water holes. The birds could not eat or drink for days. My thoughts also. Just no energy to fight off the cold.
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Re: What happended to the birds??
[Re: Stompy]
#8375090
09/04/21 11:59 PM
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Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 65,517
SnakeWrangler
THF Celebrity
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THF Celebrity
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 65,517 |
I think the killer part to the freeze was the snow cover and frozen water holes. The birds could not eat or drink for days. My thoughts also. Just no energy to fight off the cold. We were putting out water and feed during the freeze and still lost birds....I think we helped a few make it through but conditions were just too harsh
I believe in science and I’m an insufferable [censored] Actually, BBC is pretty damn good "You Cannot Simultaneously Be Politically Correct And Intellectually Honest!"
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Re: What happended to the birds??
[Re: 7mag]
#8375112
09/05/21 12:23 AM
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Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 3,309
Stump_jumper
Veteran Tracker
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Veteran Tracker
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 3,309 |
Whitewing with what looks like frostbite damage on feet
2017 Tundra 5.7 CM 4x4 2006 Champion 2200 Bay Boat
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Re: What happended to the birds??
[Re: Stump_jumper]
#8375390
09/05/21 01:09 PM
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Joined: May 2011
Posts: 1,871
brazosboyt
Pro Tracker
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Pro Tracker
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 1,871 |
Whitewing with what looks like frostbite damage on feet Every white wing we killed was missing toes. I don’t care what the parks and wildlife report say there is a drastic reduction in the number of dove. I talked to an insider at Parks and wildlife this week and he said there are people there that think that we lost upwards of 60 to 70% of the white wings and no telling how many morning Dove do to the freeze. I plant and manage three properties in Bell County for dove. Each has anywhere from 20 to 70 acres of sunflowers. We’ve been hunting these properties for at least five years. Property 1 on opener we hunt 30 people snd shoot between 350 to 450 birds depending on people’s ability to hit. This year we shot 40. Property two we always hunt the second day of the season with 10 hunters and 100% of the time over the last eight years Weve gotten 150 birds being 90% white wings. This year we got 75. Property three we hunt 10 people and always get 150 birds yesterday we shot 38. My family has decided that we’re not shooting any more dove off of these properties this year. We’re gonna let them be sanctuaries to try to help these birds recover
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Re: What happended to the birds??
[Re: 7mag]
#8375419
09/05/21 01:52 PM
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Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 121
shalor
Woodsman
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Woodsman
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 121 |
Yeah, my heart is not really in to shooting as many of them as I normally would want to… due to my thinking that the population is way down because of the freeze and whatever else knock them down in our county prior to the freeze. I am afraid duck season may be less than impressive with poor hatches up north due to extreme drought. I hope not. I sure would love us to have a decent duck season.
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Re: What happended to the birds??
[Re: 7mag]
#8375550
09/05/21 04:30 PM
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 2,932
RLoving1
Veteran Tracker
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Veteran Tracker
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 2,932 |
For the very first time in all my lifetime I finally went out on the opener of dove season. Private lease in Crane County. Huge acreage and have hunted it before with KWRS in past yrs and it was on fire. Yesterday? Only thing on fire was me as it was high 90s close to 100. Hunted a tank we had scouted and seen a few birds last week. Yesterday? It was scarce. I took 6 and couldn't find 2. All mourning dove no white wings. In yrs past hunting with Kent the white wings were so thick it was just shooting into a cloud of em and hitting a few. I keep reading the severe freeze this past yr killed many off? I don't know. Huge mistake I made and I know better. Take my chair and take water, lots of water. I was hurting pretty bad yesterday evening. Brush was stupid grown more so with goat head stickers. I was smart enough to wear my snake chaps to keep em off. I am not giving up. Trying back Saturday and Sunday morning. Hope yalls dove season goes well I hunted same lease on the 4th and got my limit in 2 1/2 hours. No flights but they were coming in singles to 3 at a time. Sand burs and brush did wear me out but it was okay. Did finish out the day with 4 foot rattler...I am hurting over him! being the village idiot I am I was chasing him and I fell in mesquite with him and ended up with few scrapes (at moment of fall we were both in full retreat of one another but ended up rather close proximity) but I got him!
Brayden (Lazy L's Southern Comfort) you will be missed! You were more than a pet you were my reason to rise and return for many days! You were my rock! 12/26/03-10/25/13
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Re: What happended to the birds??
[Re: 7mag]
#8376951
09/07/21 12:31 AM
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Joined: Dec 2016
Posts: 69
browning66
Outdoorsman
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Outdoorsman
Joined: Dec 2016
Posts: 69 |
Worst opening day in Bell- Williamson County area I have ever seen. Waiting on the cold front coming as we always say. TXDPWL seems to not be able to forecast very well in my opinion.
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Re: What happended to the birds??
[Re: browning66]
#8376995
09/07/21 01:02 AM
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Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 7,972
Stompy
THF Trophy Hunter
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THF Trophy Hunter
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 7,972 |
Worst opening day in Bell- Williamson County area I have ever seen. Waiting on the cold front coming as we always say. TXDPWL seems to not be able to forecast very well in my opinion. My Game Warden stopped by yesterday and we talked about that. He told me TPWD does not contact wardens about real time conditions. He told me TPWD go by spring and summer range conditions and assume numbers and hatches will be good.
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Re: What happended to the birds??
[Re: 7mag]
#8377025
09/07/21 01:26 AM
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Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 4,478
4Weight
Extreme Tracker
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Extreme Tracker
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 4,478 |
Pretty slow Stompy? Friend and LO In Throckmorton said it was bad.
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Re: What happended to the birds??
[Re: 4Weight]
#8377060
09/07/21 01:54 AM
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Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 7,972
Stompy
THF Trophy Hunter
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THF Trophy Hunter
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 7,972 |
Pretty slow Stompy? Friend and LO In Throckmorton said it was bad. Yea it was slow, Game Warden told me yesterday that he hasn't checked anyone that's had a limit yet this season in Stephens county.
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