Gadwall - 37
Hens - 12
Drakes - 25

GWT - 22
Hens - 7
Drakes - 15

Wigeon - 15
Hens - 7
Drakes - 8

Mallards - 13
Hens - 1
Drakes - 12

Ringnecks -7
Drakes - 7

Hooded Mergansers- 7
Hens - 3
Drakes - 4

Wood ducks - 5
Hens - 2
Drakes - 3

Canada Geese 2

Total 106 ducks and 2 geese
32 Hens and 74 Drakes

29 hunts - 26 on public and 3 on private

These are all my personal numbers as I hunt solo all but 4 hunts this year.

Some things I noticed
-Teal season was typical early teal in north texas. It was terrible. Typically I have only had good teal seasons when it is really wet from hurricanes making their way to North texas and dumping alot of new water.
- I never really saw big concentration of birds, a few here and there and that was it. Mid January, MLK weekend I saw alot of birds and was hoping we would have good numbers through the remainder of the season, they dissapeared as quickly as they showed up.
- lots of places that traditionally have birds never got good numbers, in the flip side some places that never have birds had them in small numbers.
- i did not shoot much variety this year, no pintails, BWT, red heads or canvasbacks, or even spoonies.
-birds seemed to fly early and be done flying by sunrise.
-alot of the mallards I shot seemed like very young birds, like a very late hatch.
- i was suppose to go to Massachusetts for seaducks and brant but got covid the week was I scheduled, rescheduling that for next year.

Overall it was tough season but I always enjoy it when the birds make you work for it.

Now its onto chasing some sandbags in the creeks and turkey hunting.

Everyone post up your thoughts and numbers on the season.

Weird season for me as well from a hunting standpoint. Never could really establish a sitting consistent pattern on the bodies of water I hunted and January left a lot to be desired. I was especially surprised since we had a good amount of cold weather this month and not much rain which typically makes for a great month.

The season was definitely defined by my Boykin Spaniel’s first season. He’s still got quite a bit to learn, but I’m excited for the days ahead. Learning to work with a dog is an experience in and of itself.

Shot lots of a gads and rings. Seems like the local Canadian numbers are certainly growing as I continue to shoot more on duck hunts each year. Saw tons of pintails but only really has one god hunt on them. Never saw the good push of redheads that we get in January. Average numbers of mostly everything else.

All in all, probably a 7 out of 10 season with the highlight being a good pintail hunt Saturday.

2flyfish4…… your assessment of the season was spot on for what I experienced also. I didn’t shoot near as many ducks as you but also enjoyed every minute of it. Maybe next year will be better. A bad day of duck hunting beats….well, pretty much everything else.

I’d say y’all did great

Toughest season for us in a long time or ever! Lowest bird per hunt average I've ever had in my 34 seasons to go along with the fewest ducks I've seen in my life. We travel a lot to hunt and were reduced to hunting 2-3 man groups and going in on groups of 30-50 birds. That is a strong deviation from what is normal for us. Normally, I wouldn't even stop to think about hunting anything less than 250+ birds. Hardly any of our early migrants in the area we hunt closer to home this year. Virtually no ducks on 4 of our mainstay lakes and the 1 lake that was holding some (way fewer than normal) ducks has become over pressured.

The trend for the last 10yrs+ has been a decline of duck numbers and an increase in pressure. We have tried to go to less pressured areas and that has worked for us the last several seasons with a TON of scouting. Not this year....

No bird counts by USFWS the last 2yrs and dry conditions during that period....don't believe there are as many ducks. Weather this year really didn't help any either, but we tried going to the ducks and never really found them. Didn't make it all the way to Nebraska, so maybe they were holed up in the Dakotas and Nebraska.


Positive note: My oldest son (16yo) got his first band this season; a Specklebelly that will be going on the wall! Really nice barred up bird that was 13yrs old or older.

Glad season is over and hoping for some changes; both, weather and regulations!

Who is the crazy guy taking the picture? The guy on the right probably killed no bird.

Overall worst season ever....the last 4 years I've said the same thing at the end of each season...."next year can't be as bad as this year"....then it is.

* 23 mallards
* 37 gaddy
* 5 pintail
* 1 woody
* 1 wigeon
* 8 spoons
* 21 gw teal
* 4 bw teal
* 2 ringers

* 102 ducks for the season

* 60 geese

the geese were a group hunt in Wyoming . All duck hunts were public except 1....and is where I got a beauty pair of bw teal thats going one the wall. I have now completed my teal trifecta and all are pairs.
I did not hunt early teal as I was in Montana elk hunting all of sept. I did not hunt near as many lakes as I normally do....water levels kept me from even checking them out.

The few highlights on the season, The fully plumaged BW Teal I got....watching a few thousand pintail work one morning, the geese hunt which I normally do not do, and the cab/sleep system I put in my truck for trips away from home. Although I did not use it as much as I thought, when I did use it the sleeping is cozy and comfy.... I'm turning into a "GUY" I know.

I think next year will be tough as well. Then in 23/24 we are going to a 30/3 season.
The only thing that will change that is if/when the complete the counts this spring and summer and numbers are extremely low and they take emergency action and cut the 22/23 season dates and limits. But as of right now they are still going off numbers from precovid and that is why the limits/fates will be the same next year.

I will make you the same bet I made John Paul. We will not go to a 30/3 season this season, or next season. Too much money involved and miraculously the breeding conditions will improve or not be as bad as people think or the bird counts will be higher. I will buy you a steak and egg breakfast at your local waffle house if I am wrong.

I haven’t added ours up yet. But we had a pretty good season. Reworked my dirt after last year and millet and smartweed came in much better this year. I do know we killed mallards on almost every hunt. Or missed a few! Lol.
Should be over 100 cause we killed over 60 just in the last few weeks alone.

Overall it was a good year for me and the guys (6 of us) I hunt with in SE Louisiana. The main reason for the good year is we were able to lease another piece of property about 15 miles from a lease we have had for years. The difference between the two is the new lease is near a break in the Mississippi River levee and fresh water pours into the marsh bringing sand sediment with it. For some reason teal love the mix of shallow tidal flats where one day there is a foot of water the next it is a puddle. There is sand grit in the water and very little vegetation in our ponds but they come. Of the 383 ducks we shot for the year including the special teal season about 80% were teal.

For you guys that shoot gadwall I shot maybe 5 all year. On my old lease 8 years ago that number was in the 100's. We used to put it on them back in the day and it was great. The same break in the river levee that brought the teal changed the salinity of the water in the marsh. We still have the vegetation in the ponds but Gadwall appear to be very finicky about the water they will live in. If its not the right salinity they are gone and stay gone. For us down here the Gadwall is the Cajun mallard so we miss them.

Big changes are coming for our delta with river sediment diversions proposed to be built to build back the marsh we have lost. 50% of land is gone in my 35 years of hunting it. We will have teal and some other ducks but I suspect gadwall are gone for good.

Considering the overall status of duck hunting these days I will take the year we had with a smile. We work hard to get them and still have a lot of fun doing it.