For the public land guys, what was your take on hunting pressure this season?

Outside of opening weekends and the holiday influx, it seemed be down some since the covid peaks.

Rediculous, hunting pressure has been worse than ever.

This! Gets worse every season in areas I hunt.

I agree it is worse. I find myself getting further and further out to try to get away from the pressure. And that's with the local DFW area lakes actually holding ducks this year.

I've spent more time out of state this year than ever before.

six and one half million people.
and that's just DFW.

Hunt 2 private properties I own. Manage pressure. Public is a different ball game. If I wasn’t 55, would love the challenge. We shot over 200 ducks YTD in my 7 acre wetland and 20+ acre soil conservation lake. One of the best years we have had in the last decade. Manage around fronts, which 1 this season early and Christmas front was about it. We don’t sky bust, don’t shoot into big groups, try not to educate.

Great season. Another 4-5 hunts left. Try to rest and hunt just 1x week. Only 1 solo hunt YTD. Have to manage pressure, which is key. Many cloudy days YTD late and stale ducks which makes it difficult. Surprised at number of mallards and lack of gadwalls late season.

I'd say it was a little worse in the public area I hunt, but not by much. I generally try to go out during the week, and there were always good spots open.

Do yall think hunting pressure is worse today than in any prior era of waterfowl hunting, including the market hunting days?

It was way down for me. The lakes were basically closed to boat traffic (unless you wanted to drive the boat 6+ miles. Since my boat is very light, I was able to launch when others couldn't.

Worse. But then again, I've yet to have a bad encounter with another hunter/group. I got beat to a spot once this season, and another a group was where I was THINKING about setting up but went to plan B and shot more than they did.

It’s far worse. And that is with less hunters. Google maps, OnX and the like have certainly changed any idiots ability to find good spots, including my dumb [censored]. just the availability of info is much more attainable. Equipment so much better than when I started in early 70’s. My first set of waders cost about 65.00, 6 months ago I dropped 1000 on waders. Shotguns, boats, decoys, clothes, ice eaters, heated ponds, there is no end. So yeah, there is far more pressure than years before even though considerable less hunters.

Several waterfowl pages on FB, loaded with name droppers.. every public waterhole in Texas has been named at least 10Xs this season by someone. (Not really but close)


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Ya I noticed that to. Even though I think alot of those guys were naming lakes just to send the internet scooters there and try to reduce the pressure and people off the lakes they were actually hunting.

Something else is the number of new guide services that pop up every season. Seems like anyone who has access to a pond is now a guide. And all the knee sucking buddies are on there pimping them out.

Most those groups are a pretty sad scene.

Truly sad that all these attention seeking azzclowns really mess up public hunting for everyone.

I'm not a guided hunt kinda hunter, but I have had some good friends who where guides so I had been undecided on the thought. But guiding on public water in Texas having no licensing or other requirements and social media ever increasing the number of guides I think is reaching the point a ban for commercial guiding of hunters on public may be needed. Kansas did it a few years ago. I think the change worked out well for hunters there. Just not so much for the guides and outfitters that operated on public.

It’s a lot less because I have not been hunting as much.

Id support laws and restrictions of guides not hunting on public ground. But then what do you do with all the fishing guides?

So in my opinion, the best thing to do is, not allow "guides" to shoot or carry a gun on guided hunts for migratory birds. In Texas it is illegal for a guide to take a limit of fish while on guided fishing trips. Only the clients can keep their legal limit. Doing the same for migratory birds will weed out alot of these guides that are just in it bc they want to get paid to shoot birds.

The Kansas law on commercial hunting guides on public does not affect fishing guides at all. They are still allowed to operate as before and are regulated. Fishing guides in Texas unlike hunting are also already highly regulated and required to be licensed. There are several additional requirements to operate as a fishing guide that vary between freshwater and saltwater, and type of boat, etc. And guide limits are not allowed.

Would fully support banning guides on public land or make them have to get a very high priced license.
Minimum 10,000.00 fee.

Let me tell you youngsters something. Been hunting ducks for 45 years. If I had the equipment back in the 70’s-90’s that yall got now. Warm waders, google maps, ONX, mud motors, steel shot that actually works. Jobs that allow the time off. Drones, etc etc. There would be no ducks for y’all left to hunt!

Ain’t jealous, we got all that now, just pointing out facts.

I agree, one of the things that infuriates me about guides is they are making money off a publuc resource. Make them but a $10k license or duck stamp every year and that money go into conservation. They need to invest in the resource, not just take from it.

A history lesson or my experience with pressure over time. I was able to hunt when we had a point system and you could kill 10 ducks as long as you did not shoot a high point duck unless it was your last duck. If course some hunters if a high point duck was shot early, they would hide it and later claim it was shot last. And yes some GWs carried thermometers. During those years the north texas public lakes were at good levels, agriculture was still nearby, a higher population of desirable ducks used those lakes, you could shoot lead, public hunting rules were more lax or just not enforced, public bank access was plentiful and year round blinds lined those banks, some left paddled or rowed boats on the bank all week without anyone messing with them, a lot of lakes hunted in the N TX area did not exist yet and there was no internet to find those that were outside the urban area driving range. It concentrated hunters on some lakes and I experienced hunting pressure at times that I believe rivals todays. But I also felt there was more hunting etiquette than today, it was an older crowd, and we killed a lot of ducks. Yet another lake during that time two hours plus drive away via a two lane road where a highway exists today had almost no hunting pressure during those years. You could knock on doors along that road and almost never be turned down to hunt private water so we never hunted that lake. It was about how near human population was and how information was obtained. I generally had to write snail mail letters just to find out if a place was legal to hunt and obtain hunting rules and maps.

Then came the three duck limit. Pressure dropped to the point at times it was like you had the entire lake to yourself. Duck numbers still seemed fine to me. But a lot of hunters who used to being able to take up to 10 ducks decided it was not worth going anymore. In many ways I think of those as the good old days because of that.

Today, I think it is just going to get worse. TV shows and advertisements make it look like an extreme sport and spend millions pushing new products. Anyone with internet within minutes can find every hunting area in any driving radius, it's rules, the access points, and zoom in to find exact spots to hunt, then use GPS to get there. And places like facebook and youtube there is a constant stream of self produced hunting videos down to the exact place, how to, and time far beyond the occasional name drop some worry about here. Younger guys might argue the point, but I am sure most older waterfowl hunters will agree, there also has been a culture change in the sport. Not just things like claypool mentioned, but also how the change from mentor taught hunters to internet taught hunters has changed the way they envision the sport and interact. Though hunter numbers drop each year, the acreage we have available to hunt also drops. The combination of all those things will continue to have a compounding effect on hunting pressure.

Unless perhaps if we go back to a three duck limit again.

We did just fine with none of that stuff. If I had camo, it was army surplus or we just used flannel shirts and blue jeans. Waders were made of rubber, handed down, and not everyone would have them. I often supplemented my dozen flambeaus with duck size logs and lake trash thrown out. We killed ducks. It was fun.

The public guide hate is funny. Everyone has an excuse, but remember if they get rid of them you’ll have to dig up a new one.

Are we as upset about influencers making money off of a public resource? Should they have a heavy price to pay as well?

All game is owned by the state. So all guides are profiting from a public resource unless you’re pen raising birds or hunting only exotics. So go ahead get anti guide with the hippie lingo of public resource singing this land is my land. Then just keep going until they come after everyone.

First off, there is no comparison between a fishing guide vrs a duck hunting guide. The two are so different that laws pertaing the two should be different.

I'm not against guides in general but there is something different about a guide operating on public vrs on private. Imagine all our lakes in N Tx with outfitters/guides lining every pocket or bank with their clients. Raise your hand here and show your stupidity if you would be fine with that (public hunters)

Laws are made (at least in theory) by the majority, for the majority but with protections for the minority. And who uses public lakes by far....the public land DIY hunter.

That's who should be protected and giving top considerations....just like the western resident elk hunters....but that's another debate in of itself.