This is the 5th year of terrible duck hunting in North Texas. I started seeing it happen when the peanut farms around Whitney sold to the gravel pits. Now that they have turned all the rice fields into parking lots around the Katy area there is no reason for the ducks to come down the middle of Texas in November. Its the same reason the snow geese stopped coming in November. To make matters worse I heard that one of the states above us (don't remember which one) changed their "baiting laws" to allow more agricultural grain to be left in the fields to be hunted over. The ducks that do come down the center of Texas are coming after the season is over because they have plenty to eat north of us. By the time those fields are either depleted or the grain has rotted our season is over. About a week after our season ended I saw the ponds around me fill up with ducks. Same thing with the lake. I am a full time Striper guide, so I am on the lake several mornings each week throughout the winter. During the season I saw very few ducks flying over. A week after the season ended I saw "V" after "V" flying over the lake.

TPWD needs to push duck season back one month. Instead of starting it in November, duck season needs to start in December and run through the end of February. If they don't move it back I don't see the point in duck hunting in Texas any more. I shot 3 ducks this season. Three ducks is not worth the effort or the expense to me. I would rather save the money and use it to take 1 good duck hunting trip to Kansas or Arkansas.

The federal guidelines that states must follow dtate all duck seasons must end Jan 31st. You see more ducks after the season, because they are no longer being hunted and come out of the refuges and non hunted places they have found refuge in. By the end of January, for the most part, ducks are already heading north again. We always get a shot of early bluewings headed up from Mexico right at the end of Jan. The problem is fewer ducks and too much pressed.
Also, have friends that hunt OK, arkyland and KS. All of them were hurting like we were for ducks.

If Texas can adjust their own conservation season for geese, then I'm sure they could find a work around for duck season. If they don't then they are going to see revenue taper off from duck hunters, because I know I'm not the only hunter ready to take my money to other states. I guide fishing trips on a lake with a huge game reserve at one end. I would have seen the birds if they were flying around the reserve, and they were not here. The ducks did not show up until about a week after the season was over: and they came in by the thousands. The ducks are migrating to north Texas later than they used to. I don't know if it is because of food or climate change, but the fact is they are migrating later. If TPWD wants to keep hunter's money in Texas they need to figure out a way to change the hunting season dates like the ducks changed their migration habits.

Can't be done..."Migratory Bird Conventions" (Treaties) in place, under USFWS directions...here is the most salient passage:

Federal Framework Regulations

Framework regulations are the main foundation of annual regulations and consist of the boundary dates for opening and closing seasons, season length, daily bag and possession limits, and shooting hours.

In order to ensure these regulations are based on the best available and mostly timely scientific information, we use data from annual monitoring programs to determine the birds’ status, and ultimately if hunting can be sustained. Specifically, we use the results of annual survey and monitoring programs including bird banding, waterfowl breeding population and habitat surveys, and harvest surveys, as the basis for establishing the annual federal frameworks.

This strategy was developed cooperatively with the states in each Flyway and across all the Flyways (Atlantic, Mississippi, Central and Pacific) to manage our shared migratory bird resources. These frameworks often differ by Flyway depending on population status, number of hunters, projected harvest numbers, etc. Our objective is essentially to provide maximum hunting opportunity over the long-term while sustaining waterfowl populations into the future.

Season Lengths

The earliest (September 1) and latest (March 10) dates allowed for hunting are set by the Migratory Bird Conventions referenced at the beginning of this story. Framework dates, which are the annual dates selected by the Service for hunting, vary for different groups of migratory game birds. Annual framework dates for most regular waterfowl seasons are from the end of September to the end of January for ducks, and mid-February for geese.

Under the MBTA, season lengths may not exceed 107 days. The MBTA and related implementing regulations restrict when migratory bird hunting can occur during the year. The opening framework dates for the regular duck season cannot be earlier than the Saturday closest to September 24th and the closing date cannot be after January 31st. Why? Because hunting ducks after January 31st could have impacts on hen behavior and harvest in February is likely to have negative impacts on breeding duck population sizes in the spring. That could impact subsequent hunting seasons and reduce the overall opportunity for all hunters.

Season lengths for ducks vary by Flyway, with seasons being the longest in the Pacific Flyway and the shortest in the Atlantic and Mississippi Flyways, reflecting differences in the abundance of birds, number of hunters, migration patterns, and other factors. Once the federal frameworks are set, then the states have the option of selecting their seasons as long as they are within the federal frameworks (i.e., no more than 60 days in the Mississippi Flyway and 74 days in the Central Flyway when liberal seasons are allowed).

Most states select their hunting season to maximize their duck harvest within these frameworks. States always have the right to be more restrictive than the established federal frameworks.

Season lengths, bag limits, and to a lesser extent framework dates are selected and changed based on changes in bird abundance and habitat conditions.


...this is why the season can't be pushed back by a month or more...sorry...

Can't be done and shouldn't be done. Really the season should end early to mid January. Ducks are already pairing up and starting the breeding courtship in mid tonlat January. Shooting those birds, even just the drakes, disrupts the breeding cycle. Seasons going into February would have negative effects on an already struggling population.

this is exactly right!

that said, there is a serious issue that I don't think the authorities are paying attention to and I'm not sure we all really understand. Hate to say it, but if I were in charge, I would reduce bag limit to 4 and season length to 45 days for 3 years and see what happens to populations....I believe we truly have an issue with bird populations...

5th year in a row? This year they got here late because of the lack cold weather but the previous 4 years were great where I hunt.

Its been bad for some time now. IMO its a combination of things.

First, I think the duck surveys are not right. We have way less birds than being reported.
Second, the amount of feed just below the freeze line that are holding birds.
Third, when it is cold water is kept open with ice eaters.

The warm winter we had did contribute but its been getting worse year over year.

Again, IMO, we need a lot of things to change.

Rethink how the bird surveys are done.
Pay Farmers up north to not disturbe area that are key to breeding.
A big effort in predator control
Stop allowing the practice of flooding a corn field to hunt in it.
Ban ice eaters
A shorter season (30 to 40 days) with a 3 duck bag limit.

These are rough numbers, so don’t get too statistical. Duck numbers are probably half of what they were, which means available food sources to the north of us will last twice as long. If it doesn’t freeze up and get 2ft of snow dumped on it, which doesn’t happen anymore.

Oldest. Dumbest talking point on the WWW.

But just call tpw and tell em ole son

This will never happen, but we should start a petition to move youth weekend to the weekend after the season not before

Oklahoma is weekend after

Does DU have any say on this topic? like a tidal wave, they all start out small, and eventually become something
large and massive! it has to start somewhere! here in central texas im seeing lots of my 2 ponds now, seldom they
would lite here.....

It’s not the job of TPWD or USFWS to give us the best hunting seasons.

It should be backed by biologists that do what’s best for the waterfowl health and population as a whole.

Oddly enough, our largest concentration of birds was Nov 1, unreal amount of sprigs. After that pretty much stayed north chasing freeze line

hopfully DOGE shuts down TPWD and USFWS...problem solved, lots of them solved

Might get USFWS , but not TPWD… the parks part is forever

Federal Mandate. Never going to happen. Ducks pair up in Jan. We’ve had our 3 best season total ever, even though hunted 30% less this year. Great season

This is the reason we are in this situation. People are still in the “kill as many at all costs”, instead of considering what conservation steps need to be taken to help the obviously struggling resource. Liberal season length and bag limits aren’t it. It’s not just Texas…

My opinion from south Louisiana. I would never be in favor of delaying the start of the big duck season. We have a lot more ducks in our marsh November 1 than we do January 31. Most of our ducks are taken before January 1. There are many factors for that but keep in mind we are located on a similar latitude so I don't know why we have ducks early and Texas may not? I just know what I have seen over many years of duck hunting. Earlier the better for me for sure.

Our TX marsh birds are here like yours early. The marsh gets harder hunting as the season goes on. Ponds are eaten out and birds are moving around more. Another thing is, most of the birds that use the marsh are earlier migrators. They migrate by length of day.

TDK, if your referring to my post, you don’t know me, or the thousands of dollars I have spent on conservation - we have ducks directly because of my planting, flooding, drilling wells, and feeding 1000s of ducks during the season- while harvesting 10% or less of that number. If your comment wasn’t at me, no worries- if it was, you shouldn’t be painting everybody with the same brush.

I would imagine 90% of these posts “my season was terrible” is predicated on selfish rationale, not from the view of conservationists like yourself.

Good luck

The idea that hunters harvest are what hurts duck numbers is ridiculous. Surely nobody believes that.

The idea that taking approximately 9-10 million birds a year of an estimated 34 million has no effect(among others) is ridiculous. Surely nobody actually believes that. Of all the ways to conserve, this is the quickest and easiest to start implementing.

For comparison of another migrator, approximately 20-25 million mourning dove are harvested each year of an estimated 340 million. I wonder what would happen if that harvest number was closer to the harvest percentages of ducks.

Wasn’t directed at anybody in particular, rather an ideology. If you don’t fit into that ideology, it’s not directed at you.