Is anybody else having a hard time finding ducks this season?

I hunt public water in North Central Texas and this is the worse season I have ever had. I cannot find ducks on any of the lakes or rivers I hunt.
The first half of the season is always bad, and I have come to expect that. However, it usually gets better after the split. This year it has remained bad after the 2nd half opener. I have hunted every lake, puddle, river, and creek I know and there are no birds anywhere. I am almost burned out and ready to throw in the towel. This season sucks.

Am I the only one who cannot locate the birds, or are you guys having the same problem?

I wish they would wait until Thanksgiving to start duck season. Early November is just to early for the birds to be here.

I hunt in the Abilene area and opening day is usually our best hunt of the year.

Not sure about the public water you are hunting. In general i feel like most people are having better than average seasons so far in most areas.

Sorry to hear about your luck so far. You seeing any ducks on stock tanks in the area?

the big push has not happened yet... South Dakota will be freezing up within the next couple days unless it already has.
Kansas and Oklahoma will be the place to be for the next couple of weeks..

But we have been having a good season so far. It seems that birds are alot more skittish this season, but the numbers are here.

waterfowl here have been highly concentrated you find the food you’ll find the ducks. We have had the best first half ever lots of big ducks early as well.

There’s a lot of waterfowl staging south of the red river in North Texas right now should be a good weekend

The big push no but we had a major push the first week of November and many of the birds stayed. Because of the lack of wind and cloudy days I have shrunk my decoy spreads by half an added more motion this has helped tremendously

This is my first year hunting public around NTX. It is slow but we see a fair amount of ducks every time we go out. The problem is that the birds who are around have been around for a while and know exactly where to avoid. It just hasn't been cold enough up north to push new birds down yet. Hopefully this freeze hitting up north will bring some in.

Bad season for me currently. I hope this weeks cold fronts will help to push some down.

We have only had 2 bad hunts out of about 10. Our best hunt was sat after the split. Our worst hunt was yesterday... only killing two ducks.

2/3 of my hunts have been hi fenced ducks. Limits each time and holding lots of ducks all season so far... will only get better.

The other third on public was not bad. The only one that sucked was when I went to a walk in place... a loooooong walk in. I don't go there to scout first, I figure I'd scout on the hunt. Well, literally 5 minutes AFTER LST I see a headlamp coming my way. Well over an hour after LST here comes a couple of other guys. I packed up and left, prolly won't go back.

It's been awful around my parts. Birds I scout seem to leave overnight and never show the next morning.

All public for us so far...haven't hunted quite as hard as normal with only 7 hunts to date.

Finding birds has not been a problem...3 of our hunts were South Zone and the remainder were around N TX. Very few teal for us this year, but lots of Gadwall and Mallards are around in decent numbers.

Averaging about 4 birds/person per hunt.

We're starting to freeze up up here so be patient. Our last push left a while ago and haven't had any new birds down yet but with temps hovering around 20 during the day and down to single digits at night the freeze up is coming fast. I found 3 greenwing teal last weekend and that was it, on an open creek. Still water is already partially frozen. The Dakotas and Canada should be sending some birds down soon.

With the warmer and sunny weather I've hunted in lately, (Stephens County near Breckenridge, TX), it's been slow. A few weeks ago it was hot and heavy when it was colder with some clouds. I hunted last weekend, and it was sunny and warm and I was sweating in my waders. We had only 2 groups of duck think about landing, which they did not come in. We left without firing a shot. Now that the cold weather has come in, I will certainly go duck hunting again, and it should be much better. Some of the guys are going this weekend, so I'll get another report after this weekend.

Where are you located??

Yes, its been my worst season on public so far. I have hunted public hard since 2007 and its by far been the toughest to find birds of any amount. if i find em they are in groups of about 6-8 and make it tough to hunt due to low water and pressure. i have 4 main public lakes and they all are slim on birds.

I've heard mixed reports, but for the most part, the folks getting a few are having travel. And work for the birds.

Opposed to what im seeing alot of people say here, this season has been one of my best yet on public land. I've hunted almost every day of the First Split and every day of the Second split so far and only been skunked once. Like it was said earlier the ducks are on a mission for food. I'm in CTX and with the water being so low, if you find food, you'll find the ducks! Put some miles on the truck and dont give up!

Here in central Texas all our lakes and rivers have been full or flooded the last couple years so all the vegetation has been killed. Now all the lakes are down several feet and it's just sticks and mud. Can't find any flooded grass or seeds or anything. That's making it hard to hold birds. The places that have them have a lot of them but the majority of the public stuff around here is sucking this season.

Have had some good hunts and bad ones. This my best and only mallard limit, sorry for the hen Judd.

Thank you for the replies. I am glad to know that I am not the only one not seeing ducks in my area. By my area I mean public water within a 90 minute drive of Waco in every direction. At least I know it is not something I am doing wrong. I envy you guys who are seeing birds in other parts of Texas.
It is finally cold here in the Waco area. We are getting our first freeze tonight. Maybe things will pick up soon.

Nice strap.

I'm having the worst season so far of my 4 years of duck hunting. That said I took 2 limits and 1 bird each in the 4 days I've hunted this week. It has been tougher but seems to be getting better. All public.

We are slowly getting them here but they don't want decoy in for some reason

Just my 2nd year to duck hunt, but had only been seeing 2 - 4 birds each time until Saturday. Must've had 40 - 50 come right over me 10 - 20 minutes before shooting time, and then 2 mallards and one ringneck afterwards. Frustrating for sure, but just glad to be seeing ducks finally!

Shot 3 birds in 7 days of hunting..... I'm frustrated and irritated. Those three were passing by too..nothing is decoying. Oh and one was a spooner. I quit.

Very good season so far.
Went from 6 dozen decoys down to 1 with couple swimmers. Worked. Ducks seen too much.

I wonder what good is to some people. Is limiting out good? 2-4? Got at least 1 everytime they go out?

I have had my best season yet this year. I have been hunting for four seasons and this year has been the best so far. All hunts on public land. A good hunt for me is seeing a lot of ducks and harvesting at least a couple each outing.

Hunting public in a 60 mile radius of Waco. Four hunts with 3 people. First hunt bagged four birds. Next three hunts zeroed. Didn't even fire a single shot the last three hunts. It's been terrible for us.

Speaking only of birds taken and not the experience....on public....a limit is excellent. 4-5 birds is a good hunt. 3 birds is ok. 2 birds is poor. 1 bird is bad. skunked is just plain ole sucks! Thats alone. If someone is with me the expectations drop some.

But drinking coffee alone in some far out hole waiting for trigger time adds to the experience.

For my group over the last 20yrs, our expectation is to be around 4-5 birds per person per hunt. Rarely do we get skunked and those rare cases are when we go in blind, which is also extremely rare.

Scouting is the key to killing birds...got to put in the time to find them!

Currently, we are at 4 birds per person, so I would say it has been average for us. Typically hunt in a group of 3-4 guys.

Now that's good info. In previous year I would say I average about the same as you, this year.... 0.3 birds per person.
About to scout some different areas in the next couple weeks. Going to travel way further north east.