Al,
The ducks are plentiful...I really do not know the numbers we had in snows last weekend but I would care to say at least 100,000 in the Eagle lake area or more...The neighboring club had around 30,000 snows land upwind of them last week...Funny thing is they decided not even to put out a goose spread, only had about about two dozen duck decoys out in one of their flooded rice fields...
This may sound funny but it is kind of terrible in the morning when we limit out within an hour and then spend the next four hours trying for snows...Pintail numbers could be increased two fold in Texas if the Feds would allow it...Any given hunt we have 300 to 500 pins land in, near, or within the same decoys each time we hunt whether we are in flooded rice stubble or a dry field.
My main focus this season is trying something different by targeting snows...A new breed of passion has opened up trying to decoy wary matures into a spread with my mouth call...I honestly believe they are the hardest birds in the waterfowl world for a hunter to have consistent results...In time I hope they allow electronic calls here in Texas...Definitely keep from getting red faced...I have not had any really big days but have managed to knock out a few specks, blues, and snows over the season...Ducks on the other hand have been plentiful...Kind of a funny thing down here...One weekend will be tons of bluewings, gads, pins, and occasional mallards...The next hunt may be only greenwings, shoverlers, and pins...I am certain it is because of the birds passing through but the Pintails are pretty consistant in numbers...Have seen many of fields with 100s of pintails dry feeding leftover rice stubble.
I just wish there was some way to claim insanity within our goverment for a waterfowl hunter and collect a pay check...Would definitely have about another 1000 decoys in my spread.
Andrew,
Do not really know where you are going to be here in Texas hunting but would recommend you call ahead to get a forecast of the birds in the area...We went last week to this week around Eagle Lake/Lissie area from snow geese blackening the sky for hours on in in the morning flight to just a couple of hundred...I am certain if you pass through a guide service they will be spot on in the chase unless they set spreads out down here and hunt the same fields everyday...I would not recommend a squater guide service (one that hunts the same field spread day in and day out) but one that nomad hunts (finds the "X", moves with the birds). Duck squater guides service are not going to be a bad bet if they remove the dekes everyday, but if you are planning to hunt snows save your money and find the nomads...You will go from shooting 10 to 15 a day to around 35 a day with "X" guides...
Regards,
Kristan
