Posted By:
dwilliams3
Web Member
Upper Texas Coastal Salt Grass 09-23-2008 15:53
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
Well the Gators are sure getting fat and lazy.
With 3000 dead cattle to munch on… There should be some nice weight gains.
Problem is the entire area smells like death.
Old cattle heard took it on the chin.
Posted By:
Muddy Bud
Guest
Valley 09-19-2008 20:52
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
Working down in the McAllen area though I have seen a couple of bunches of teal flying late in the evening to some nearby water tanks,they just are not as present here as out on the coast. The doves are another story. I have seen some huge flights of white wing in the early morning and just before dark, ”man they got some doves down here”.
Posted By:
dwilliams3
Web Member
Winnie Area 09-19-2008 11:55
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – Over 70 Degrees
Good to hear you mid-coast guys are doing good.
You can’t even get to the hunting areas on the upper coast. Even if you could, just about every duck camp is destroyed, and without roads, you can’t get to them.
Most upper Texas outfitters are looking at closing for this season. Without electricity, their camps are shut down and re-connects will take months. Some independant hunting make take place, but very little.
[Edited By dwilliams3 on 2008-09-19 11:57]
Posted By:
Muddy Bud
Guest
Coastal Bend 09-18-2008 18:09
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – Over 70 Degrees
First of all I would like to say to our friends in East Texas I hope you guys made it all right. I see the pictures in the news and cant help but feel very lucky. I dont wish this kind of destrucion on no one. Keep your heads up guys a lot of hard work is in store for you. But I know you guys can make it through after all we are Texan’s and work is no new thing for us.
My hopes & prayers are with you guys.
On a more tranquil note teal season is starting out great. We hunted four days in a row since satuday and limited out the first morning in 22 min. with four hunters in the Riviera area. Sunday the tide dropped enough to hunt the marsh area near Nueces bay and did just as well, even managed to pick up a couple of redfish on the way in. Monday and Tuesday slowed down somewhat but I still managed a limit with in a couple of hours. Lots of birds and lots of water.
[Edited By Muddy Bud on 2008-09-18 18:18]
Posted By:
dwilliams3
Web Member
Oyster Bayou Marsh 09-11-2008 09:04
Cloudy, High Winds – Over 70 Degrees
Damn Hurricanes… Another Early Teal Season that will be completely wiped out by Mother Nature. Well… maybe next year.
Posted By:
dwilliams3
Web Member
White Wings filling the Bag Limits 09-08-2008 11:22
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
What a difference 5 years can make. In the Central Texas area 5 years ago, white wings were few and far between. Hunters this season are seeing the White wings make up 50%+ of the total kill.
To date the Central Texas area is having a wonderful opening of the 2008 dove season.
Posted By:
dwilliams3
Web Member
Upper Gulf Coast 09-08-2008 11:18
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
My Sabine Pass Contacts say they expect the best Gator season ever. They say they’ve never seen so many “Big Boys”.
Problem is this Piss-ant Hurricane called Ike. Looks like he’s got his mind made up to destroy this years teal season for the upper coast.
You don’t wish a hurricane on anybody… but SE Texas got Rita a short time back. It’s someone else’s turn.
[Edited By dwilliams3 on 2008-09-08 11:18]
Posted By:
dwilliams3
Web Member
Breckenridge Texas 09-06-2008 15:39
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
Dove numbers and the season are off to a great start. The Woodward Boys held their annual Dove opener this past Monday.
106 hunters in the field…
A bird kill at right at 1500.
Most limits were taken in 20-30 minutes.
2008 is off to a great start.
Posted By:
brian j. donovan
Field Editor
North Texas 07-30-2008 13:31
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
TPWD Finalizes Dove, Teal Seasons
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department finalized the early season migratory game bird regulations, which includes dove and teal seasons for 2008-09. Texas hunters will see a 16-day September teal season and no changes to the South Dove Zone segments.
The North Zone runs Sept. 1-Oct. 30, with a 15-bird bag and not more than two white-tipped dove; the Central Zone is Sept. 1-Oct. 30 and reopens Dec. 26-Jan. 4, with a 12-bird bag and not more than two white-tipped dove. Possession limit is twice the daily bag.
This year, the South Zone dove season is Sept. 20-Nov. 9, reopening Dec. 26-Jan. 13 with a 12 bird bag and not more than two white-tipped dove. Possession limit is twice the daily bag limit.
The Special White-winged Dove Area, which now encompasses land west of I-35 and south of U. S. Highway 90, opens to white-winged dove afternoon-only (noon to sunset) hunting Sept. 6-7 and 13-14 and reopens Sept. 20-Nov. 9 and again from Dec. 26-Jan. 9. The daily bag limit during the first two weekend splits is 12 birds, not more than four (4) mourning dove and two (2) white-tipped dove. The daily bag limit during the remainder of the Special White-winged Dove Area is 12 birds, not more than two (2) white-tipped dove. Possession limit is twice the daily bag.
Teal season is Sept. 13-28 with a daily bag limit of 4 birds. Possession limit is twice the daily bag.
Hunters should note the dove and teal season dates and bag limits are not included in this year’s Outdoor Annual of hunting and fishing regulations. Information will be available in the Early Season Migratory Game Bird Digest supplement, available Aug. 15 on the TPWD Web site and wherever hunting and fishing licenses are sold.
A proposed dove season rule that would have removed one week of hunting opportunity from the end of the first season segment in the South Zone and added it to the end of the second season segment was not approved. Although public comment was supportive of the proposed amendment, the department has decided to retain the traditional structure because of other considerations resulting from public comment.
“Public comment received by the department indicates a growing concern among hunters, landowners, outfitters, and local businesses that economic factors are increasingly affecting hunting habits or will affect them in the future,” said Mike Berger, TPWD wildlife director. “The department therefore made the decision to leave the traditional season structure in place for the current year while launching an outreach effort to determine if the traditional and historic dove season structure should be altered for future seasons.”
In keeping with hunter and landowner preferences, dove seasons have traditionally been opened on the earliest day legally allowed under frameworks established by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, irrespective of which day of the week the date fell. Under federal law, dove hunting in the United States cannot begin before Sept. 1.
Sept. 1, as opening day of dove hunting in Texas, has been part of the state’s hunting tradition ever since the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 was signed. Treaties with Canada and Mexico established the framework for the taking of all migratory game birds, including dove.
“This year, Sept. 1 falls on Labor Day, a Monday, which is a good thing because it’s a holiday for many Texans, and like having another Saturday,” said Vernon Bevill, TPWD game bird program director. “The bad thing is, the next day isn’t Sunday, it’s back to work Tuesday.”
Similarly, this year’s South Zone dove season opener falls on Saturday, Sept. 20. Traditionally, dove season in South Texas has opened on the Friday after the 20th unless the 20th is a Saturday. Federal frameworks currently prevent opening the South Zone before the 20th.
Berger said recent public comment received by the department indicates a strong preference for seasons to open on a Friday, so as to create a three-day hunting opportunity to open the season. Recent public comment also indicates a preference for the 60-day/15-bird configuration in the South Zone.
“A recurrent theme was the concern that increased consumer costs, particularly transportation costs related to energy prices, make anything less than a three-day opening weekend economically unjustifiable,” said Berger. “Similarly, proponents of the 60-day/15-bird configuration stated that economic considerations would cause them to curtail the number of times they could go hunting, leading them to prefer a higher daily bag limit. In the past, hunters and others have expressed an aversion to delaying the opening day until the first full weekend, preferring the earliest possible opener.”
Hunters looking for a place to hunt dove should consider TPWD’s public hunting opportunities. According to Linda Campbell, TPWD public hunting program director, the department manages more than 50,000 acres of dove hunting units. Hunting access to these areas is available with purchase of a $48 Annual Public Hunting Permit, available Aug. 15 wherever hunting and fishing licenses are sold.
A map booklet detailing locations and additional information about the 143 public dove hunting units is included with the Annual Public Hunting Permit and will be available on the TPWD Web site beginning Aug. 15. A permit is not required to access the map booklet information online.
TPWD dove program coordinator Jay Roberson anticipates an above average hunting season for doves this fall, based on habitat conditions. “We had a pretty dry spring and doves do well in those conditions,” he noted. “The birds weren’t responding last year to predictions of good food availability and many doves stayed to the north. I’m guardedly optimistic this year.”
Roberson reported hearing of good numbers of doves across South Texas and anticipates hunters should have good success if they can identify flight patterns. Conditions are expected to change in the weeks heading into the season, particularly in the wake of recent weather resulting from Hurricane Dolly.
Posted By:
dwilliams3
Web Member
07-22-2008 09:25
– – –
I’d be interested to see if any of you know of any duck clubs in Texas. I’ve hunted the state for over 40 years, and have only run into one. Texas seems to be a private land state w/ day permits or guided hunts being the rule. If you know of duck clubs… please post them here:
I knew of one in LaBelle (South of Beaumont) about 25 years ago. It lasted about 4 years, when one guy offered $8500 for the lease and took everyone else out of the picture. That’s the only club I’ve ever heard of for waterfowl in Texas. There are plenty for deer, turkey, and hogs… but none for waterfowl that I am aware of.
[Edited By dwilliams3 on 2008-07-30 12:42]
