Had the good fortune of hunting the Texas coast down near Rockport a couple of weeks ago for my first hunt down that way. We had heard that the hunting down there was primo, but the guide said it was the worst season he had seen since he started hunting the area 17 years ago.
We were shooting out of a blind along the coast of one of the barrier islands with about 5 dozen decoys - redheads, pintails, teal and gadwalls.
On Sunday evening, the shooting was kind of light and the two of us only downed 4 ducks. Monday AM the weather was pretty rough - rainy, windy, cold (in other words goo-oo-ood duck hunting weather) - and the shooting was about as good as it gets. We limited on redheads and also shot buffelheads, gadwalls, widgeon, squealers and my first golden eye.
Saw a bunch of teal but they would not decoy for anything. The second pintail season had not started yet - we could have taken several shots at them but couldn't. (the limit is only one this season in S Texas.)
The pair of buffelheads (drake and hen) and one large redhead drake are at the taxidermist now being mounted. Plan on going back out between Christmas and New Years.
We are having some cold weather in the Houston area right now and hopefully that will puch some more ducks down toward the S Texas coast.
