Hunting Archery Duck Deer

For Houston waterfowl hunters, the adults anyway, there is no special season or managed lands permit or other means by which to get an early start. Kids got a crack at the quacks this weekend, but for the rest of us, duck and geese seasons open simultaneously at precisely 30 minutes before sunrise Saturday.

The resultant rush, both to public and private hunting areas, is understandable. Regardless of general prospects — better for ducks this year than for geese — there is something legitimately special about hearing and seeing waterfowl in the air on the first morning that really counts. Even that first Sunday, 24 hours removed from the tipoff, is not the same.

But don’t count your ducks before they decoy because opening day is not in any way synonymous with a heavy strap.

Rain or shine, the first Saturday of the season always is crowded. Small-town coffee shops and breakfast houses on the prairies east and west of Houston will be jammed. It is in those places that hunters meet their guides, earlier in some cases than either of them has risen since January. Once bellies are filled and balances paid, the groups caravan in all directions.

And as light gathers in the east, many of those folks will discover that for all the driving they did, they’re not a whole lot farther from the next group than they were at breakfast.

Still popular in area
Waterfowl hunting around Houston snowballed in popularity through the final quarter of the 20th century. It peaked at some point in the 1990s, just before pintail numbers dropped through the floor, rice prices did the same and developers began pouring slabs across one of North America’s most finest wintering areas.

The prairie continues to be divided and subdivided, but most of the birds find their way here — and will until their genetic compasses can be rewired.

Despite setbacks, the sport remains extremely popular and even marginally profitable here for those whose livelihoods depend on it. Most every available acre of legitimate waterfowl habitat is leased or subleased by folks who appreciate wild wings, and they’ll all be out for opening day.

Similar situations can occur also on public hunting areas, such as the state’s Wildlife Management Areas and federally managed refuges, but those areas are monitored carefully to minimize overlaps.

Public ground or private, it isn’t uncommon on the opener and again at major holidays for hunting parties to suffer “waterfowler’s claustrophobia,” the sensation that other groups are uncomfortably close.

Phone calls, handshakes and common courtesy can reduce risk of two groups essentially working the same flights of ducks or geese, but any time hunting groups can wave at each other and be acknowledged, things can go awry.

Patience a must
On opening day, should you find yourself close enough to hear distinctly the calling (or worse, conversation) from nearby spreads or blinds, expect and accept some missed opportunities. Know that those other guys are going to wind up shooting a couple of times just as you’re working birds close — and that they’ll get burned equally when floaters hang over your decoys.

Solitude in duck blinds and grain fields within a two-hour drive of Houston is available, but only on freezing Tuesdays in January. Prime ground on the prairies is like favored tables in popular restaurants: always full.

Rather than curse their neighbors, veteran waterfowl hunters learn they can be used to advantage.

Unless I knew the guys next door were led by an ace caller whose hunters went statue-still as he worked incoming flights, company seldom bothered me through 14 years as a professional guide.

I had confidence in my ability to set a good spread and conceal my crew. That is critical in a crowded area.

Around here, for November duck hunts, stack your rig with more teal, wigeon and gadwall decoys — you do own gadwall decoys, don’t you? Dust off the mallards and full-plumed pintails, but don’t add many of them to the spread until mid-December.

A proper goose spread before Thanksgiving should include a high percentage of dark decoys, perhaps more of them than white ones until snow geese show in appreciable numbers. Even the light geese that are here know they’re in the minority. Specklebellies dominate now, and Canadas will be last to arrive.

Limiting calls good strategy
A setup of 500 new snow goose decoys and six dozen plastic greenheads might look good to you or me, but it wouldn’t fool many early-season birds on the Texas coast. They’d likely lock a wing and head your way for a closer look, but chances are good under decent light the birds never would fly into shooting range.

Another pro trick that works almost any time or anywhere that several groups of hunters are within earshot of each other is to minimize calling. David Lobpries, one of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s most respected waterfowl biologists for decades, described duck calls to me years ago as the “greatest conservation tool ever.”

When artificial quacks and honks rip the air all around you, consider letting your calls hang quietly. Nervous birds don’t “talk” much, but they pay attention to realistic spreads.

Make sure everyone is hidden, something else with which many opening-day hunters have trouble, and let birds work at their pace.

If you must call, do so sparingly. Better to say nothing at all than to scream the wrong message.

There has to be an opening day, and it’s going to be crowded.

Like the same-day opening of deer season, this is a major event. Make the most of it.

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