Texas Dove & Waterfowl Season Dates

I hope this e-mail finds everyone doing well. It’s been a hot and busy summer of fishing here on the coast but we are already setting our sights on the upcoming fall hunting season. It’s unusual to have hunting dates this far in advance but it looks like the State and USFWS have gotten their acts together early this year. Here’s what our hunting dates and limits are looking like. Some things about the big Duck Season are a little vague at this point concerning the make up of the bag limit. One thing seems certain, “Hunter’s Choice” is over and done with and it will be a SIX DUCK limit:

 

 

Opens Friday, September 18^th and runs deep into October. Dry conditions are centering our birds on available fresh water. I’ve never seen so many congregated birds cramming into watering areas. For the first time, it’s looking like a South Texas Dove Mecca with White-Wing, Mourning Dove, and Ringnecks working the fields and watering holes. September and October cast and blasts for Dove should be excellent barring any torrential rains. The State is increasing the bag limit from 12 birds back to 15 this year. 

 

 

The season opens Saturday, September 12^th and runs through Sunday, September 27^th, 2009. Bag limit is 4 ducks.

 

 

The Season opens Thursday, September 10^th and runs through Wednesday, September 30^th. Harvest by permit only. Pricing by the foot and ranging from $650 for an 8’ Gator up to $2,500 for 12’ Lizards. 

 

 

September 18^th through the 27^th allows our guests to take advantage of all the Seasons including a morning Teal hunt, fishing, Dove hunting, and Alligator hunting. We can custom tailor a package to make the best use of your time afield. Dove and Teal/fish combinations are $400 per person including a night’s stay at the Lodge with meals, minimum party of 3. 

 

 

Season opens October 31^st and runs through November 29^th. The Season closes until the second opener on December 12^th and runs through January 24^th. The big news is Hunter’s Choice has run its cycle and they are apparently doing away with it. The ducks have reportedly had a very successful hatch and the fall flight projections are looking very good. The limit will be six ducks instead of five, but we aren’t certain how the bag limit is going to be comprised as of yet. We are hearing concerns over Mottled Ducks which are indigenous Texas ducks where we may see some restriction. It’s not a big concern insofar as they do not make up a substantial part of our seasonal harvest. 

Seeing Double - New Airboat on the Way!

 

In the spring of this year, I bought a new 20’ Air Ranger airboat to go along with our existing 18’ airboat. The benefit of having two airboats is obvious and it will greatly benefit our logistics and ability to split up and hunt different locations. For all you Airboat Red fishing fans, we can now obviously do two airboat Redfish trips per day. That’s going to solve a lot of problems with larger groups that all want to get in the back country. The new boat will be arriving around the first of September, 2009. 

 

 

We are working with Mark Rongers at Mighty Layout Boys in determining which boats will suite our needs best. We are very excited about continuing this tradition and making these hunts available to our clients. Layout boat hunting was a lot of fun especially in our very forgiving climate. 

 

 

We are seeing our groups make very early arrangements for hunting dates this season. As such, we are already booked up November 14-15, December 12-14^th which is the second opener. We’ve got another half dozen dates which are approaching capacity. If you are thinking of making it to the Texas Coast this season, please contact us as soon as possible. 

 

With our sights already firmly set on the upcoming hunting season, we are ready to drop the hammer and can’t wait. Come see us!