South Texas Duck Outlook

The Laguna Madre, which runs from Corpus Christi all the way down to the Mexican border, can harbor loads of ducks one day and seemingly none the next. However, South Texas almost always has the highest concentration of wintering ducks in the state.

Texas waterfowl hunting has had tough times the past few seasons. The pandemic killed off the annual estimate counts performed by biologists while habitat conditions across the duck factories that are Canada and the Dakotas simply didn’t help out production. In looking forward to another season, the prognostications almost always will rest on habitat and production again, which may be along the lines of what hunters have recently experienced.

Kevin Kraai, waterfowl program leader with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, said the Lone Star state conditions last fall and winter just weren’t conducive to success across most traditionally good areas.

“In all reality, Texas is really about five different states when you start thinking about the diversity of the state and the different habitats we have north to south and east to west, so making a comment about everyone’s hunting is very difficult because it changes so much as you move around the state,” Kraai said. “The reports overall came down to the state not having good habitat throughout most of the year.”

“Last year we saw about a 40% decline in our overall duck harvest from the previous season and about a 35% decrease in the goose harvest, which was correlative to what we had been hearing. We did have some good cold fronts that moved through later in the season that helped some hunters out, but by and far, it was pretty frustrating for a lot of people. As a whole, we were down a good bit from the previous seasons.”

Much like deer hunters targeting high-success areas such as the Hill Country and South Texas, it’s imperative for waterfowl hunters to do the same. Kraai noted South Texas remains tops in the state for a variety of reasons.

“When we do our mid-winter surveys to get the 10,000-footlook at the overall outlook, we do it using our five different ecoregions across the state that are divided up based on habitat,” Kraai said. “The Gulf Coast marshes and prairies area is that area that runs from about Beaumont all the way down the coast to Corpus Christi. That includes all the bays and estuaries, and includes the famed rice and agricultural regions further inland from the coast.

“This is arguably our most important waterfowl region in the state and it’s where most of our hunters occur and most of our harvest occurs. Historically it’s also one of the most important areas in all of North America for wintering waterfowl. Most of our public lands for waterfowl hunting that the state owns and operates are in this landscape.”

Kraai also pointed out another South Texas ecoregion can harbor waterfowl.

“The sand plain region that starts south of Corpus Christi and runs to Brownsville does feature isolated, playa-type wetlands when we have good moisture and when they do get good rain they can be very good for waterfowl hunting,” Kraai said. “If you go slightly west into the brush country, the habitat is similar to the Rolling Plains where there are lots of agricultural water features and stock ponds that can hold ducks and there’s not a lot of pressure.”

Kraai noted the duck life cycle can play a large role in waterfowl distribution as some will seek out refuge in non-traditional areas.

Getting away from the masses, if possible, can mean the difference between having decoying ducks and not. It’s always great to have a retriever, too!

“One thing hunters may not think about much is that once you get to a certain point in your annual life cycle and you pair with a mate, you don’t want to be around other ducks,” Kraai said. “You don’t want your mate stolen so you’re going to run off and hide, and that has huge impacts on duck behavior and hunter success, especially as you get later in the season. The really healthy ducks like hens with a lot of fat and dealing with molt aren’t going to be gregarious and the last thing they want to do is go land with a bunch of plastic look-alikes.

“That means those birds are going to leave larger, more traditional areas and seek out smaller ponds and bodies of water.”

Kraai said that hot and dry conditions that have dominated Texas for most of the spring and summer months actually can help once moisture does come through.

“We focus a lot on wetlands habitat and those areas do need a dry period so that they can grow foods for waterfowl. It kinds of helps reset the table for those vital habitats,” Kraai said. “When it’s dry that also allows those land managers who focus on ducks to get in there and do soil disturbance and land maintenance that they can’t do when it’s wet. When we look at a lot of public waterfowl hunting habitats, the dry months help expose shorelines and those shorelines are growing duck foods rapidly.”

Most coastal duck hunts run by guides are from airboats. They always bring along extra hunting buddies as well.

Waterfowl Hunting Safety Checklist • Duck and goose hunting bring inherent dangers that shouldn’t be overlooked. Here are safety aspects to consider during winter hunts, especially on larger bodies of water: • Always make plans with your family and friends; never go hunting without telling somebody where you’re going and when you expect to return. • Have safety gear on standby in your boat or in your vehicle near where you’re hunting, including extra warm clothing, Texas Duck, Goose and Sandhill Crane Bag Limits Duck Bag Limit: 6/day in the aggregate to include no more than 5 mallards (of which only 2 may be hens), 3 wood ducks, 2 redheads, 2 canvasback, 1 pintail, 1 scaup, 1 “dusky duck” (mottled, black or Mexican-like) may only be taken after the first 5 days of the season in the respective zones. Mergansers: 5/day with no more than 2 hooded mergansers. Coots: 15/day. Possession limit is 3 times the daily bag limit for all migratory game birds except snow geese which have no possession limit. Goose Bag Limit: 5 dark geese, to include no more than 2 white-fronted geese, 10 light geese (no possession limit on light geese). Sandhill Crane Bag Limit: Zones A and B: Bag Limit: 3, possession limit 9; Zone C: Bag Limit: 2, possession limit 6. • • • • food and water, first-aid kit and extra phone(s). Carry your cellphone in some type of waterproof bag or box, and make sure it’s accessible should you need to call for help or relay your location. Always wear a certified personal flotation device when running or paddling a boat. Never run a boat that’s overloaded, and if you’re hunting open-water areas that can blow up quickly, make sure you’re operating a craft big enough to get out of bad weather conditions Be aware of every firearm’s location, treat every shotgun like it’s loaded and never swing into an unsafe line of fire, especially if you’re hunting with others in tight quarters, which includes most duck blind situations.

STORY

Steve Siddons (left) with Stanton Smith and Smith’s aoudad.

My first cousin, Steve Siddons, made an off-hand comment to me at the dinner table during our gun hunt at Fox Canyon Ranch in the Davis Mountains of West Texas. He mentioned he was staying through the whole nine days so he could hunt with his son-in-law, Kerby Smith, and his grandson, Stanton Smith, during the “relatives only” part of our hunt. I told him I got my son-in-law, Chris Goodwin, and my grandson, William Goodwin, coming at the same time.

I asked Steve, “How old is Stanton?” He replied, “Sixteen. How old is William?” With a smile, I said, “Sixteen.” Now this could be fun, and we would have the whole ranch to ourselves, just the six of us!

Thursday

Everyone arrived Thursday. On our first afternoon, Chris, William and I headed for the area we call the “Dish,” while Steve, Kerby and Stanton headed up Prizer Canyon. We Dish hunters saw a few whitetail does and small bucks. Nothing worthy for the likes of seasoned hunters.

On our return to the lodge, we immediately learned the Prizer Canyon hunters hit pay dirt. Stanton killed a nice aoudad ram with one shot. Just above the second creek crossing, Kerby spotted three solo aoudad rams, about 200 yards, up on the left side of the canyon. The rams had spotted the hunters and were heading around the point and out of sight.

Stanton quickly jumped up into the high seat of Steve’s Mule, rested Kerby’s .338 on a backpack, aimed, and pulled the trigger. KaBoom! The third ram in the line went down. We had a big time celebrating at the lodge on our first night.

William Goodwin with his 10-point mule deer buck.

Friday

Steve and I had planned ahead for the Friday hunt. Our friend Robert Borgers had hunted the meadow halfway up Solomon Canyon a week earlier. He was bowhunting and had made a ground blind 20 yards from the protein feeder. He was covered over by 22 mule deer, with none being trophies. That same day, Steve and I had seen 16 mule deer while hiding in a rock pile overlooking the protein feeder 190 yards below us. Seven were bucks, with one being a shooter. We had also seen a “variety pack” of 12 different sized feral hogs at a corn feeder, which was also within shooting distance of our rock pile vantage point.

Chris, William, and I planned to be at the rock pile before daylight. Kerby, Stanton and Steve would follow us as far as the meadow. They would park below the meadow and sneak into a pop-up camouflaged hunting tent, with three chairs, that Steve and I had erected earlier in the week for this hunt. The tent stood about 75 yards from the protein feeder.

From the rock pile, Chris, William, and I had just enough light to see two deer at the protein feeder, but not enough light to see their antlers. The next time we poked our heads over the rocks to take a look, they had vanished. Ten minutes later, we determined why they weren’t feeding. We saw several small mule deer bucks chasing four or five does on our level behind us.

One doe was in heat and the bucks weren’t giving her any time to rest. Then a larger buck appeared and took command of the situation, flashing his antlers and blocking the smaller bucks from the hot doe. We deliberated about whether he was a shooter buck.

Steve and I had seen a bigger buck in this same area a couple of days before, so William decided not to pull the trigger. But the closer we got, the bigger the buck seemed to get. And he refused to leave. And the show just went on and on. Finally, in total defiance, the buck stood broadside, held still for an eternity, and I could see he was a 10-point and he got bigger by the second. I couldn’t take it any longer and I muttered, “Kill him!” William’s .300 Win. Mag. rifle immediately reported. The buck dropped like a stone, with one shot through the heart. We caped and butchered him on the spot, took a few pictures, and received a call on our radio from the other hunters who had heard the shot. We gave them our location and they soon arrived for the post kill celebration over William’s deer. Afterwards we all headed to the top of the mountain to have a campfire smoked bratwurst lunch at camp.

Afterwards, we split up. Steve took Kerby and Stanton and headed toward Antenna Mountain, close to where he had once killed a monster mule deer buck while “guided” by his wife, Carol. My team headed to the Dish, an hour and a half away,

with whitetail on our mind.

The corn feeder would go off at 5:30 p.m. and we were back to full-bore hunting mode. I told William and Chris I couldn’t remember anyone getting a mule deer, aoudad and whitetail on the same hunt on the ranch in my 45 years of hunting it. We talked about how gluttonous it sounded. A few moments later, a large 10-point whitetail jumped the feeder fence. His head was down and he stood broadside. His rack was well outside his ears, and his tines were long, all except his G-4s. He needed another year or two before reaching “monstrous” status, so we agreed to let him live to do exactly that.

Saturday

Our alarms went off at 5 a.m. on our last day to hunt. It was foggy and raining. Steve’s group went to the pop-up tent in the meadow for one more try. With the bad weather, the deer patterns had changed.

They saw eight does and zero bucks and decided to head to the red rock pile above the protein feeder. After considerable glassing of the area, they found two mule deer bucks bedded down in the rainy fog. Stanton took a shot at one of them. After lunch, Steve’s team headed to the mesa, while my team headed for the lodge, where I took a mandatory nap while Chris and William checked out the Army-Navy game.

While we relaxed at the lodge, Steve’s team was rounding the point above Buck Hollow. Kerby spotted deer on the mesa at least 1,000 yards away. They were too far away to tell how big the deer were, so the group planned to drive part of the way before starting their stalk. They turned left just past Buck Hollow, onto the mesa road and had gone about a 100 yards when three mule deer bucks started crossing the road, right to left, 30 to 40 yards in front of them.

They could tell all three were good bucks, so Steve hollered for Stanton to shoot. He did, and the bucks continued down the canyon on the left, with Kerby and Stanton in hot pursuit. Steve went to the spot where the deer stood when Stanton took the shot. He found a blood trail a foot wide, leading to the dead buck, only 10 yards away.

He sent up a howl that quickly brought Kerby and Stanton back up the canyon. They stood there a long time, admiring Stanton’s impressive kill before caping the head and taking the meat. He had killed a trophy Trans-Pecos mule deer buck.

Mid-afternoon, my team was ready to re-enter the hunt. We would return to the Dish in hope of killing a big whitetail. I grabbed a couple things to take with us when Chris and William hollered, “There’s a giant aoudad walking toward the lodge feeder!” I put my glasses on him.

He was big, old and alone. He had battle scars on his horns and his hide. He seemed to not see us or ignored us as he walked towards the feeder as we inched down the road on foot. There was nothing for William to brace on.

I went to my Jeep for my shooting stick as Chris assumed a sitting knee brace. He told William, “The heart on an aoudad is a couple of inches lower and a couple of inches forward compared to a mule deer.” As I headed for my Jeep, I turned to William and told him if he saw it standing broadside, don’t wait for me to get back, but assume the sitting knee brace position and squeeze the trigger.

I got the shooting stick and as I turned to take it to him, I heard the loud report of his .300 Win. Mag. I saw the aoudad hit the ground and not make another move. As we approached the ram, we could see the bullet hole, 2 inches lower and 2 inches forward of the placement for a mule deer. A perfect heart shot.

To shorten a long capping story, let’s just say I did the cutting, while Chris and William sharpened knives and kept the flashlight in just the right position. Under those conditions it took an hour to finish the job, and at 78 years of age, I was “stumbling tired” when I finished.

The best horn on William’s ram measured 32 inches. The tip of the other horn had been torn to shreds from fighting or from some God-awful wreck on one of our mountains, or both.

We returned home on Sunday, but we stopped in Abilene to drop off two aoudad and two mule deer at Steve’s favorite taxidermist. If Steve and I had scripted the perfect hunt, it couldn’t have been much better than this one. Plenty of action, plenty of success, and plenty of memories.

William and his aoudad. Stanton with his mule deer.