re: T-Storms and Duck hunting

Just a reminder to grease up your choke tube before and after your hunt. I made the mistake of hunting in the rain at the beginning of the season. I wiped my gun down and threw it in my safe afterwards Bad Idea!!!

There was a guy from Ruston who was struck by lightning years back (20 or so) while duck hunting.

I did a google search but couldn't find the article

Best I remember it struck the metal ball on his cap, went down and hit his rubber boots then bounced out real fast, it messed him up pretty bad and I think he was lucky to live, possibly lost an eye.

The rubber boots saved his life apparently

So I guess if you want to hunt in a T-Storm don't wear a cap with a metal ball on the top

That happened to me. Many years ago a co-worker and I were invited to a complementary dunk hunt at a march near Lake Arthur. We each had purchased a vehicle at a dealership in Jennings. Our guide was an offshore roughneck who was the son of a salesman.
We shot three teal immediately and got no action until the front came in about 9 AM. At that point the entire decoy rig was swept to the end of the pond by the north wind and rain. The rain lasted about fifteen minutes. It did not matter. We had three limits in short order.
I also remember that the guide was the only one of us who failed to bring his raingear. Memorable hunt.

I let the storms pass this morning I’m headed there now

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How is that area in general? If you love in Houston where are some of the best areas for duck leases?

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I'm long gone from that area now. We started hunting leveed ponds in old rice fields. There was a large area of flooded field nearby used as a refuge. Later we hunted on a small lake used to catch water for rice farming. They'd pull it in when the adjacent creek flooded and use when they planted.

We killed a lot of mallards one year but mostly got teal, pintail and ringnecks. But I've killed most everything on the Katy Prairie.

I'm guessing now it is very different as housing development push in that direction and the farming is gone. I lived in Cypress and traveled south on Fry Road. There was a very large cultivated field between two residential areas that used to load up with snow geese and specklebellies. And when it flooded via rain the pintail would pile in there. It's all houses now.

I retired to a lake up in East Texas and don't hunt much at all anymore.

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How is that area in general? If you love in Houston where are some of the best areas for duck leases?

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I've always wondered about Texas duck hunting. WIth youtube being more prevalent and hunting channels I see a good bit of Texas duck hunting. I already knew teal hunting was big in certain parts of Texas. A lot of the "the flyway is shifting" folks I guess mean that Texas duck hunting should be getting better right? Or are they saying its moving east? lol

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I already knew teal hunting was big in certain parts of Texas. A lot of the "the flyway is shifting" folks I guess mean that Texas duck hunting should be getting better right? Or are they saying its moving east? lol

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Like anywhere south of the Arkansas border the mallards are mostly gone. I lived in Oklahoma from 2011 to 2014. That's where the mallards are.
We killed a lot of teal, ringnecks, pintail and grey ducks. The hunting is likely still good but has shifted even farther west and south of Houston.
I grew up hunting the marshes and rice fields around Lake Charles. That was some great hunting in the day.

To get back to the topic, I tried to stay safe during lightning storms. I recall hunting west of Houston and the weather got bad. We ran as fast as we could in boots to the truck and watched some textbook close lightning strikes. And when it passed the pintail and green wings came back.

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So Oklahoma, or further north, is the place to be now I guess.

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The interesting thing about Oklahoma is the dry field layout blind mallard hunting. If there is a wet roosting area one can hunt the birds in an adjoining dry field. But this is the domain of the guides because thousands of acres of access is needed to follow the birds around. But in Oklahoma any farm pond (tank in Texas) can load up with mallards and pintail. Here in East Texas similar ponds never see a duck. But all those ponds in Oklahoma are situated in and around the grain fields. I worked with a guy who hunted around a reservoir but he set up in layout blinds in peanut fields. Imagine that?

I Don't do lighting. Rain is fine, had some good hunts with just a steady rain.

FOG has been some of the best hunting I had. Just be shooting the shite and ducks come land in the pond. Like they were just attracted to the sound of anything. Would hardly even touch a call on foggy mornings, usually just a random call here and there.

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That is interesting. Never hunted pop up blinds but I think I'd prefer the La style more. One day I'll do it. If anyone hunted today, how'd yall make out?

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You would dig hunting out of a well-camouflaged layout blind. When we hunted in Oklahoma, at hunting hours in the morning we'd see a cloud of birds start to circle. And then they'd come down. The first dozen or so birds flew two feet over our heads and landed behind us. We could have touched them. And then the wave comes in and the guide calls the shot. And then ten hunters commence and nobody has any idea who shot the birds as they fall. That's the bad part of guide hunting dry fields in OK. They need a bunch of hunters to make the guide service economics work.
But for anyone hunting rice fields in La if they have a dry spot, layout blinds would be deadly.