We had a great hunt in Johnson Co opening day (Burleson/30 min S of DFW), but past few days have been about 1/3 of opening day action. Are you guys seeing a rapid decline in N TX as well, or is it just us?

Where are the birds flying the best/worst?

My opinion is that what you saw on opening day were full time residents. The migrating flock hasn't started its migration from up north yet. I'm close to you in Ellis Co.

I agree with 12 Gauge. I have hunted Farmersville (so-so), Corsicana (sparse), and now Hunt County Commerce/Greenville. Nothing was flying in Commerce/Greenville. Literally. I get people dont want to share, but there is enough dirt out there to spread the wealth.

4 guns got 30 day 1 (Sun eve only), then 15 Thurs eve. Double those numbers if we were shooters.

I'm north of Noodle, and there isn't much flyin here. Last 3 years were great. Hunted yest evening and this morning. Between two of us we got 6. Seeing birds but they're scattered, and there's only 2 of us.

Red river county the numbers has drastically declined from opening morning!

Anybody up for taking over the Public Hunt Forum? It would be helpful if we knew areas, even if general only, where birds are flying or game is good. I drove 80 miles to Commerce this AM, and could have saved some gas. A-holes posting bad intel can be outed.

Im moving some posts over to that area now.

Man the Green Horns have taken over this thread!

Give it a few weeks,they'll be here. They're up North getting shot at but there are 350,000,000 of them. Good luck, I got skunked this morning, we saw 6 in a field that is loaded with wheat, oats, milo and sunflowers. Great conditions, food, water...no birds. I'm going to let it rest till after teal/goose.

Went to Coleman County opening morning and we saw a ton of birds. A lot of folks limited out. I drove from Tarrant County all the way to Franklin County and it seems there are more birds in the central zone than in the north.

Saw a few south of Abilene, very few but more than we saw last time we were out there.

I have 5 different spots in burnet county. Gone from average for opening day to almost non existent. 2 grain sunflower patches 3 tanks.

There are no Dove in North Texas...

They will be back just not there now. Drove from Bowie to Austin on the back roads (281 to 183) today and I saw more Ducks than Doves.

Good news saw 15-20 groups of Teal, bad news saw maybe 15-20 Doves total...

hunting has been pretty poor around san Antonio. don't have a report for Hondo yet though.

hunted tonite in Schertz/garden ridge, killed 5 birds. hunted just north of new braunfels Thursday, same story, 5 birds.

opening day southeast of town, we shot birds, but it was the worst in 20 years.

not seeing a lot of mournings, whitewings or Eurasians.

been a pretty poor year so far. Got a hunt at paloma pachanga on the 19th, we will see then.

How can we tell when the migrating flock will start their way down here? I know cold fronts will push them down here but does that mean we need to be watching the weather news in Kansas or Nebraska and see when the temps drop? When do you guys estimate that we'll see the flock from up north moving down here?

I'm in springbranch comal county. Close to the Guadalupe and its been up and and down diferent every hunt. I hunt every day and have seen the change. In the mornin there flyin great and all the way to 10:00 am. I had 2 hunters here and they shot 9 and the other 10. I shot 11 this morning and finished my limit this evening. The 4 guys I had here this afternoon 2 guys shot 5 each and the other 2 only a couple. But they all had opertunity to shoot more just didn't hit there mark. Almost all big white wings a few mornings. I've been watching good groups of birds moving from north to south the next property over. Thanks to the mojos we've done well. Got one guy coming in the morning and I also will be tryin agian.
I'm still waiting for the big push of birds to come gotta front coming next week that should shakem up.

Sorry guys, this is a long post, I want to help with the tracking of birds, and I dove hunt alot and in a lot of different places, mainly North, NW Texas.

I was in Olney the first 2 days, the first day was good, but not as good as it usually is, the 2nd day was bad.

Then I went to Vernon for a few days, Tues - Thurs -
Tuesday afternoon, I saw more birds than I have ever seen, and we wore them out. Weds almost as good as Tuesday, Thursday was slower but we still limited out and could have had more.

Friday morning I went to Olney and it was slow.

Tomorrow I'm headed up to Sanger and see how that goes.

My take is the same as it is every year, and as someone else had already mentioned. We are shooting the local birds right now. Let me explain why I say that. We see this every year, first day or two is pretty good just about anywhere that typically has birds, the birds thin out, the more pressure the faster they thin out because alot of them get shot if there are more people shooting.

Example - Olney - quite a bit of pressure in general where we hunt firs few days, so each time out, the numbers decrease.

Vernon - I'm fortunate to hunt with a friend up there on a place that has very little pressure. So the numbers where high and they eventually got lower as we shot more and more birds.

So now we are getting the birds that are left, and the pressure also causes the birds that are used to being in certain areas to find new areas, they won't migrate south, but they will start fining safer places to go.

When it gets a week or so in, it is the worse time to hunt. Now we are waiting for a cold front to push birds down, but it takes a real arctic blast to have the effect we talk about all of the time. And the last few years that hasn't happened until the season was over. Sometimes in late september through oct you can find the birds all bunched up for one reason or another, sometimes because these local birds are gathering up preparing to make a move south also.

I have not seen an arctic blast that has brought a ton of birds down in the last few years. Last year, some northern birds moved in, in late Oct. and I'm sure that happens just about every year. But think about when your out duck, deer, quail hunting or whatever and a real cold front comes in. You will see a lot of doves if you look hard enough. That's why there is a split season, but I keep hoping we will get lucky this year and it will happen in Oct. If you can find a field that holds sunflowers until then and that blast hits, the birds will be thick there.

Football, Dove hunts, cold beer...not a bad time of the year, not bad at all

I think the Dove hunting is better than UT football for now anyway.

Dove were flying pretty good at our place in Vancourt this evening. No problem getting our limit. Most were small and must be local birds. Lot's of grain being cut in the area.

South High Plains.

Areas we normally hunt were sparse. Turns out the drought is what made our fields so productive in the past few years. There are a ton of birds in the bardiches and they have plenty to eat there thanks to 8 inches of rain when 1-2 is the norm. Our Game warden reported similar experiences in the surrounding counties.
We hunted a tank for the first time since I was nine years old, and had moderate success. The birds were fat. Some looked like Eurasians when they were cleaned.

Not seeing much in Parker County. Out here west of Weatherford area only got 21 between 3 of us opening day.

Came out yesterday morning saw a total of three. Sure need a cold front to come in to move them down this way

Same thing, same county yesterday.

Seeing decent numbers at our place. Shot 15 opening morning, another 9 yesterday. We're not covered up, but it provides a steady morning of shooting.

I have been hunting south Grayson / North Denton and if you work it you can get birds. Got 9 last sunday, 11 last Monday got 7 yesterday and got a limit this morning. all on public land.

Washington Co report..... Near Lake Somerville: fewer birds this weekend, mostly young birds hunting over ponds, both morning and pm hunts fair, it seems we now need a major weather change to bring in some northern birds.....
On one whitewing this weekend, birds are flying higher, getting more educated it seems!