do you stay home because of the heat? when do you start?

sun up on the 31st

If I had a lease where I could I would.........

My first one will be the weekend of 11/7 if it is cold, but I'm going the wednesday before Thanksgiving for a six day trip no matter what. hopefully both!

It doesn't look like it's going to be as hot this year on the opener, however; we'll probably stay away until we have enough cold weather to put the snakes in their den. We've seen too many out on the place we hunt at the beginning of the season to risk it....

I will hunt but the thought of snakes is always in the back of my mind.

As a general rule I don't hunt opening day. There are a lot people who will hunt opening weekend and that's all. I would much rather save my days off for later in the season when scenting conditions are better for my dogs. The heat can make hunting opening day impossible but usually it's the number of other hunters and the fact that quail populations have been so low in Texas that discourage me. Most of the leases I have been on didn't allow quail hunting until December so I usually take my first trip sometime in mid November.

I am kind of still in deer hunitng mode at that time (bow season to rifle season) and we have guys on our lease that deer hunt only. I usually start bringing a dog on opening day, but i will still deer hunt in the mornings and evenings, but try to run the dog some during the middle of the morning for an hour or two, but most of the time it's like what has been said, heat, scenting conditions, and snakes this time of year will kind of throttle back the full blown quailbird hunting until a little later in the season. I like to use this time of year to bring the dog up to full condition mode and hit it real hard Dec thru Feb.

I've always hunted the opening day up at matador. That is until a few years ago i found out that they offer a youth hunt that occurs a week before the general opener. As long as you have a youth in your hunting party (that is also hunting, and has a license) ANYBODY can hunt. Since the youth opener also occurs during the last weekend of dove season, you can shoot dove along with quail. Let me tell ya, the last time I went that place was crawlin with dove.

Generally too warm in Texas for opener. But when it cools off I'm ready!

From the last day until season opener I get and itch that i just cant scratch to turn a dog out, so opener is a must!

I hunt, it sure beats thinking about it.