HUNDREDS of MALLARDS!

Only thing is they were in groups of 4 to 6 scattered all over henderson and van zandt county! We all wanted rain and that's what happens when there's plenty of water. places that in the past few years that have held 100's of birds have 6 on them. lol I basically scout 8 hours a day due to my job. I cover 5 counties in east texas and have only found a couple of places that have held good numbers of birds. Thats not sayin that there are no birds... just in the areas I cover they are sporadic. today alone I found birds on about 20 different bodies of water, in groups of 4 to maybe 8. Only place I found enough to hunt was on a dairy farm that the guy wont let me hunt because he considers them pets!!!! Figures!!

I have only shot one mallard, a hen, the first time I went duck hunting, can anyone say 90 point duck?
I don't know why but that's the duck I most want to get before they turn me to ash.

I have found butt loads of mallards, but getting them to decoy has been a challenge. I think mallards are becoming unsociable. Really tho, its like they fly into an area, and land where there are no other ducks, like they are looking for an empty spot.

BB gun and some white bread... how else do you think we do it?

another note... I have seen half a dozen times this past week mallards on side of road or by a fence line in a puddle of water no bigger than my pickup. Im think about putting 2 dozen decoys out and 3 Mojos and a wonder duck... Think that will work?? It would make for a damm funny picture! Even more funny if I killed anything

Like this?

Yep!! But I like to wear camo when I hunt lol.

All the mallards I've seen in the past few days were in the timber

Saw a group of mallards last week in a flooded field in a place that doesn't usually have mallards

X2. Past couple weeks we've been killing a decent # of mallards but it a lot of work to get them to come in and whe they do they are landing way out of the seeks. We've tried as many as 3 dozen decoys to as few as 3. Doesn't matter, they won't land in the spread. The birds were slow getting here and have been shot at over decoys a lot last few months that they know better by now.

Well Guy, here's what I've always thought was funny about Mallards in the Central Flyway,.... They have been known to really only fly after 9:30 or 10. I'm not saying that's the only time they fly but they have been known to be called mid morning mallards.
If this was the case in the Mississippi Flyway then there wouldn't be a guy in the woods before day break .
Mallards fly all morning in the Mississippi and south of the Mason Dixon and you are out of the woods by 9 or 10.

So with that being said, personally,,I think the Central Flyway will one day be like the Pacific Flyway, where Mallards will be a bonus duck. I hate to say it but I've like many others have been at water fowling going 3 decades and I have seen it change every season and it has not got any better,... Yes we are still killing birds and yes that's what's up! But there is still something to be said about how things are changing with each and every Flyway.

^^ True!! I dont have 30 years. I've only got 5 but I work my butt off chasing these birds and every year It has gotten harder and harder. I hunt at least 30 times during a season and every year I seem to travel more and more to get on them. I'd like to think I get better every year and since my bird count has gone up every year I guess you could say I am but.... It sure does seem like I'm getting up alot earlier and working alot harder. This year has been mediocre for me... but thats not sayin there has been no birds. Its just that I cant hit the broad side of a barn. I think that has alot to do with the fact that I'm pretty much the guide on all the hunts I go on. So as birds are approaching I have jerk string in one hand call in the other ect, ect.

I agree as the best groups of Mallards I have seen this year have been in very shallow water areas just after a rain and on top of wheat and oats in tyhe low corner of fields. I dug out my draws this year to build berms for the 700 yard rifle range and put in very low contour berms to hold shallow water and these have been the areas what few mallards I have seen on my place have chossen to land.

Oh well the planted quail hunts are always much more predictiable

Hoping everyone has a very safe NYE holiday and prosperious New Year.

The mallards are definitely skittish this year. We got on em three times after the last rain, once in the timber, flooded field, and a pond that flooded some winter wheat. We did some real light peckin and cluckin and wore out the jerk rig. You hit em very loud with the calls and they were gone.