Need help finding a really good place to introduce my daughter and her husband to upland bird hunting in Texas.

I’m looking for help from you, my Texas hunting brethren, in locating a really good place to introduce my daughter and her husband (both about 30 years old) to upland bird hunting in Texas. They moved to Houston 6 months ago for their jobs and to my amazement, want to hunt! They never expressed an interest when here in LA-LA (S. Calif) although my wife and hunt deer, turkeys, pheasant, hogs etc. in The People’s Republic of Californistan. I’ve taken them sporting clay shooting and they did great – amazing what you can do when you have young reflexes. Buty they have never hunted so I want to give them a real good experience to “hook them” for life. They are not ready for larger game – deer etc. yet.
I know many “lodge” or outfitter bird hunts are likely a bit “canned” but I don’t really care – I want them to have a great time and then we’ll work them up to other game and types of hunting from there. I’ve found a bunch of places by searching the web but recommendations from real hunters, not advertisements, is what I need.

So I’m looking for recommendations on bird hunting operations within a reasonable distance of Houston (? 2-3 hours?). My wife and I’ll come to Texas and take them but I’m not sure we’ll shoot or not.

Thanks in advance

asaxon


PS -this is my first THF post so if I screw up, cut me some slack...

Look up DoubleB20 on this forum. Gracious host, excellent dogs, and beautiful prairie. Its about 4 1/2 hours from Houston, but well worth it.
He is who I used for my daughters first upland hunt.
She loved it.

I am a bout 3 hrs north of houston, I have a place you can stay and hunt pen raised birds and I will furnish dogs etc. Pm me and we can discuss details off the forum.

Contact Tim at http://www.deaconspoint.com/

Tell him Brad sent you... hunt the LBJ Ranch.
Great guy, dogs, facilities etc.

Cheers ,
Brad

Thanks Bradtown, Tigger and Kindall for responding. Much appreciated. I'll looking up the recommended places.

Any body have any comments on these or other recommendations?

For a planted bird experience that is close to Houston you might try Top Flight Hunting preserve www.topflighthunting.com

It is in Columbus, TX (about an hour west of Houston).

Leon is a great guy to work with.

Thanks Deb (Kendall). PM sent.

Coastal Wildwings at Blessing (63 miles south of SugarLand) will fill your bill and is a lot closer to the Houston area that are some of those mentioned. I have had great experiences with the Davant family. They will take care of you.

+1 for Leon's place

We are 35 miles east of Dallas and we offer fun quail hunts over some outstranding dogs all at the most reasonable prices to be found. I can pic you all up at DFW airport and we have lots of good motels in Terrell 8 miles away. Check out our website to learn more about what we offer. Thanks for reading and we want to earn your business.

Walter and Grace

to THF

tag

Thanks to all you folks for you input. I really appreciate all the input/intel including several emails/pms that I received.

I'm going to go for the TopFlightHunting as it gets good reviews, good notes from you folks at THF and it is only 1.5 hours away.

Thanks again. I'm really stoked about taking them.

PS - not only have my daughter and son-in-law decided to take up hunting, they went a bought a pickup truck to go with their Prius - and this is not a joke. I think they have caught the "Texas Spirit".

I’d like to thank my Texas brethren for putting me onto Top Flight Hunting in Columbus TX. Leon and his crew were very good with my daughter and her husband on their very first bird hunt and their very first hunt of any kind. We got out there at 1 pm on the Sunday after 3 inches of rain overnight but conditions in the fields were not bad/too wet at all. The plan was that they’d shoot and if they missed, I’d back them up. They missed the first couple of birds which flew straight overhead but then they settled in and at the the end of the afternoon, the count was 7 of the 11 pheasants (one took off from so far it was “no shot”, 6 of the 10 chukar and we picked up 8 “free quail” (6 Tennessee Red and 2 regular bob white) that were left over in the field from the morning. The guide, a young man named Shawn worked the dogs nicely – we had a pointer plus a young lab that would then flush the birds. The birds flew very well for pen raised/planted birds. Only a couple of times did Shawn have to go in to help the flush dog get a bird up. It was just what I had hoped for in order to let the two of them as new hunters experience bird hunting/shooting. Yes, it was definitely planted birds and not something I’d want to do on any regular basis for all the reasons seasoned hunters know but it was just want was needed: a great start for the “kids.” The Top Flight operation is clearly a very busy one – there must have been 6-7 different groups of hunters out there on that Sunday PM.

So thanks again for the intel. I'll be back to TX in the future and plan on taking the "kids" on more challenging hunts that can be further away from Houston next time.

I want you to know about my operation 35 miles east of Dallas called Poetry Shooting Club . We do quail hunts and we only book one groups at a time.