Posted 9:53 pm Sunday, November 02, 2008
Panhandle Remains An Untapped Resource For Duck Hunters
IDALOU -- There isn't much to keep the sun from rising on time in the South Plains and it was already starting to peek over the milo stalks, the tallest objects around, when we arrived at the playa.
It was the first morning of duck season in the High Plains Mallard Management Unit, and it was a warm morning by Panhandle standards. The playa, five acres, maybe more, in size, was swollen by rains that have drenched the South Plains since September.
Ducks -- teal, gadwall, shovelers, pintail -- were flying around like bumblebees before we took a step in the water, headed for a spit of weed-covered raised land sitting in the middle of the pond. Even as we tossed out decoys the ducks came and went, lighting in the building spread.
Known more for its mallards that arrive in mass around mid-November, the region can be an untapped duck hunting hole from the September teal season on with one caveat -- there has to be water. This year there is water, maybe too much compared to the amount of hunting pressure the region received.
Unlike years when the birds have limited options of places to light, this year their choices are too numerous. A good situation for the birds, but tough on the hunters.
Playa lakes in the Lubbock area held a variety of ducks including a large numbers of pintails. As the weather turns colder the area will hold more and more mallards.
Our outfitter, Texas Tech student Evan Botsford of Crooked Wing Outfitters, had just located and obtained the field night before. That's the way it works sometimes in the South Plains. Competition for ponds near Lubbock can tough, but many of the area farmers have a soft spot when it comes to the local college kids. The demand for ponds is even higher this year because the better ponds are located closer to town.
Botsford and his team of scouts, all Tech students, had spent the week scouring the counties around Lubbock for birds. Armed with plat maps, their hunt starts as they try to find the landowner and get permission to hunt the land. Unless they have had a bad experience in the past, permission is usually granted.
With the decoys in the water, we lined up five across on the only dry spot with the bond. The wind had boomeranged from the day before and was coming from the southeast, but there was only a hint of breeze. With decoys on either side of the island, the birds worked both ways.
WORKING THEM IN: Evan Botsford calls ducks during the opening weekend in the High Plains Mallard Management Unit.
The game is to bust the birds off the ponds and wait for them to come back. If lucky, it will only be a matter of minutes. If it is later in the season and there are mostly mallards in the region, it may take hours for them to feed and fly back.
On opening morning it was a little of both. Teal, both bluewings and greenwings, were back in the spread almost instantly. The bigger birds took their time.
Unlike in East Texas where the arrival of a duck often comes as a surprise, in the Panhandle they can be spotted so far away the wait can become unnerving. That was a case with a flock of pintails. Rare in East Texas, sprigs are a big part of the flock early in the HPMMU. This flock of 15 or 20 birds came from the south and was attracted to the decoys as if drawn by a magnet.
But instead of sitting down, the birds circled overhead, getting closer and closer with each pass until the wind in the collectively wings made them sound as if a jet was passing.
Finally they turned and committed to the spread and three out of a potential limit of five hit the water. It didn't take much longer before the last two found their way into the bag.
With such an abundance of water, hunting the same spot back to back isn't even a consideration. However, a move may mean a run of 20 miles of more. Following a cold front that pushed through the area the week before the season opened, every playa in the region was holding ducks, hundreds of them. And even though the mallards have yet to arrive in numbers, there is a variety. On a second-day hunt we had a mixed bag of gadwall, teal, widgeon, pintail and mallard.
The season in the HPMMU reopened Friday and will remain open through Jan. 25. If tradition holds, hunting, especially for mallards, will only get better as the weather turns colder.
For more information on Panhandle hunts, contact Botsford at 512-217-6229 or on the Internet at www.crookedwingoutfitters.com.
