Texas
694,200
Duck Statewide Harvest
103,100
Goose Statewide Harvest
71,700
No. Waterfowl Licenses Sold Annually
10.7
Ducks Per Hunter
2.9
Geese Per Hunter
$25
Cost of Resident Waterfowl Hunting License
$7
Cost of Resident State Stamps and Permits
$25
Federal Duck Stamp
Season $315; five-day $48
Cost of Non-Resident Waterfowl Hunting License
$7
Cost of Non-Resident State Stamps and Permits
$25
Federal Duck Stamp
With almost 700,000 ducks harvested in 2021-'22 (and more than 100,000 geese), Texas is a great place to hunt waterfowl. In fact, certain areas of the state (the Panhandle, the famed Eagle Lake goose area, and the Laguna Madre and Gulf Coast wintering areas) rival anywhere in the country for waterfowl quantity and hunting quality.
Still, in a state that's 96 percent private land, hunting opportunities can be hard to come by unless you are willing to pay. And that's not a bad idea in Texas. Duck seasons are open late, so you can have an awesome duck hunting vacation when other places are shot out or the ducks have left. And there's that possibility of shooting drakes in full plumage. Many hunters come to Texas for a pintail, mallard, redhead or teal for the wall.
Texas is divided into three zones for duck hunting, and season dates vary by region. Maybe most overlooked is the Playa Lakes area in the northern Texas panhandle, where big green-headed mallards, elegant pintails and hundreds of thousands of geese reign in the abundant wetlands with surrounding harvested fields of corn, wheat and peanuts.
Texas is also a prime place for early teal in September.
— Compiled and written by Tom Carpenter
