Texas Goose Hunting, Texas Duck Hunting and Texas Crane Hunting by Big Honker Outfitters

December 4 Ryan and Joel took out a group of 9 hunters and had 35 geese on the ground by 8:30 they had 33 canadas and 2 snows. The ponds are still frozen on the outsides but the geese are pilling in. There are tons of Blues this year I have never seen anything like it.

December 3 Full moon and the birds are here in astronomical numbers. Had Steve Knight out for a hunt with his son and brother along with another hunter. Steve is the outdoors writer for the Tyler newspaper, and saw a show. we shot our limit of canadas and sat and watched thousands of snows locked up in the decoys landing right next to the spread.

December 2 The geese are really loving the corn fields. The snow is still here and so are the birds. the high for today is 40 lows around 20. 8 hunters shot 24 canadas 2 crane and 1 snow. Bring your long under, Jack Frost is biting pretty hard.

November 29 The front has almost made it down and have been seeing birds flying everywhere, have had everyone out scouting and said fields are covered with a lot of new birds. Seems like the mallards are getting thicker on the ponds and our salt ponds down south are gaining more and more crane and ducks.

November 28 Sat up on a pond for a combo hunt, and took our limit of geese (12) and 14 ducks. Birds were every where. ducks shut off about an hour after shooting time, but the geese kept coming and coming. Right at shooting time the sky filed with thousands upon thousands of ducks, and they all came in at once.

November 27 Found birds and the fog. Had fun time sitting there in the fog waiting for the geese to fly out. The birds seemed to fly high out of the fog and swoop down appearing out of nowhere. We shoot no telling how many that sailed away into the fog that we couldn't find and came back with 24 snows and canadas, and 1 pintail

November 26 Long day!!!!! went and meet up with Dirk just north of the Amarillo airport were there were thousands of geese the afternoon before. Sat up in a wheat field and saw one flight of birds. That flight came and sat right in on us and we took 8 birds. Birds have pushed out of the Amarillo area.

November 19 Pond hunt with 5 guys stayed out all day shoot 13 geese and 10 ducks the big groups didn't want to decoy but groups of 3 came right on in and we had some close shoot. There was a 10ga and one guy was shooting bismuth and well the birds were just about blown apart, it was fun cleaning the birds or i should say what was left of the birds.

November 18 Crane hunts have turned out to be goose. The crane are in one field one day and another the next. We shoot 22 geese in the mourning and a crane, snow, and canada in the afternoon

November 13 Ryan went out to a pond near Olton had 5 hunters reach there limits of ducks manly teal in 9 minutes. Hunters said it was like a Argentina dove shoot but with ducks.

November 12 Went out on a crane shoot shoot 4 crane and 3 geese saw thousands. The weather was a blue bird day with not a breath of wind. This made it hard to shoot due to the birds not having to land land into the wind, they came from every which direction and shoots were not called due to the safety of the hunters went out that day on a duck hunt and shoot 21 ducks a mixed bag of ducks.

November 10 & 11Had two groups Jerry the maker of the field blankets (Rancho Safari) we use for blinds and a group from New York. Jerry and i went out and sat and saw thousands of ducks taking our limit for the day and just sitting and testing the new products he had. Pk took the New Yorkers and shoot half limits in the morning and the other half in the afternoon. It was pretty much the same the following day have had some colder weaather.

November 6-8 Have off and on shoots for ducks its either full limits in 30 minutes or 8 birds, still have quit a few species of ducks not alot of mallards. Teal numbers are still real strong. The weather conditions are warm in the afternoon, above normal

November 4 & 5 Pintails shoot them!!! We have chosen we take the pintail. we have shoot at least one pintail every morning. Most of the other ducks taken have been teal and widgeon. Have started to see more and more mallards showing up and the Bw teal have pushed out for the most part. Some of the different ducks taken have been canvasback, bufflehead, and red heads. Still a lot of water everywhere has to be one of the wettest years that I can remember. And still have a ton of ducks. On the other note have seen flight after flight of Crane flying over the lodge every day, and the gees are showing up more and more (still not hunt able numbers). So far the duck count is 298.

November 3 It's here no more open close specials seasons. One of the corn fields is just about dry, but that's ok we have plenty of other ponds with plenty of water and ducks. The morning of the fourth was good quick shoot with mallards and teal in the bag. We were getting dive bombed by teal all morning long. We hard the first 2 freezes on Oct 31 and Nov 1 with it reaching 24 degrees.

October 28 & 29 Opened the season with one fast and furious teal shoot. first morning we went back to one of the corn fields and 20 minutes before shooting time the sky filled full of ducks Heard pintails, mallards, widgeon, teal, whitefront, canadas, and snows. we reached our limits in about 45 min, shooting few pintails, one widgeon and the rest teal. Second morning we hunted two ponds less then a half a mile of each other and we worked birds back and forth to each other. We still shot the same species of ducks, but fell a couple birds shy of limits (we passed on the smiling mallards). Over the two day hunt we shot 82 ducks.

September 17 The guides needed a little revenge so we went back out and invited a few guys with us. We went to our little honey hole. One of the flooded corn fields. We all meet up this morning at a gas station in town for coffee and some Debbie snacks. We were all in long-sleeved shirts and a few had on shorts. I made the comment that the guys with neopream waters were going to burn up. Well when we got the the pond and stepped out we were on the other side of the cold front. The guys made me eat my comment that i said back at the gas station. Well it time for the hunt and once we got done there found the prefect spot out of the 20 mph North wind, and that is were the birds wanted to be. The dogs got a work out this morning as the little F-16 had the wind to there back fell from the sky. The hunt was over right at 8 o'clock, with limits reached by all even the shell manufactures best friends. Teal videos coming soon!!!

September 16 Had a rough start but finished strong. We had one of the nice little thunderstorms with hail and straight line winds the night before. the weather pattern for this time of the year seems to be the same as the spring, strong winds, afternoon and morning down pours, and large hail. The dove have seemed to have started to move out in great numbers but the teal are still hear in full force. The mourning hunt was had at one pond shot 5 teal so, we went up the road to the next site. There are two ponds within a quarter of a mile of each other so two one pond and we went to the other. For the next twenty minutes me and my hunter finished up. its kind of nice when your hunter shoots 6 times and has his limit. The other two sound like the teal where attacking them. We went over to watch and saw the two guides burning shells through the greased up Benelli SBE faster than the shell manufactures could produce them. It was one of the saddest sight in teal hunting history when they walked back with one bird and 50 rounds a piece gone. LOL, that has to be a record 100 rounds for one duck. I would like to apologize for the shell shortage that is about to follow.

September 10 went back out and the birds were still there had a nice blue bird morning but didn't phase a thing. The clients said is was hard to figure out which one to shot because there were so many buzzing around. The hunt took a little longer this morning the flights were spaced out a little more.

September 9 the teal were there making it a early morning we started shooting about 7:15 and were back at the truck at 7:45 with 7 limits of teal. They were like black birds. We will be back out in the morning.

September 7 Well yesterday we finally had a dry day on the panhandle, but road still a little slippery and the field a little soft, but the birds were ready to play. 4 limits. The Dove are like a swarm of bees buzzing by your head, you have to pay attention because there coming from every which way. I think a few people may have a mild case of whiplash. On another note we've had a nice little cold front that has pushed a lot of teal down. opening morning we will be hunting a few flooded corn fields that are holding a few thousand teal. stay turned for some pictures and maybe a few videos if we can catch the little f-16 on camera.

September 2 We all went back out and played in the rain but when the rain would lift for a few a moment, out popped the dove ground and trees. it was a long day but we shot our limits.

September 1 30 guns on the opener and 30 limits reached by sunset, the morning hunt was pretty hard for some groups, but that afternoon the sun came out and so did the dove.

July- 15 Have most of the floor for the new addition for the lodge. Had to go back and redo the blueprints to fit make room for the new pool table should start on the framing on Monday and have the roof on in a couple weeks it all has to be done by Sept 1 for the West Texas dove massacre. Have been out looking at a few of our dove fields and wow. I through a rock in the trees and it was like knocking down a bee hive. Last year we shoot 1200 birds in four days looking to beat this record this year. Stay turned for more to come.

December 10- 15 hunters 14 guns in the field and we smoked the birds. first flock came in and sat down, by the time we called the shot there were 2,000 plus birds ready to land in the spread. This was a great in your face action with allot of birds. the birds didn't fly out from town until around 9 am. We probably saw 30,000 geese fly west of Lubbock and all wanting in a peanut field. we shot 42 Canada geese.

December 9- 3 hunters and maybe 20 shells later they were picking up limits and dekes

December 8- Went out and found the crane. shot 7 birds were flying off the ponds from sun up until 12pm

December 7- went out and set up for crane. The cold front hit and pushed the crane further west, but the geese made it out and wanted into the field. we shot 12 geese with no problems, we were standing up in the spread pretty much the hole time. ps it was pretty damn cold with a nice west Texas wind.

December 4- Hunted the pond that morning the birds didn't completely leave until 10 am. we set up decoys on the bank and shot 18 geese and 8 ducks.

December 3- The morning hunt was a little slow the birds are staying on the ponds until 9 am then finding a place to feed. We shot 3 geese in the morning, but the afternoon hunt was fast and furious. 5 limits of ducks 5 limits of geese 3 limits of crane.

December 2-Had a great hunt this morning. 36 birds hit the ground and were added to the total. Hunted north of Lubbock. Plenty of birds in the air. Set up a little late this morning but still had a good hunt. Lots of snows. Call to set up your professional goose hunt with us.

November- Haven't been keeping up with the scouting reports due to computer problems. Crane moved in late in the month. The ducks are here but you have to know the right spots. Geese moved in late in the month before Thanksgiving. We hunted up north for the first goose hunt of the year. Took out a bunch of snow goose hunters from east Texas. They could not believe that we were passing up 40-50 yard shots. As soon as we called the shot at 20 yards they knew why we were letting the high fliers go. The next morning the same guys went out west. Lots of birds. The wind picked up and almost blew our entire spread away. It took me 20 Q-Tips to get all the dirt out of my ears.

The week after thanksgiving we tried down south for a duck hunt. The wind must have blown a few birds out of the area. There were still plenty to shoot at and we did shoot plenty. We are waiting for the lakes to freeze up north so those greenheads will come down and give us a shot at them.

The goose hunting was pretty good after thanksgiving as well. We took one of our long time clients out and busted a few canadas. His grandson was a great birddog and has a blast playing with the dead geese. THe next hunt was about the same but it was a little breezy. The wind only got up to about 50-60 MPH. Just a light breeze for west Texas. At least the birds were flying low.

October 22- Cold Front moved through the panhandle bringing with it another push of ducks, as well as the crane and geese. The start of the hunt was nice and clear but, by the end it was cold and windy. Same kind of birds shot as the previous morning. (33)

October 21- We had 9 people out in the salt cedars south of town. We split up into two groups. The ducks were flying high and hard but later on in the mourning around 9 they started to hit the spots we were in. We shot a pretty good mixed bag of mallards, redheads, teal, woodies, and widgeon. (31)

It was Fast and furious. The teal came in and sat down. The first morning we went out one client two guides, 12 birds. Second morning 6 people 20 birds. Third morning 4 people 16 birds Fourth mourning lets just say me and Mr. Varderman were eating mexican food at 8:30am (6 birds). You can kind of get the picture. The teal were here and we found them, 81 of them.

September 6- Josh took one client out and he said there were the complete opposite of a shell manufacture best friend (they couldn't miss) I'm still eating dove

September 5-I took the day of to eat a few dove so I'm not over the limit, but 4 guides went out and brought back limits.

September 4- A few of of guides and some of their family, a total of 9 hunters, went out. We hunted the same spot in the after noon. It was pretty cloudy and mid 70's so the birds stayed out a little later but around 6:45 you couldn't keep the guns loaded.

September 3- Same group plus more (total of 32 hunters) Birds shot 472, Same field. Enough Said!!!!

September 2- Same group went back plus a few more, just about an identical day. Hunted the same place on both hunts mourning not to good, but back to Argentina we went. Cloudy afternoon, temp was around 82 for the high and limits taken once again. Dove, for breakfast, dove for lunch, Dove for snack, Red Snapper and BF Tuna for supper.

September 1- Had a group in from east Texas and man was the bird hunting good. started out in the mourning slow, but the afternoon was as close as you can get to a Argentina dove hunt. Birds were every where, the weather was clear and hot which made the birds seek water and shade starting around 5 pm. Limits reached and a lot of full bellies that day.

January 23- Brad and Dirk had a total of five guns out in the field and waited and waited on the birds. They finally flew out at 9:30 and when they came it was fast. Thousands upon thousands of snow geese appeared out of no where, making it hard to decoy the Canada's, and not to mention the wind changing on us every 10 minutes. They ended up with 12 Canada's and 1 Snow

January 22- Took out a group of 12 hunters and shoot 33 birds its was a windy day, so the birds were doing a lot of field hopping. We had a snow earl in the mourning come in and hover about 2 feet off one of the hunters head. We called the shoot and something like 20 rounds went off, and the the goose was laughing the whole time as he flaped away. We gave the boys a pep talk and made them sight in the shotguns (LOL) and they shoot fine the rest of the mourning.

January 16- Joseph and Dirk took a group out and it was an all day trip. They left around 4 am from Lubbock and didn't leave the field until 4:30 pm. The fog was so thick that day that the birds just sat on the pounds. Every time they would start to pick up they would see a flight. They stuck it out and ended up one shy of there limit for 6 guns but shoot 3 snows.

Meanwhile Brad and josh went on a duck hunt near Big Springs and shoot a pretty good mixed bag. Pintails, Cinnamon Teal, Red Heads, Mallards and Gadwalls.

January 14- Brad and Joseph took a group of hunters out that had 21 birds on the ground in about an hour and half. The birds were flying back to water at 4 am , but it didn't stop birds from coming back out.

January 7- Took a group out birds took there time getting up and flying out today but when they did it was all over. The farthest shot called this mourning was less than 15 feet away. We had Our limit of Canada’s in about 30 min then waited on specks and snow mean while letting a couple hundred Canada’s land and help our spread look bigger. 18 Canada’s 5 snow 1 speck

December 30 and 31- One of our return came back this year and the first day shoot one snow, mean while Brad was out scouting and found where ever bird in the county sitting one a mile by mile field. The field had around 150,000 birds covering the entire field. The next mourning wasn’t pretty for our feathered friends and we ran one group and pulled 8 limits and then brought another group in and pulled another 5 limits plus snows and specks.

December 27-29 Took a group out first day shoot 18 Canada's 1 snow. Second Day shoot 18. The third 21 birds came crashing down.

December 25- There’s nothing like shooting birds on a cold Christmas mourning and that we did 50 Canada geese fell from the sky with 17 gun out in the spread all of the guides got to gathered and had a massive spread of 200 dozen dekes (not on rag out in the field) Let them Rain

December 15 - Took a group out this morning and had a limit very quickly, the geese were landing and walking around not 2 feet from us. The last cold front moved tons of new birds into the area and the hunting is great. The hunting is about to get prime for us in the next couple of weeks.

December 11-12- Warm weather made the hunting kind of slow, we got limits in crane and some geese. Took out Trophy Quest Adventures Sunday and got 26 crane on a filmed hunt. So the crane are here in full force, there should be a new push of geese with this cold front so hunting will be great for the next week. The last 9 days had 99 crane, 17 ducks, and 24 geese.

December 4-5- Lots of birds this weekend. Took a group of 4 out Saturday and got 8 Canada's, 1 snow and 6 ducks. Lots of shooting. Sunday, we took the same group crane hunting. A little foggy in the morning. Had a great hunt. 21 crane in all. Should have the same results for a while.

December 3- We went out on a goose hunt this morning in the northern panhandle and we shot 27 and a crane. Hunters had to move so the geese would not land on them, they were coming for about three hours straight. The hunting cant get much better than it is right now so book your dates.

December 1- We have had several goose hunts with most parties reaching limits or very close to limits. The big mallards are here and so are the widgeon. We have seen many snow geese along with lots of new Canadians. Crane are here in full force, with some fields holding 20 to 30000 crane. The hunting should be very good so come down and see for yourself.

November 24 - The geese are moving in thick today. I have seen thousands after thousands of geese. The pintails are also moving in thick but we have to wait to shoot them for a few more weeks. We have lots of hunts over the weekend so will post another report this weekend or Monday. You better reserve those dates to get down here and get the new birds.

November 8- We had a crane hunt this morning and there are tons of crane here in the area. We hunted a peanut field that was loaded. We shot 14 crane and 1 goose this morning with 5 hunters. Not a bad day of work. Crane hunting is a unknown hunt that will be remembered for the rest of your life so book today.

Scouting Report & Bird Count