2025 Hunting Trips Reports
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12/27/25 Self-guided Duck Hunt
Two hunters mostly watched far-away ducks at the Mad Island WMA. Clayton Carrier and Randy Rowley drew the 22nd pick, per their lottery, so all the good spots were taken. They didn’t fire a shot and only two ducks came anywhere near them. Clayton was looking to the left and Randy was looking to the right, and they didn’t know that the ducks were flying past them until they heard the whistling of their wings. The black mud was very sticky. Their spot only had 2″ of water in it so their decoys looked like they were sitting on land.
12/20/25 – 12/21/25 Semi-guided Duck Hunt
Four hunters mainly watched decoys on Aransas Bay, near Aransas Pass. Texas Gulf Duck Hunting took the hunters to blinds in the bay via an air boat (different blinds on different days). They saw birds but they were far away and avoided the blinds. Only one shot was fired on the second day.
12/13/25 Self-guided Duck Hunt
Two participants had a great hunt at the Guadalupe Delta Wildlife Management Area (WMA) near Tivoli. The pair blended in to natural cover and both shot their limits. Clayton Carrier shot a drake wigeon, drake shoveler, drake scaup, drake GWT, hen shoveler, and hen BWT. Mike Pozhenko shot a nice Gadwall drake, GWT drake, scaup drake, two spoonie hens, and a BWT hen. Ducks were still flying when they limited.
12/13/25 Blast and Cast (Self-guided/chartered Duck Hunt and Freshwater Fishing Trip)
12/6/25 Guided Duck Hunt
Seven hunters hunted with Sandy Bottom Outfitters on Lake Fork. It was extremely foggy, and it didn’t lift until around 10:30 AM, but by then no birds were flying. A flock of 30 geese was headed right to the blind but turned away just out of range.
The highlight of the hunt was Chrispy Harden and one of Don Hebert’s sons bagged hen common goldeneyes, which are very rare on Lake Fork and were the first goldeneyes bagged on an FCS duck hunt. The hunters bagged 16 ducks including 12 blue bills, two goldeneyes, a northern shoveler, and a canvasback. The guides cooked breakfast during the hunt.
11/30/25 Self-guided Coastal Duck Hunt
Two hunters had a slow morning on Corpus Christi Bay. Dusty Hunt killed a Redhead.
11/21/25 – 11/23/25 Self-guided Duck Hunt
Three hunters had a fantastic hunt in the Richland Creek Wildlife Management Area Carl Fentress Unit near Lake Richland Chambers, in Unit 18!
11/15/25 Self-guided Duck Hunt
Two hunters did a walk in hunt on Lake Granger, in the San Gabriel Wildlife Management Area. Around five flocks of ducks were seen, but only one group of three came in. Clayton Carrier and Randy Rowley shot but didn’t bag any.
11/11/25 Self-guided Duck Hunt
Five participants mostly enjoyed the scenery at Lake Stillhouse Hollow. One flock of four ringnecks came into the decoys. The hunters killed three of them and wounded the fourth. Dusty Hunt, Jeff Morris, and Randy Rowley each bagged one. No other ducks came within range – two other flocks looked like they might come in to the decoys but didn’t. Dusty did a great job of brushing in his blind. Randy presented his devotional named One Mistake.
11/8/25 Self-guided Duck Hunt
Four participants enjoyed the scenery and listening to other hunters shoot mainly coots at Lake Stillhouse Hollow on the island in the Union Grove Wildlife Management Area near Harker Heights. The closest ducks were around 150 yards away. They fired no shots. They were stopped by two game wardens – everything was in order.
11/1/25 Self-guided Duck Hunt
Two participants mainly enjoyed the scenery and listening to other hunters shoot at the Guadalupe Delta Wildlife Management Area (WMA) near Tivoli. The pair blended in to natural cover. Clayton Carrier bagged a drake blue wing teal and knocked another duck down but it escaped. Randy Rowley knocked a duck down but they couldn’t find it. He only fired two shots.
9/27/25 Self-guided Teal Hunt
9/20/25 Self-guided Teal Hunt
Two hunters hunted on Lake Granger. Only one flock of teal was seen, and it was far away.
9/14/25 Semi-guided Dove Hunt
Three hunters had a good time with Mixed Bag Outfitters near Charlotte, south of San Antonio. Kurt DeRuiter, Jim McGee, and Mike Walsh all limited out. They hunted over dove weed. The dove came to their Mojos well.
9/14/25 Semi-guided Dove Hunt
Three hunters hunted a 30-acre dove-weed field with SoTexOutdoors near Poteet, south of San Antonio. Ryan Rowley got six, Hunter Rowley got two, and Randy Rowley got one (he only shot at four birds). The dove weren’t interested in the dove weed at all (it wasn’t ripe). Nor were they interested in their Mojos. The hunters agreed that they won’t return.
9/7/25 Semi-guided Dove Hunt
Eight participants had a poor hunt with Texas Triple Elite Outfitters near Brownwood. They hunted the same large sunflower field that FCS hunters hunted on 9/1/25.
Report from Mike Walsh:
The outfitter’s worker was 15 minutes late. Not enough birds were flying to call it a hunt. Jeff Morris shot one bird. I left early and never fired a shot. A bird would fly high every 15 or 20 minutes, 200 yards away.
Report from Will Browning:
We caravanned about 5 minutes to the field, and were told we could drive into the field and park/hunt anywhere. We found birds were already in the sunflowers by the time we arrived. I shot 6 birds, Myrick shot 7, and another hunter shot 9. I should have had several more but shot poorly that day, shooting 1.5 boxes of shells. The birds were primarily flying as singles or doubles, only seeing a single group of 10, flying both low and high and coming from all directions, which made the shots extremely challenging. Birds were not continuously flying and when they came in were flying extremely fast. Birds downed in the sunflower were challenging to find as they were longer shots and there were no cuts/tracks in the sunflower fields. I didn’t see the worker until the hunt was over – he came by and talked to us as we cleaned birds.
9/6/25 Semi-guided Dove Hunt
11 participants (10 hunters) had a great time with Texas Triple Elite Outfitters near Miles. Most hunters limited out. They hunted a winter wheat field.
9/2/25 Semi-guided Dove Hunt
Three hunters had a good time with Texas Triple Elite Outfitters near Brownwood. They hunted a smaller field than the one that they hunted on 9/1/25. The sunflowers weren’t nearly as thick and the birds were easier to find. Eddy Chance bagged 12, David Dailey bagged three, and Larry Dowden bagged one.
9/1/25 Semi-guided Dove Hunt
20 participants (19 hunters) had a good time with Texas Triple Elite Outfitters near Brownwood, hunting a large sunflower field, ringed by trees. Known bags included: Jim McGee (limited out – got 15), Kurt DeRuiter and Burl Fulenwider got 12, Ryan Rowley got 11, Randy Rowley got nine, Eddy Chance got eight, Larry Dowden got seven, David Dailey got five, and Hunter Rowley got two. The sunflowers were thick and birds that were knocked down in them were hard to find.
2/22/25 Guided Upland Bird Hunt
Four hunters had a great time with Schumann Brothers Outdoors at the old Dismukes/Bieberstein Ranch near Dime Box. The total bag was 32 birds (an average of eight birds/hunter). The hunters bagged 24/34 quail, four/four chukars, and four/four pheasants. Some of the birds, especially the pheasants were reluctant to fly due to the light rain and cold. The dogs snatched a few of them from the air before the hunters could shoot them.
Ryan Rowley brought his dog, Trip, and he did great!
1/25/25 Self-guided Inland Duck Hunt
The season ended as it started for two hunters at the Guadalupe Delta WMA near Tivoli – terrible. Randy Rowley fired three shots, missing the two ducks that he shot at. Jeff Morris didn’t pull his trigger. No other ducks came within range. The normal volume of shots was not heard.
1/18/25 Self-guided Inland Duck Hunt
Five hunters mainly enjoyed the scenery at the Guadalupe Delta WMA near Tivoli, on a warm morning. Three scaup were bagged, and few other ducks were seen. Randy Rowley bagged one, Ryan Rowley bagged one, and the third was a group effort. The normal volume of shots was not heard. The biologist informed the group that no one had done well that day.
1/4/25 Self-guided Inland Duck Hunt
Three participants (two hunters) mostly enjoyed the scenery on Lake Limestone. Right after Randy Rowley sat down from relieving himself, two ducks came right at him. But by the time he shouldered his gun, he was only able to manage one shot off. Randy and Jeff Morris saw only two other flocks of ducks around 200 yards away. It was an overcast day but, for once, it was windy. They might have heard a shot. Craig Vinson didn’t hunt, as he was working remotely at his house. Randy and Jeff decided to cancel the 1/5/25 hunt, as high winds were projected and it was very likely that hunting would be a repeat of 1/4/25.