Weekly migratory bird hunting reports are posted from early September through early February.

High Plains Mallard Management Unit: Outfitters reported strong hunts for mallards, teal, wigeons and gadwalls on playa lakes and feed lots. The forecasted front this week could freeze up the entire Panhandle and make it tough on hunters to find open water. Ducks could congregate on warm feed lot ponds. Goose hunting has been hit-or-miss. Canadas decoy one day then turn their nose to spreads the next. Snow geese have only cooperated with conducive weather. Pheasant hunting has been excellent, according to many sources. Prospects are good.

North Zone Duck: Duck hunters have taken good numbers of mallards in sloughs, creeks and river bottoms. Receding waters have given more habitat for birds to use. Colder weather and frozen waterways to the north have encouraged more mallards to cross the state line. Strong hunts were posted in Harrison, Bowie and Red River counties. Temperatures forecasted for the teens this weekend could send the last remnants of migrants across the Red River. Canvasbacks and other divers have been steady on Lake O’Pines, Toledo Bend, Lake Fork and Cooper Lake. Wood ducks have been steady at first light in the timber. Hunting has slowed around the zone boundaries of IH-10. Prospects are good.

South Zone Duck: The coast continues to produce steady duck shoots on the prairies, marshes and bays. Gadwalls, wigeons, shovelers and pintails have been strong near El Campo, Eagle Lake, Garwood, Collegeport, East Bernard and Wharton. Green-winged teal in large concentrations have been absent on the prairies, but showed en masse in the marsh around High Island and Jefferson County. Bay hunters enjoyed limits to half-limits near Port O’Connor and Rockport. Redheads, bluebills, gadwalls and wigeons have made up the bay bags. However, falling tides associated with the Arctic blast has relocated ducks from the back lakes to the shorelines. Snow goose hunting has been difficult due to lack of birds and a low juvenile count. Many outfitters have said this has been the toughest year to decoy snow geese that they can remember. Specklebellies have shied from calling as well, and close for the season at sunset Jan. 10. Sandhill crane numbers are good and most hunters are setting up along canal banks and fence rows to take their two-bird limit. Prospects are good.

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On the Net:

• Hunting Regulations: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/annual/hunt/
• Migration Observations: http://www.mdc.mo.gov/hunt/wtrfowl/migration.php
• Submit Your Observations: http://www.ducks.org/migrationmap/