I just recently moved to North Texas and am looking for a place to take my son duck hunting. Anyone know good places for public hunting?

Public hunting up here (I also live in McKinney) is plentiful, but even more so are other hunters. Lake Lavon to the east has decent hunting, but you better get to your spot early. You also have to go to the Corps office in Wylie to get the permit. It's free, but you need to have taken your hunter safety course.

I'll try and think of some more public spots.

Lake lewisville has tons of action. I've never hunted it, but I hear the shotguns daily during the season. Love the sound of shotguns at sunrise =)

Lake Lavon as mentioned earlier, 10 good spots 50 hunters. Corp property free permit

Lake Lewisville is ok, 20 good spots 50 hunters.

Lake Ray Roberts 50+ good spots, 100 hunters. TPWD $48 public lands permit

Lake Cooper (Jim Chapman) good place to hunt and fun it depends on the year can have a bunch of good spots and few hunters or a bunch of good spots and a bunch of hunters. TPWD property

Lake Texoma reserved for those with dedicated duck boats and knowledge of the texas/Oklahoma line. It's corp property too

Lake Tawakoni is close to the metromess and has a lot of pressure but can be good hunting depends on lake levels. TPWD property

Lake Fork. Has a ton of E Texas die hard duck hunters but also has a bunch of good hunting. No permit needed

Private leases are all over on farm ponds stock tanks but you will pay a ton of money to get a water hole. Sometimes in dry years that's great. If you put out a kiddie pool fill it with water ducks will land looking for water and feed. If not then you got a lot invested in water for cows to play in.

Anything else ill try and help with.

Thanks! I appreciate the info and can't wait till fall!

FireFightAg, I remember your pics from last season. I think you hunted out of a kayak last year, correct? I just picked one up for fishing, but was hoping to use it for duck hunting in the fall... Any suggestions?

My advice is to get a good pair of shooting glasses and wear a hat. There is a whole lotta stupid on those lakes.

I'd ask the OP to copy the info then take it down. I don't hunt public anymore but when I did I sure didn't like it when people broadcast spots on the internet like this.

Yeah, because we need to actively discourage people from getting into hunting...

Nothing posted so far is a great secret, just the standard public hunting area near DFW.

General hint, the day in day out life of a duck exists in about a 12 mile radius. Early in the season they like the big water, but a lot of their habitat needs are not met on big water and are found on ponds/creeks/sloughs. If you are looking at a public area, and the surrounding farm ponds are dry, the area isn't holding ducks for very long.---This is why North and East Texas have been very hit for miss the last few years. They may come in heavy, but not stay for long.

About mid-December, there is a general shift in their diet, and they move more heavily to the smaller bodies of water.---On the habitat use surveys, the number one habitat utilized in NE Texas, farm ponds. The number one least used habitat, farm ponds. In other words, very hit or miss.

This isn't my usual specialty, just happened to sit through a wetland/waterfowl management refresher class yesterday.

For Water Turkey
33.059544, -96.503295

Column get a blue star.

Telling people which lakes have public hunting isn't like telling them which shoreline and by which tree to sit....

I can share my Ray Roberts honey hole

But the only way it works is if you get there well in advance

We would put out our decoys the night before (2-3am) then sleep till other hunters arrived and woke us

I haven't hunted it in years though but would enjoy going out this year

For early teal we had a spot at Richland Chambers that wa awesome and never occupied

I would also suggest the red river (especially for wood duck)if you have a boat primarily west of texoma

Also you might check some of the duck clubs they can be reasonable and I know a good one towards Paris/Bonham.

We also had some luck at Coffee Mill Lake on Caddo/LBJ but that one is hard to get

how is grapevine?

What is the name of the duck club in Bonham?

Mbole11 I do pretty much all my hunting from a kayak or walk in spots. The kayak is nice because it can go through low water spots but can be a real pain in the arse to drag around or hide. The main reason I use my yak is to make it easy to get further away from people at the walk in areas. If you use it at a boat ramp you will be beat and passed by the guys with boats. It's more work but it pays off for me to drag it in then float it to where I really want to go.

Thanks FireFight. Good info in that post. What kayak do you hunt out of? Ever bring a dog with you?

If you ever need a hunting partner for kayak hunting, let me know.

And speaking of Duck Hunting around Mcakinney, does anyone know of Deutsch Drahthaar owners around McKinney that get together to help each other train their dogs?

Yeah Lake Levon was hit of miss when I lived up there. Decent ponds on corps land, but you might have idiots show up right at shooting time setting up their decoys 100 ft from yours on a >acre pond.

Bolter - That's why you put flashlights out and have a huntin buddy of yours sit a few hundred yard from you next to six decoys. right at light, he picks up his 6 decoys and joins you.

Theres a fine line between how far he should sit form you - to far and some idiot will try and squeeze next to you. to close and not much is gained .... at least that's how ive heard people do it.

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And speaking of Duck Hunting around Mcakinney, does anyone know of Deutsch Drahthaar owners around McKinney that get together to help each other train their dogs?

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Interesting you bring that up. I've kind of been talking to Kraig Stemme, a DD breader in Alba about getting one. He invited me out there to see his dogs, just have to make time to do it. Is he who you got yours from?

No, I got mine from Shelby Kervin in Oklahoma. If you want his information, I can send it to you.

I hadn't heard of Kraig but see comments about him here and on another Texas Hunting Forum

My oldest DD is from Kraig Stemme, and my youngest from a ***** of the same liter (Tom Stenger)

Any DD folks want to talk shop let me know

I haven't done any training sessions in years but it would be fun to run with some DD's

oh and I highly recommend Kraig (Shelby is good too from what I hear)

Kraig does a lot for the breed and is really good pairing up dogs and owners

I'd lov to talk DDs and hunting Where do you live

Unveiling secret "honey hole" public spots on online forums... Good luck

In all seriousness, plenty of quality public land in Texas to whack some quack if willing to travel.

If you travel there are a lot more places to hunt.