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Riceland Waterfowl

14,904 Views | 30 Replies | Last: 7 yr ago by DuckDown2013
Back2Back
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AG
Anyone have any information on Riceland Waterfowl Club or Pintail Hunting Club near Houston?

I've always been a big waterfowl hunter growing up, but after moving to Houston I haven't had much luck finding a place to hunt besides the public land. I'm looking to get on a lease potentially, but wandering if any of yall have had any experience with these 6 person group lease systems. Any help would be appreciated.
Cole Trickle
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I was on Riceland last year and it was no bueno
Back2Back
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How so if you don't mind me asking? Not many birds, too many hunters, set-ups weren't that great?
schmellba99
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I hunt at Pintail every year with some vendors of mine - top notch setup. The Shamak's sold it last year, but the new owner seems to run the place with the same mentality that they did. Great lodging, outstanding food and I've never had a bad hunt there - didn't limit out as a group this year, but still came mighty close to doing so in weather that was far from optimal duck hunting weather.

But they are, I believe, a day hunt type of outfit - didn't think they were a club like some of the other duck/goose clubs that are discussed here are. Could be wrong, but I don't think they operate the same.
texags79
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Try Run and Gun. They have really good properties, they plant food plots and set up blinds. Think it is 2000 per hunter per year.
Back2Back
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AG
Yeah after looking at their website a little more it looks like it is just guided hunts.

I like the idea of these clubs like Riceland Waterfowl but I don't know how well they work.

& Chilifest, I looked at their website but I couldn't find any information on seasonal lease, only guided hunts.
aggiedent
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Texas Parks and Wildlife had an article I read last year on the downward trend of ducks wintering in Texas. If I recall accurately it has been steadily going down for 20 or so years. Weather, habitat loss, and the usual suspects. Meanwhile, other states are having increases in wintering ducks.
water turkey
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Be very wary of a "club" run by a guide service.

Our own Lance Stancek who owns or owned Backwater Outfitters bought the Pintail last summer. Guided hunts only.
reddog90
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Cole Trickle said:

I was on Riceland last year and it was no bueno
This is what I have heard as well from multiple friends that have hunted on that lease.
reddog90
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I would suggest Rocky Creek Retrievers Team Waterfowl. They kill a **** ton of birds, just don't have the big social media platform that Run n Gun does. Steve is awesome and will take care of you.
DuckDown2013
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I hunted Riceland a few years back and felt more like a guide than a paying hunter. I didn't have a group to join with so I just went potluck and got stuck with people who either didn't know what they were doing or just chose to do things drastically different than me. The guy was a nice guy but he was really unorganized and I didn't like his reservation system at all comparative to one like blessing uses.

I had some good hunts but had quite a few really bad ones too. Let's put it this way, I bought a boat the next year and did my own thing.
hlsr
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I echo the comments on RCR. Steve Biggers does a great job to ensure you have great hunts. I took family and friends on Dec 23 and Dec 24 and we limited out both days at 30 & 36 birds even with warm weather. I've been with him two years now and he's great to work with.
Cole Trickle
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I've been on Thunderbird, Run n Gun (this year) and Riceland. I would rank them in the order listed.

Thunderbird pressures the birds less, scouts for you (HUGE benefit), and has the fairest draw system.

The biggest problem with all of these clubs is they get bigger and then oversell memberships.
Camo
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I'm on it now, I'll comeback and comment in the morning


Psych
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schmellba99 said:

I hunt at Pintail every year with some vendors of mine - top notch setup. The Shamak's sold it last year, but the new owner seems to run the place with the same mentality that they did. Great lodging, outstanding food and I've never had a bad hunt there - didn't limit out as a group this year, but still came mighty close to doing so in weather that was far from optimal duck hunting weather.

But they are, I believe, a day hunt type of outfit - didn't think they were a club like some of the other duck/goose clubs that are discussed here are. Could be wrong, but I don't think they operate the same.


Shimek*

But yes, pintail was and still is a top notch setup.
trip98
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ColeTrickle,

I'm on Blessing. shoot me an email. would like to compare notes.

trip
dot
franty
@sci-us
dot
com
Next Year is the Year
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AG
My 2 cents. I was a member of a 6 man group lease at Coastal Prairie Outdoors in 2013 and 2014 and would not recommend them at all. Moved to Run N Gun in 2015 with the same group and had an awesome teal season, killed 30 or so birds on each of our 5 hunts. We scouted all of our spots before requesting them. Then big duck season rolled around and on opening day we got put on a random sheet water pond (no vegetation at all) that wasn't one of the spots we asked for and killed 6 total. Same situation happened that Sunday and the following weekend with similar results. Seemed to me like we got the shaft for doing better than others during teal season. Then the rest of the season we got put on spots that looked good but we never really did all that well, probably averaged 10-15 birds with 6 experienced duck hunters. The lease owner/manager is an Ag and seemed like a good guy. For what it's worth, I didn't up my lease for 2016.
Back2Back
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Thank you all for the information. Seems like it looks & sounds good at first but isn't worth the money & time. My problem is I've tried hunting public a whole lot since I've moved down here to Houston & have had some good hunts but majority of them are skunks. Got a new lab puppy that I wanted to get trained by next fall so she could get some good experience.
DuckDown2013
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Plenty of good public hunting in Houston area but you have to put in the time to scout.
schmellba99
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DuckDown2013 said:

Plenty of good public hunting in Houston area but you have to put in the time to scout.

This. And you have to be willing to go where everybody else won't. It's not easy, but can be very rewarding if you are dedicated and put the work in.
reddog90
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Back2Back said:

Thank you all for the information. Seems like it looks & sounds good at first but isn't worth the money & time. My problem is I've tried hunting public a whole lot since I've moved down here to Houston & have had some good hunts but majority of them are skunks. Got a new lab puppy that I wanted to get trained by next fall so she could get some good experience.
Call Steve at RCR, he is a pro dog trainer and can coach you on handling your new dog next season while hunting with him.
OnlyForNow
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I know Daniel personally and he is a great guy.

I wouldn't personally think you were being punished for having a good teal season, but I don't know the situation or the numbers of birds killed by guys who got other spots you might have wanted.


They run a pretty damn good outfit, but they also do guided hunts, that's been discussed before and no need to re-hash.

I'm on a private lease this year and the hunting has been the worst since 2008 for me.
Camo
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Alright, so I am on riceland this year ...

And I am not going to get back on next year...

Teal season was the best, but teal are dumb as ***** Meaning the blinds for teal season were just stakes in the ground rapped in camo cloth, no brush sticking out in the open.

Duck season comes along and the maps are sent out. Total blinds spread across eagle lake, Victoria, blessing, el campo, Katy, brooshire, but only 75% were ready. Ok fine, no problem but he never sent a follow up email (yet this year) telling us they are ready.

Some of the duck blinds in duck season are good and some are just total ****, I would end up just sitting in the brush. I got skunked more this year than I actually shot birds. The most ducks (not teal) I shot in one hunt was 4. Maybe I am bad at picking blinds because I can't go and scout but that's my fault so maybe it's me.

Regardless, I'm not getting back on. I'll be joining my buddy's outfit
Back2Back
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Thanks for your input Camo
DuckDown2013
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Camo said:

Alright, so I am on riceland this year ...

And I am not going to get back on next year...

Teal season was the best, but teal are dumb as ***** Meaning the blinds for teal season were just stakes in the ground rapped in camo cloth, no brush sticking out in the open.

Duck season comes along and the maps are sent out. Total blinds spread across eagle lake, Victoria, blessing, el campo, Katy, brooshire, but only 75% were ready. Ok fine, no problem but he never sent a follow up email (yet this year) telling us they are ready.

Some of the duck blinds in duck season are good and some are just total ****, I would end up just sitting in the brush. I got skunked more this year than I actually shot birds. The most ducks (not teal) I shot in one hunt was 4. Maybe I am bad at picking blinds because I can't go and scout but that's my fault so maybe it's me.

Regardless, I'm not getting back on. I'll be joining my buddy's outfit


Not your fault man! Sounds about right. He is very unorganized and his reserve system is crap(was 2 years ago at least). And he clearly hooks up his buddies with the best spots. You can especially tell this if you go to the meeting at beginning of the season.
Oso96
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We hunt at Texas Duck Ranch in Garwood and is really good hunting. I can count on one hand the number of times I haven't shot a limit of ducks in 3 years
justsomeguy
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Texas Duck Ranch is way overpriced in my mind. Roughly $3,000/hunter for a small pond is nuts.
Cole Trickle
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In my opinion these guys just have so much demand, they can't help overselling memberships. That was what ran me off of Thunderbird, just too many people. And they started charging for things like RV spots, UTV storage, etc. With all these clubs fighting for land, the farmers must be making a killing in the bidding wars every year.

My perfect club would have:
- lodge to hang out at (plenty of beds) and included in the membership price (not some crazy extra, per night cost
- fair draw system. Thunderbird had a high card draw system, which was the fairest way I have seen, and made it fun! People *****ed if they only hunted a couple of times per year and drew a low card, but hey, them's the breaks (in my opinion)
- scouting reports. Again, Thunderbird did a great job with this.

I kill WAY more ducks on public land than I ever have on these clubs. At the end of the day, it all comes back to scouting. If I join a club next year, I will probably go back to Thunderbird.

Just my 2 cents
justsomeguy
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Come, if ya don't mind me asking here... what is the change from your normal club routine compared to what you have to do now to kill so many birds on public lands?

I.e. You used to have to wake up at 4 am and be at your club's land to drive and then hunt and now that you're hunting public land, you're having to wake up at 2 am to get a good spot in line etc.

I guess it also depends on your geographic location. Someone with say Richland Chambers WMA next to them vs some place near Beaumont might opt to do things differently. I ask because I've often wondered "what life is like switching to Public Lands".
DuckDown2013
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It ends up coming down to pressure. A private club spot that is hunted every day defeats much of the purpose for joining a private club.
So I can pay 1500+ and have an opportunity to hunt 20 spots that are hunted every day or I can pay nothing and kill birds on public land after doing some scouting. In addition, if I pay 1500+ for a club, I am still competing with 20 other groups for that spot that I paid a lot of Money to hunt on.
Even at crowded wma's, you can kill a ton of birds if you put in time scouting.
RMC91
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I've never been a member but I've hunted some at Yardbird Hunting Club in Eagle Lake. Lots of members and expensive but my experience is a lot of people pay to not go. They have a "lodge" so you can go the night before but it's also not too far for day trip depending on where you live in Houston.
DuckDown2013
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I agree that a lot of people don't go even after paying for an expensive membership.
When I was a member of Riceland the year before last, I joined as a single so I got put in a group of 5 randomly to hunt with. Before I changed my group(because of the other members not having much experience hunting), I had hunted probably almost 10 times and still hadn't met one of my group members. Basically, there was one other guy in my group of 5 that hunted weekly.
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