I am going to take a chance and ask if anyone has information on access for the Red River. I live in DFW area, and am looking towards duck season. Yes, I know this is a fishing forum, but I have been unsuccessful in getting any info. I do fish, but want to try this forum as you might never know until you ask.

Thanks

duckhunter,
You have royally messed up now. If you'd have ask about "fishing" (wink,wink) the Red,
you would have gotten a ton of responses. But, waterfowl spots, as you probably know are highly guarded. A point to take into consideration is that the river in its entirity is Oklahoma controlled. Once you put a boat in, you'll need Okie permits.

Oklahoma to the vegetation line ! As stated earlier, you will need okie non-resident.

There is one public access are that I know of where you can walk to the river, but it is a LONG walk. There are some old slough and river beds on the property that have allot of ducks on them though. Go guy a Forest Service Map of the Caddo National Grasslands, specifically the area around Lake Fannin.

20 some odd years ago I used to hunt the RRiver bottoms with a buddy up north of Camp Sweeny just east of Gainesville. Actually had a Texas Warden show a great hole and warn us about the Okie Wardens coming across the River in Airboats and writing tickets. Take some time and get a very detailed map and check it out before season. I'll warn you though about the treacherous conditions and you should never hunt alone up there because of the quicksand bottoms and super slick clay roads. Lots of birds in those days using the River as a flyway. Best crow shoot I ever had was on a day that turned from perfect overcast windy and 40*'s at 5 am and spitting sleet into a frozen 20* morning with bluebird skies ....and thousands of crows trying to commit suicide...looked lile Hitchcock's movie as they dive bombed us and our duck decoys for 2 hours. Full choked heavy copper 5's (pre steel days! and would hold 90/92% patterns at 40 yards!!)were too strong at 10 yards but would create an explosion of black feathers when you could center a bird. Check out the area but be super careful as it is very dangerous up there. I swam out my last trip wearing chest waders and pushing a decoy bag with my shotgun on top about 200 yards to shore to cut the butter during rising water...in 6"s of water and ??? deep soft silty mud and never have gone back. Had to put the shotgun in the kitchen sink to clean it out.
Ron

I will 2nd the idea on hunting with somebody else due to the quicksand and clay roads. Do not venture off of the gravel if at all possible.

I have hunted the RR bottoms for the last 7 years. There is quite a bit of public acess, but you have to get up there and scout it out. There is A lot of hunting you can do with just a TX license.
I am a fellow duck hunter as well, and would love to give out the locations...but you know us duck hunters

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Gig 'Em, Aggie class of '94.

There are no ducks in Texas....

Slew

Man you guys are rough. The key word was "access". I was not intending to pinpoint decoy spread locations. Anyway I have a 17' Xpress with a 50 Yamaha, and do have ok license. We are willing to pay the price in getting in.
Did not mean to offend any other duckhunters, as you know we are a fraternity. I am all for selective disclosure, but I was just hoping to see if there were any public boat ramps or other locations to launch. I have heard it's pretty hairy up there with the sand and the inconsistent depths. But I do hear the ducks hold up in large numbers along the river.

Anyway do any of you know of a good forum like TFF, but geared towards duckhunting?

ps: I do feel the need to blast.

Southern Duck Hunter is a good site. Your right about the fraternity. A SECRET fraternity that is.

There is a ramp below the dam east of Dennison a couple miles that is "exciting" looking to say the least. Too exciting for me anyway. I''l leave the war stories to someone else but yes there is a private ramp on Hwy 120 ? where it cross's the river.
Above the lake I am not aware of anything. My hunting partner at the time was able to launch his 14' Sidewinder couple times off the "road" when the water was high. We went in on County Road 806 as I remember - past Dexter- but it was not easy. I looked at my TopSpot Texoma map and it seemed like there might be something from the Okie side west of SlickumSlough which id generally acknowledged as the last thing on the Texas side on the lake. I find a map and check it out.
Ron

Have you tried up river. It is a perfect area for ducks, but I don't have a map of the hunting locations. When I launch into Hickory creek (from the Oklahoma side), there are duck hunters all over the place. It is very shallow trying to get up there from the lake Texoma, but I believe it can be done (we almost did it, but started kicking up too much mud). It might be easier to drive over to the oklahoma side and launch down into the creek where there is a boat ramp on the South side (West of the bridge). I have ran into many duck hunters in this area, and heard many more with their calls.

Good Luck.

slewfoot is right, there are no ducks in Texas



[This message has been edited by birddog14 (edited 07-16-2003).]

WWW.THE FISHING FORUM .COM?????????
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Last year I saw a catfish in the Red River while duck hunting. Does that count Skeeterman?

We hunt the river near Honey Grove but it is all private land. We don't have a boat.