Texas Duck Season Is Open in the South and Opens Nov. 14 Up North. Know Your Zone, Your Limits and the Dusky Duck Rule

As of Sunday, Nov. 8, regular duck season is open in the South Zone and High Plains Mallard Management Unit. The North Zone regular season opens Saturday, Nov. 14. Before you load the decoys, take five minutes with the rules. Texas splits the state into three duck zones, each with its own dates, and dusky ducks have a five-day closure at the start of the regular season in each zone. The special youth and veteran seasons have an exception.

Everything below comes from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's 2026-2027 duck regulations. Check that page, or your county's listing in the Outdoor Annual, before every trip. This is a summary, not the full set of hunting requirements. Check current TPWD rules and any site-specific restrictions before hunting.

Know your zone

TPWD draws the zones by highways:

• High Plains Mallard Management Unit: west of a line from the International Toll Bridge at Del Rio, north along U.S. 277 to Abilene, State Highways 351 and 6 to Albany, and U.S. 283 to Vernon, then east along U.S. 183 to the Oklahoma line.

• South Zone: south of a line from the International Bridge and U.S. 277 Spur at Del Rio, east along U.S. 90 to San Antonio, then east along Interstate 10 to the Louisiana line.

• North Zone: the rest of the state.

Regular season dates

• High Plains: Oct. 24-25, then Oct. 30, 2026, through Jan. 31, 2027.

• North Zone: Nov. 14-29, then Dec. 5, 2026, through Jan. 31, 2027.

• South Zone: Nov. 7-29, then Dec. 12, 2026, through Jan. 31, 2027.

Those gaps matter. The North Zone closes after Nov. 29 and reopens Dec. 5. The South Zone closes after Nov. 29 and stays closed until Dec. 12. Use TPWD's zone map and county listing to confirm which dates apply to your hunting location.

The North Zone youth-only and veterans and active-duty military special seasons continue through today, Nov. 8. Those special seasons ran Oct. 17-18 in the High Plains and Oct. 31-Nov. 1 in the South Zone. The military season is restricted to veterans and qualifying active-duty members, including National Guard and Reserve members on active duty other than for training. Falconry seasons in the North and South zones run Feb. 1-21, 2027; the falconry daily bag and possession limits are three and nine migratory game birds, respectively, singly or in the aggregate, and a valid Texas falconry permit is required.

The dusky duck rule

This is the one that catches people. TPWD defines a "dusky" duck as a mottled duck, Mexican duck, black duck or their hybrids. Because they look so much alike, all dusky ducks are closed for the first five days of the regular season in each zone. TPWD expressly allows dusky ducks during the youth-only and veteran special seasons; regular-season bag limits apply during those special seasons. The department says recent concerns from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about mottled duck populations forced the delay.

The dusky season dates are:

• High Plains: Oct. 31, 2026, through Jan. 31, 2027.

• North Zone: Nov. 19-29, then Dec. 5 through Jan. 31.

• South Zone: Nov. 12-29, then Dec. 12 through Jan. 31.

Even when the season is open, the bag limit is one dusky duck a day. If you cannot tell a mottled duck from a hen mallard in low light, do not pull the trigger.

Bag and possession limits

The regular daily bag is six ducks in the aggregate, including mergansers. Within those six, TPWD allows no more than:

• 5 mallards, only two of which may be hens

• 3 wood ducks

• 3 pintails

• 2 redheads

• 2 canvasbacks

• 1 scaup

• 1 dusky duck

Species not listed count toward the six-duck aggregate limit. The daily bag for coots is 15. The possession limit is three times the daily bag.

Hours and paperwork

Legal shooting hours run from one-half hour before sunrise to sunset. TPWD links sunrise and sunset tables from its regulations page.

Before hunting, check the license, endorsement and certification requirements and any applicable exemptions linked from TPWD's regulations page. TPWD requires a valid hunting license for migratory game bird hunting and lists the Migratory Game Bird Endorsement, Harvest Information Program certification and federal duck stamp among waterfowl requirements. A federal duck stamp is required for waterfowl hunters age 16 and older, including 16-year-olds in the youth-only season. TPWD says you get HIP certified when you buy your license by telling the clerk you plan to hunt migratory birds and answering a few questions.

Youth hunters 16 and younger in the youth-only season must be accompanied by an adult at least 18 years old.

Hunt like a steward

Bag limits are not red tape. They are how a generation of hunters makes sure the next one has birds to chase. The dusky duck pause exists because federal biologists are concerned about mottled duck populations. Respecting a five-day wait is a small price.

Genesis gives mankind dominion over the birds of the air, and dominion is not a license to waste. It is a charge to manage well. Know your zone, know your birds, carry your stamp, and take only what the law allows.

And when you pull the boat out at the end of the day, clean it. Duck hunters can move invasive plants and mussels from one lake to the next. Our earlier report explains how: Duck Hunters Can Carry Giant Salvinia and Zebra Mussels Lake to Lake. TPWD Says a Few Minutes of Cleaning Stops It.