Texas Duck Season 2026-27: Three Zones and the High Plains Unit

Texas splits its regular season into three areas. The High Plains Mallard Management Unit runs October 24-25, 2026, then October 30, 2026 through January 31, 2027. The North Zone runs November 14-29, 2026, then December 5, 2026 through January 31, 2027. The South Zone runs November 7-29, 2026, then December 12, 2026 through January 31, 2027. Early teal season is September 19-27, 2026.

Geography and timing both, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife. The High Plains Mallard Management Unit in the far northwest sits on a different migration schedule than the rest of the state, so it runs on its own calendar rather than joining the North Zone. The North and South Zones split the remaining, much larger area along a line that runs roughly from Del Rio through San Antonio to the Louisiana border, giving the Gulf Coast and South Texas a season that opens about a week ahead of the north.

Mottled ducks, Mexican ducks, black ducks and their hybrids, grouped by TPWD as 'dusky' ducks, are off-limits for the first five days of the season in every zone. TPWD attributes the rule to US Fish and Wildlife Service concerns about mottled duck populations. The restriction applies only to those species; every other legal duck can be taken from opening day.

It depends on where in the state you are hunting, and the gap is real, though it is not one gap. DuckCast's season curves, run for green-winged teal, put the High Plains peak around December 3, the Blackland Prairie through the Hill Country around December 27, and the coast around January 14: six weeks end to end, but three distinct tiers rather than two. The High Plains playas hold staging birds that move through as the water freezes; the rest of Texas arrives later and in two waves, inland first and the coast three weeks behind it.

Yes, and by more than the shape of the curve. Inland Texas, from the Blackland Prairie through the Hill Country, peaks around December 27. The coast, from the Upper Coast rice prairie down to the Laguna Madre, peaks three weeks later, around January 14, not the same week the two shared on a mallard-based forecast. Both now carry a real prime window rather than the coast holding only a broad good-conditions band, which still matches how coastal marsh tends to hold birds more evenly than inland water, just later in the season than inland does.

Yes, by design. The High Plains Mallard Management Unit opens in late October, the South Zone opens November 7, and the North Zone opens November 14, each on TPWD's own schedule rather than a single statewide date. All three zones close January 31, so the difference is entirely in when they start and where the midseason gap falls.