Texas Coverage
Upper Coast Rice Prairie Duck Migration Forecast
Katy, Garwood and Eagle Lake rice country behind Galveston Bay. Flooded rice and coastal marsh, and the densest hunting in the state.
See today’s live scoreAll of TX
Season dates: Texas duck season 2026-27, dates and migration timing
Where Upper Coast Rice Prairie is
Upper Coast Rice Prairie is drawn from 16 counties in Texas: Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Colorado, Fort Bend, Galveston, Hardin, Harris, Jefferson, Liberty, Matagorda, Montgomery, Orange, San Jacinto, Waller and Wharton. Those are the counties its shape on the DuckCast map is built from, so a hunter in any of them reads this region’s score.
When Upper Coast Rice Prairie peaks
DuckCast’s season model puts the pintail peak here around mid January. This follows the statewide pintail curve. That is a modelled typical curve, not a prediction for any single year. The actual push depends on cold fronts and freeze-up upstream, which is what the daily score tracks. Always confirm season dates with the state wildlife agency, linked below.
What DuckCast watches upstream of Upper Coast Rice Prairie
3 upstream stations feed this region's freeze line, nearest first: Hugo, OK, about 305 miles north, McAlester, OK, about 370 miles north and Poteau, OK, about 380 miles north. When those stations ice over, the score here starts climbing before anything changes in the local sky.
Radar over Upper Coast Rice Prairie
Each morning DuckCast reads the night’s NEXRAD data from KHGX, the National Weather Service radar at Houston, about 35 miles east of the region’s weather point. That is close enough for the radar to sample the air over the region itself. Radar sees every bird in the air, not only ducks, so it confirms or questions the score rather than moving it.
Locations stay generalized
Hunter reports for Upper Coast Rice Prairie are always shown at the region level. DuckCast never collects or displays exact coordinates, so filing a report here never burns a spot.
Also covered in Texas
Nearest first. Distances run between the regions’ weather points.
- Mid Coast Bays, about 100 miles southwest
- Post Oak Savannah, about 115 miles northwest
- Pineywoods, about 170 miles north
- South Texas and Laguna Madre, about 235 miles southwest
- Hill Country and Edwards, about 250 miles west
- Blackland Prairie, about 260 miles north
- Rolling Plains, about 345 miles northwest
- High Plains Playas, about 505 miles northwest
Season dates and regulations change. Always verify with Texas Parks and Wildlife. DuckCast forecasts conditions, not legal seasons.