Try These Texas Winter Outdoor Challenges

Who doesn’t love a good challenge?

During the winter in the Texas there are plenty of truly wild challenges to take up in the great outdoors. Here are some cool challenges that will satisfy even the most adventuresome outdoorsman.

South Texas Rut: The whitetail breeding season in South Texas is just starting to kick off. The latest in the nation, it can run into February and offers Brush Country hunters the ultimate opportunity at scoring on a mega buck, which that region has in large numbers. There is nothing in deer hunting like watching a sendero in that area during the rut as bucks chase does, fight one another and exhibit truly awesome behavior.

Cool Crappie: Crappie fishing heats up when the weather cools down on the East Texas reservoirs like Toledo Bend where seemingly endless numbers of these great fish stack up in the old river channel. Check your local reservoir’s deep holes and river beds for crappie in the coming weeks and chances are you will find some.

Ridiculously Large Redfish: The comeback of the redfish has been truly tremendous. Catching breeding-sized bull reds used to be a rarity but now it is commonplace and the giant fish can be caught in the surf and around our jetty systems year-round. Lower a live croaker or cut mullet around a deep Sabine jetty hole or chunk it out past the second sandbar in the surf and be prepared to do battle with a brute.

Lunker Hunt: Throwing big jigs and swimbaits around deep cover and structure can yield monster bass on virtually any lake in the state but Falcon, Sam Rayburn and Conroe are top picks this month.

Woodies: If you can find something more fun than shooting at wood ducks piling into a hole in the timber let me know. I want to experience it. Texas wood duck numbers are larger and now with three in the bag limit we have an extra incentive to hunt the nation’s most beautiful fowl.

Rabbit Hunting: My first hunt was walking down a fence line on my Aunt Ann’s property and spotlighting rabbits with a head lamp. And it was (and still is) legal. Hunting rabbits at night is loads of fun and is a great way to introduce kiddos to hunting. Plus, rabbits are super tasty and with the rain we had in much of the state this year the cottontail and swamp rabbit crop is booming.

Chester Moore, Jr.