first teal

greg setter

greg setter

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Took a ride on Sunday down to the hunting shack and took a boat out into the marsh for a couple of hours to poke around and maybe fish a little bit. Saw one teal, which got up as I was about halfway to Delaware Bay. I had my shades on, so I couldn't tell if it was a blue wing or green wing. But it was a duck from somewhere else!
 
Iowa teal season opens Sept 1 and then every week another state opens all the way to the Gulf.

Calendar migrators, you should be seeing the mature drakes first. Then the hens and first of year.

We'll shoot BWT up in the Great White North until mid-October, but a warm year might always keep a few of them and woodies around.

GWT aren't as predictable. Catch them early, catch them late. I'm alway impressed with how THICK the fat is on those late season GWTs!
 
This is the last year of the experimental teal season in Michigan(Thank you , Brandon for you work on the task force that made this a reality.). Nearly all of our production here is blue wings. As of about ten days to two weeks ago, bird numbers on Great Lakes coastal marshes started to build, as birds started massing prior migrating out. I have only seen wood ducks and some local mallards on inland waters over the last couple of mornings while scouting/securing permission for goose hunting when the corn comes down.

No non-mating giants surge into the area yet from Ontario...only local geese seen thus far.
 
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While I scout for potential spots year round I'll start scouting for ducks in about 2 weeks. Opening day is always a teal frenzy. It's crazy how like clock work we'll see tons of blue wings with a few green wings mixed in while scouting 3 weeks before opening day they slowly less and less blues and more and more greens until opening day rolls around and not a single blue wing is left. I have some awesome teal spots and kill a good amount every year but only have one jersey blue wing to my name. And it is also the only one I've ever seen killed in jersey. Thanks for the report though. That gets my blood pumping.
 
We have actually shot a pretty decent mix over the years. More green than blue for sure but we do kill quite a few blue wings.
 
Saw a flock of about 20 blue or green wings about two weeks ago right before sundown. Also saw a single black earlier that day. Was on the Delaware bay side. Will hopefully get out for some residents this holiday weekend if its not brutally hot.
 
Greg, I sure know how you feel when seeing that first duck. It sure puts that anxiety level several notches higher.

My retired friend who is working a part time job in the southwestern part of the state for the feds, saw a flock of 12 bluewings last week. These most likely were adult males. Funny how they migrate through here way before our teal season begins and normally will be in Mexico by that time. If that dozen bluewing teal decided to head south they wouldn't have far to get to the Mexican border.

If I shoot one adult drake in our teal season that is something special. My teal mix would be juvenile bluewings and a smattering of F-16s. If I shoot one adult female that, too, is highly unusual because they don't come down here that early.

Most of our teal come from southeastern Alberta/southwestern Saskatchewan, with some from MT, ID, and WY.

I only have to wait 19 days for our season to open.
Al
 
I saw about 40 bluewings on a farm pond in TN last weekend. They are starting to move.
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Jeez, don't say this too loudly as the teal might hear you and leave MN. I am always torn between hoping for an opener that is warm (so the teal are still around) and one that is blustery as I love hunting those conditions.

Opener is 9/24 and I still have stuff to do. Every year I promise myself I'll be way ahead of the curve. Maybe next year.

Mark W
 
I have not heard any reports from down here on the Gulf Coast but I am sure there are some here.
I might just hunt teal season this year, our season is Sept 10-25.
 
I have not heard any reports from down here on the Gulf Coast but I am sure there are some here.
I might just hunt teal season this year, our season is Sept 10-25.
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Our teal season is, uh, wait a minute, we don't get a teal season. Those making the rules are afraid we might shoot something other than a teal during teal season. Like maybe an eagle or swan or something I guess.

Doesn't bother me much as you can tell.

Mark W
 
I'm always surprised to hear about teal being way down south on Sept. 1st. With the exception of the last two years our normal big teal push is the second week of September. I didn't bother going out this weekend, as we have not had any real weather to move them in mass yet.
 
I'm always surprised to hear about teal being way down south on Sept. 1st. With the exception of the last two years our normal big teal push is the second week of September. I didn't bother going out this weekend, as we have not had any real weather to move them in mass yet.
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A lot of BW teal have left here already. We have had a number of very cool nights approaching freezing (40° out right now). I saw my first swans about a week ago and have been seeing flocks of geese and ducks coming into the area. Our season opened up north on the first and will open locally on Sept 8. Things are looking pretty good right now with lots of water in the sloughs and flooded fields. The harvest is about two weeks behind with all the rain we have been having.
 
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