Teal opener
- Thread starter rfberan
- Start date
]Funny, hadn't thought of that when I posted the picture. Fortunately that was just the pick up spot with the boat. Our teal aren't the wariest but certainly that's not acceptable. Hopefully, these are a little more representative.[cool]View attachment IMG_5297.jpgView attachment IMG_5295.jpg
We rarely get blue wings here in NJ, they are mostly gone by the time the season opens. I see one shot in our group about once every 10 years. But I remember living in Florida where there were plenty.
James Woods
Active member
The Grand Passage
So I have not killed many BWT, and growing up on Long Island and hunting there with the late seasons, we never saw them during the seasons. But...I hunted Upper and Lower Lakes on the Grasse River in Canton, New York with friends from this forum from 1980 till about the early part of this century. From the years when they impounded the River and flooded the timber until the timber fell and the Wild Rice and floating vegetation took over, it can only be described as an experience out of Buckingham book on the first three days of the season. We started in 1980, and limits were easy and early for three men, it was 21 birds and we could be done in a half an hour-many times less. My friend on this forum would load one shell, and pick species and mature birds. Does that mallard have a full curl in its tail? Is the Pintail fully plumaged? Oh ok, I may exaggerate--but not by much. Coming from Long Island where in the 60s you shot white birds, black ducks, black ducks and a few mallards and a small sampling other birds on the North Shore, the variety was extraordinary. We shot most of the birds available on the East Coast-absent Coastal Ducks. So to the point, our second year up there, season started on the 4th of October, it had been warm, and warm on opening day.
When dawn broke, we were treated to an extraordinary experience of seeing thousands of blue wing teal moving through the marsh-all day-flocks of ten, fifty and a hundred and more moving through the standing timber for 6 hours. I can't even calculate the number of teal we saw, but even then we recognized what an extraordinary event it was. They were gone the next day--not a bwt to be seen.
JCW
So I have not killed many BWT, and growing up on Long Island and hunting there with the late seasons, we never saw them during the seasons. But...I hunted Upper and Lower Lakes on the Grasse River in Canton, New York with friends from this forum from 1980 till about the early part of this century. From the years when they impounded the River and flooded the timber until the timber fell and the Wild Rice and floating vegetation took over, it can only be described as an experience out of Buckingham book on the first three days of the season. We started in 1980, and limits were easy and early for three men, it was 21 birds and we could be done in a half an hour-many times less. My friend on this forum would load one shell, and pick species and mature birds. Does that mallard have a full curl in its tail? Is the Pintail fully plumaged? Oh ok, I may exaggerate--but not by much. Coming from Long Island where in the 60s you shot white birds, black ducks, black ducks and a few mallards and a small sampling other birds on the North Shore, the variety was extraordinary. We shot most of the birds available on the East Coast-absent Coastal Ducks. So to the point, our second year up there, season started on the 4th of October, it had been warm, and warm on opening day.
When dawn broke, we were treated to an extraordinary experience of seeing thousands of blue wing teal moving through the marsh-all day-flocks of ten, fifty and a hundred and more moving through the standing timber for 6 hours. I can't even calculate the number of teal we saw, but even then we recognized what an extraordinary event it was. They were gone the next day--not a bwt to be seen.
JCW
Great story.
Here today, gone tomorrow is a good way to describe teal season on the northern Gulf Coast too.
One day you have a limit within 30 minutes, the next day nothing but mosquitos buzzing.
By time I left Mobile, seeing them during the regular season was no longer unusual.
Here today, gone tomorrow is a good way to describe teal season on the northern Gulf Coast too.
One day you have a limit within 30 minutes, the next day nothing but mosquitos buzzing.
By time I left Mobile, seeing them during the regular season was no longer unusual.
Carl said:
Not really sure actually. Hickory Mound can see lots of teal (when it hasn't been screwed up and nothing done by the biologists to fix it). I haven't gotten out to cruise along the coast lines here. I will say that compared to Jacksonville when I hunted there, there is far less salt marsh up in my area. LOTS less. Sometimes there is only about 100 yards of salt marsh between hard land and open Gulf. Jacksonville had lots of salt marsh area and we could see lots of teal. More mallards, mottled ducks, spoonbills and the occasional black duck.
James, I love to see flights of teal like you describe. South, Eastern and Central FL can be that way throughout most of the season. Teal are my favorite behind black bellies.