[kbooger]

Do you think the early teal season effected opener?

I'll say I think it did to some extent. Probably a larger factor was the drought and number of hunters. There are a few very popular spots that are pretty much unhuntable that put other hunters on many other sloughs. For early teal this didn't matter so much as there weren't the numbers of hunters we have on opener, but opener there was a ton of pressure. Scouting and driving around there were hunters everywhere.

And for whatever reason I saw a ton of geese on the water out scouting Friday, more geese than ducks which is opposite of what I normally see.

The other side of it is, we got to hunt an additional 5 days during a great time to hunt teal (for their normal migration, peak being over by regular opener).

For 2 guys we got 9 ducks and 1 goose Sat, 3 ducks Sunday. We might have seen about 1/8 the birds we did on Saturday for the Sunday hunt.
In comparison for early teal we shot (Sat-Mon) 25 teal and 5 geese (again 2 guys).

 

[razorrt5]

Based on my experience in a state that has had a teal season, the big ducks have been moving around more then usual this year I think it’s based on weather as you observed we also have a lot less big ducks then we had 3 weeks ago which isn’t normally the case. As for teal affecting duck opener I do believe it does, the mojos have zero positive impact on ducks because everyone uses them for teal season.

Just my .02 cents, I can appreciate why teal season is a thing, personally I’d prefer to have what the Dakota have and just get 2 “bonus teal” for the first 2 weeks of the season… we don’t get enough teal here to make a dedicated season a big thing, especially when you weigh it against the impact it has on big ducks before opening day
But I know in Minnesota it’s painful to watch all them teal go south and never get a shot at them…. I remember each August sitting on my deck in Waverly watching clouds of teal fly around in the evenings and 90% would be gone by sept 15th so I get it

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[Feathers]

I don’t think it had much effect on opener. It certainly did not on ours as we were done pretty quick and this area did get hunted during the teal season.

I think a lot of guys that did poor and usually do poor will blame it on teal season. Same guys that blame their lousy opener on ywd.

I hope they expand the teal season next year. We bagged teal on regular opener but almost all the bwt were gone compared the numbers early to midSeptember.

 

[kbooger]

I wouldn't be opposed to bonus teal, I do like additional hunting days though.

And I couldn't agree more on the mojos. The folks I hunt with still think they are the best thing ever. We had tons of birds flare on them. Then again another guy shot a ton having a mojo. I just don't think they help nearly as much as people believe (especially those that hunted with them the first few years they came out). At this point I think they do as much harm as they help and you have to baby them in the boat, so not really worth it.

 

[nickeleye]

Teal season didn’t hurt my duck opener.

As you said, reduced locations due to drought had a big impact. Your 9 on Saturday is pretty good- most areas that do bag checks report an average of 1-3 ducks per person on opener.

And it’s pretty common for Sunday to be dead quiet now that opener is normal shooting time. Noon opener was goofy, but it usually meant you could get a good shoot on Sunday too

I would be all for reducing September water disturbance in this state, but that’s clearly not an option since they’re expanding YWD and early goose.

I really enjoyed teal season and I hope they continue or expand it.


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