Labor Day Weekend

Only 4 days away and no talk about early goose season and no arguing if there should or shouldnt be an early teal season. What gives?

I posted about trying to find a field to hunt the other day. Thank you to EPG by the way in offering up his backyard. We thought about it and will probably take him up on it later in the season if it works out. We are going to hit a public spot for this weekend and see what happens. Usually don’t do so great so hard to get to pumped for it. At least it looks like it will be dry.

As far as early teal season. Meh don’t really care. I do think it is hard for guys to identify birds and could shoot the wrong ones. Also I did not like the idea that the area was getting shot up before opener.

I only hunt waterfowl a few times a year. Normally the first 2 weekends. Just past shoot while sitting on a creek that runs trough a buddies farm. We normally get a few and a bonus Goose once in awhile. As far as the early season goose season goes, I say thin out as many local birds as possible. Those things are getting to be a major problem in most Metro areas. I’m not a fan of the early teal season at all. I really feel like in most years that not that many of the teal are gone prior to opening day. In a really early cold year maybe. To hard for many hunters to identify a teal fast enough to ensure that the proper birds are being shot.

I haven’t waterfowled hunted in years but I really like goose. Between a goose, wild rice hot dish my wife makes and running them through a dehydrator there good eating.

I have noticed alot of very young woodies this year so hope people pay attention.

John Rasmussen wrote:

Also I did not like the idea that the area was getting shot up before opener.

There’s also the youth waterfowl weekend before the general opener. Between early goose, early teal, and youth waterfowl weekend, I’m sure it sends a lot of local ducks out of the area before the general opener in late September.

With as many geese that there are can’t believe its not open year round. Another thing fun to hunt but terrible eating as far as Im concerned

buck-slayer wrote:

Another thing fun to hunt but terrible eating as far as Im concerned

buck-slayer wrote:

With as many geese that there are can’t believe its not open year round. Another thing fun to hunt but terrible eating as far as Im concerned

Agreed they should be open year round, but I think they are great eating! But anything is marinated and wrapped in bacon, which is my favorite way to eat them.

There are enough geese around flying over our 60 acres of picked sweet corn that I can see why people pledge for year round seasons. I’d say in a slow day there are 5-600 in the field at once.

Full disclaimer that I know you cannot hunt them headed to sweet corn fields, but the numbers of geese is just absurd. They’re a nuisance. The neighbor who hunts them with a huge group will have a limit opening morning with it taking them longer to get out there and set up then the hour of shooting they have for limits.

Feathers wrote:

Many species have low sub limits.

I would argue that a low sub limit is still acceptable to harvest one bird. Whereas in the early teal hunt, there is no sub limit on anything. You can make a mistake in the general season once without doing any wrong.

I’ll be out targeting both this weekend. I’ve been out around DC for work lately and haven’t had a chance to start a 2022 Waterfowl season thread….I’m slacking!

Feathers wrote:

If you can’t tell if it’s teal or not don’t shoot. Seems simple enough to me.

I don’t disagree. I was simply pointing out that you can at least legally shoot another type of duck during the general season whereas during the teal season you cannot. Flock shooting and dumping too many is a completely different problem. I never hunted an early teal season and when I hunted ducks during the regular season, they were all wood ducks or mallards. I’ve never even SEEN a pintail or redhead.

Feathers wrote:

So when you get your 3 woodies do you pack up and go home?

Actually, yes, I do. Because the spots I hunt woodies ONLY attract wood ducks.

I understand your point feathers. Always identify what the target is before shooting, that’s the case in the hunting realm. Looks like a bit cooler in the morning too that should be more comfortable.