Posted 11:00 pm Thursday, September 09, 2010
Outdoor Notes: Teal Season Opens Saturday Across Texas
The first waterfowl season of the year opens Saturday in Texas with the beginning of the 16-day, teal-only season.
It is hard to predict a teal season since blue-winged teal are the earliest of the arriving waterfowl. North Texas is just a layover for them on their way to the coast and, in some cases, Central and South America. While the biggest winter populations are found along the southern Texas and Florida coasts, bluewings have been located as far south as Peru. That's 7,000 miles from their nesting habitat in the Canadian Prairie Pothole region.
Any change in the weather, including this week's rain, can cause the birds to continue their flight southward. At the same time, changing weather can bring new birds into the state. Hunting pressure can have the same impact. That is why scouting for teal can be so challenging.
The potential for a good season is there. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service set this spring's breeding population at 6.3 million birds, 36 percent above the long-term average. Since 1955, the bluewing population has swung from a low of 2.7 million to a high of 7.4 million.
A small bird (the average male bluewing is about 16-inches long and weighs about a pound), teal are known for their quick, acrobatic flight. The truth is with a top speed of about 30 miles an hour, blue-wings are far from the fastest ducks in the sky. Wood ducks have been clocked at 45 mph.
Bluewings are a shallow-water duck that prefers water a few inches deep. Following heavy rains they are known to frequent flat water left standing in fields.
The first weekend is usually the best in Northeast Texas. However, hunters who are able to slip out during weekdays when hunting pressure is light might also be able to surprise some newly arriving birds.
The teal-only season is open through Sept. 26. Legal shooting hours are from 30 minutes before sunrise to sunset.
To be legal, hunters must have a valid Texas hunting license. Those 17 and older must also have a Texas migratory stamp endorsement. Those 16 and older must also have a Federal waterfowl stamp.
Mixed Season Start
This may have been one of the more peculiar dove season openers in recent history. No one doubts there were goodly numbers of birds, it is just a lot of people had trouble finding them.
On the other hand, some hunters had the best start to the season in years.
The problem for most was a lack of concentration of birds. Whether caused by a pre-season cold front or one that barreled through Central Texas on Friday night bringing more than an inch of rain and 50-miles-per-hour winds, or by the lack of food in some areas and abundance in others, many hunters didn't find birds in the numbers expected early in the season.
"I have mixed reports from the Panhandle," said Corey Mason, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's dove program leader - good in some areas and poor in others."
Mason also confirmed hunters had good hunts along the I-35 corridor, especially around Temple and Waco.
“I traveled to the Midland area and hunted for several days. We found good numbers of birds. No great concentrations but steady shooting for limits of birds over several days,” Mason added.
The season remains open in the North and Central zones through Oct. 24. It will open Sept. 17 and run through Oct. 31 in the South Zone.
“I traveled to the Midland area and hunted for several days. We found good numbers of birds. No great concentrations but steady shooting for limits of birds over several days,” Mason added.
The season remains open in the North and Central zones through Oct. 24. It will open Sept. 17 and run through Oct. 31 in the South Zone.
Weekend Bass Tournament
Top bass fishermen from around the country will be participating in the 2010 Professional Anglers Association Bass Pro Shop's Tournament Series tournament Thursday-Saturday on Lake Tawakoni.
Daily launch and weigh-in the first two days will be at West Tawakoni City Park. Weigh-in Thursday and Friday is at 3 p.m. Saturday's final weigh-in will be at the Bass Pro Shops in Garland at 4:30 p.m.
DU Banquet Sept. 28
The Kilgore Ducks Unlimited committee will hold its sixth annual banquet and auction beginning at 6 p.m. Sept. 28 at the Kilgore Bodacious Barbecue, Texas Highway 42 North at I-20.
Early bird ticket prices are $35 for singles, $50 for couples and $15 for a youth aged 13-18. Children ages 12 and under are admitted free. The ticket includes admission to the event, the meal and a year's membership in DU. Tickets are $10 more at the door.
The committee also has sponsor memberships available for $250, which includes reserved seating and two banquet tickets, and corporate tables for $400 that include six tickets to the banquet, reserved seating and a special raffle package.
Tickets are available from Kilgore DU area chairman Brad Tindel at 903-245-4548 or by e-mail at btindel@kilgore.edu.
The banquet will feature a live auction, a silent auction and an expanded raffle. The live auction will include the 2010 DU gun of the year, a Winchester Super X3, with special DU engraving and gold inlay.
