Sunday was our last day for the early teal season

Al Hansen

Well-known member
Yesterday was our last day of the early teal season. I had gone to the pond where I hunted on Friday, which was the very last day for me. Why? Well, on Friday I shot 4 teal and with Chip at my side we got 3 of them. The fourth was a cripple and no matter how long we traversed a certain area where it went down, it was of no avail.

I then proceeded to the pond's edge with my decoy stick and this time I was lucky enough to grab the anchor string and bring it to shore.

On my way out I passed by a low flow ditch that passes by the area where I hunt. I glanced down to see what might be there and was astonished to see three teal. That took a good nanosecond for me to stop the truck and grab my shotgun from the back seat of my truck. Thank goodness, Belize didn't make a sound when I headed out.

I crept up to the side of the one spot where I had seen them last and there they were feeding on millet. My first shot took out two and the second shot put the third one down but it was still alive. I got back in the truck with Belle and we were off for the house. Once at home I put her in the house and told Bev of my good luck and said I would be back home soon. I went and got Sonora and Coal thinking that they would be my best bet to get those three ducks.

Once back at the spot where I shot them I figured in the wind and got on that side of the ditch and sent them down to look for ducks. It was Coal, who found the first one and up he came with it. It was a juvenile drake greenwing. I felt badly about the fact that I was so excited watching Coal bringing back his first ever duck that he retrieved that I forgot to take pictures of him. Heck,I had my camera and just plain blew it.

So then I sent them back to the area and Sonora was the first to arrive at the other duck. This time I did get some pictures. She brought me a juvenile drake bluewing teal. The last bird was a bugger. I saw Coal's nose go up in the air when he caught a whiff of the duck and that is when he put it in high gear. Then the next thing I saw was him not too far behind the cripple bluewing that ended up eluding the two dogs. Maybe it was totally submersed except for its beak because they never found that duck. They sure gave it their best.

I left Chip at home because I didn't think he could negotiate the terrain where the ducks were at. He is getting old, too!

Once home I went into the house to get Belize and take her with me when I cleaned the birds in my shop. Just before doing that I took the gwt and gave it a toss for her to go retrieve it. Off she dashed---not too fast mind you, because she is pregnant. She grabbed the duck, went about 4 or 5 feet and spit it out. "Hey, Belle, since when did you decide that you didn't like having them in your mouth?", I asked her. It was then that I remember throwing her a teal that I had shot when she was still a pup. I finally found the pictures of that. Who knows maybe with her being pregnant that might have something to do with it?---
Al

Here are Coal and Sonora. I have used Sonora as an instructor when training other dogs with potential. She has the drive to make things happen.

Then I tossed the gwt for Belle to retrieve and she did but only for 5 feet when she spit it out. Hey, Belize, did you forget how much fun you had retrieving that bluewing teal in 2018 when you were a pup?

The last picture of the tailgate birds was what I got on Friday. It was a good season for me and duck hunting is still tops on my list of things to do. There is this one part of Friday's hunt that I forgot to write about. Chip and I were sitting in clumps of wild sunflowers and they provided great cover. We sat on the north edge of the pond facing south. About 20 minutes into the season all of a sudden all I could hear were the whistling of wings as a flock of about 15 teal flew over us no higher than maybe 5 feet above my head. I got goosebumps from that and then watched them put on a display of flying that only teal can do. In seconds it was all over because they landed in an area that I couldn't get to. I didn't mind that one bit because they already had paid for their freedom with the flying display that they put on. It looked like they were having about as much fun as one could imagine. They knew exactly where they wanted to be and boy, did they ever get there in a hurry. No messing around with this flock.

I didn't see many ducks at all but when I think of it, I only had one day that I got skunked. The other four days I got some shooting and my buddy, Chip got some great workouts. There is no doubt about it, this was a wonderful way to start our duck season.

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