Sorry boys...less birds heading down your way

1756 Phowler 36PD

When will y'all get to start?

Sept 1...

1756 Phowler 36PD

Cool. Post up some pics. Ours here in Ga usually starts the weekend after Labor Day

I sure will. I'm excited since we have never had a teal season; at least not in my 18 years of hunting. Good luck

1756 Phowler 36PD

Sucks! More idiots out to screw up early goose season

I guess if u hunt geese over water...my big concern is hunters just shooting at anything..."fly's it dies" mentality. Or not being positive of the species and still shooting

1756 Phowler 36PD

And I believe this is just experimental... They did the same thing in the 60's and found out that a lot of other birds were getting harvested

1756 Phowler 36PD

Hope yal aren't flooded out wherever you are in Wisconsin. I know this upper Mississippi River is roaring right now

No..I'm good, I'm in the southeastern side of wi about 3 blocks from lake Michigan. But I did see some videos of the flooding on the upper miss...its pretty bad

1756 Phowler 36PD

Hopefully you WI boys are better about the harvest in teal season than some we got here in IL. A few public spots around me had to change how you report your harvest cause everyone wouldn't claim nothing on the kill sheets. Ol DNR guy went and did recon one morning and said about 200 got shot...kill sheets said 2 for that day!

^ wow!... I guess we'll see what happens. I did read that the DNR is going to set up "spy blinds" in heavily hunted areas to monitor what hunters are harvesting...

1756 Phowler 36PD

Well this is good and bad. Good thing is I have 100s of BW that show up to the pond before the geese do in the mornings where I early goose hunt so we are bound to hammer the shit out of em. But early goose and a few other times during the regular duck season is the only time I really hunt private land for waterfowl. Teal season into youth weekend and I think a lot of birds will push out of the public marshes. On top of that there will be a lot of wood ducks shot. When are they going to get rid of the 9 o clock start for opening morning that would be more benficial to duck hunting than a early teal season smaller ducks such as widgeon woodies and green wing teal are hard enough to identify come october 1 because most are brown with few plumage feathers

I could be mistaken but doesn't the flyway council and the Feds have to agree to it as well? I know we won't know for sure until after the Mississippi flyway meeting in Tn. in July.

I believe we are up for the same season. Our biologists were working with Iowa and Wisconsin biologists to make it happen. I was on the Citizen waterfowl advisory committee for 7 years. 3 of those as chairman 2 and vice Chair the rest as rep. I would bring it up every year but Iowa was in a 3 year teal study and they had to complete it before it would be considered. I've been hunting early teal in Ohio for years and it's really nothing like October hunting. It hot as shit, the skeeters are as big as the teal and it's hot as shit............But you do get in on some blue wings for the grill. We don't have a chance at many BW in the regular season, mainly because the first sign of cooler weather their South bound.

IMO it will def. affect the regular season birds and how long they stick around and work your spread. But i'm willing to give it a shot. It will mean I don't get to go visit my buddies in Ohio, but maybe they'll drive up here who knows.

On the hidden blinds we have been hearing the same thing. If you know what you are shooting at and don't ground check your birds you'll be fine.

I honestly don't know how a waterfowl hunter could mistake a wood duck for a teal...or a teal for anything else but a teal? We've got a group of Cambodians or some other up here, that mistake a cormorants for geese all the time! Who knows maybe they taste good?

Good luck with your teal test season, enjoy it, because it may be a one and done deal........

All I will say about misidentifying teal is that even some very seasoned hunters will make a mistake sometimes. I've seen juvenile spoonies occasionally flying in the same group as teal, if your not on your game you could mess up quick. In fact, somebody on this site last season posted a kill pic of a pile of bluewings with 2 spoonies on the pile. Swore up and down they were teal! I think dnr officials are more concerned about the guys who treat it like early duck season and blast everything that comes by.

I know that I am concerned about how this early teal season is going to affect, the migration lull. Being up north here there are only so many birds that can be pushed south by hunting pressure. Once that is gone, up here, we may be waiting a couple to three weeks with birds. I know that I was really opposed to this. I really hope this a one time deal.

Don't get me wrong, I am going to hunt 4 of the days of the teal season, but that is because I don't want get screwed while I am waiting for the northern birds to get here. I would like to put some teal poppers on the grill.

Well if there are no birds, I guess I will just musky fish.

I feel the same way cheese. Im hoping this is one and done with us being a production state and not having very many birds to start with. With the way the DC's are around here in SE wisconsin every duck within 100 yards will be shot at. I have a feeling its going to be a lot of education and pressure too close to the regular duck opener. We will have 7 day teal the next weekend will be youth hunt then there will be 2-3 weeks before the regular opener. Around here its usually only good for the first week maybe into the second weekend and then we have to wait for nov. 1 before the migration starts to pick up again. I know most of the guys I hunt with arent to thrilled yes it will be fun to get out and hunt but I guess we will see how it will affect the first part of the season.

Im thinkin the added pressure is going to change the birds habits and location for the first part of the season I most likely won't be hunting my opening day typical spot. Scouting is going to be more important in the 2 weeks before the regular opener which really sucks because I gear up for the northern opener and have all my spots set and a game plan so I can bow hunt deer a couple weeks before duck season starts. Im definetly going to think outside the box this year when it comes to location selection.

Most BW are already in a migration pattern starting the first week of Sept. It just ticks me off that we where offered 16 days, but only took 7 because a bunch of bitches are worried about pressure or mis identification. It's a frickin test, so why not take the whole test then see what the data shows.

I have a shit ton of BW in my area come opener usually its BW and woodies for the first couple weeks I might get a mallard thrown in if Im lucky. At least I will find out by the first weekend If I do shitty then I will just bow hunt and fish for 3 weeks util the migration starts.

I can understand a September teal season for the southern guys because their regular season doesnt open until November and the big ducks havent showed up yet so the impact on their season isnt hardly any if at all. All of our early season ducks are here already so the impact of an early hunt has the potential to push birds out of the public areas.

We will see how it goes I will participate the only thing Im concerned about is having a really slow first half of the season. If were going to have a teal season we should at least push back the regular opener 2 weeks to give birds a rest and move in from the north. I would like to have a chance at the late season mallards that push through in december.

This is gonna screw up opener for us both zone guys. There will be no rest for the ducks at all. We shoot mallards and woodies, very few teal. I think the should of had the teal season in the miss and southern zone. I got a feeling this is gonna be a mess with lots of non target birds killed.

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At least your in the northern part of the state Goose you have more access and more options for huntable water. If I want to hunt my "backyard" waters I have to work hard for birds and to stay away from others. I fear that that the main holding areas are going to be pressured to the point where the birds go to the lakes that are more developed and don't have any hunting opportunities.

I don't understand how this passed the more and more people I talk to feel the same that it will screw up hunting for regular season. Everyone I talked to says they will hunt but most believe it will have a negative impact.

You will still have the migrators from Northern Minn, ND, and Canada. All the teal season does is allow us to have the opportunity to take some of the homegrown birds, which according to band data are usually SOUTH of Illinois by Oct 1. One of the holes I hunt has flocks of 50-200 BW the first week in Sept, by the usual opener they are in groups of 5-20, by the split even less.

If thats the case why don't we just open up duck season sept 1-30 to shoot all our homegrown mallards teal woodies and widgeon that are already here and then open it back up oct 31 -dec 1 that way we get to shoot all our homegrown birds give the ducks a rest and then hunt the peak migration and all fresh birds. Id be happier with that except for the heat and skeeters for the first half.

Adding more days to hunt doesn't neccesarily add more opurtunity or quality to the hunt. Just look at what T zones did for deer hunting. It was a fun way to get out and shoot em up but it did negatively affect future hunting in a lot of public lands.

I'm thinking let's give it a try...I shoot mostly bw teal and Woodie's early in se Wisconsin.... Responsible hunters will only shoot when they know its legal...I do understand that there are some "fad" or "DC" hunters but they still buy a duck stamp and support waterfowl conservation. We can always voice our opinions at the state DNR meetings...I'm just trying to make lemonade....

1756 Phowler 36PD

I understand and hope all goes well and its not a big impact on the season but hunt one day on big Muskego and you will understand the type of duck identification and ethics people hunt there have. I don't give 75% of the people out there to properly identify a duck in their hand let alone a mile high but I hope im wrong

Puddler...I have hunted Big Muskego and don't anymore because there are just too many hunters....everyone is on top of each other. Even way back by the dam its over crowded. I would think that will be one of the lakes that the wardens will be keeping an eye on. I just hope that hunters will be a more willing to be positive on the bird before they shoot...since it will be illegal to harvest anything else than teal. Hopefully they will open coot too on BM!:mrgreen: Good luck this season

1756 Phowler 36PD

I'm all fer it. Aint many teal round after September and season don't open in southern half til end of September/beginning of October anyways. Y'all complaining bout changing bird migration??? Really??? We're done shootin at em by September 7th, their "normal" patterns will be back by the time opener rolls around, even in the north. If ya wanna complain bout pressure and such then get rid of the early goose season. They're banging round til the 15th in the marshes.