Blue-winged teal opener better than last year

With blue-winged teal breeding numbers at record levels — reportedly 73 percent above the long-term average this past spring — you had to know the stage was set for a spectacular opener when migration got underway.
Once again, as in years past, depending on where you hunted or how hard you worked at it determined the number of birds that would wind up in your game bag.
Hands down the southwest region of the state, particularly the agricultural rice fields, was where the majority of blue-winged teal were harvested. Moreover, if there was one word that best described the west, it is “limits.”
By contrast, the further east you go, the words change to “slow, tough-hunting, few and poor.”
Brent Sawyer, owner of Odyssey Outdoors and Blue Collar Decoys, hunted the marsh southeast of New Orleans.
“We hunted the Hopedale area Saturday morning, where we saw around 100 teal,” Sawyer said. “They were in small groups of five to 20 birds. They moved late in the morning and weren’t very responsive. We ended up with three blue wings. Sunday, we decided to move where we saw the flights concentrated on Saturday. We saw a total of seven teal all morning and got six of them. It was obvious the cool front moved what few birds we had out of the marsh.”
According to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Hunter Participation and Harvest summary, though a slight improvement over last season’s opening weekend, the coastal Wildlife Management Areas like the Atchafalaya Delta, Pass a Loutre, Salvador and Point aux chenes didn’t fare much better.
Numbers show the actual number of birds killed per hunter opening day last year stood at 0.8 compared to 1.4 this year. The Atchafalaya Delta WMA in St. Mary Parish had 168 hunters actually checked on both the Main Delta and Wax Delta. Hunters harvested 1.2 birds compared to 0.4 last year.
Hunters who attempted to hunt Pass a Loutre at the mouth of the Mississippi River had to travel a long way for 2.5 blue-winged teal per hunter. And that number was down from 2014 when hunters bagged 3.7 teal per hunter.
In Gueydan, the self-proclaimed “Duck Capital” of Louisiana, UL-Lafayette student and world champion duck caller Jack Cousin reported getting near limits opening weekend.
“We had a great time,” Cousin said. “The last teal seasons where I guided near Welch were terrible. But, this past Saturday, we killed 16, and on Sunday, we got 22 — just two short of our six-bird limits.”
Morgan City resident, Bradley Matte hunted the Lake Arthur area near Thornwell. His group saw plenty of birds and plenty of action.
“Saturday morning we had a very quick hunt with 100s of birds flying,” Matte said. “Sunday, the action slowed down a little, but we were still able to put a limit together rather quickly. The heavy rainfall late last week has given birds in southwest Louisiana much more water to spread out, which could make for tougher hunting conditions the next couple of weeks. But from what I saw the weeks leading up to the opener and this past weekend, I’d say we have a very large population of teal in the area. It should be a better season than in previous years.”
Specklebelly Hunting Club owner/operator Russell McNabb had a spectacular opening weekend in the Welch area.
“It was a great opener,” McNabb said. “Our hunters hunted five blinds Saturday and Sunday and were three to five men deep on the average. We ended up 17 teal shy of full six-bird limits on Saturday and only 10 birds shy on Sunday. Hunters and guides around the area that I’ve talked to agree: there are plenty of birds but way too much missing. But, we saw more birds on Sunday than we saw on Saturday.”
Perhaps one of the biggest recipients of a huge blue-winged teal population on opening weekend was Benjamin Page, owner/operator of Barred Up Outfitters. Page reported spectacular numbers and lots of limits taken.
Page, who hunts the Cormier Farm near Bell City, said, “We had 23 limits of blue winged teal Saturday morning, and a friend eight miles to the east near Hayes, who also is an outfitter, had 21 limits. Sunday, we had 18 limits. Last year around Bell City, we had a decent opening weekend, but nothing like this year, that’s for sure. My blind limited by 6:58 opening morning and 7:12 a.m. Sunday morning.”
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Waterfowl Study Leader Larry Reynolds said the department doesn’t normally issue an incomplete aerial survey report that had to be shortened last week due to weather. However, the biologist noted that because southwest Louisiana had the lowest and third lowest September surveys in 2013 and 2014, he felt the high estimate in the region deserved it.
“The reports I’ve received from southwest Louisiana have been outstanding,” Reynolds said of the opening weekend. “I even got an email from an old colleague Monday evening watching teal in a rice field north of Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge who said he hadn’t seen birds like that in years. I also got reports of good shoots near Myrtle Grove and Buras, with better shooting Sunday than Saturday. But it was definitely slower in southeast Louisiana than the southwest.”
There are two weekends remaining to hunt the Early Teal Season, where blue-winged teal numbers should increase as the season progresses. The question is where will the birds be in the coming days?
If I were to place my bet, it would be southwest Louisiana. Therefore, my suggestion for those wanting to harvest a few ducks would be “go west, young man — go west.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: John K. Flores is The Daily Review’s outdoor writer. If you wish to make a comment or have an anecdote, recipe or story you wish to share, you can contact Flores at 985-395-5586 or gowiththeflo@cox.net or visit his Facebook page, Gowiththeflo Outdoors.