Weather nearly perfect for opening of teal season

Ken White/Daily Mail/ Shane Taylor, left, and Randy Fletcher with their limits of blue-wing teal they shot on opening day of the special teal season.

Nevada Daily Mail

Cooler weather last weekend made opening day of the teal season more like duck hunting for the hunters who hit the Schell-Osage Wildlife Area.

Just prior to the start of the 2015 teal season, there were few teal using the area, but on Saturday morning hunters were pleasantly surprised to find more birds had moved into the pools of water, producing some good hunting to start off the season.

Ken White/Daily Mail/ Conner Leonard 10, Taberville, with some of the teal he shot on opening day of the special teal season Saturday.

By early morning some hunters had their limit of six teal and were headed home. Shane Taylor, Kansas City and Randy Fletcher, El Dorado Springs, had their limits and were pleased the weather cooperated for the opener.

The two duck hunters met several years ago while waiting for the daily drawing for blinds during the regular duck season.

Taylor said, "Randy is a veteran duck hunter at Schell and knows the area very well having worked on the area while in high school. We started hunting together and usually have good hunting. It has become a tradition meeting on opening days of the teal season. I saw Randy at the draw on several mornings. He was by himself and I was by myself so we got together and the rest is history.

Ken White/Daily Mail/ Terry White, Harwood, with a blue-wing teal he shot on the opening day of the early teal season.

"The drop in temperature made it more like a duck hunting day. It is much better than some of the 80 degree opening days when it is uncomfortable and there may not be many teal around, I am all for this 60 degree weather."

Fletcher said, "It was one of our better opening days, we had our limit early and there was quite a bit of shooting so there were more teal around that I expected. I came over Thursday and there weren't many birds in the area ---- it was nothing like today. You never know about teal ---- there may not be any here by tonight. Since I live close to Schell-Osage, it makes it easy to get over here to hunt. Over the years I have had both good and bad days, but the good ones outweigh the bad ones. It's an interesting place to hunt."

Terry White drove over rom Harwood to start off the teal season. The veteran duck hunter said any day you can go duck hunting is a good day, and this year teal season start was a good one. There were more teal on the area than he expected.

Ken White/Daily Mail/ White pelicans resting on the Schell-Osage Conservation Area Saturday.

He said, "I have hunted here for years and have seen good and poor days. I think it was better several years ago, but with weather like today and teal around, it made it a good day to be duck hunting."

A young hunter, Conner Leonard 10, from Taberville, had success by bagging some blue-wings. His father said, "Connor made some very good shots. He likes to hunt ducks and even got a turkey last season."

Blue-wing teal are early migrants, so the special teal season offers hunters an opportunity to hunt them before they move south of Missouri. Their stay in the state is relatively short. The best hunting is when cold fronts cause the birds to head our way. During the teal season all three species of teal are legal targets. Green-winged teal can make up as much as 25 percent of the harvest, while Cinnamon-teal are rare in the state.

Teal numbers are high this year with estimates exceeding 8 million blue-winged teal on the breeding grounds this past spring. They are second to mallards as the most plentiful ducks in North America.

The teal season that opened Saturday will run through Sept. 27 with a daily limit of six birds and a possession limit of 18. Shooting hours are from sunrise to sunset.

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