By Steve Weisman
(photo by Bill Beardsley, Prairie Ridge Photography)
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service makes the September teal season available when the teal population is above certain levels. This early season runs for 16 days statewide (September 1-16), and success relies pretty much on the weather.
Although recent rainfall has been spotty, some areas across northern Iowa have had ample rainfall, and the regular sloughs are in good condition. The key here is to get out and scout to see what sloughs are holding water. For early teal, the birds love the shallow waters along with some emergent mud flats.
Yes, we do have teal that hatched right here in northern Iowa. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, breeding conditions in North and South Dakota, Minnesota and the prairies of Canada were good. So, that means there should be a good population of migrating young birds this fall.
However, the larger question is this: when will the teal from up north show up? Any type of cool weather gets these early migrators heading south. You can have teal around one day and then lows get into the upper 30s to 40s that night, and they are gone by morning!
The key for good hunting here in northwest Iowa is for temperatures to drop into the upper 30s and lower 40s in Canada and down into the Dakotas and Minnesota, along with winds that are in the northerly and westerly direction. Then if temperatures remain mild down here in northwest Iowa, we’ll see a teal migration.
This is why almost daily scouting is important, especially if you know a relative cold spell is settling in up north.
The trouble will be if temperatures from Canada through Iowa stay mild with consistent southerly winds. There will be little if any migration during that stretch. That’s why the teal season requires so much monitoring weather forecast both here in Iowa and north, while at the same time scouting wetland areas looking for migrating teal.
This early season is the perfect time to get youngsters and new hunters out. It’s also the perfect time to get your hunting dog some early practice. Even though it is early, there is just something special about getting out into the marshes again. The sights, the sounds, the smells, the breaking of dawn…as a veteran waterfowler, it’s so cool to be able to share them with a youngster. They become memories for a lifetime. For longtime hunting partners, the stories of other hunts become part of the current experience.
If you have ever hunted teal, you know that they are the acrobats of the waterfowl world, darting in and out of a marsh in seemingly a split second. They often fly low over the cattails zipping through the area or all of a sudden, they will land. Often times, you will hear them way before they appear…in a blink of the eye, they are gone often times without a shot fired.
Regulations
Remember, the early teal season opens on September and runs through September 16. Rather than beginning shooting time at one half hour before sunrise, like it is for the regular duck season, teal season shooting hours are sunrise to sunset. The goal is to give hunters more light to be able to identify ducks, so the shooting times is moved back to sunrise. The daily limit is six teal (blue-winged, green-winged or cinnamon only) with a possession limit of 18. Bluewing teal will be the prevalent teal bagged.
License requirements include small game license, habitat fee, Iowa migratory game fee and federal duck stamp. Nontoxic shot is required, and guns must be restricted to hold no more than three shells.
All hunters who hunt migratory game birds are required to register for Harvest Information Program (HIP) either through the Go Outdoors Iowa app on their smartphone, through a link at www.iowadnr.gov/waterfowl or atwww.gooutdoorsiowa.com. The DNR has detailed instructions on how to register for HIP online at www.iowadnr.gov/waterfowl.
Once registered, hunters will need to write a confirmation number on their license, print an updated copy of their license with the confirmation or take a screenshot of their confirmation on their phone to show proof of registration. Requiring a confirmation number will allow the DNR to better track migratory bird hunters – a federal requirement.
If you have trouble getting registered, you can call the customer service number at (515) 231-1957.
