Teal Opener No Suprises

Gave it a shot, ran down Friday and looked around the lease late afternoon, no teal or any ducks seen, Hit the lease 30 min early opening morning set up ready to go, saw 1 pair about 200 yards in front of the decoy spread and that was it, some sporadic shooting in the area, the no surprise is the Teal have not migrated into Southeast Louisiana yet. First shot looking west early morning love that time of day, next shot looking east with storms ready to dump rain and rain it did, still a great day in Southeast Louisiana marshes witnessing all the scenes mother nature had to display, it was definitely a light show to the south once the thunderstorm moved across the marshes.

Yep,except for a few sporadic reports of teal in SE marshes,don't think I will be seeing much though that could change with a front or two.My first chance at any teal most likely gonna be this coming Th.Hope springs eternal!!

Mandevillian

Awesome looking spot, hopefully covered with birds come November.

Saw the same nasty clouds from my patio , couple minutes later the Heavens opened up ! Glad I was home 🧙‍♂️

With a little luck we managed to get a total of 24 teal with three blinds opening weekend. Not great but good considering hardly anyone else got or saw any. Saw lots of new birds flying high.

Best Report I've heard of so far in the Southeast, hoping Proud Pop shot a few birds, Mardi Gras Pass Point La Hache area usually holds a few birds when everyone else is slow. I'll make a mid week run to see if things have changed, believe the Southwest is doing better with the Teal or at least that's what I'm hearing.

I did not hunt teal this weekend. Had to work Saturday and chose to focus on filling the last six gator tags we had. We filled the tags with gators ranging from 7-9 ft. Glad to get these out of the marsh.

Was fishing down in Dularge yesterday and saw a flock of around 40. Didn't hear any shots so don't know if anyone was hunting in the area.

Date Hunted 9/14/19:

We were ready to go for another teal season. About 15 minutes after setting up with decoys out the lightning and rain came so the beginning of the season got off to a rough start. No surprise to the results of the hunt based on reports and aerial survey indicating minimal teal in southeast Louisiana. Our boat shot 1 teal, another boat shot 1 and the last boat 0. Very few flights of teal in the sky only good thing about the day other than the rain was it wasn't as hot as last year.

Sitting around the camp in the afternoon we were going to go fishing, but with the heavy winds we decided to make an afternoon teal hunt. Back to the same spot as in the morning we set up and saw nice flights of teal in the sky, much more than the morning. Two teal came in, both went down. Later on four passed off in a distance and responded to the call and came into the decoys perfectly with landing gear down we got into them, four in none out. That made the day. Ended up with six teal as picture shows.

What happened makes no sense regarding what was seen with both hunts. Usually mornings are more productive than afternoons.

Dated hunted 9/15/19:

Back to the same spot as the day before very similar circumstances with what was seen the morning before, one boat shot 2 teal and our boat shot 1. Lucked out with very comfortable weather conditions for the hunts but the lack of teal is disappointing.

Back at it again next weekend...

Have not heard much from buddy of mine who knows folks that hit Venice and when Venice and Delacroix struggle,makes me wonder if there are any teal to be had on NShore and I seriously doubt it but gonna try maybe this Th.Wish the NShore gator population got thinned out like ole Proud Pop thinned out Delacroix Marsh.We had very few teal on NShore last year and dropped fine bluewing drake and well before I could get him,either gator or gator gar gobbled him up,all I heard was what sounded like huge toilet getting flushed and wham-teal gone pecan-why I would NEVER subject a dog to big gators in teal season!!

Mandevillian

mandevillian we are in venice too. Got down early to do alittle fishing before we went to the camp and had a awesome time listening to the 1,400 surface drives running around making sure they put their eye on every last teal in the area. We were anchored up and watch 2 boats run back and forth in the same area for 30 minutes or better. Then they passed by us in the canal we were fishing. I informed him that if he ran across that bay next to us he could go see the 8 teal that was sitting by that island out there and watch them fly away. Also talked to a guy that said he was in venice since wedsnday scouting and said he didn't see a huge amount. 3 days of scouting in a surface drive. You can cover the entire venice area up river down river and every canal and pond anywhere you go. Now multiply that times literally a few thousand boats. Nothing can withstand that kind of pressure. I understand the birds aren't in yet but if you run whats there to death wont be much to shoot. My son was fishing anchored in a different area and said the same mud boat passed him 7 times. He finally asked the guys if you tell me what you are looking for I will tell you where they at so yall will get the hell out of here. Guys with private land right north river has plenty birds and all shot limits easily. Everyone I talked to on the mudboat marathon areas had very few limits or stayed late to kill a few stragglers. Good luck mandevillian with the season man. Our area down here is ruined forever.

Looks like Delta Duckman didn't knock'em dead but dropped a few out the sky which in my book is a good report considering the #'s in the Southeast right now and putting the effort of morning plus evening hunts to knock some down and Venice never surprises me hopefully no one is lost to the river this year as in past years it gets pretty risky running a mud boat down there even in good weather much less during bad weather. 6 more Duck/Dog eaters gone to the processer, also looks like all the lines have been picked up in the area I hunt so they must be tagged out, We need a bunch more of Villians Blue Wing Rockets to head on down, just might have to wait till Nov to get a good influx of birds.

Do not hunt Venice(have only hunted it once but would head down there pronto given right set of circumstances)and hunt Federal NWR where mudboats,airboats,air-cooled craft outlawed and know pressure comes in variety of sources.Love the peace and serenity of Marsh that rarely if ever harbors plenty teal but does offer quality over quantity and there is always possibility of intercepting Blue Wing Rockets,given the right set of circumstances.I typically use Teal Season to knock rust off shooting skills,scout the Marsh for Big Duck Season and get self into shape as we hunt the Ole School way,using flatboat to traverse expanses of water,dock the Mothership way deep in marsh and paddle in under darkness and listen carefully for sounds of waterfowl and get ready for whatever Mother Nature wants to toss our way.Do know a few die-hard Venice hunters that likewise hunt the Ole School way and nothing wrong with strenuous aerobic work-out at 4 something in de am!!!Plus,if reds and bass and with a little luck a few specks cooperate,nothing wrong with blast and cast and my Duck Mafia crew just added another Mothership to de Fleet!!!Hoping to get after some Rockets possibly Th,Sat,Sun!!!

Mandevillian

Yep,Attended Slidell Flyway Federation meeting,attended by DU Biologist by the way,and the guy seated directly behind me was arguing the case that he should just hunt a baited pond and we all told him that not only was that strictly illegal,he would be simply wasting corn he could use for a deer feeder and he would attract no ducks as they have been held 'hostage' up North!!

Mandevillian