Early teal and Canada goose seasons used to be counter-culture specialty hunts, but the seasons and bag limits are now so generous that they have become major events.
Hunting waterfowl in September is a whole different game than in the late fall and winter. Wearing anything besides short sleeves and shorts invites heat exhaustion, but you have to douse yourself with bug spray to ward off pests.
Not only that, but teal and resident Canada geese fly for a short time after sunrise as they go to feed, and again at dusk. That makes for a narrow hunting window. It's a lot of trouble to get up at 3:30 a.m., drive for 90 minutes to a boat ramp, wrestle a boat through mud and sand to your spot and mess with decoys for a concentrated amount of shooting.
Nobody would do it if it weren't so much fun.
Waterfowl hunting is like buying and selling real estate -- it's all about location, location, location -- but it seems more so in September.
Resident Canada geese, the kind that live here year-round, is what you hunt in September. They are used to people, but they usually lock into a tight routine. They have preferred roosting and feeding sites, such as fields and golf courses, so it can be very hard to call them to a spot to where they are not accustomed to stopping.
Experienced early goose hunters scout to find the roosting and feeding areas, and then they find a place to hunt between those areas. You can have a lot of success, but it doesn't last long. Geese pattern hazards quickly, and they figure out how to avoid trouble.
Teal are difficult to pattern, but you can increase your chances by setting up on shallow mud flats with generous amounts of aquatic vegetation nearby, like grass and duckweed. They can arrive in threes and fours, or they can come by the dozens.
They also have a maddening habit of plopping into your decoys 10-15 minutes before legal shooting time and then leaving without provocation two minutes before legal shooting time.
There's no mistaking when the flight is over. Even the most optimistic hunter can feel it.
That's when you gather the decoys, motor back to the ramp before it gets too hot and find yourself a good place to enjoy some bacon and eggs and some good conversation.
-- Bryan Hendricks
Sports on 08/07/2016