Teal season opened last Saturday and goes through Sept. 23.
Teal are small, fast-flying ducks that migrate early each year so they have their own special hunting season way before our larger ducks arrive. There are blue-wing, green-wing and cinnamon teal.
The opener Saturday (and through the weekend) did produce some quality hunting on Duck Creek and Otter Slough conservation areas, with several daily limits of six being taken. At Otter Slough over the weekend, they had approximately 55 hunting parties each morning drawing for 22 spots available to hunt.
Coon Island Conservation Area produced very few teal or hunters as it does not have much available open water as seen from a bird's eye view.
This last cooling trend did help bring more birds farther south, with nights in the upper 50s. Weather forecasts are predicting just a slight warmup this week and hopefully we will get another cooldown into the 50s at night to bring down more teal.
There are apparently several teal in Nebraska and Kansas due to recent rainfall. So, optimistically, there is more to come before the season closes.
Coon Island personnel, however, did manage to get some corn planted late in the season and we got the rain needed late to produce what looks like a good crop to help pull in waterfowl later this fall when the regular duck and goose seasons open in the South Zone. That is one of the reasons more water was not purposely pumped onto the area for teal season - it will give the corn more time to mature and it will ensure that we have adequate, viable food resources for waterfowl during their migration and when the hunting season is open.
We are currently seeing predominantly blue-wing teal and very few green-wing teal in the hunter's daily harvest. This helps confirm that we are still dealing with the earlier part of their migration south.
If you intend to go teal hunting this year, please do not forget to study up on the regulations and have all necessary required permits. Hunters will need to have hunter education certification, small game hunting permits, migratory bird permits and a federal waterfowl stamp that is signed across the face in ink (unless they have purchased it online and are still awaiting the actual stamp), unless they are exempt for different reasons.
If you have purchased the Federal Migratory Bird Stamp online, it is good immediately at time of purchase, however you are required to sign it across the face in ink and carry it on your person while waterfowl hunting upon receiving it in the mail. It usually only takes about six or seven days to receive it after purchasing it online. Hunters also have the option of buying the stamps in person at most U.S. post offices.
If you have not already loaded the free "Mo Hunting" or "Mo Fishing" apps on your smartphones, now is a very good time to do it. You can do a multitude of things with these apps, from buying permits to checking deer and turkey, fish identification or simply carry your hunting or fishing permits in this manner. You will not need a cell signal to generate the permits you have purchased on your smart phone if you need to present them to a conservation agent.
Hunter Education
Since I have mentioned that hunter education certification is required for anyone purchasing any firearm hunting permit in Missouri (born or after Jan. 1, 1967, not mentioning exemptions) make sure you are aware of what options you might have depending on your needs. This information is best explained on our Missouri Department of Conservation website. Go to our home page at mdc.mo.gov and click on "Become Hunter Education Certified." Then you will have several options you should read through carefully.
Youths 15 and under do not necessarily need to be hunter education certified until they are 16 if accompanied (immediate presence) by a permitted, hunter education certified or exempt adult.
At 16 years of age or older, a Missouri resident can then take the entire certification process online ($15). If you would like your youth to get certified as soon as possible or before actually starting to hunt, there will be a few available skills courses in the local area.
There will only be one hunter education skills course available this fall in Poplar Bluff, on the evening of Sept. 24. It will be held at the Poplar Bluff Junior High School gymnasium and will run from 5-9 p.m.
You must register for any hunter skills course online prior to coming to the course. It will be limited to 45 students. While registering, read everything carefully. Make sure to have proof with you that you have completed the knowledge portion of the course online (printed certificate) or by completing a hunter education manual and filling out all the review questions at the end of the manual. You need to bring one or the other with you to get in a skills course where the hunter education certification process is completed. This will be explained well during the registration process.