Opening Day II -- Teal
 

After ringing in the season with Dove on the 1st, my friend, Tyler, and I watched the sun rise over the marsh for yesterday's teal opener. There was just enough water in the marsh to draw these little rockets and we were buzzed constantly during our short, morning hunt.

I used my Fishtail levered PH. This 1892 gun was shipped on Sept. 1st of that year, so I was helping it celebrate 130 years of good service. It's built on the #1 frame, weighs in at 7 lbs. 5 oz. and has lots of drop...but for some odd reason, I shoot it well. Need I say that it has beautiful 30 inch twist barrels? I went 3 for 3 including two long, left barrel shots at far crossers.

What a beautiful morning! The marsh wrens kept me company throughout our short hunt, my young friend retrieved our birds while I sat and watched (he thinks I'm infirm, and I don't do anything to dissuade him from the notion), and I got a "trophy" greenwing that I dropped in the sled on a long crossing shot. (And...we were dive-bombed by snipe constantly during the hunt. I will "look them up" later, as Gordon MacQuarrrie's Mr. President used to say.)

Ya don't get many mornings like this. Enjoy them while you can.

what a day to spend in the swamp and with a parker....charlie

No loaner for Tyler? Seems like a ready recruit, the next generation so to speak. Looks like a nice morning, great photos as ever.

Opened Teal here in Texas yesterday morning with 2 old friends, my 28" VH 12 ga, and Capt. Hooker, my male lab. It's flooded rice fields for us on the Garwood prairie. A below average opener, we didn't appear to have a lot of birds yet AND it was dead still with "bluebird" skies, the kiss of death on the prairie. We managed 9 birds between us and enjoyed a pleasantly cool morning, not the typical sweat drenched opening Teal hunt. Going to miss Teal next weekend as South Zone doves opens and I'm helping a friend host a hunt in South Texas. I'm hoping for the final weekend to give us one of the "melt down, can't keep shells in the gun" Teal hunts we often have.

Tyler’s been gifted a small bore double, but I don’t have enough RST bismuth loads to “meet his shooting needs.” He follows the dictum, “apply liberal doses of shot.” He kills more birds.

No pictures!? Good luck with your dove opener.

OOOOPs! Garry, I left the cell phone in the truck. It was dark, first pre-dawn outing of the year, does this flashlight work?, excited dog under foot , 'WHERE'S THE DEEP WOODS OFF?", tangled decoys............................ You know! All the good stuff of the first hunt of the year. Some things just don't change much even after 50+ opening mornings. I hadn't looked in my blind bag since January, pulled it off the shelf about 10 PM, grabbed a shotgun outta the safe and stuffed some correct shells in it, just DID take time to make sure no sub gauge shells were hiding in the bag. I'll have some dove hunt pics next week.

Nice! Went on a solo hunt down here for the opener. Damn the mosquitos and rain but still a great morning.

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Keith, this sounds very familiar…:rotf:

And now it's time for the bacon and jalapeno!

Good job! I have never done the early Teal season here. Still hot and that means snakes and gators

We have for years VERY QUIETLY carried a couple of heavy buck shot rounds when hunting early season in the salt marsh on the north side of the bays (inland brackish side) due to the gator issue. I've dusted a couple with bird shot over the years but never had to shoot a gator but if it's him or my dog........... Just gotta be careful. They have become somewhat of an issue wade fishing some areas as the population has come back. There are a couple of areas you don't wade in warm weather!

Even back when they were critically endangered, game wardens would look the other way if they were threatening humans.

Harry and I keep talking about hunting teal, but then don't get around to it. Honestly, I need to get a bigger boat for river hunting ducks which is probably the best way for us to hunt them.

Our wardens have always been very fair about that. I was getting "shell checked" teal season years back not long after steel became mandatory along the coast. I had 2 rounds of 00 buck, lead of course. He asked and I told him why it was onboard. He said "I didn't see them", end of that conversation. We were hunting in a saltmarsh, brackish water, and known to have gators.

🐊 Gators and 🐍 snakes — no thanks! I’ll stick with mosquitoes, deer flies, horse flies, ticks, and chiggers. Actually the last two mornings have been pleasant and pretty much bug free. It was 50 this morning. I went back for snipe. They and the teal had blown out with the front. I did shoot some rail. They fly like a slow tossed wet rag, but are had to wait out to shoot…and really hard to find when you down one. Still hoping to go back and shoot a brace of snipe with my “snipe gun,” a well used but wonderfully original VH 20 that probably has lots of stories to tell. How many of you have a dedicated snipe gun??:whistle:

Now that possibly my only two dove hunts of this season are behind us, we just got an invitation for duck hunting the first of our season right before Thanksgiving, so that is good news. Mosquitos are no fun either, so hopefully the temps will be low enough to keep them away too.

You got me there, no dedicated snipe gun. Never shot a snipe in my life. Always looked like the feather to meat ratio was pretty low! They are legal game here as are Rail but I don't know anyone that hunts them.

Rail have less meat than snipe. I only shoot a couple a season, unless I’m on a slow duck hunt and need to defend myself. :)

We killed 8 water moccasins last week in the duck pond. Shooing gators off is the norm and don't bring the dog till it cools off. Mosquitos will get you good but thats part of living in the lowcountry!

My Sterlingworth 16 is a good snipe gun although I have not been in a while. The few places available don't have too many birds

We are overrun with gators here! My son did a boat ride on the Savannah River, where I occasionally duck hunt, recently. They rode an 18 mile stretch and saw 31 gators sunning on the banks. They get up to 16' in length in the river, 13' being rather common. That's a big gator.

Enjoyed the pics, Garry and John.

One year, long ago, I hunted woodcock in Louisiana. We ran into a gentleman who took us with him to “his spots. After we got home I sent him a copy of de la Valdene’s woodcock book to say thanks. He sent me a video of his gator hunt. I’ve been hesitant to go back with my dogs after seeing some of those monsters.

BTW, I am now convinced that a guy needs a special Parker go rails. Much different shooting than for snipe. :)

I have no desire to go gator hunting. I am thinking about trying hog hunting

We used to kill quite a few gators every year. They are the nastiest animals to clean. I would be happy to never kill or see one again.

Ya got a Parker for that?:)

I’m just glad we don’t have wild hogs in North Missouri.

My son killed one with a knife. Of course, he had some help. My brother got a video of the event and it is not for the faint of heart. If we go, I am taking a Model 70

I have not hunted teal in years, very nice Gary....

Oh those Benelli Vinci's are sure ugly though. :D

My snipe gun was not the best choice for rail. I think a cut barrel gun, one with little or no choke would be best. More drop would be okay for me, too as the slow flying birds drop quickly after their initial flight...and then they run in the water.

I went to AR one year with two friends for piggies we were in Lake Village which is pretty much across the big crick from Greenville MS . The way my friends do it ain’t for me . They sit in ground blinds in the middle of the night then try shooting them at 20 yards or less with red lights . Well they did when I went now they use thermal optics and get elevated . That year I went I sat in deer towers in late afternoons and watched . Never saw a piggie but saw a boatload of BIG bucks I was told not to kill:whistle:

I’ve got one perfect for piggies and the letter states “pattern for buckshot” . Well that is if one wants to carry a 13 pound gun .

I sure wish we could use buckshot for deer here in Missouri.

Be careful what you wish for, Garry. While I don't know your particular situation I can assure you that buckshot is overrated for deer. And, I'm coming from a region that has a long-standing tradition of using it for deer run by dogs, though the practice has fallen out of favor in the last 30 years or so.

I'm of the belief, from personal experience, that nothing has wounded more deer that went off to die than buckshot. Buckshot is a deadly killer at close range but few hunters I've come in contact with seem to understand just how close that really is. I once shot a buck at 35 yards straight on in the front of the chest with 00 buck. Trailed him a few yards with tiny sprinkles of blood which stopped, then lost the trail. Killed him two years later and recovered the buckshot in the front of his chest that were barely under the skin, in tissue, and encased in a clear, gristle-like substance. Buck was perfectly fine, health wise, when I killed him that day with a .300 Savage.

Hey, Stan, I grew up in Virginia, so I’m very familiar with hunting with buckshot…and I don’t dispute a single word you’ve written. I just want to have the idea of carrying an old double with buckshot, even if a close shot never presents itself. If I never kill another deer, I can die satisfied.

I understand, Garry. Hope I didn't seem to be too pointed. Didn't mean it to be, at all. Just have a sour taste in my mouth for buckshot on deer, in general. There are certain circumstances when it seems to be the best option, but it's sure not a "catch all".

Best to you, SRH

Stan, I agree with you on buckshot and your response, as always, was well founded and considered. I’ve killed a few deer with buckshot in VA as a young hunter, but once the counties we hunted in VA allowed rifles from elevated perches (VA is a commonwealth and each county can set its own regulations), I used my first rifle—a 30-06. I still wish I could hunt deer run by good hounds and carry a Parker loaded with buckshot. Alas, it will not happen again in my lifetime.

I’m not arguing your opinion either . However I kill a deer or a few each year with buck 90% of the time with buck I loaded and or cast myself . Granted I rarely shoot at pushed deer be it by dogs or humans . Most of mine are shot at bow range with me perched in a tree . Typically it hammers them where they stood or they take a death dash and I see them fall . And on the other hand if a deer appears and I’m not happy with the shot using buckshot there’s a rifle hanging beside me to remedy those situations . Think I’ve shot at three deer in front of drives and all three bought the ranch . But again I don’t do this stuff in the typical way .

Teal are the very best duck for eating. So yummy!!

My friend Tyler shared his photo of our take ready for consumption. He is going to use his new smoker grill on them.

I totally agree with Richard, teal are by far the best eating ducks and these are headed the right way! Perfect to break a new smoker in with.

wood duck made into dressing is really good too....charlie