Parker 20ga and lab. Best teal hunt I've had.

[David Borrowman]

I've been duck hunting about 10 years and have never been on a good teal hunt. Buggy, hot, and not a thing in the sky is usually the norm. I guess my GH brought me some luck this year. I set up in some shallow water where I had flushed some birds scouting the night before and by shooting light there were 100 birds on the water in front of me, some as close as 10ft. The dog was about to flip her lid, and I was holding her tail and quietly begging her not to break. I stood up, and after yelling 3 times they finally flushed. Three birds fell with the first shot (7/8 oz #5 HS classic doubles), so I held off on the second, as the limit is 4 in Missouri. One of the birds on the water got back up and I missed it twice as it flew away. The dog had an easy retrieve and then had to hunt about 5 min in the smartweeds to find the second. I took one bird each out of the next two groups to come in with 1 shot each, and was well pleased with the Parker. We hit the same spot the next morning, and didn't see a teal. However, the dog did bring me a live teal with a broken wing while I was throwing out decoys. It was either the bird I missed, or another bird that fell that I didn't see. I've been to the same area three more times and it has been, well....buggy, hot, and not a thing in the sky.