Teal season begins in East Texas

EAST TEXAS, Texas (KLTV) - For East Texas hunters, it’s the traditional opening to waterfowl hunting: teal season. It’s a short season that hunters look forward to sharpening their skills on.

Outfitters have been supplying hunters with equipment for teal season. It’s only 16 days long because teal are migratory.

“Blue-wing and green-wing teal, they’re one of the first migrators we have. They come down, and they actually end up around Yucatan, Central America,” said Smith County Game Warden Chris Swift.

One of the smallest species of duck, hunters love them because they are a quick and agile bird, and are a true test of a hunter’s skill.

“They’re great eating birds; they’re fast; they’re hard to shoot,” Swift said.

“First light, there’s ducks flying over, it’s just exciting, all the movement and action, versus sitting in a stand waiting. They’re really small birds, same with doves, so they’re a lot harder to hit than later season birds,” said Cammie “Camophlage” Tolleson, of Sportsman’s Outfitters in Longview.

But, there are rules such as only a certain kind of shot you can use for teal.

“Non-toxic shot or steel shot, you’re required to have, required to have a plug in your shotgun. Shotgun capable of holding only a maximum of 3 shells,” said Swift.

The season started Sept. 9 and will run through Sept. 24. The teal daily bag limit is six, with a possession limit of 18.

“30 minutes before sunrise, you can shoot, then shooting ends at sundown,” the game warden said.

September was expected to be a below- average teal season due to dry conditions, but hunting has been good.

“Water conditions are low, so last week we saw a lot of success with teal hunters,” Swift said.

As mentioned, teal season ends on the 24th; open duck season begins in October.

Game wardens will be checking for licenses.

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