Waterfowler's Journal: Opening Act

Wood ducks and blue-winged teal are among the smallest waterfowl species in North America. But whatever these little ducks lack in size, they more than make up for with aerial acrobatics and challenging wingshooting. Plus, they’re great table fare.

Many states offer special early seasons for bluewings, which migrate before most other ducks do. In a few states, such as Kentucky, Tennessee, and Florida, hunters can target wood ducks during these early seasons too. Some northern states have dedicated teal seasons; in others, the general duck seasons open early enough that bluewings and wood ducks often end up in the bag. Wherever you are, and whether you’re hunting wood ducks, teal, or both, you don’t need much gear or a complex strategy to be successful.

Wood Duck Basics

Beaver sloughs, meandering woodland streams, cypress swamps, and riverine backwaters are all classic haunts for wood ducks. I cut my waterfowling teeth pass-shooting wood ducks in places like these. I usually tossed out a few decoys, but success mostly hinged on standing in a good flight path and shooting straight.

Jeremy Dersham, who runs Wisconsin’s Ridge and River Running Outfitters, hunts wood ducks on the braided backwaters and chutes of the upper Mississippi River. Pass-shooting is usually part of the program, but Dersham says wood ducks will readily decoy if you’re set up where they want to be. He finds those areas by scouting from his boat, glassing mudflats and backwaters for family groups of feeding wood ducks. Once he finds the X, he sets up there the next morning with his boat blind and a minimalist spread, which sometimes consists of only a pair of decoys, a spinner, and a rippler. Dersham does plenty of calling too. “Wood ducks are really talkative when they’re on the water and feeding,” he says, “so I’m calling every few minutes.”

Tips for Teal

Justin Martin, general manager at Duck Commander, says the teal opener might not be an official Louisiana holiday, but it should be. “I love that time of year, for the start of college football and for teal season,” he says. “Bluewings are great. They will just work the paint off decoys. Keep calling them, let them do their thing, and they’ll usually circle and circle and finally finish right in the spread.”

A wood duck hunt is often a finesse operation targeting a few dozen local birds. Conversely, teal hunters cast a broad net, watching the forecast and the skies for any weather that might trigger migrations. When bluewings are on the move, the action can be fast and furious. Martin says his favorite weather forecast for teal includes a mild cold front a week or so before the season, but he adds that teal hunters shouldn’t get too hung up on the weather. “Bluewings are true photo-migrators. When the days get shorter, they’re coming,” he says. “The little fronts just help move them along.”

Bluewings favor open, shallow-water habitats like mudflats, marshes, and rice fields where the water depth is measured in inches. “Finding vegetation like coontail and hydrilla is good,” Martin says, “but it’s not about the plants so much as it is the shallow water and the bugs. In a good teal spot, you can step in the mud and smell it. If it’s stagnant and rich and full of little crawfish and snails, bluewings will love it.”

Gear

Elaborate blinds aren’t required for hunting wood ducks or teal. Wearing camouflage and sitting still in natural vegetation is sufficient, particularly right at legal shooting time, when the action is typically best. When teal hunting, it’s not a bad idea to bring a few more decoys than you might carry for wood ducks, but in general a dozen is still plenty, and mallard decoys work as well as teal decoys do. Bring a spinner or two and stake them right in the landing zone, about 20 to 25 yards downwind of your hide. Teal and wood ducks can be fast and evasive. An improved cylinder choke and steel 4s or bismuth 6s work best for these early birds.