Published: September 12, 2007 06:18 pm            

Teal prospects good, at least for the teal

The early teal season opens Saturday and numbers of the early migrating ducks have increased steadily over the last couple of weeks.

Shane Chesson of Drake Plantation Outfitters said the action in the Winnie area should be hot for the season opener.

“We’ve been seeing a lot of birds and there are more arriving every day. The teal numbers are up so we should have good hunting,” he said.

Indeed, teal numbers are up 14 percent from last year at 6.694 million breeding ducks, which is 48 percent above the long-term average.

Flooded rice around Winnie, Devers and Nome should offer the best opportunities but the marshes are holding quite a few birds as well. There have been solid reports of teal from the Sabine Pass to Anahuac.

The only problem could be there is so much water along the Texas coast now along with improved habitat conditions over last year the birds can land virtually anywhere and find what they need.

“It’s not going to be a situation where anybody with water will necessarily have teal because there is a lot more water out than normal, but the hunting should be good overall,” Chesson said.

Guide Roger Bacon said the teal numbers on Sam Rayburn and B.A. Steinhagen (Dam B) are good.

“There are a lot of birds up here and for hunters looking for a different kind of teal hunt, they might want to consider the lakes. There is not quite as much pressure as there is in the public marsh,” Bacon said.

For hunters looking for public teal hunting access, there are plenty of opportunities.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials report that during the early teal season, the Pace Tract and portions of the Middleton Tract will be open daily on Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge (NWR).

Portions of Texas Point NWR, as well as the Central Hunt Unit, Star Lake/Clam Lake Hunt Unit, and the Mud Bayou Hunt Unit on McFaddin NWR will also be open daily during the early teal season.

The East Unit on Anahuac NWR and the Spaced Hunt Unit on McFaddin NWR are closed during the early teal season.

All hunters are required to possess a signed waterfowl-hunting permit while hunting on all hunt units of these Refuges.

As we reported last Friday, this free permit may be obtained by contacting the refuge offices during regular business hours at the Visitor Information Station.For more information, call the Anahuac NWR at 409-267-3337 or McFaddin at 409-971-2909.

The J.D. Murphree Wildlife Management Area (WMA) will also be open for teal hunting as will the Lower Neches WMA outside of Bridge City. For more information on those WMAs, call 409-736-2551.

To contact Drake Plantation Outfitters, call 409-296-9452 or 409-656-5765. To reach Roger Bacon, call 409-379-3474.

        

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