Minnesota Waterfowl Hunting

I've been wrong before.... but only 1 mistake duck.

The difference for the teal season to the regular season is you only gots 1 legal duck and all the others be mistakes.

Hate the brown drakes and olive bill i.d. first couple weeks.

Nice to know we wouldn't have to sex teal the first two weeks of Sept.

Fish Felon wrote:

D.T. Hammer wrote:Do you know what your shooting every single time?

Nope, but I know it's legal.

I might not know if it's a hen or drake mallard at low light early in the year but if I'm pulling up and dropping a pair I'll have room in my bag for a pair of hen mallards if I'm rolling the dice. If I don't have room in my bag....well I won't roll the dice then.

Pretty much sums it up.

lanyard wrote:
The difference for the teal season to the regular season is you only gots 1 legal duck and all the others be mistakes.

True, but the advantage of ID'ing teal is that they are fast and tiny. The real easy ID mark on a BWT is the bright blue upper wing covert (like the teal at the top of the forum banner). If a hunter sets up with the light at his/her back, that upper wing covert stands out like crazy. Can't miss it.

Hunters who set up looking into the sun will see fast moving black spots no matter what the species!

And like most guys on opener, they'll miss the teal then get all excited when they finally stone one..... only to find out it is a spoon bill

I've been out slough watching that first few weeks before season and have seen massive flocks of blue wings. I don't doubt that there will be mistakes. I question what the total impact will be to total populations.

Rather than some $25 id class bs, what about a later start like the old opener? Is there room for compromise, like Sunrise to noon.... to assist with the i.d. issue.

Or is it "all or nuthin'"?

I honestly have shot ducks and don't know what they are when they are in hand. They all end up in the ditch anyway.

Stute Slap wrote:I honestly have shot ducks and don't know what they are when they are in hand. They all end up in the ditch anyway.

Remember ten years ago when comments like this would have turned this into a 5 page debate about ethics? Those were the good old days.

lanyard wrote:And like most guys on opener, they'll miss the teal then get all excited when they finally stone one..... only to find out it is a spoon bill

I've been out slough watching that first few weeks before season and have seen massive flocks of blue wings. I don't doubt that there will be mistakes. I question what the total impact will be to total populations.

Rather than some $25 id class bs, what about a later start like the old opener? Is there room for compromise, like Sunrise to noon.... to assist with the i.d. issue.

Or is it "all or nuthin'"?

The total impact would be near zero, look at current blue wing populations vs. the long term average and they are the targeted species of these extra hunts. The 50% of flocks shot at (note that does not mean 50% of ducks killed are non-teal) are of all the other species combined, so the actual take of any one specific illegal species will be fairly small to insignificant when speaking of overall duck populations.

As for a later opener, that's not a bad idea. If that's what it took to get the season, I'd be down for something like that.

Trigger wrote:[ And the answer is pretty darn close to yes, with a lot of what FF said about simply knowin it's a legal bird especially in low light. It's an incredibly rare day I pick up a bird and say "whoa... I was way off". and when it happens its usually hen divers.

Thanks for being honest as well. I believe this is how most guys hunt. I just think it is funny when guys say I have to be 100% sure before I pull the trigger. Pretty darn close is where I am at as well.

going to be honest man. when I was in mn I was pretty good. just made sure it wasn't illegal after that who cares. one thing I cant tell the difference flying fast is a female ringer and a female bb. but when I moved up here it don't matter as long as its not a can you can shoot 8 of what ever so my skills have decreased a little bit in id'ing. Most days though I am pretty spot on.

lanyard wrote:Rather than some $25 id class bs, what about a later start like the old opener? Is there room for compromise, like Sunrise to noon.... to assist with the i.d. issue.

X2

I'd love to see a noon closure. And a sunrise reg would negate a lot of mistake ducks imo.

There's mistake ducks shot all year long that get stomped into the swamp, so that is a weak argument to me.