One of the best things about early teal season is you don’t have to bundle up. Remember to bring plenty of insect repellent, though. (Photo courtesy of Dive Bomb Industries)
September 19, 2025
By M.D. Johnson
I distinctly recall a hunt with my wife Julie back in 1998. A new duck hunter at the time, she sat beside me on the edge of a small public wetland in eastern Iowa. An hour into the morning, a small knot of blue-wing teal headed our way with a tailwind at their back. As they got closer, Julie got ready. When I eventually gave the go-ahead, she stood, mounted her 16 gauge, flicked off the safety and … proceeded to turn the safety back on, unshoulder the shotgun and sit back down. “Why didn’t you shoot,” I asked.
Sheepishly, she replied with a line I’ll never forget: “My bullets aren’t fast enough to catch those.”
I had to laugh. In one encounter, she’d witnessed, and verbalized, exactly what makes teal so much fun to hunt. The fast-flying, fast-maneuvering little birds that come screaming erratically into the decoys can be quite difficult to hit. Shooting opportunities arrive suddenly, and reactions must be equally quick. When teal swing into a spread, their squirrelly antics can humble rookie and veteran waterfowlers alike. And therein lies the thrilling challenge.
Quick and erratic in flight, teal can be difficult to hit. Consider using steel No. 7 loads, which send a lot of pellets downrange at high speeds. (Shutterstock photo) Because of their unique sensitivity (among ducks) to cool weather, blue-winged teal migrate earlier than other waterfowl, leaving northern lands behind well before most regular duck seasons open. Thus, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) allows states to set early, teal-only seasons (if teal population estimates are above certain levels). Over the course of a few short weeks in September, waterfowlers can experience some highly enjoyable hunting for these aerobatic, tasty ducks.
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FIND BLUEWING BLISS If I were to create the ideal teal marsh, I’d start with a shallow puddle about the size of a football field and 6 to 10 inches deep. I’d put that in the middle of a cattail marsh, with muskrat houses on all four sides so I’d have a place for me and the dog to sit, regardless of wind direction. The puddle itself would be full of smartweed, duckweed and millet, along with untold millions of little bugs, crustaceans and swimming critters—all of which teal love to eat. Throw in a few stray willows and a broken border of pin oaks, and you’d have a perfect little teal marsh.
That being said, in more than 50 years of hunting teal, I’ve found them in some odd places. I’ve seen them on big rivers and small rivers, on narrow creeks and isolated, snag-filled beaver ponds (waters more suitable for wood ducks than for blue-wings). I’ve jumped them off pasture ponds and I’ve watched them battle wind and waves on storm-tossed Midwestern impoundments.
However, these are strange places to find teal. Generally, they’re creatures of the sort of marsh I described earlier: shallow, weedy, food-filled, quiet waters. Think puddles where they can tip up and muck around a bit in the soft bottom. Bluewings adore such waters.
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The smaller green-winged teal are more “mallardesque” in their approach to habitat. That is, they’ll sit just about anywhere. Still, even greenwings are partial to marsh-type environments. True, it can be a backwater bay to a flow as large as the Mississippi River, but if it’s a marsh, it has potential as teal habitat.
Perhaps more than any other duck species, teal are attracted to spinning-wing decoys. Add one or two to your spread and reap the rewards. (Photo courtesy of Benelli) WATCH THE WEATHER Apart from maybe mourning doves, teal—bluewings especially—are the gamebird most influenced by drops in temperature in fall. A passing cold front prior to the season opener can transform a marsh teeming with the little ducks into an avian ghost town.
For this reason, you should monitor the weather forecast when pursuing early blue-winged teal. Ideally, you want a weak cold front from the north just before the opener, followed by moderating temperatures. With this dream scenario, cooler weather pushes birds down, affords them time to acclimate to their new surroundings and keeps them around for several days before another weather shift and hunting pressure pushes them southward.
How cold is too cold for bluewings? Frosty mornings will do it. If temperatures are cold enough you can see your breath or the mosquitoes have ice on their wings, birds are coming—or going, depending on which part of the country you’re in.
SET THE STAGE I own teal decoys but seldomly use them for attracting teal. In my experience, teal don’t care what kind of duck they’re rubbing wings with on the water. They just want to be safe, well-fed and warm.
Mallard decoys work just fine, as will a mix of mallards, widgeon, gadwalls and shovelers. Bigger decoys, like Dive Bomb Industries’ F1 Mallards , are large and show up well in the vegetation and abundant teal food sources found in the September marsh. Conversely, teal decoys, which are fittingly small, can often get lost in the smartweed, lily pads and spike grass.
The ideal shotgun for teal is one that is nimble, shoulders easily and you can swing quickly. (M.D. Johnson photo) I’ll set a dozen to 15 mixed puddlers—usually including a handful of teal, simply because I have them—on short Texas rigs. I employ no special arrangement, as bluewings and greenwings don’t seem to mind. Usually, I’ll include a jerk cord, especially on still-water days with little or no wind. Most importantly, though, my teal spread features a centrally located high-RPM spinning-wing decoy. This is usually a Mojo Teal, or even a lightweight Mojo Dove or Pigeon retrofitted with a 9-volt battery for added spin. Teal, like wood ducks, seem to be suckers for a spinner, and where legal, I’ll set one or two just above the surface.
CALL ’EM IN Occasionally, teal will circle around to investigate hen mallard quacks and high balls. Better yet, though, are teal sounds. These are high-pitched and fast-cadence quacks that sound more like MEEP…meep-meep-meep-meep-meep than what waterfowlers traditionally think of as quacks.
Teal-specific calls do exist, and Primos, Haydel’s Game Calls, Duck Commander, Sure-Shot Game Calls and others make reeded calls. However, any mallard call will work. Just pinch down the airflow and blow it hard and fast. I always hang a whistle on my lanyard, too. Buck Gardner’s 6-in-1 Whistle is about perfect, although I’ve had plenty of success in the past peep-peep-peeping at teal, especially greenwings, with an ordinary referee’s whistle played upside down or with the pea removed.
SELECT YOUR SHOT Several years ago, as I got ready for a dove hunting trip, I discovered many of the state-owned areas I’d be visiting require that gunners use non-toxic shot, regardless of the species. So enlightened, I tossed a case of Remington 2 3/4-inch, 1-ounce steel No. 7s in the truck, and discovered the little loads performed tremendously well. Since then, I’ve experimented with the light loads for teal, and I’ve found the results equally satisfactory.
Steel No. 7s work well on teal for four reasons, with the first two being pellet count and pattern density. There are roughly 422 steel No. 7 pellets to the ounce, compared to 315 steel No. 6s and 243 steel No. 5s. This outnumbers even traditional lead No. 7 1/2s, which post only 350 pellets per ounce. More pellets yield denser patterns, which means—at least in my book—an increased chance of hitting something flying quickly and erratically.
A number of manufacturers make teal calls, but pretty much any mallard call will work. Just be sure to blow it harder and faster than you would for greenheads. (Shutterstock photo) The third reason is velocity. Steel is light, and many ammunition companies manufacture it to be quick, with muzzle velocities of 1,290 to 1,375 fps being common. Gunners should remember, however, that that which starts fast also sheds velocity and retained energy more quickly than slower loads of larger pellets. What does this mean? Steel No. 7s are an up-close proposition, with 35 yards—perhaps 40—being the limit.
The fourth and final reason is penetration. Steel No. 7s are hard, tiny, needle-like projectiles. As such, they don’t ball up on impact, and their size doesn’t allow them to be absorbed by feathers, flesh and muscle before punching into vital areas. They don’t lose their oomph before getting the job done.
ACT NOW As stated, early teal seasons aren’t a long-term affair. Across the region, the early teal window may be open for a handful of days, a week or a little over two weeks at the most. The weather can be uncomfortably warm and the mosquitoes unrelenting. But when a wad of pitching blue-winged teal streak across the decoy spread and you’re scrambling to shoulder your gun, get on target and make a good shot, the excitement is often hard to beat. Just do all you can to ensure your success. You may bag a limit and be off the water well before the heat and mosquitoes start getting to you.
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