i do alot of duck hunting but ive never really hunted the early teal season. i hunt in north texas (fannin co.) i was wonder what kind of water i need to check and when i need to start checking...thanks for any help guys

Spencer if you're talking about scouting, you probably won't need to do any because they will be arriving just about opening weekend. Watch the forecast for full moon and a new low pressure systems to the N of us ... that's what generally sends the Bluewings this way.

As far as where to look, anywhere you typically find early season big PUDDLE ducks (not divers) in shallows is where the Teal will be.

This was at one of our wetlands ponds in Ivanhoe just before the opener last year ...

We usually start looking around at the end of August or beginning of September. It changes day to day with teal, but it's an excuse to get out and scout. Half the fun is getting ready.

You're KILLING me Cappy! Great pictures. I am not quite ready yet but I am getting there. I'll get the boat rewired, from the crackheads feeling they need the $20 worth of copper wiring worse than me , this weekend and start looking in the next few weekends.

Yes, on what was said above...if you are above knee deep water you are too deep for them. Watch the fire ants, snakes and sometimes gators are the only pieces of advice I can add.

Thanks cappy I'm not to far from you an I have a few ponds just north of there in telephone I might check out but as the shallow part goes i don't if there's any of that around here right now

I usually wait until I start seeing them while dove hunting. Teal are pretty dumb and can be killed in deeper water as well.

What time of day do you guys normally scout? I've been mainly looking in the evening just before season.

in 09 a few days before teal season we had a pretty good drought going. it exposed the lake bottom out to about 100yds in the area i was dove hunting. i saw several very large flocks of small ducks and had no idea what they were. being from illinois and only hunting big ducks as a kid i didnt know. my buddy said "those are BWT and the season opens in a few days if ya wanna get after em." that night i went to academy and i picked up a doz of their cheap mallards. it rained hard for a few days and brought the lake back up to normal pool. on opening morning i killed my first bluewings over mallard deeks with no call standing in waist deep water in the same exact spot i was hunting doves just a few days before.
from what i have learned, they are puddle ducks and they will congregate with almost any other puddler species. just be where they wanna be and they will sit down in your deeks. i heard they like dove spinners too. i think im gonna try that this year.

We have two nice ponds on our property but last year I found a group of about 30 BWT milling around in a 3" puddle of water at the front of the property. This field had winter wheat in it at one time.

I have killed teal in 4in of water and I have killed teal on private lakes in 6ft of water. It all depends on where the teal want to be. Look for flooded grass, pockets, sandbars, and any kind of vegetation. I usually scout from about 7am to 9 am. The evening is often better I think. Just because you find teal in one place does not mean they will be there the next day when you decide to hunt. Having a back plan is always best, esp when hunting public land. I will start scouting in 2 weeks. Pay attention to the moon and what is what is going on in the northern states. Watch the migration map on www.ducks.org . Hope that helps!