I've been hunting early morning before work the last five days straight out on a public lake in Fort Worth and had all but given up hope on getting any teal this season. They showed up this morning though! It made every minute of slogging through knee-deep mud and trying to hide with no cover on big water worth every second. I had teal in the deeks 15 minutes before legal hunting time and had to just stand (I've been standing next to partially submerged trees for cover) there and wait for shooting time. It was a blast. I should of had a limit, but some poor shooting on my part and only taking eight shells out with me got me three teal. I'll definitely be back there tomorrow morning.

Let me be the first to congratulate you!!! I can relate. we hunted public last year and after days of serious hard work and effort...killed one teal. Just about broke us physically and mentally. We went back this year and killed quite a few and it was very rewarding!!! Go get em' tomorrow and post up some pics if you can.

Thanks! I'll post some more pics if I'm rewarded again tomorrow.

Nice! I got my first limit of the year on public today... 3 bluewings and a greenwing kicker. Felt pretty good

Very nice. I have never shot a blue wing.

The reward of killing a limit of ducks on public land is much greater than shooting a limit on private. All the scouting and early hours pays off much more when you are successful on public land

Agreed! On the other hand it can be just as frustrating when you get there WAY early and barney sets up on ya and skyblasts away. Most folks have common courtesy but certainly not all.

My Ode to Early Teal Barney

We saw decent courtesy this year which was nice.

We saw decent courtesy this year which was nice.

Went out again this morning and it was GREAT! I had my limit by 7:05 am. The teal decoyed hard early and I shot my limit in the first wave to land in the deeks. Thank goodness for this cold front pushing 'em down. Here's a couple of pics from this morning.

This is where I've been hunting, about 1/2 a mile out there where there's actually water. This is where the boat ramp is supposed to be.

Morning Teal

And one in the backyard showing my wife why I've been leaving the house at 5 every morning this week. Glad I can back it up with some teal!

NICE

Congratulations. Hunting public is tougher than most people realize, but I've found few hunting experiences more rewarding than being successful in those areas. Glad to hear you stuck with it for all those days....those will be the best tasting teal of your life.

Public is a challenge, after being out of the public game for the last 3-4 years, I will be jumping back in with you guys this year due to the lack of water, I still have a couple of good private places with water but nothing like years past.
I can only imagine that it has not gotten any better in the last few years especially with less water this year is going to be fun.
There goes my sleep and gas money for the year, I do enjoy the hard work and success in hunting public though. Just reading these posts for the last 3-4 years about people hunting public does not get me to excited about this year.

It won't be bad this year if we don't get rain. Most of the people who cause all the problems aren't dedicated to put in the effort to find or get to the water with the lakes this low. Simply put, its going to be hell hunting public, but not because of the idiots.

Congrats!

CONGRATS DUDE, hope all goes well again

4 birds with three shells? It can happen! Tonight I had 3 with 2 shots. I woulda had 4birds with 3 shots if my gun didn't malfunction. I had to wait almost an hour. Then 15min left of legal light, 1 shot, one more bird, and I was done.

jealous, haven't seen a duck yet this year out this way.

Its been a good year for teal, good luck to all you guys in the morn, last day!

Hey guys is it just me or is there a band on the inside leg of the left bird? jw cuz I know if I shot it the post would be more about the elusive band than the 3 birds...i've personally only shot 2 banded ducks in my life so its kinda big deal to me!......I see nothing in anyones posts about it being banded......am I wrong or no? regardless, good hunt man, congrats on the ducks

No, there's no band on that bird, justincorbell. Believe me, I look for those right off. Last season I missed a banded pintail because the safety was on on my gun and my buddy got the bird instead. Still glad one of us got it, but I don't keep my safety on anymore when the gun's loaded and it's shooting time. Tried to hunt Sunday morning, but the spot where I've been hunting had a troop of Boy Scouts camping out about 200 yards away. Didn't want the hassle of waking 100+ Boy Scouts up at 7 am with gunfire, so I opted out of the hunt. It was a fun teal season ... can't wait for big ducks now!