Lakes are the lowest in 5 years, most ponds are dry. How does this normally affect early Teal?
Will they be more concentrated, harder to find, go elsewhere for better water, etc?

Most will probably move on with the concentrated pressure on them.

Agreed. With the little amount of water, they are probably headed to the coast and old Mexico pretty quickly. Going to be real crowded in some public spots.

Agree. It's not looking good at this point.
Irrigated crops that may have survived and the coastal marshes are the places to be. There are a few areas holding water but overall it's another tough year.
Pray for rain..

He who has water will crush it. North Tx and W Tx wetlands / big lakes will hold a ton of birds. They will not just “skip town”

I have noticed over the years when it is dry in the Mississippi flyway we do better here in SE LA coastal marsh. As stated in another post if dry conditions remain the same water will be king and we have water and food. Optimistic about our Friday September 15th opening day but we will have to see how it goes.

I disagree with everyone that posted prior to Greek angler. There are always teal to be killed sometimes you find them sometimes you don’t. Look harder and the chances increase. Go to the same place you always kill them then head home when you don’t. You get what you put in.

Barney Who will be short stopping them...

Last year both my areas were completely dry. This year my wetlands where I live are bone dry but 1 hour and 10 minutes away my other place is completely full. I did not hunt last year because of conditions. This year I am fortunate to have my main place in great shape. We were lucky to be on the X for the rains we got….We are loaded up with Teal and this weekend should be a barrel burner….

Yes Sir. Water and food always rules. More advantage during droughts. There is plenty of water in N Tx. My 20 acre soil conservation lake is down maybe 1-1.5 feet from full pool. Had water all the way to blinds last week. Red river area has had some good precipitation this year. Very scant past 5/6 weeks but plenty before that

Central TX to the middle and upper coast is brutally dry. Look at any drought monitor. Lakes, tanks, etc in this part of the world were already low or dry. One I look at frequently is down another 5ft from January when it was already low. Hunters were stacked up back in January, I hate to see what it will look like Saturday. With the pond hoppers having no place to hunt, big water is going to be more crowded then ever since most tanks are dried up. The coast always gets slammed in dry years. Hunters have to find water just like the birds. The ramp I use at the coast typically has about 3 boats that use it on the teal opener. This weekend I would bet the min # is 7. Birds will be down as they always are. Seems like some parts of the state has water and those birds will act like they typically do. Some parts of the state are bone dry. Find water and birds will most likely be there. In parts of the state with little water, my bet is the hunting pressure will drive the birds away faster then in normal years as there are smart enough to figure out where they can land and not get blasted. Plus its teal season, here today and gone tomorrow.

One thing I've noticed. All the high end clubs and outfitters on the coastal prairie are normally flooding their social media pages with swarms of teal on their properties are not doing so at this time.

Makes me wonder of bird numbers are low right now.

Teal are sitting around where they have some water. Some clubs & guides are hurting ,because LCRA ain't giving water much.