Wildfowl_-_September_2019

singlebirdonthe strap.
To reach the marsh from our park-
ing spot, we had about a 70-yard
walk through the woods. More than
once, it almost looked like small
bunches cruising across the hori-
zon through the pin oaks. It wasn’t
enough to make mention of, until
we approached the water’s edge.
They were everywhere. Groups
of 10 to 100 zipped across the sky
splashing into every stretch of open
water amongst the vegetation. I’d
never seen anything like it. The usu-
ally faint cackle of blue-wingers was
more like a roar.
We raced into the pool. The water
erupted with wings at every step.
The sky resembled a swarm of bees
of biblical proportions. We scanned
the millet, but found very little in
the way of a suitable hide. Four
grown men crouching in a single
cockle burr bush seemed ridiculous
(and uncomfortable), but it worked.
Group after group swung wide and

fell straight into the decoys.

The biggest struggle, other than

hitting the lightning-quick targets

and reloading fast enough, was get-

ting our group on the same page of

which bunches to shoot. There were

so many teal coming from all direc-

tionsit became tricky to figure out

which ones to focus on.

It was a flurry of feathers so fast

and so furious it was almost unimag-

inable. We’d searched everywhere

for something a fraction this good

for a week...almost. What we were

looking for was less than a half-mile

from the house, on a place no one

had considered. It wasn’t a spot with

a crazy teal track record, over-abun-

dance of food, or excess water, but

the main thing it lacked was hunters.

For awhile!

RIVER RUNNERS

River systems are perhaps the most

defined travel routes used by migrat-

ing waterfowl each year. Naturally,

most of the places we’re chasing

teal are in the bottoms and flatlands

along these water ways whether

They were everywhere.

Groups of 10 to 100 zipped across

the sky splashing into every

stretch of open water.

blue angels

66 WILDFOWL Magazine | September 2019 wildfowlmag.com