By Taylor Finger, WDNR Migratory Game Bird Ecologist
This article originally appeared in Wisconsin Waterfowl Association’s July, 2022 Newsletter.
Each year we receive contact information for dozens of hunters that have reached out, opposing the early teal season because of the belief that the early teal season is ruining duck hunting in the state of Wisconsin. This is a difficult discussion to have and provide good data on. Does it negatively influence the hunting statewide? What about locally? Is this any more or less impactful than early goose or the youth season? All of these are things that come up from hunters, but I thought I would take the time to provide what information I have been able to put together regarding statewide harvest impact since we initiated the Early Teal Season.
Here are the graphs for total harvest, Mallard harvest during the regular season, Wood duck harvest during the regular season and Blue-winged teal harvest during the regular season. And I have included a line at 2014 that splits the information from before the early teal season and after the teal season.
No significant change in total season harvest before or after the early teal season.
Mallard harvest has remained stable from 2012 – 2020. We have seen a decline in our mallard harvest over time but that decline was occurring before the teal season, not as a result of the teal season. Our mallard harvest is closely tied to habitat conditions and we have lost over half a million acres of CRP nesting land since the early 2000’s.
No significant change in wood duck harvest before and after the early teal season. The major decline in 2018 corresponds with extremely wet conditions during the fall season; reports indicated that wood ducks held primarily to flooded forest land that was mostly inaccessible to hunters throughout the fall.
We have actually seen an increase in our blue-winged teal harvest during the regular season after the teal season was implemented. To be clear, this does not include the additional harvest that occurs prior to the regular season.
So, across the primary species we harvest each fall, as well as total harvest which includes everything, there is no clear or defining trend that is showing or indicates that the early teal season has had a negative impact on our regular duck hunting harvest and opportunity. Do I suspect that hunting can be locally impacted by the early teal season and pressure that occurs? Absolutely, but that does not mean that those birds have left the state of Wisconsin; rather they are in other areas and may require a little more time and scouting effort to find those birds. We have studies in Wisconsin that have shown that hunters that scout three or more times a year harvest on average three times as many birds as a person that doesn’t scout at all.
Hopefully you have found this information helpful when you are having these discussions in the blind or contemplating how these early seasons influence hunting later in the year. If anyone has any additional questions please do not hesitate to reach out and hopefully I can provide the answers you are looking for. Best of luck this year, whether you are in a field, in the marsh, on a river or out in the big water!