South Dakota’s Expanded Teal Limit: More Opportunities for Hunters

Story by Dakota Case

It’s an early September morning. The sun is still about forty minutes away from rising, and the South Dakota marsh basks in the predawn light of another promising day. The decoys bob gently on the water, which has long since settled into peaceful tranquility after being disrupted by flying plastic ducks an hour and a half earlier. As the eastern sky turns a pinkish hue, soft quacks can be heard coming from amidst the floating blocks. Your heartbeat quickens; you barely pay attention to the nagging cloud of mosquitos – they’re just the price you pay for early season ducks.

With a minute left until shooting light, a flock of Teal passes overhead, buzzing your decoy spread like a flight of fighter jets. The dog, a beautiful Labrador in his prime, starts to whine, his eyes follow every move from overhead. The speedy little birds swing by one more time, the clock strikes and the air is filled with falling ducks and the scent of fresh gun powder.  In no time, you’re holding a prized bird while the dog resumes his faithful watch on the skies above.

These are the joys and experiences only a duck hunter can fully appreciate. This year, the State of South Dakota decided to make things a little sweeter, approving a new plan that allows hunters to bag two additional Blue-winged Teal in addition to the normal six-bird limit the first few weeks of the annual duck season. Many southern states already hold an exclusive “Teal only” season. South Dakota’s expanded bag on the Blue-winged variety is the first of its kind in the state.

Teal are the smallest of North American ducks, the male Green-winged (cousin of the Blue-winged) weighing in at .7 pounds on average. Both Blue and Green are common in South Dakota hunters’ game bags, but an abundant population of the former has warranted an exclusive focus by Game, Fish and Parks. Teal are also typically the first birds to move out of a region, hence the State’s encouragement of hunters to harvest as many of them as they can while they’re still around.

For college students looking for an additional hunting opportunity, there’s hardly anything easier or more fun to do than go after these speedy little ducks. In prime Teal season (late September and early October), the weather is nice and warm, shooting can be fast and furious, and the northern Mallards aren’t anywhere close, meaning lighter and cheaper shell varieties will work just as well or even better on Teal than you’re high velocity #2 duck and goose loads. In addition, if you’re like me and enjoy stockpiling food for the coming winter, expanded limits work well for collecting a cheap supply of fresh meat.

Hunting isn’t for everyone, nor am I advocating every college student should go out and shoot guns. However, there’s something relaxing about the early morning stillness, the twinkling of distant stars, the nearness of our Creator and the blessing of our daily bread literally falling from the sky. If you want to experience this for yourself, it’s not far away – it’s currently at a duck marsh near you.