Tropical Storm Lee could have dispersed blue-winged teal, LDWF says.
Hunters packing up their gear and heading to duck camps for the teal-season opener tomorrow (Sept. 10) will have significantly fewer targets, if Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ estimates from earlier this week are correct.
“The 169,000 blue-winged teal estimated on this survey is 21 percent below last year’s estimate of 215,000 and 32 percent below the long-term average of 248,000,” the official LDWF report reads.
Click here to read what guides across the state had to say earlier this week.
The vast majority of those birds that were counted by LDWF biologists between Tuesday (Sept. 6) and Thursday (Sept. 8) were found in the southwestern reaches of the state. Biologists estimated there were 135,000 teal in that region.
However, that’s far below the average.
“The 135,000 estimated blue-wings in Southwest Louisiana is 13 percent below last year’s 155,000, substantially higher than the 99,000 estimated in 2009, but over 40 percent below the most-recent five-year average of 240,000, which includes the huge estimate of 444,000 in 2008,” the report reveals.
The largest concentrations of teal in Southwest Louisiana were found stretched between flooded rice fields north of Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge and southwest of Gueydan, with only small flocks scattered around the coastal marshes, according to the report.
Southeast Louisiana only held about 30,000 blue-winged teal, which is a mixed bag for hunters.
“The 30,000 estimated in Southeast Louisiana is more than four times the 2010 estimate of just 7,000, but is 25 percent below the most-recent five-year average of 40,000,” biologists wrote.
And to make matters worse for those hunters in this portion of the state, the birds were concentrated in a fairly small area.
“… (T)he only concentration of blue-wings seen on Southeast Louisiana transects was on a flooded pasture just outside the city of Galliano,” the report reads.
All that said, biologists admitted that Tropical Storm Lee could have impacted their count.
“Survey results may have been affected by … Lee, which brought 30 to 50 mph winds, storm surges of 4 to 5 feet, and 10 to 15 inches of rain to Southeast Louisiana and varying totals across the southwest, central and northeast portions of the state …,” biologists wrote. “Numbers of blue-winged teal reported at locations in coastal Southeast Louisiana prior to the storm were not seen during the survey period.”
The most-dismal numbers were found at Catahoula Lake, around which biologists logged a mere 4,000 birds. But LDWF staffers said this low count could be due to the amount of water dropped by Lee.
“… (T)housands of teal reported by field biologists prior to the storm were not seen during the survey,” the report reads. “The water level had increased nearly 2 feet, nearby agricultural fields were holding shallow water and blue-wings may have dispersed into that un-surveyed habitat, as evidenced by a few thousand seen on some shallow-flooded fields east of Catahoula Lake.”
Be sure to post your own observations, along with photos, on the LouisianaSportsman.com waterfowl reports forum after returning from hunts. If you’re not already a member of the Sportsman team, it only takes a few minutes to fill out the short registration form.
