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Teal Hunting

Early teal season is a great time to try waterfowl hunting. Because teal season occurs earlier than other waterfowl seasons, the pressure and competition for hunting locations is generally lower than later in the year. There are two teal species that migrate through Indiana: blue-winged teal and green-winged teal.

Teal can be hunted from Sept. 14-29, 2024. The daily bag limit is six. The possession limit is 18. Shooting hours during early teal season are from sunrise to sunset.

Regulations

View regulations in the Indiana Hunting & Trapping Guide and on the Waterfowl & Migratory Game Birds webpage.

Legal Birds to Harvest

Images courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

BLUE-WINGED TEAL: The Blue-winged Teal is a small species of duck. When coming through Indiana, they will be in non-breeding plumage, with both males and females a mottled brown and a visible light blue shoulder of the wing. They rarely fly in pairs.

GREEN-WINGED TEAL: Similar size to blue winged teal. A mottled brown color, with an emerald green patch on the back of the wing that is visible when wings are closed or in flight.

Illegal Birds to Harvest

Images courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, except Eclipse Mallard and Wood Duck.

ECLIPSE MALLARD: Eclipse mallards and hen mallards are larger than teal. They are a mottled brown color, but they lack the light blue shoulder of the blue-winged teal, and the patch on the rear of the wing is a purple color instead of the green of a green-winged teal.

WOOD DUCK: Larger duck, slightly smaller than mallards. Fly patterns are more similar to mallards than to teal. Have a square tail visible in flight compared to the pointed tail of teal. Tend to fly before sunrise.

NORTHERN SHOVELER: Have the same blue wing patch as the blue-winged teal but are significantly larger than blue-winged teal.

PIE-BILLED GREBE: Smaller than teal. No visible tail, and a much shorter bill. No blue spot on the wing, and are a nearly solid brown color. Usually swim into decoys rather than fly into them, as they are rarely seen flying.

AMERICAN COOT: All black in color with a short white bill and large feet. Not as smooth or elegant as ducks in flight. Often swim into decoys.

Gear & Equipment

  • Firearms & Ammunition Requirements
    • Recommended Firearms:
      • 12- or 20-gauge shotgun
      • Make sure your firearm is not capable of holding more than three rounds while hunting.
    • Choke: Modified or improved cylinder
    • Ammo: 25-50 rounds of approved nontoxic ammunition. Be aware some properties may have restrictions on the amount you carry into the field, so check with the property you plan to hunt
    • Shot type: No. 4 shot is excellent for teal.
  • Clothing
    • Waterfowl can see color well, but they cannot differentiate between shapes. Wearing camouflage or earth tones is a must.
    • Pants or bibs
    • Jacket with low insulation
    • Hat
    • Mask or face paint
    • Waders, hip boots, or knee boots
    • Avoid cotton, as it does not dry quickly once it gets wet.
  • Decoys
    • Use six to 12 teal and/or hen mallard decoys. Most birds in this season aren’t colorful yet.
  • Calls

Hunting Tactics

  • Wing Shooting Tips
    • Taking an ethical hunting shot means taking all factors surrounding safety into consideration. Know your target and what’s beyond it. Focus on safety anytime you are hunting or using firearms.
  • Leading your Shots
    • Leading the bird
      • Waterfowl can move fast, so make sure you shoot in front of the bird.
      • Teal move erratically and fast. It’s important to be smooth and precise when attempting to shoot teal.
      • Follow through with the shot just like you would in any sport.
      • Tail, Head, Shoot: When you lead the animal, swing the gun, and once it passes the tail and the head, shoot.
    • Safe Shooting Zones
      • A typical waterfowl hunt will have multiple people hunting the same area/blind. Make sure you don’t endanger your hunting partners. Know your safe shooting zones, or where you can shoot and not cross guns.

Where to Find Teal

Teal feed in shallow water and are looking for calorie-dense foods. To feed, the birds need water about 6 inches deep, with anything deeper being used more for loafing than feeding. Do some scouting and look for where the birds are feeding and hanging out. You’ll want to set up your blind and decoys very close to where the birds already are.

  • Using Decoys

    Decoy Spreads

    • Teal are social birds, and will mix in with other ducks, but they may prefer to land with birds of the same species. They fly low and don’t tend to check the surroundings much before landing.
    • The location of your decoys tends to be more important than the decoys themselves.
    • Because teal tend to land in the decoy spread, it’s important to place the spread only 20 or so yards out, with a clear opening in front of you.
    • You don’t have to make sure you’re camouflaged from above as much with teal as you do with ducks that fly higher up. Since teal fly lower to the ground, you can create other cover that breaks up the line of sight from lower angles.
    • Spinners and jerk rigs are great for teal hunting, as the teal are drawn to motion.
  • Species Behavior
    • Teal and wood ducks tend to dive into a spread quickly, though wood ducks tend to prefer smaller groups away from a larger group of decoys. Wood ducks tend to come up to the spread from above, while teal come in to the spread fast and low.
    • Mallards will tend to look closer and come into the spread much slower than teal.

After the Hunt

Teal Skinning: How to Breast a Teal Teal Skinning: How to Breast a Teal
Recipe: Duck-Stuffed Jalapeño Poppers Recipe: Duck-Stuffed Jalapeño Poppers

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