Time for wingshooting
Canada geese, doves, teal kick off fall seasons
Officially, our 2021 hunting seasons began in April with spring turkey, but in our hearts they begin Wednesday with the opening of early Canada goose season.
On Saturday, we’ll enjoy the opening of dove season, and then we’ll enjoy fall’s first duck hunt on Sept. 15 with the opening of early teal season.
Few hunters take advantage of the early Canada goose season, which largely involves resident Canada geese. It is a great opportunity to take geese that live leisurely lives despoiling yards, fields, golf courses, and urban and suburban green spaces.
Hunting resident Canada geese is not like hunting migratory geese, which habituate to specific fields and repetitively come to decoys. You generally get one or two good shoots on a flock of resident Canada geese. After that, they avoid places where they have encountered shooting.
Initially, the hunting is fairly easy. Identify where geese roost, identify the first field they go to in the morning to feed. Those places are usually near each other, and geese fly low in transit. Find a spot between those two places. Geese will investigate calling. You will fire two or three quick shots, and you’re generally done for the day. That particular spot is probably done for a week or more.
My most memorable early goose hunt occurred in such a fashion on the Arkansas River with Alan Thomas of Benton. He found an ambush point where we sat among bushes on dry land. That morning was very foggy. Well after dawn, we heard Canada geese honking on the water.
“Get ready, because they’re going to get up in a minute and fly right over us,” Thomas said. “In this fog, they won’t see us until we shoot.”
It happened just like that. A big flock of geese materialized from the fog practically on top of our heads. I killed my first banded goose.
Because early goose hunting is generally a short-range affair, you don’t need heavy artillery for success. I do fine with 3-inch, 12-gauge loads of No. 2 steel or BB, but 2 3/4inch loads will work fine. No. 5 or No. 6 Hevi-Shot is also suitable. With TSS loads, you can kill geese with 20- and 28-gauge shotguns. When hunting the early Canada goose season, your shotgun must not be capable of holding more than two shells in the magazine. It may hold a third shell in the chamber.
To hunt legally, Arkansas residents need a resident hunting license, federal duck stamp, state waterfowl permit and HIP registration.
DOVES
For reasons unknown, dove hunting is illegal in some Midwestern states, but it is as traditional as cornbread and blackstrap molasses in the South.
Mourning doves, whitewinged doves and exotic Eurasian collared doves are fair game during dove season, which runs in two segments from Sept. 4-Oct. 24 and Dec. 8-Jan. 15.
Almost all hunting occurs on cut sunflower fields, which doves visit in the mornings and evenings. Doves also feed in weedy fields and cutovers, making it possible to enjoy some good shooting on pine plantations.
The action starts slow, with a few birds staging in trees near a field before plunging into the sunflowers. The pace quickens as more birds arrive. If a lot of doves are in an area, a fast-paced shoot can last for hours.
Birds stop flying by about 10 a.m. and resume about 5 p.m.
The best hunts take place on private fields where landowners limit the number of hunters and limit the party to friends they know and trust.
Good hunting is also available on dove fields that the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission manages on its wildlife management areas, and also on fields that the Game and Fish Commission leases especially for dove hunting. Those are controlled hunts for which you must apply for a permit. They are guaranteed to be in compliance with federal laws, so there is no chance of being cited for hunting an illegally baited field. Resident hunters older than age 16 require a resident hunting license and HIP registration.
Doves are fast and acrobatic, but they are not hard to hit. The key to success is to give them a very long lead and swing through the shot. Head shots are the goal because they don’t damage meat.
Dove hunters average about one kill for every three shots, so an average shooter will use two boxes of ammunition to kill a 15-bird limit. Most hunters use 12-gauge shotguns loaded with 1- to 11/8-ounce of No. 71/2 or No. 8 shot. A standard 20-gauge load contains 1 ounce of the same size shot, and a standard 28-gauge load contains 3/4- to 7/8-ounce of the same size shot. Experts use .410bore shotguns with about 1/2 ounce of small shot.
A shotgun in dove season cannot be capable of holding more than two shells in the magazine. A third shell may be held in the chamber.
Dove breasts are delicious to eat. A favorite recipe is to remove the breast meat from the breast bone. Sandwich a jalapeno slice and a slab of cream cheese between two breast pieces, wrap them in bacon and pin them together with a toothpick. Grill them to your preferred doneness.
EARLY TEAL
For many hunters, the early teal season, which runs Sept. 15-30, is the appetizer for the regular duck season. It’s not for the timid. The weather is usually very hot. Teal marshes are rife with mosquitoes, and cottonmouths are hazardous to retrieving dogs.
If you can handle all of that, you can enjoy some superb wingshooting on primarily blue-winged teal, which migrate through Arkansas earlier than other duck species. Teal wear their eclipse plumage in September, so they look drab. Their powder blue patches on the leading edges of their wings glow like neon, even in low light, for positive identification.
It is not uncommon for an odd gadwall, wood duck, redhead or mallard hen to fly with a flock of teal. They are bigger than teal, and the human eye tends to lock onto the biggest target, so be certain of the species before shooting.
Unlike regular duck season, legal shooting hours for early teal is sunrise. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission smartphone app will tell you that time to the minute based on where you are. That’s important because teal have a maddening habit of lighting among decoys 15-20 minutes before legal shooting time, then leaving without provocation about two minutes before legal shooting time. You will be sorely tempted, but shooting early will net you a hefty fine.
Teal readily come to decoys placed in shallow, marshy areas in fields and off main rivers. Scouting is vital to success.
To hunt early teal, Arkansas residents need a resident hunting license, federal duck stamps, state waterfowl permit and HIP registration. A shotgun cannot be capable of holding more than two shells in the magazine. A third shell may be held in the chamber.