As the days grow shorter and the heat and dry weather seem to go on forever, the waterfowl hunter is already hard at work. There are boats and blinds to brush, decoys to paint, dogs to train and fields and sloughs to scout.
To a waterfowler the shortening of the days only brings promise of the cool fall air and the sound of snow geese coming thru the night air headed south on paths their ancestors have flown for thousands of years to their wintering grounds. They think back to the glory days of waterfowling and such names as Buckingham, Claypool, Pickle, Majors, Sitzer, McQuarry and others who have glorified the duck hunting history throughout the years in their hunts and writings, and what it would have been like to stand knee-deep in the flooded pinoaks of West Tennessee and Northeast Arkansas with such legends and share a hot cup of coffee and a cold biscuit on duck hunt clubs such as Wappanocca, Brandywine, Menache', and Beaver Dam.
With all this rushing through their mind they begin to prepare for the first of the waterfowling seasons in most states which is the early resident Canada goose season. In Tennessee this opens up annually on September 1st and runs thru the 15th, with a five bird limit. Although the weather is usually hot, humid and dry, the true die-hards have their fields and creeks scouted and are ready with decoys out and layout blinds in place. The early goose season was started several years ago to help contain the nuisance Canada goose numbers on birds that no longer migrated but opt to take up residence in Tennessee. Boat docks, golf courses and even cattle ponds can be affected by an over abundance of these geese.
The early goose season is a great time for putting some fine meat on the table and also a head start on getting your retriever ready for the upcoming winter months where the temperatures will be even harsher and the hunting a little bit harder at times.
Right in the middle of the early goose is our first duck season. From September 8th-12th this year the early wood duck/teal season opens. This five day season in Tennessee allows you to harvest four birds with no more than two being wood ducks. You can take two woodies and two teal or four teal or any combination thereof. Now if this don't get your fire to burning then your wood must be wet.
If you have never experienced teal coming in to a woods hole you can try to imagine a jet engine the size of a small pidgeon jetting in with air rushing thru there wings and a rush of sound that would almost make you swear an F15 was about to land on your decoy spread. Teal and wood ducks can be some of the most challenging shooting you will ever experience.
I look forward to these early seasons each year like a kid on Christmas Eve waiting on Santa. It is not only a great kickoff to the seasons to come but all the old hunting buddies you have not seen over the summer seem to come out of the wood-work again. The phone rings off the wall with questions like "You seen any birds?" "Where are we going opening day?" That is just part of it to me. Duck hunting like no other sport is one of camaraderie, jokes, story-telling and grills fired up in the blind with good eats, with a little wing shooting thrown in for good measure. Early duck and goose hunting opportunities can be found from Memphis to Johnson City in Tennessee so get out with a box of steel and your trusty shotgun and have a good time and find out what you've been missing, and if they get to thick on you call me and I'll be there fast with a hot cup of coffee, cold biscuit and a story to tell.
Good luck and shoot'em when the wings cup and landing gear goes down.
David J. Edgar resides in Murfreesboro with his wife and daughter. He is a member of the Turpin Custom Game Calls Pro Staff and is TnHunting.Com's waterfowl hunting expert.
