MADISON, Wis. (WSAU) — State and federal wildlife officials say a preliminary teal hunt for Wisconsin, Michigan and Iowa went well in 2014.
It was the first year that hunters in those three states were allowed to hunt for the blue-winged teal. That bird usually migrates before the hunting seasons for other waterfowl open up, so a special hunt was allowed a week before the rest of the duck seasons are open. DNR Migratory game bird ecologist Kent Van Horn says that the US Fish and Wildlife Service felt confident that the state was ready to handle the hunt. “Our overall duck populations in North America have reached some of the all time highs of over 50 years of surveys. Blue-Winged Teal specifically have been at their levels three of the last five years.”
Each of the three states sent observers out into the field during the hunt to watch parties and see what they were shooting at during the hunt. A total of 699 non-teal duck flocks were within shooting range of the parties during the hunt, and only 44 were shot at. That’s a missed target rate of just over 6 percent which is well within the standards the USFWS was looking for in order to protect other species like mallards.
USFWS is pleased with the clean harvest from Wisconsin hunters this year, and Van Horn says they will be releasing more information later this year. “We don’t have numbers on the number of hunters that were out or an estimate of the ducks taken. Those will come from federal hunter log surveys that are mailed out. Those aren’t going to be available until summer.”
Van Horn says that the results of the long term study will determine the future of the hunt. “We’ll continue to do these observations, after three years we’ll look at all the data across all the three states together and then the Fish and Wildlife Service will make a decision about our future.”
You can read the full report released online HERE.
