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Kansas Teal season opened about as expected, with drought impacting hunting across the
state even where public waters were pumped before season. Teal numbers are at record
highs this year, but dry conditions in the Midwest make it unlikely that many will stop
here. The exception is Cheyenne Bottoms, where teal
hunters from across Kansas converged on wet marshes supplied by a giant water storage
pool constructed in the 1990s for just such dry years.
And opening day there was good. Karl Grover, Cheyenne Bottoms Public Lands Manager, reported
on the opening day’s success: “We’ve got about 5000 teal on the area,
we’ve got a lot of pintails came in as well, and some other big ducks. Opening day yesterday
morning for teal season the duck hunters did fairly well, I think they averaged probably
close to three if not higher teal per hunter , and I think everybody I talked to was happy.
So all in all, I think we had a pretty decent opening weekend.”
Saturday saw good shooting for most hunters both morning and evening, but Sunday, things
slowed down. Matt McLeighton and friends, all of Salina, reported:
“We killed eight yesterday morning between four of us, and 11 last night between four
of us.” But Sunday morning, they got no birds.
After blanking out at McPherson Wetlands Saturday morning, David Pindry from Newton hunted Cheyenne
Bottoms opening afternoon and did well: “I saw a lot of ducks really, you know,
after I shot my limit I probably could have shot 10 more easy ones. And then this morning,
I didn’t see the ducks that I saw last night.” Even so, a few hunters got some shooting on
the second morning. Jarrett Shives of Hoisington showed a lone teal for his party of four after
getting up at 3:30 a.m. to hunt. But their first day resulted in limits.
Fall is coming on, and with it, the glorious days that mark cool weather and the promise
of many more outdoors opportunities in Kansas. Get out and enjoy what our state has to offer.
I’m Mike Blair for Kansas Wildlife, Parks and Tourism.