BY DON SHOOPMAN

THE DAILY IBERIAN

 

LAFAYETTE — Has the Atchafalaya Delta Wildlife Management Area, namely the Wax Lake Outlet, lost its appeal, its reputation as the top teal hunting destination among the state’s coastal WMAs?

After a subpar teal harvest on opening day, Sept. 15, the Atchafalaya Delta WMA was behind Pass-a-Loutre WMA as far as the number of teal downed that first day of the special teal hunting season in Louisiana.

One hundred and eleven duck hunters who were checked by state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries waterfowl biologist Lance Campbell and his staff that day bagged an average of 0.6 teal per duck hunter on the Atchafalaya Delta WMA. An estimated 160 waterfowlers there shot an estimated 90 teal, Granier said in the report compiled and released by Shane Granier in New Orleans.

Thirty Pass-a-Loutre WMA duck hunters, meanwhile, shot an average 3.8 teal on opening day. Overall, an estimated 50 duck hunters bagged an estimated 188 teal Sept. 15.

Overall, the teal harvest on the coastal WMAs was way down compared to past seasons, Granier said in his report for the Atchafalaya Delta WMA, Pass-a-Loutre WMA, Salvador WMA and Pointe-aux-Chene WMA. An estimated 373 teal were killed by an estimated 400 duck hunters for an average of 0.9 per waterfowler a week ago Saturday. During last season’s opener, an estimated 647 teal were bagged by an estimated 445 duck hunters for an average of 1.5.

The best year for those four coastal WMAs was 2012 when an estimated 1,718 teal were shot down opening day by an estimated 1,000 duck hunters for an average of 1.7. There were 1.5 teal per duck hunter averages in 2017 and 2011, when an estimated 1,020 teal were knocked down by an estimated 670 waterfowlers.

This season’s special teal hunting season opener was the worst year, average-wise, for the coastal WMAs since 2016, when an estimated 485 duck hunters show an estimated 64 teal for an average of 0.1.

Campbell, Coastal and Nongame Resources Division’s coastal operations program manager based in Lafayette, pointed out that, as the state’s first aerial waterfowl survey showed, the number of teal in the state this month for opening weekend was markedly lower than past Septembers. State waterfowl biologist Larry Reynolds’ estimate showed 48,000 in southwest Louisiana, second-lowest number ever. 

Overall, there were 59,000 teal in the state before the weekend opener.

“They’re definitely not here. The numbers aren’t here. It’s really not a surprise. The numbers are pretty low overall,” Campbell said Wednesday morning from his office in Lafayette.

Overall conditions were ripe for duck hunting success on the WMA in St. Mary Parish, he said, noting the food sources and vegetation were above average.

“The vegetation and the food are there. The ducks are just not there,” he said.

However, there is disconcerting news at Atchafalaya Delta WMA. Reynolds noted in his first aerial waterfowl survey report an abundance of submergant aquatic vegetation. SAVs often forces many species of waterfowl to change their feeding habits or move out of the region, many people believe.

Waterfowlers at Pass-a-Loutre WMA, a 115,000-acre area to the east in Plaquemines Parish, had a fair to good day.

“Pass-a-Loutre must have had some birds over there,” he said.