Fog was so thick, like pea soup, Dr. Darryl Elias couldn’t see across the marshy pond in front of his duck blind near Intracoastal City.

Elias, a New Iberia native who lives in Lafayette, was out with his father on the morning of Sept. 14 — the date so many red-blooded duck hunters have been waiting for since the 2023-24 duck hunting season ended in the Sportsman’s Paradise. The special teal season began Saturday at legal shooting time and ends Sept. 29.

Elias and his father, Dr. Darryl Elias Sr. of New Iberia, an all-around outdoorsman, downed five teal on the foggy morning.

“To shoot five or seven is still a good time! We still had fun,” the younger Elias said, emphasizing for the umpteenth time it’s all about the camaraderie in the duck blind, which he shared with his father, Dr. Darryl Elias Sr. of New Iberia, and Dr. Gordy Broussard, a Delcambre native who has been duck hunting with the Eliases since the 1980s.

The Eliases had company in other duck blinds on their lease in Vermilion Parish. Dr. Darryl Elias Jr. hunted with his son, Parker Elias, Parker’s friend Landon Cormier of New Iberia, and longtime Elias family friend Marty Delaune of New Iberia, while Dr. Marcus Stelly of Lafayette and his young son, Charlie Stelly, and Andre LeBlanc were in another duck blind.

Based on previous opening days, it was a pretty fair outing, Dr. Eric Elias said about the 20-bird harvest.

“Everybody had a few missed opportunities,” he said. “I can count on one hand the times we’ve (an entire duck hunting party) killed a limit of teal on opening day in 15 years.”

The rest of the day was filled with alligator hunting as 11 of the Eliases’ 11 tags were filled out. Eric Elias also enjoyed some good fishing for redfish.

After catching redfish and keeping track of the alligator hunt, Elias was far from calling it a day Saturday. He rebuilt one of the duck blinds on his lease, one that was disintegrating due to saltwater, using industrial grade stainless steel screws recommended by a friend and quite costly but well worth the price, according to Elias.

What would happen on opening day of the special teal season was anyone’s guess following the passage of a hurricane three days earlier. The storm’s buildup included heavy rain into Texas and western Louisiana before making landfall approximately 30 miles south-southwest of Morgan City.

Louisiana’s waterfowl program manager, Jason Olszak, and his Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries staffers were unable to complete the traditional pre-season aerial waterfowl survey because of Hurricane Francine. He usually conducts the two- to three-day flights the week before the special teal season.

“We were able to get up on Monday. Then weather, office closures and plane on standby for damage assessment bumped us from completing the survey,” Olszak wrote in an email reply to a question from a duck hunter.

He explained there were too few transects flown along the coast from the Texas-Louisiana state line to Atchafalaya Bay to arrive at even a regional estimate.

However, he said, “Monday, we flew lines from the Texas border to Crowley. We saw about three flocks of no more than 800 each, and a lot of empty marsh and ag fields. Who knows how the weather redistributed birds from Monday to today, but we’ve been getting a few reports of lots of birds one day, none the next. Just like any other teal season.”

Elias reached out to other duck hunters following the special teal hunt’s opening day. The afternoon reports he got indicated more success to the west of Intracoastal City, namely around Grand Chenier and rice fields around Welsh.

“It seems like the better reports are to the west in the state,” he said.

At the time, he was looking ahead to the rest of the weekend.

“Yeah, we’re going in the morning, then get ready for the next time (regular season),” he said early Saturday evening. “It’s a great time of the year. Oh, yeah, man. It’s what we work for all year … so you can hunt with friends, do a little cooking.”

The following morning’s action increased in the skies over their lease in the marsh at Onion Lake. The birds were moving, which resulted in 29 teal getting a free ride back to the camp.

Dr. Darryl Elias Jr., and his sons Parker Elias and Sawyer Elias had a field day and shot 17 teal. The Stelly father-and-son teamed up to bring back eight teal.

The Eliases, Darryl Jr. and Eric, hunted with Delaune and accounted for four of the birds during the second day’s total harvest.

Many duck hunters who love to shoot blue-winged and green-winged teal are aware next year’s special teal season likely will be different. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will recommend a nine-day special teal season with a six-bird daily bag limit for the Mississippi, Central and Atlantic flyways.

The probable change is linked to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2024 Waterfowl Population Status Report released Aug. 20. Blue-winged teal numbers in the traditional survey area in upper North America dropped 12 percent this year from 2023 to an estimated 4.6 million.

U.S. F&WS guidelines set in 2014 grant a 16-day season in those three flyways when the population estimate is above 4.7 million, a nine-day season when the estimated is between 3.3 and 4.7 million and a closed season below 3.3 million.