September 2021 - 40

Green-winged teal often stick around longer than other teal species in the fall. (Photo by Troy Powell)
T
rudging along a mid-sized prairie reservoir we
stuck to a narrow route paralleling the lake below
a steep bank. A downward drift toward the water
disciplined the careless hiker, with feet sinking
into the tenacious suction of 12 inches of muck. As we
skirted a tiny, stagnant pool my daughter, Zoe, cut it too
close. She immediately sunk in the black goo to her knee
and giggled over her predicament when she was unable to
free her leg. My wife, Lisa, and I wrenched her from the
mire and left behind her wading shoe, which we excavated
with a stout stick.
As we neared our destination we dropped
our cartage of duck decoys, camouflage netting,
folding stools, shotguns and gear at
the edge of a scraggly stand of willows. The
girls insisted I engineer and implement the
decoy placement. Though communicated
40 | September 2021
as a compliment to my superior ability, the
unspoken motive was coupled to the several
feet of goo that separated dry ground from
water. I inched to the point where my boots
began sinking into the smelly mud and tossed
a dozen decoys into the reservoir, carefully calculating
their trajectory to keep them within
retrieval range of a five-foot length of dead
willow branch.
An impromptu outing at a location unfamiliar
to our threesome, it proved successful
for a family of casual waterfowl hunters. We
hoped to bag a few of the plentiful mallards
I spotted on the reservoir a few days prior to
the opening-day hunt in early October, but
the harvest produced one mallard hen. The
other five ducks we harvested were species
well-known to early-season waterfowlers: three
blue-winged and two green-winged teal. If
we connected on half of our shots on these
small, erratically-flying birds we would have
downed about a dozen.
There's a short window for Wyoming
hunters who wish to target teal in contrast

September 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2021

September 2021 - 1
September 2021 - 2
September 2021 - 3
September 2021 - 4
September 2021 - 5
September 2021 - 6
September 2021 - 7
September 2021 - 8
September 2021 - 9
September 2021 - 10
September 2021 - 11
September 2021 - 12
September 2021 - 13
September 2021 - 14
September 2021 - 15
September 2021 - 16
September 2021 - 17
September 2021 - 18
September 2021 - 19
September 2021 - 20
September 2021 - 21
September 2021 - 22
September 2021 - 23
September 2021 - 24
September 2021 - 25
September 2021 - 26
September 2021 - 27
September 2021 - 28
September 2021 - 29
September 2021 - 30
September 2021 - 31
September 2021 - 32
September 2021 - 33
September 2021 - 34
September 2021 - 35
September 2021 - 36
September 2021 - 37
September 2021 - 38
September 2021 - 39
September 2021 - 40
September 2021 - 41
September 2021 - 42
September 2021 - 43
September 2021 - 44
September 2021 - 45
September 2021 - 46
September 2021 - 47
September 2021 - 48
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/january-2025
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/december-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/october-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/september-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/august-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/july-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/june-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/wyoming-wildlife-may-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/april-2024-e-edition
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/march-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/february-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/january-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/december-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/october-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/september-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/august-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/july-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/june-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/may-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/april-2023
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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/december-2022
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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/september-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/august-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/july-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/june-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/may-iak-special-issue
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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/january-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/dec-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/october-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/september-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/august-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/july-2021
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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/may-2021
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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/January2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/December2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/September2020
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