Yes, you read the title correctly. I am leaving the Mallardsphere. What is the Mallardsphere? It is a past time of duck hunting where the sky is always filled with mallards. It is a time of black and white photos of men with straps of greenheads. It is men blowing Olt duck calls, wearing white dress shirts, and bow ties while duck hunting. It is men wearing khakis, hip boots, and smoking pipes while killing mallards in a blind that sticks out like a sore thumb. It was a time when croaker sacks were the measurement of your success. It was what gentlemen did 50 years ago. It was duck hunting. The only problem is the Mallardspere doesn’t exist anymore, but some duck hunters still think it does. It only exists in the minds of duck hunters that saw the photos or heard the stories of previous generations of ducks hunters. In the real duck hunting world, there are early morning woodies, wads of teal, flights of shovelers, and battalions of gadwall. You have to be ready to blow a call to whatever kind of species comes in next. Since most of the people reading this hunt fields and the population of this bird is the second greatest in the Ms. flyaway, I think it is important to learn the sounds of the teal.
- How to make the Green-wing Teal sound– Although the green-wing teal hen quacks some, the main sounds you need to learn are the peeps or whistles. Most call companies make multi-sound calls that produce sounds of the pintail, widgeon, green-wing teal whistle, etc. The green-wing teal whistle is just a quick series of air burst from your mouth pushed through the call cutting the notes off with your tongue. The sound produced should sound like a high pitched “beep”. You can also mimic a green-wing teal most of the time with a whistle from your lips. Just practice some before using in the field.
- How to make the Blue-Wing Teal sound– There are blue-wing specific calls for teal hunting. Here is what I want you to remember when blowing this call. Remember the greeting call of the mallard. We are gonna blow that through the blue-wing call, but the note are gonna be closer together. It is almost gonna sound like you are laughing with the call. If you can master this call, it is very similar to a shoveler hen. So pretty much, you are learning a two-n-one call.
I hope these sounds will help you bring home more ducks each time you are in the field.
