news
The S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will randomly select
by computer drawing 40 hunters for two teal hunts - Sept. 23 and 30 - at
Bear Island Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Colleton County.
Hunters who want to participate are encouraged to submit an
application as soon as possible. The application deadline is 5 p.m. Friday,
Sept. 1. To receive an application, write: Teal Hunts, PO Box 167,
Columbia, SC 29202 or come by Room 253 of the Rembert Dennis Building at
1000 Assembly St. in Columbia.
Applications will also be available at
Donnelley Wildlife Management Area in Green Pond, telephone (843) 844-8957.
The S.C. Natural Resources Board recently approved a statewide early
teal season for Sept. 22-30. The season, offered by the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service on an experimental basis, will be primarily for blue-
winged teal, which migrate through South Carolina before the regular
waterfowl season opens in November. Green-winged teal, if available, may
also be taken. No other species of waterfowl may be harvested.
The hunt fee for Bear Island teal hunts is $50 per person, $20 for
each hunter under 16. The DNR will provide boats, decoys and blind sites.
Each applicant must have a WMA permit, state and federal duck stamps and a
HIP migratory bird permit. A one-day WMA permit for residents is available
for $5.50 only when applying for the hunt. Applying for the special teal
hunt will not prevent hunters from applying for regular DNR waterfowl hunts
nor will it affect the success of being drawn. No preference system will be
used for the teal hunt.
"The reason we are holding these hunts at Bear Island is that blue-winged teal often migrate through the area," said Derrell Shipes, a chief in the DNR wildlife management section. "Some impoundments at Bear Island will have water in them during the teal season, which is not the case on other waterfowl areas. Success of the teal hunt, of course, will depend on the availability of ducks. There^s no guarantee that teal will be at
Bear Island on the two Saturdays of the hunt."
The DNR will place hunters in the best spots available. Hunters are
discouraged from bringing their dogs, because alligators are still active in
September, and large ones are common at Bear Island.
Insect repellent will be essential for the hunt, and selected
hunters should bring chest waders because water depths in wigeon grass ponds will be much deeper than during normal duck season. Shooting hours will be from sunrise to 11 a.m. Hunters will be limited to 20 nontoxic shot shells,
and the bag limit is four teal per hunter.
Uploaded: 8/18/2000
Uploaded: 8/18/2000