Southwest Louisiana Hunters Get Ready for 2026 Teal Season

KNGT | Louisiana — A lotta people might not know this about me, but I absolutely LOVE to duck hunt. There ain’t much better than sitting out there in the marsh before daylight, drinking a cup of coffee, swatting mosquitoes and waiting to hear those wings coming across the water. Unfortunately for me, I just don’t get to do it nearly as much as I used to.

Life gets busy. Between radio, work, events, family and everything else I seem to get myself into, finding a free Saturday morning ain’t exactly easy. But every year about this time, I start getting that itch again.

Teal Season Starts September 19th. Louisiana’s 2026 early teal season runs from Saturday, September 19th through Sunday, September 27th. Nine days. That might not sound like a lot, but if you’re a duck hunter in Southwest Louisiana, you know exactly what those nine days mean.

Time to pull the decoys out. Find the waders. Dig around looking for that one glove you KNOW you put somewhere safe last year. Then realize your shotgun probably needs to be cleaned because you said, “I’ll do it next week” sometime around January. At least that’s how it goes around my house.

Hunters can take blue-winged teal, green-winged teal and cinnamon teal during the early season. The daily bag limit is six teal total, with a possession limit of 18. And these little suckers are FAST. If you’ve never had a group of teal buzz your decoys about six inches off the water before you’ve had enough coffee to see straight, you’re missing out.

Duck Hunting Is More Than Pulling the Trigger. That’s probably what I miss the most about duck hunting. It ain’t really about shooting ducks. Sure, bringing home a few birds is nice. But some of my favorite mornings are the ones where you’re sitting in a blind with friends or family, talking about absolutely nothing. Then somebody whispers, “Here they come.” Everybody shuts up. You hear wings. For about 10 seconds, the whole world stops. Then all hell breaks loose. That’s duck hunting.

And here in Southwest Louisiana, it’s just part of who we are. We grow up around marshes, rice fields, boats, blinds and hunting camps. You can smell somebody frying bacon at a camp before daylight and know somebody is about to have themselves a good morning.

Louisiana Teal Season Rules for 2026

According to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. This year’s early teal season, shooting hours are one-half hour before sunrise until sunset.The daily limit is six teal in the aggregate, meaning six total between the eligible teal species. Possession limit is 18 teal in the aggregate. And the season runs September 19 through September 27, 2026.

Make sure you have the proper licenses and stamps before heading out, and always check the current Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries regulations for the area you’re hunting.

As for me? I don’t know how many mornings I’ll actually get to sneak away this year. But I can tell you this. When September rolls around and I start seeing trucks pulling boats, decoys piled up and pictures of teal showing up everywhere, I start thinking the same thing every duck hunter thinks.

Man...I need to go hunting.