Two additional hunting seasons in Iowa have started.

Iowa Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officer Aaron Arthur says teal duck season is September 1st through 16th, and dove season is September 1st through November 29th. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio there are a couple of sunflower plots that doves are attracted to at Dunbar Slough and Pound Pits. Arthur advises hunters to adhere to the federal requirement of being hip registered and to use non-toxic shots. He strongly encourages everyone to always use the safe zone of fire to prevent injuries.

“Lots of people, I’ve had prior accidents in prior years on dove fields. Where people are shooting and swinging at game that’s flying by and they’re exceeding their safe zone of fire. So make sure, of course you know hunting is fun and enjoyable, but make sure you have common sense rules of gun safety: always keep pointing it in a safe direction, safe zone of fire; know what’s there and beyond the target.”

Arthur talks about a confusion that hunters tend to make during the 16 days of the teal duck season.

“So the big problem we have, usually during the teal season, is people shooting wood ducks. So that’s the big thing where you need to identify when, what you can shoot. Because the teal season, you can’t shoot until, the time is sunrise to sunset. Where normal duck season it’s a half an hour before sunrise to sunset. That’s made that way purposefully to help make sure people are identifying the ducks they’re shooting.”  

Arthur notes that if someone harvests a wood duck instead of a teal, it is an out-of-season citation and the hunter could lose their firearm. He adds that public hunting areas in Greene County for teal ducks are the marshes at Dunbar Slough, Goose Lake and Snake Creek.