Blue-winged Teal.

HEAT IS THE ENTIRE RISK PROFILE.

This is the reverse of every other duck. Ducks Unlimited puts it plainly: teal season sharpens a dog's retrieving, but in warm weather be careful not to let the dog overheat, and watch for heat exhaustion and other early-season hazards including venomous snakes and alligators. Realtree adds that in alligator country there's an added risk factor for retrieving dogs.

SEPTEMBER MEANS SHORT SESSIONS AND REAL REST.

Kent Cartridge's early-season guidance is to work short water sessions, provide plenty of water and rest, and watch closely for overheating. A dog that hasn't worked since last January is not in September shape.

SHALLOW WATER, SHORT RETRIEVES, MUD.Sources thin

Teal use very shallow water, sometimes a few inches. Retrieves are short but the footing is mud, and mud is its own kind of work.

FAST BIRDS, SCATTERED FALLS.Sources thin

Bluewings come in low and fast in groups, and multiple birds fall at once in vegetation. Marking is the skill; the distances are short.

Shallow water above all, flooded rice, moist-soil units, sloughs, sod-farm sheet water, marsh. Bluewings are early migrants that trickle south from late August, and a cold front pushes them through in numbers. They leave early too, by the time regular season opens in the north, most have moved on. September teal seasons are a separate federal framework from regular duck season.