The answer is very clearly yes.

Where you from? Alabama?

I don't see the problem with this. It's not your buddy's honey hole if it is public. It's a public honey hole that he knows about. The other boat set up 1000 yards away. Y'all shot over 50 times, they didn't, but they stayed put during all that shooting. Now if they had pulled decoys in the middle of the shooting and moved 100 yards downwind of you to set up and cut off the same birds you where actively shooting at, then that would be potlicking. But after all the shooting is done, no birds moving, and most everyone on the lake has picked up or in the process, with only one other group hunting nearby, having had a slow morning, I would say most experienced hunters on this forum after picking up would run the boat around the point to take a look to see where all the shooting had been coming from unless they were already very familiar with the area. They may not admit it here, but they would scout it.

It does make sense. These threads can get thousands of views, but that's one person (or a few) boom scouting on the lake.

He found it himself and hunted it last year over 40 times. Most times shooting solo limits. We have limited there this year several times as well. Im well aware its a public lake but I wouldn't call it a public honey hole that he knew about. He found it fair and square. IMO.

Btw Im perfectly fine and now understanding its not a problem to do this. Its just something being an unfamiliar duck hunter but being around hunting and fishing my entire life that strikes me as really strange that its a perfectly accepted practice.

I had found a decent but not great hunting location walking towards the lake side from a bridge on the Ray Bob. There was a little dip in the bank that was not noticeable from the bridge. It has always been good for an easy 3 or 4 duck morning. The other direction from the bridge was just a creek and woods. I seldom hunt weekends, but when I did I was seeing another truck stop at the other end of the bridge and a group of hunters walk into the woods with decoys. Lots of fast shooting coming from them those mornings when I was just taking my usual 3 or 4 ducks. Do I.... A. They must be skyblasting and ignor it. B. Might be a honey hole but they found it first, it belongs to them now, so I will stay on the lake side of the bridge and never look at it. or C. Scout it when they are not there to see what all the shooting is about.

Satellite imagery showed nothing but woods, but they were coming out with straps of mallards so I knew something was there. So I went back during the week and scouted it when no one was hunting. It took some time walking around till I found it. What I found was a huge one foot deep beaver pond deep in the woods and off the main creek. And it had lots of ducks on it mid day. I only hunted it on weekday mornings so not to draw any more attention to it than I had to and never more than once in a week to not over pressure it. I still check it if I am doing a pre season scouting trip on that lake and on most wet years it is still a wonderful spot to hunt. I have no idea if the other group still hunts it, but over many years I have never seen another hunter there, nor sign of other hunters hunting it, but I don't draw attention to it or share it either.

Public land scouting includes looking at what others left on the ground, be it shells, foot prints, lines of retriever runs into the water, feathers from cleaned ducks, etc. It includes who and how many are parked nearby. Blinds or blind footprints left behind. Could be a pond full of shotshell wads that makes you take a second look. And so on. For me that part of scouting often tells me more where not to hunt than it tells me where to hunt. I prefer a strategy of avoiding over pressured areas. If your buddy is hunting that spot that much, even I probably know about it.

I consider the forum a way to share hunting stories and experience to help everyone succeed. We don't need to know the lake for that.

And, to say Zach's comment another way, I feel like those that are out there on public land are earning any extra information they get, whether it was waking up early, a 1-2 hour drive, facing weather, etc.

One of the reasons I quit hunting public. It's an [censored] whip and was not fun for me or relaxing. I work a higher stress job and need a weekend to get my breathe and recharge...not added frustration. Good luck!

Oh and DnB is like the crappie whisper

I don't know about worse than fishermen. I've been out when other boats would shadow us with their radar from 3 or 4 miles away waiting to see when we stopped. I've always thought a potlicker was someone who came up to fish beside you, not someone who noticed your spot and came back later. I don't need to drive up on someone to figure out where they are hunting. But I have had good spots confirmed by people leaving their shells behind and I have watched birds and matched them to gunfire. I just make a note on my app to check it out. If I see someone catch a fish, I don't rush over and fish beside them. It's their hole while they occupy it but when their gone it's anybody's to claim.

That's exactly when I heard shots as well. About 9 or 10 in a span of about three seconds. I put it down to someone hunting the roost. My son asking me if we could shoot as there were birds in the dekes. 8 interminable minutes. Made the old man look like a stick in the mud. Hopefully he learned something.

I've been known to build a bogus blind or 3 so the idiots stay away from the spots I hunt. If I see a blind on public I stay away. That's a dead ringer for an over hunted under scouted spot.

I try and pick up all my empty shells also to keep from pinpointing where my spot is.


PERVIS- great tip. May try building a few blinds.


So far the public lake I hunt has a bunch of lazy people. Everyone stops at the first spot they come too. I now take my junky Jon boat and row across the lake where no one has been. Or wants to get too.

We call that pot licking or the bent pole pattern. Lots of fish in the lake and its nice when people find their own ones. Thats the big difference though that i've come to notice in bass fishing verses duck hunting. You will be pressed to find a true dedicated bass fishermen thatt will say its "ok" to do exactly what you just stated. Its just an unwritten rule that if you break it will get you a bad reputation quick. Now does it happen often and all the time? Yes! The difference is you wont find anybody openly admitting its ok. On the other hand in duck hunting its perfectly ok and agreed upon by everyone on this thread so far to poach somebody spot that was better then yours- It's called "scouting." That is whats gonna take some getting use to.

*note to self: there are mallards on Ray Bob*

I drive to Saskatchewan. Hunt almost anywhere I please with NO pressure. Land owners have no issues giving permission to hunt. Many even show me betters areas to hunt. Some even ask why I am asking permission to hunt ducks / geese. They just don't care. The lady at the post office near Portal, where I buy stamps, asked for my phone number - she calls me when the birds are moving.

When someone is shooting on a lake, if I'm 1000 yards away (or more) I pretty much know exacally where they are, as I have scouted that spot before. And if hear a bunch of yahoos shooting out a spot, I'm thinking ok I'm not hunting that spot tomorrow. And when I'm done hunting I normally make a run around the lake, or at least the area I was hunting, and I'm looking for birds, not hunters, but sometimes I make a corner and there is group hunting, if they think I boom scouted them they are wrong. I think those that complain about boom scouting is just silly.

But it's one reason I like to hunt solo, less shooting, I try to get my limit then get out of that spot. You got 4 guys hunting a spot and they shoot a box each everyone on the lake is going to hear and ID that spot.

it happens, same with fishing, don't lose any sleep over it.

OP, no it's not ethical. It however is approved by those who practice it. There are a lot of yahoos who never learned how to scout and what to scout. Some of them try to lessen the learning curve by using others scouting. It's that way with fishing as well. Most who have no qualms with the practice also don't have a clue about the time and effort involved in consistently being on birds. The internet does not help.

I agree with that, but pulling your boat within 80 yards of the guys making all the booms while they're still setup isn't the same as what Sniper John describes, where he came back another day to scout it.

There is a clear distinction to me between the two. If it's the same day, but you make sure the other group has picked up and left, that's ok, but I find it rude/borderline unethical to drive a boat that close to hunters still hunting because you heard a lot of shots that morning and want to scout their honeyhole.

I've come to accept that it happens, and I agree we all boom scout to some degree, but there is a difference in how you go about it.

Kind of like how some drive their motor vehicles.

When they step inside that steel cage and close the door, they are in their own little world.

They OWN the road.

They NEVER signal. Why should they, all you other guys better just get out of their way.

They ALWAYS pull in front of you, not behind you, so they can make that right or left hand turn just 100 feet ahead.

They RACE to red lights just to be the first in line. And if they can move up 1 or 2 positions, they will again pull in front of you.

On highways they constantly change lanes to get ahead of other vehicles. Especially when their is heavy traffic, even if it is only going 5 mph to 10 mph.
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Maybe those that do this are "duck hunters".

This is hilarious. I got bit by this more than one as a brand new public hunter..."oh, there's a blind here, must be a good spot"

CleerCreekDC:

Check out this article from Ducks Unlimited. I believe what you're describing is their Super Scouting Tip #6.

http://www.ducks.org/hunting/waterfowl-hunting-tips/ten-super-scouting-tips

That's hilarious. Good stuff!!

Sure was. 1000s of them. Like 30 years ago.

That is unfortunately quite the norm in public duck hunting. Have duck hunted extensively in Arkansas and Oklahoma (former AR resident) and have seen many instances of horrible hunter etiquette among duck hunters. Have had groups set up within 150 yards of us and try to actively call ducks off us. Failing that, they just skybust to run them off. Completely against the WMA rules, but with two game wardens per county, you are lucky to get a response by the next day.

Guys sleeping in their truck while parked on the boat ramp so they can be first to launch, boats running through our decoy spread, people messing with trucks and boat trailers at the ramp, and tons more bad behavior. Don't really know what the solution is...

By his own admission they were done for the day.
"Well we are picking up and here comes this boat." So they were not interfering their hunt. The only thing I would have preferred is if they were going pull up 80 yards out, they should have pulled up and introduced themselves. Some of my best hunting partners were met this way.