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Feb 12th, 2024
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 Re: Duck hunters are worse then fishermen
[Re: Sniper John]
#6968386
11/21/17 09:32 PM
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Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 5,867
LarryCopper
THF Trophy Hunter
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THF Trophy Hunter
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 5,867 |
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. *note to self: there are mallards on Ray Bob* Sure was. 1000s of them. Like 30 years ago. Blame Canada! Not for short stopping, but for NAFTA. Killed US peanut subsidies as part of the deal. Adios peanut farming, adios Mr. Green. 
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Re: Duck hunters are worse then fishermen
[Re: CleerCreekDC]
#6968406
11/21/17 09:52 PM
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 20,951
Sniper John
gumshoe
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gumshoe
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 20,951 |
The day of the peanut fields was awesome, but the land there was destined to eventually grow houses anyway.
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Re: Duck hunters are worse then fishermen!
[Re: Sniper John]
#6968413
11/21/17 09:57 PM
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Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 548
CleerCreekDC
OP
Tracker
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OP
Tracker
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 548 |
Everyone boom scouts wether they like to admit it or not 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. 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. By the way these guys pulled this off we could have been hunting as well. They couldn't tell if we were done not. until they got close enough. We were still in the bushes as we had just picked up our first set of decoys
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Re: Duck hunters are worse then fishermen!
[Re: CleerCreekDC]
#6968419
11/21/17 10:02 PM
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 20,951
Sniper John
gumshoe
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gumshoe
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 20,951 |
Well then, my best advice is the next time you hunt there, unless you have a plan B and C. Get up a couple hours earlier. Or you may find them already set up on your spot when you arrive.
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Re: Duck hunters are worse then fishermen!
[Re: CleerCreekDC]
#6968421
11/21/17 10:05 PM
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Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 548
CleerCreekDC
OP
Tracker
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OP
Tracker
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 548 |
(Not that it matters after reading and understanding how this goes now)
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Re: Duck hunters are worse then fishermen!
[Re: Sniper John]
#6968423
11/21/17 10:05 PM
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Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 548
CleerCreekDC
OP
Tracker
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OP
Tracker
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 548 |
Well then, my best advice is the next time you hunt there, unless you have a plan B and C. Get up a couple hours earlier. Or you may find them already set up on your spot when you arrive. No doubt! They scouted it fair and square!
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Re: Duck hunters are worse then fishermen!
[Re: CleerCreekDC]
#6968440
11/21/17 10:17 PM
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Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 915
pervis
Tracker
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Tracker
Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 915 |
Lastly get a silencerco salvo 12 shot gun supressor. It help keep the boom boom boys away. I've thought about it, but I shoot an over under
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Re: Duck hunters are worse then fishermen!
[Re: CleerCreekDC]
#6968445
11/21/17 10:20 PM
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Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 915
pervis
Tracker
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Tracker
Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 915 |
And if your gonna build a bogus blind, make it real nice, that way guys think someone actually took their time to put it together. I'm not gonna admit to building a boat blind in the middle of a lake one year, and watching idiots race from the ramp to it. Ah it was hilarious
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Re: Duck hunters are worse then fishermen!
[Re: CleerCreekDC]
#6968563
11/21/17 11:46 PM
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 23,830
beaversnipe
THF Celebrity
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THF Celebrity
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 23,830 |
Hunting public is like watching the cowboys, just constant drama, it never stops.
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Re: Duck hunters are worse then fishermen!
[Re: Sniper John]
#6968565
11/21/17 11:46 PM
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Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 12,348
Duck_Hunter
THF Celebrity
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THF Celebrity
Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 12,348 |
Everyone boom scouts wether they like to admit it or not 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. 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. You're right. I misread the OP. I still prefer the way you handled your scenario, and I agree they should have introduced themselves and maybe talked shop a little instead of stopping 80s yard short.
I just turned it on . I was looking bird dogs in the butt this morning. ![[Linked Image]](http://i.imgur.com/AvUPi.gif)
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Re: Duck hunters are worse then fishermen!
[Re: CleerCreekDC]
#6968607
11/22/17 12:13 AM
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 20,951
Sniper John
gumshoe
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gumshoe
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 20,951 |
If I am hunting a single lake the entire season, networking is a powerful tool.
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Re: Duck hunters are worse then fishermen!
[Re: Sniper John]
#6969711
11/22/17 09:15 PM
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Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 12,348
Duck_Hunter
THF Celebrity
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THF Celebrity
Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 12,348 |
If I am hunting a single lake the entire season, networking is a powerful tool. I probably will too again this year. Networking is definitely a great tool. Took a while, but I've met some good people that I don't mind hunting with or who I don't mind sharing some information with because they share also.
I just turned it on . I was looking bird dogs in the butt this morning.
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Re: Duck hunters are worse then fishermen!
[Re: CleerCreekDC]
#6969891
11/23/17 12:21 AM
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Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 548
CleerCreekDC
OP
Tracker
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OP
Tracker
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 548 |
The "scouting" got closer and closer today.... its getting comical. 
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Re: Duck hunters are worse then fishermen
[Re: CleerCreekDC]
#6970178
11/23/17 05:27 AM
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Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,224
jnd59
Pro Tracker
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Pro Tracker
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,224 |
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. 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. Using that logic if I see someone catch a fish I should never go there. What if I had scouted it previously? What if I had caught fish there a week ago? Should I run them off? How long before it isn't potlicking? An hour? A day? Never? I'm not talking about running over there immediately after they leave. There has to be a statute of limitations on a spot. Next weekend do we say we can't fish that spot because we saw Bob fishing it last week? It's a public resource, once I leave it it's open, and expected, that someone else will use it. I've had people come in and cut off my drift. That's not cool. But I don't mind someone following that drift as long as they're not too close. It's the same with duck hunting. It's a public resource. If I hear shots from a spot I've scouted it confirms my suspicion. That's not potlicking that's using the data presented to me. The reason I feel this way is because of what has happened in other parts of the country. The Carolinas, Virginia. It started out as, "I built my blind there so it's my spot". Soon the government starts permitting blinds. The end result is groups that control blinds on public land in perpetuity as long as they pay their fee and have a name and address on the blind. Many of them aren't even hunted. They're permitted to keep other people from hunting in front of their property. A public resource has been locked up for private use.
Last edited by jnd59; 11/23/17 05:31 AM.
No matter how high a duck flies a hammer still breaks a window.
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