Had one 13 minutes early where I was, then another 10 minutes early, then another 9 minutes early.

In that span we had two pairs of mallards and a group of 4 wigeon in the hole, all left before LST.

As a deer hunter, it does boggle my mind that I hear an awful lot of shotgunning before legal shooting time...

Do you guys (collectively, not you personally) not bring watches or know how to tell time

They just dont care and take a chance

It was just an interesting observation that duck hunters are much more likely to poach (shoot outside legal hours) than deer hunters. You can almost always tell when legal time hits during gun season as you will usually hear a couple shots close to the minute. Duck hunters had me shocked this year with some being off by as much as 20 minutes, but more commonly around 10 minutes early.

I guess they figure they could see the warden if they were gonna get caught, so no worries, and if they got caught on shore they had plausible deniability, "it wasn't me, it was this other boat that was near us and they went that-a-way"

I think a lot (OK, maybe just some) of them just think they can tell by how well they can see. I will say the today with it being crystal clear and the full bright moon I could see the green on their heads way before LST, which is not normal.

I am usually ok, not to shoot at or before shooting light. As I am still unable to see most of the time lol

Beaver I'm sure they will read this post and be shamed into selling all of their gear.

It's not that big of a deal

[quote=ducknbass]Beaver I'm sure they will read this post and be shamed into selling all of their duck dynasty Cd’s

Exactly....on a cloudy morning normally it's 15 minutes late.

Yep. And once one group fires off early, other groups seem to think they are OK because someone else already started. Never understood that mindset.

I used to work at a place in Arkansas where you had to stop shooting at noon. I would hear gunshots in there all day long and all night.

So poaching a federally controlled animal is not a big deal?

surely you are joking

That place is a straight nightmare. It's chocked full of idiots. Went there once w a buddy and my 6yr old earlier this yr. Long story short came about 1 sec away from knocking a dude square in the mouth. I can tolerate a lot too.

Can you share some of the story?,.............

Sure..got to the spot at 445am. One guy had beat us there. The other Hunter had hung flashlights to make it look like other hunters were there also. This spot easily holds 2 to 3 groups. So we get there and I can see a guy w a headlamp. Fine, we 're not gona set up or hunt anywhere near him. We stay to the right side of this cove, he's set up square in the middle. He starts the usual you really aren't gona hunt here are you?

So I reply yes we are..he tells me him and the other hunters got there first. So I say who you and your flashlights? Not gona cool me. I once again tell him we 're not gona hunt anywhere near you. There's a slew about 200 yrds from where we were ditching the boat, and well away from the village idiot. So then he proceeds to get crazy...keep in mind I always hunt w my 6yr old.

My buddy and I start to unload decoys it's about 455 at this point. This dude is now fuming. He tries to tell me we have to be 200yrds from the bank. Gv rules are 6ft in the water. So this guy is raging cussing at me. He then tries to tell me where I'm wanting to hunt is dry, nope not so much. So then he says he's gona come over and kick my butt.

So I tell him bring it. I tell my buddy to watch my son. This guy comes running over in waders, I drop my gear and ball up my fists, I tell him one step closer and I will punch you. He then stops about 5ft short of me and says oh I didn't realize you had a child with you. I said at this point that's no longer relevant. You wana act crazy I'm right here.

He was smart enough to stop, and leave. We set up 200 yrds from this nut job, and didn't fire in their direction. All in all it wasn't worth it. My kid asked me why he was so mad, and why he was yelling at us? We wound up not firing a single shot, the other Hunter got 2 birds and that was it. I'm all for sharing a spot, I'm all for being cuerteous, I'm all for hunting with children, knowing not to be close. Etc

That guy went biserck from the get go. I've never come so close to having to defend myself especially in front of my kid. It was not cool. Some guys are jerks. I kept telling the guy we 're not gona hunt anywhere near you. Over and over.

With the amount of homes and appartmennts there, i still am surprised they let people hunt there.

Man on other forums there's even worse stories. Poaching is an understatement out there. Guys toting rifles, animals being illegally harvested etc. The gw could easily spend everyday there nailing people not following the rules.