After reading all the posts about "Barney, and how somebody else ruined the opener for them", I can't help but wonder who the real Barney is in each situation. I've read about guys yelling at each other, setting up on top of others, fighting over blinds, throwing deeks in trees, etc, etc. Well, there's two sides to every story.......

......Of course, nobody is wrong on the internet, so you were you were all setup 6 hours before legal and the other party came in 10 minutes prior right? You all didn't call at their birds and they hail called every group you had working. You waited patiently and they skybusted all "your" groups right?

Well, all I know is that if that other group hadn't skybusted at my group I was working yesterday, i would have had a triple on that harlequin, oldsquaw, and scoter. Damnitt!!

You know back in the 80's when I use to hunt public people just weren't azz holes. Duck hunters were friends with each other, and gave each other space, and we could shoot lead. I guess steel shot just pizzed every one off.

And the guy who came in last is normally wrong.

A lot less competition back then. And you also didn’t have the internet!

i actually had a nice time at the ramp after our opening morning hunt. People were pulling boats out and stopping by to BS...of course there were a few groups that wanted nothing to do with anyone else, but for the most part everyone was pretty friendly. As crowded as the lake was that day the closest group we had to us was 300 yards behind us back in some timber...and they were part of our big group, other than that I bet we didn't have anyone within a half mile

Thats true. 3 Mallards a day will keep alot of folks at home

The duck hunting world declined in population with the duck population, and has just recently (last 10 years) increased again...I don't know if there is as many duck hunters as there was in the 60-70 and early 80's...but I know that in the middle and late 80's there wasn't a lot of duck hunters...

And "NO" I didn't stay home and I would chase those 3 mallards...in a new lake called Richland-Chambers in the flooded pecan grove off of HWY 31!

J.J.

In the not too distant past, seems like duck hunters were somewhat akin to golfers. Now stay with me here; there was a certain honor among most if not all duck hunters. Unwritten rules that were followed. Not saying that there still isn't, but just not as much anymore. I believe there is currently too much focus and competition to get a limit at all costs. Laws, rules & etiquette be damned. Tradition and values somewhere along the way were not passed down appropriately.

In the past you always gave fellow hunters plenty of room (100 yards at least) and if "by accident" you set up too close or arrived too late, you were often invited and welcomed to hunt with strangers but members of the same fraternity. I have been on both ends of this scenario and 95% of the time had the great opportunity of meeting some pretty cool people from very diversified backgrounds. (Unfortunately, met some real douches when I had my 9 year old daughter with me. They showed up late and birds were already working the spread. Invited them in since we had plenty of room. First lul in the action we had I glance over at them and they were both drinking quart bottles of Natty-Lite. I quickly got my limit and skedaddled out of there.)

Skillet shots were not frowned upon as long as you were under 12 years old OR this was your first time out hunting. Other than that you would get talked about.

If a group of birds were working someone else’s spread 100 yards away you didn't hammer the kazoo. You let it play out for the other group first and "if" they broke off and came towards you "then" you would engage.

"Skybust" was not a word in your vocabulary nor was “Barney.”

Interesting times in deed…

Go private or quit bitching

I hunt public only during the week, usually a Tuesday or Thursday

Kinda like a forum where fat people call other people fat, looks like barney calling others barney!!!!!!!! What's that song by that dead guy "Man in the Mirror"??????

I tend to take someones word for it when they post a story up. If they are full of chit then it still doesnt really change my life in anyway so why get worked up? Lots of times people just tell the story to get it off their chest...makes them feel slightly better. I don't see any reason to make them feel worse.

70's here and it cannot compare to hunting birds today. The eighties man what a joke hardly any birds worth shooting lots of lesser scaups.

I won't ever go public, I will take my vacation back home and do some private hunting in the timber with family. Absolutely no chest beaters that started 2 years ago and now know everything there is to know about duck hunting not to mention having the Avery catalog memorized.

There weren't Barney's in the 70's or 80's because Ray Roberts was even dammed up until '87.

x2, you can always count on Marc to bring some sensibility to the discussion.

JMO, I think these “Barney” threads are good. Folks learn what is good/bad duck hunting etiquette from these threads. I think a lot of Barneys out there just don’t know right from wrong because they have never been taught. I think these threads have a positive impact on those that read them.

True dat, they were at Lavon shooting pooliedoos.

I'm the real barney why work so hard to shoot a few ducks

The real Barney is the one that shows up 30 min before legal and sets up on top of you. Then shoots at birds decoying into your spread after they have picked up and are headed out. Why would anyone make the stuff up and post it on here? I dunno, just seems that the true def of Barney is someone that doesn't respect other people.

The funny thing is there are people on this board that have admitted to setting up on top of another hunter and arguing over "their spot" when someone else got there first.

Who came up with the term Barney?

it sounds silly.

I don't think I could ever say it out loud.

Not me. I posted on one of those initial barney threads, and the dude did show up right before legal, and then an hour after legal took down the blind and drove around outside our spread. We never, I repeat never, shot at birds over their spread, or did anything that would be considered jackassery. I think that most of the barney threads are legit. There really are some d-bag people out there.

I do think alot of the duck hunters are younger, like me, and some of them have the bada$$ attitude and don't care about anyone else but themselves. Maybe its a generational thing, on the other hand I have seen some older guys do jacked up stuff too.

I think its a generation thing, with the newer and younger generations being more inclined to seek instant gratification...Because of technology that attitude tends to be more prevalent in our society these days, which has eventually trickled down to create a new breed of hunters. IDK JMO

I've been reading all of the "Barney" stories and all of this tread. A pattern has developed. The percentage of duck hunter was high until the mid 80s. The duck population crashed as did the number of duck hunters. Now that duck numbers are on the rebound so are the numbers of hunters. Traditionally we learned hunting from Grandpa,Dad, or favorite Uncle. That is where we were taught ethics and protocol. The problem is there is a whole generation that did not hunt ducks. There just were not many ducks and no one wanted to take a calculator and handbook to the blind to do algebra just so they would not exceed their point quota. So now we have a whole generation and a half that do not know how to act while duck hunting. We also have become "I'll do as I please and everybody else can kiss my A$$" society. These two factors alone lead to 75% of all problems in the field. When hunting remember you will catch more flies with honey than vinegar. It can be very very hard at times, but take the high road. It might make a difference next time out.

Good times...good times

Kinda sums up my thoughts as well. Nicely done DH