2 Safety Questions here...

1. I hunt public land for duck hunting and would like to wear the hunter orange for safety, but wondering if ducks can see the bright orange? If so, will plan on wearing the orange to the hunting site, and then take off..

2. Most important question, how far away from another hunter is safe when everyone is using a heavy load shot like #4? I have an idea of the lighter loads hunting for dove in the past, but don't have a good idea of how many yards away from another hunter i need to be, when hunting around a cove at lake. I take my son with me and want to play it safe on this.

1. Yes, they can see blaze orange. Probably much better than we can. Ducks have a high degree of visual acuity, much more so than humans.

http://www.ducks.org/conservation/waterfowl-biology/a-birds-eye-view

2. If I remember correctly, 100 yards is considered a safe distance.

I think Corps regs state a 200yd distance between groups. Of course, nobody does

How far away from groups has 2 sides, safety and success. And remember just because you are shooting #4 doesn't mean the other groups aren't shooting 9 ounces of heavymetal BBB shot. For safety a couple hundred yards for sure, for success if you are downwind then hunt as close as safely would allow, when upwind maybe double it so your birds don't swing downwind right over other hunters have fun with your son!

If a cove is at least 200 yards to the other side, would it be acceptable to hunt opposite side of hunters, or is that looked down upon, since it could lower their chances if birds normally come from one direction?

Depends on your view of public hunting, if you view it as public means first come first served, then as long as you're safe then go for it. If you are of the camp that wants everybody to have the best chance of success, trying to work birds between 2 groups 200 yds away will be tough, especially if one of the groups takes long shots or calls too much. On the other hand if you have a better spread, good decoy motion and better concealment, sometimes there's nothing better than to have a group of newbies set up across from you!

For me, I love public hunting, getting downwind 300 yds hiding better, having better decoys and walking back past everyone else with a handful of ducks while they scratch their heads, part of the fun!

It depends. At 200yds you're still going to rain pellets on another hunter if all the angles are correct. You probably won't hurt them, but they will be mad. Here's what I do, I set up so that nobody is in the direct line of my shots and I only shoot the birds that work in area where I want them to. In a cove like that, just set up so that you and your boy are not going to shoot at the other groups, and give plenty of space to other hunters. If that's 200yds- then fine, but I like to not be able to hear their conversations.

Oh no, "it's perfectly normal to get peppered on public.". No need to get mad.

200 yrds sounds safe. They could still use BB with patternmaster and at 100 yrds it blind you downwind

Ah yes, I forgot that was rule #1... haha thanks for reminding me foosh

1. What he said on answer #1

2. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you view it), there is no set distance for public land that I'm aware of. I was always taught that you want to be at least 300 yards from the next group so that you A) don't pepper each other regularly and B) so that you minimize the chance of each group adversely affecting the other's hunt.

There will always be plenty of folks that do not believe in such courtesy though. I've had more than one hunt on public land ruined because of these types of folks - it comes with the territory, though unfortunate it is.

I had a group of teenagers set up 40 yards down from me last week in Arkansas. I told them they couldn't hunt there and they gave some teenage response and continued. Fine with me. We shot birds and when they did have a single start working their spread I sky busted it and yelled "I told you, you were too close". Gawd I have a love/hate with public hunting.

I would be a little ticked if someone set up 200 yds away from me. At that distance, somebody will likely mess up the others hunt at some point. I don't like being crowded. On some occasions, like an opener on public, you are gonna have big numbers of hunters, so it's expected. If that's the case, I typically go by the first come first served rule. If they beat you, find another spot. If you don't have another spot, you shoulda scouted better. Good luck to you

I have mixed feelings on this as well. I think anyone who has hunted public has had this happen before. I used to have the mentality of I was here first you need to be far enough away to not pepper me or we are going to have words. Now that I am a little older I just live with it and don't call birds off of people or shoot in their direction. It is all part of the public experience. Some will be courteous and ask if 'this' is far enough, or 'hey i'm planning to set up here, will that bother you guys.' Those types I am much more willing to 'let' have a good day. I have come to grips with knowing that not everyone is or can be as dedicated both time wise and financially to be out scouting all the time, or get to the lake at 4am. More times than not I am in the right spot and the other guy doesn't get as much shooting anyway.

If the person is courteous, it's easy to work with them - hell, there have been times we ended up hunting together and it worked out well.

But if a person is not courteous, I'm going to let them know exactly what and why - and I think part of the problem is that too many people aren't willing to call a spade a spade or to let somebody know when they are completely out of line. It doesn't have to be confrontational, but I'm not going to let it simply slide or let them bully me out of my spot because they woke up 2 hours late or were too lazy to walk a couple hundred more yards and to the right thing for all parties.

Wear eye protection

So you are "that guy". Anyone ever tell you that two wrongs don't make a right?
You say they weren't having any luck, but you were. That is their punishment and it isn't hurting you at all.

So they didn't screw up your hunt, but you deliberately sabotaged the one duck that came to them?

They may have set up too close, but you are the a hole in this situation.

No doubt I was...I'm not saying I wasn't. Listen, they didn't ask if they could hunt 40 yards from my group. They didn't move when we asked for them to move and didn't join us when we asked them to join us. They were 40 yards away, not 100-200. I had absolutely no sympathy for them and have no regrets with sky busting their one bird. It's the only time in my life I've ever done anything like that and I've had my share of goobers come up on public ground.

I'm no better than anyone else but those kids need to learn common hunting courtesy and SAFETY. We tried the polite way and they refused. I did feel a little bad for what I did but looking back I wish I would have done more to prevent the whole situation in the first place. We should have never allowed them to hunt that close. We had a dog and they were teenagers...I regret not standing in their decoys until they left.

so what exactly did these teenagers learn from this situation??? If you have a problem with another hunter, play the if I cant have them nobody can game? I don't know you, so Ill take your word for this being the first and last time you do something like that but if you've ever hunted remotely close to "THAT GUY" you should know how it feels. Not that they were in the right, but they're gonna have to figure it out, since apparently nobody has shown them the proper way.

I had a similar instance happen on last sunday. A group of 4 kids, who didn't look old enough to even hunt unaccompanied set up 75yds away. After talking with them they were sure they were in the right, and even told me they knew what they were doing, and I wasn't to be worried. After the first hour of LST they were non stop hail calling and sky blasting. I took a nap and when I woke up 45 minutes later, they were gone and we ended up having a successful hunt. Part of public hunting, Its why many have expensive leases!

I've always taken the same position you are standing up for right now...until this hunt. We asked the young guys to hunt with us and they wouldn't. We asked them to move and they wouldn't. We told them it was unsafe and we had a dog and they wouldn't move. I understand it's public hunting and some of that's to be expected but these kids pushed me past the line.

I've hunted next to "that guy" plenty of times. I usually start off by asking if he/they want to join or if I can join them. If that doesn't work out I move on to a spot that is 100-200+ yards away and hope they have a great hunt. I'm more of a social duck hunter...I enjoy the mornings even if I don't pull the trigger so shooting birds doesn't make/break my hunts. I guess these kids got under my skin and got the worst of me. Bad part is I have two boys, so I'll have to figure out how to deal with these teenage boys and testosterone sooner than later. Luckily my boys weren't with me that morning.