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Whew...I'll be able to sleep tonite I don't care if you two slap *&#%$ agree with my opinion...that isn't the point, when you ask for others opinion and title it "This ought to be interesting". Was the point just to troll people or did you actually just want opinions so you could kick people in the nuts? I don't understand...if you knew the answer WTF (why not what) did you ask the question? Like I tell my hardheaded wife all the time...don't ask me a question if you already know the answer and just want to argue with me. [/quote]

Judd, that job is killing you man, take some time off

Pursuant to Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 683.011 motor vehicles, aircraft, watercraft or outboard
motors abandoned on public or private property can be taken into custody by a law
enforcement agency. The agency with custody can use its assets or outside contractors to
remove, store, send notice and dispose of the abandoned watercraft (Tex. Bus. & Com. Code §
683.011(b)). When taking an abandoned watercraft (or other vehicle) into custody the law
enforcement agency is required...

Well that could be a deal breaker, depending on the definition of Abandoned.

If I was scouting the area and saw birds and wanted to hunt it....then saw the boat blind I would just setup next/close by. The owner of the boat would have to move( unassumingly if I'm there first)or watch me get a hunt in. I would have very little patience for any of his verbal cries about me setting up close. A fisticuff could brake out!!

I wasn't even remotely worked up...silly questions get silly answers...I can't help if wal just wants to argue.

I'm headed north in a little over a week for a few days, we'll see what happens...I still won't deal with trolling any better when I get back

I mean, if it sat overnight, wouldn't the waves and ice break the anchor line? It would just float off on it's own, right????

I can't imagine seeing this as a difficult situation!

So is this scenario leaving a boat anchored unattended over one night, a weekend, or a season? Is this water a Corps, Corps/TPWD APH, GLO, Navigable waterway, or?

A bag of corn and a call to the gw should solve this problem. Lol

If I showed up first to a blind I built you bet your booty I'll toss that stuff aside and hunt my blind One thing to show up to a group, another to show up to an illegal squatter

There is a reason for the question. Over the weekend at the coast I saw a lot of permanent blinds. I have built or helped build over a 100 blinds. I have had them burned, parts stolen, run over, hunted, crapped in ECT.

I have been considering retiring RIGHT NOW. I have also considered going back into guide\outfitting if I do. With that being said, I'd like to cater to a different clientel. I would like to provide big comfortable heated blinds with amenities. I would also like to be able to move it\them around. So to answer how long it would remain, I can't say. In this situation they would probably go out in the beginning and move several times over the season.

I hadn't intended for the conversation to go to a debate on locking a spot or not locking a spot. There are permanent blinds all of over the coast.

The intent was asking opinion on TX numbers change the rule about blinds. Can a person legally board a TX numbered vessel without the express consent of its owner. It is my opinion they cannot. that opinion could change as useful information is added.


Judd I don't know you and you don't know me. If you don't like what's on your television, you can change the channel. I have no more interest to argue with you than I would the man on the moon. I don't even know you. You call me a troll, stop biting the hook.

Channel changed....I hope you find someone to give you the answer you already know and looking for

Wal, if you're thinking about doing this with the ducktoon, may I suggest rephrasing the question, at least when making your decision.

Perhaps the question should be "How am I going to feel when I pull up to the anchored ducktoon at o'dark hundred and somebody's in it and does not want to have an ethical debate?"

Corollary #1: "Even if the law is on my side, how many hunts might I waste waiting for the warden to show up and back me up?"

Corollary #2: "Is worrying throughout the season that someone will be in the ducktoon going to significantly damper my enjoyment?" I experience this going into every public hunt and it sucks.

Don't get me wrong, I love the creativity and outside-the-box thinking just trying to help keep it real

I wouldn't leave the ducktoon out there. I am positive the prop, battery, lights, chairs ECT would be gone.

My idea might be a lockable blind built on an old pontoon boat. It would be difficult at best to get into. Somebody earlier posed the question that makes more sense. It was what are you going to do to when there is a boat parked next to it.

This is also different than on lake x. We are talking 50 miles of back country shallow lakes on the bay. There is a lot of ground out there. It's not like a lake that has very little space.

With a couple of these I could move them easily with an Airboat. If I were to get back into running trips I would be near or in these blinds everyday.

On another note there is a rather large movement to do away with permanent blinds on the coast. These would be removable with ease. I read 2cool all the time. Fishermen are increasingly speaking out against permanent blinds on the bay. Some get downright nasty. They contend they own the land too and don't like seeing these structures all over the bay. Although I don't think they are ugly, I do agree they own the land too and have the right to voice their opinion. I would imagine it womt be long before the state says, no more permanent blinds.

To add to that. A dozen maybe 15 years ago there was a series of blinds on the south shore of east matty bay. They were sunken pit blinds. These blinds had 3/4 inch fiberglassed plywood tops with a 1 x4 lip around the edges. It made a water repelling seal for the blind. A metal pipe went through a hole in the top, though a hole in the blind and was secured by a bear claw lock. There were several shotgun blasts all over it where someone was attempting to get in. They tore it up a little but were not able to get in. It seemed like a lot of work on the builder and the guy trying to get in, compared to sitting on a bucket in the brush.

Im sure its strategically placed in a good spot. If blind was in the same spot for more than one weekend and they shot birds out of it consistently, damn right I would hunt it. Now if they bring it in every friday night and there plan is to motor up to it sat am, then I would look at it as there spot.I would be like thats bad-anus great idea and move on. Anyone who would do this knows there would be consequences Im sure. few F bombs and whining. Being they took the time to build it and scout to put it a good area to compensate for more than one wind direction, I would think they are veteran hunters and could be reasoned with.My 2 cents. Knowing that a North Texas reservoir gave out 600 permits with guest in 3 days makes for a solid public season......LOL

600 permits with guests. Wow

Where your hunting is under the General Land Office and your floating blind as described is going to fall under the definition of a "vessel". It would take a Lawyer to understand all of it to find your loophole. And in all honesty, people hunting from your floating boat blind would be the least of your worries. Nor would you need to worry about any of the below agencies deaming it abandoned, derelect, navigation hazard, nuisance, etc. I predict within a week of placing it on the bay unattended, it would be stolen one night, cut up, and sold as scrap metal before you ever knew it was gone. You would have a lot less headache by just building your own fixed blinds and using tactics like having a removable floor, padlocks, etc.

https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/ADV-Docs/TEXAS_ADV_Legal_Review_2015_NOAA_MDP.pdf

"The State of Texas does have a formal program for dealing with both abandoned and derelict
vessels under the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act (Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 40) that is
administered by the Texas General Land Office through Administrative Codes. These codes
address the taking, removal and disposal of abandoned and derelict vessels while also
addressing the right of ownership. Vessel registration and titling are administered by state
statutes under the purview of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department; while the Department
of Motor Vehicles also has specific statutes that deal with nuisance or “junked” watercraft."

I talked to a guide down on the coast last night. He has reports of blind wars going on right now. Blinds are getting burned at an astonishing rate. This has gone on for years. I see in our very near future, blinds on the coast will be a thing of the past. I am trying to think ahead of that game. I am not apposed to blinds, at all, as I have had a hand in building well over a hundred blinds. If you read the fishing forums there is a growing number of people that hate them. They are downright verbal about how unsightly they are. Be it I know whats in the future for these blinds, I want to be ahead of the game. The floating, moving blind might be the answer. That way I can stay mobile and under the birds. I would imagine it would be safe enough for the weekend but would have to be removed while I am gone. I don't know the answer but I do know, blind burning and fighting over an area is about 12 year oldish/selfish as it gets.

On another note I saw a blind down there that has a security wall. The hole front of the blind is on hinges. When they leave they fold the front of the blind back until hits the back wall. It is then chained to the rear wall and locked. Pretty ingenious design if you ask me.

Lake Grapevine......... Quite a few hunters on opening day but fewer and fewer as the season progresses. Second split, there's been times I've been the only one on the lake.

Based on what I've seen, most of the permits are never used.

Wal, your comment about a moving floating blind being the answer, I'd bet there's an opportunity to sell a few ducktoons.

I hunted out of a houseboat a few years back down in Plaquemines on a hunt hosted by Stewart & Stevens. We slept on the boat and used it as a base to get to the blinds which were welded angle iron sitting on blocks of foam like a boat dock. They towed the blinds to the hunting spots before the arrival of guests. Impressive operation, to put it mildly.

I have a friend that makes 2 or 3 a year and sells them. He stakes his out on Lake X and leaves it all season. He has an edge that I don't have being he is a retired Federal Game Warden. He has had zero problems with people tampering. I will say the lake he puts it, is not known as a waterfowler's dream destination.