What would you do?

I have never tried to take someones water if they were there fishing or hunting already. I have had bass fishermen come into my decoys and I usually stand up and ask them to leave. Most have been okay about it but I have had a few that were unwilling to move. It never got super duper ugly but with those folk I usually decide to practice my drumming skills (non existent) and my awful singing skills (can make it really awful). I pick up my paddles and begin beating the side of my aluminum canoe. Usually that has been enough to get folk to leave. Usually quickly.

These days, with so many people having a short temper, I might just pick up the phone and call the game warden and let them determine if I am being harassed. If my day is going to be ruined anyway, may as well do it with law enforcement.
 
I'll make the below assessment based on the content of the video clip. For certain the video is incomplete and insufficient to accurately draw any final conclusion.

I don't know about everyone else's state, but in Alabama there is no "first-come first-serve" law on public land. Public land is just that, public. It doesn't matter who was there first. Duck hunters typically yield to another hunting party who was first, but this convention doesn't really hold up across other people doing other activities. Situations like the video could best be handled if people would respect other people's activities, rather than get territorial and combative.

In my view the fisherman was a jackass for fishing the water directly in front of the duck hunter. He should have given the hunter room and steered clear by a fair distance. I don't know if he is ignorant to space needed by hunting parties, or just put his own needs in front of everybody else's. Regardless he should have fished another location. However, I wouldn't call it hunter harassment unless his motivation was to deprive the hunter of hunting because he doesn't like hunting and the fishing was a charade. I don't think that was the case, rather it was competition by two conflicting lawful activities. In this case, if one of them was guilty they both were. The fisherman could just as easily move to another spot on the lake. No need to crowd a hunter.

On the flipside the duck hunter completely mishandled the situation and let's his anger dictate his words and action. This is a recipe for escalation. I think he had the ethical upper hand until he opened his mouth and made veiled threats about the fisherman being in range of gunshot and the hunter harassment laws are in place to keep him from shooting non-hunters. We all know you don't ever shoot in someone's direction regardless of their reason for being in front of your barrel. Good grief! The duck hunter didn't get the response he wanted from the fisherman, so he turned vindictive and motored around the fisherman to disrupt his fishing. A move out of frustration that really accomplished nothing.

At the very least the fisherman is just extremely inconsiderate of another person's activities, and the duck hunter is a hot head. I know it sucks to have your hunting interrupted, but sometimes it is best to just wait for the unpleasantry to pass, for certain it would have.

Eric
 
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There's a bass club that fishes my local river haunt that has a tournament opening day of our early first split. We call it woodie season because that's about all we shoot on river early. The bass fisherman are a double edge sword. The race to their fishing spots keeps birds moving but more than likely a boat is going to try and fish right where your sit up. Most are good enough to move once you show yourself to them. But even then they,ll drop trolling motor and start fishing again a hundred yards from you. Only saving grace is their start time is usually sunrise and most of the woodie shooting is the half hr. leading up to that.
 
I had a guy pull right up in front of me during my last season in Mobile.
Anchored and started fishing, within 15 yards of my decoys.
I stood up and politely asked him to move along.
He refused, said it was his favorite spot and it was legal for him to fish there.
I replied yes, its legal but not ethical, and he should consider ethics and common decency more than just if its legal.
He bitched and griped for minute and then pulled anchor and moved on. If he had not, I probably would have called my colleagues at DNR.
 
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Carl, you handled that the way things like this should always be handled. The results are almost always better, even if you don't get what you want at that time.

or just put his own needs in front of everybody else's


Let's just face it, when someone crowds you when you are duck hunting with decoys that is clearly what is going on. And unfortunately, that attitude has been encouraged in some parts of our society in recent years (not that it hasn't always been there).

I don't run into fishing conflicts where I am in south Jersey, at least where I hunt in the salt marsh. I did decide some years back that if someone set up too close and after knowing where they were in relation to me they weren't going to move then I would. I do this for fun, not aggravation. I've killed a lot of ducks in my day and if I don't that day it's not a big deal, hunting in the fashion I like to do it is more important than dealing with some dickhead.

Most of the people I meet out there, which is not many, are good people, friendly and thoughtful. I think most us are looking for the same thing. When you get a weenie brain and handle it like Carl, whether they get it that time or later, they usually get it. It also illustrates to them they were being childish, even if they don't admit it at the time.
 
I would have stayed where I was setup, taken a video, turned the video over to the local DNR agent for his review and let him deal with it.
 
If the hunters were set up with a stool and the guy came to fish in range, he is wrong. Forget the law, it's a split between decency and common sense. If the guy was fishing there and the hunters showed up to hunt "their spot", then it's on them to wait for him to leave to load up. Simple.
 
I've been the hunter in this scene many times over the years. On the coast when we had the sea duck season, we started hunting scoters early in October. If it was too rough to hunt from a boat, we would rig out on a breakwater or tidal rock. These spots were also popular with blackfish, bluefish and striped bass fishermen. On a few occasions more than a dozen boats arrived and were fishing along a breakwater we were on since before sunrise. Most knew what we were doing and stayed away, a few had no clue. We were always nice about educating them, I don't recall anyone arguing over the spot. Very little shooting early in the season anyway, we typically brought our fishing gear. The action of casting a large topwater plug, it turns out, is somewhat similar to flagging the birds as they can pick up any motion from a distance.

Last years version was two ladies in their kayaks, paddling about the marsh I was hunting. Beautiful, perfectly calm bluebird day. Gunner and I were in a blind with a mixed rig of blacks and mallards. Gunner likes to stand guard with his feet on the front of the blind, not exactly concealed but his coat is a great marsh grass color. Along come the kayaks, and I can hear them chatting. They stop about 100 yards away and take pictures of us, I figure they're curious about the hunters. One heads away, the other sails right into the rig, all the while snapping photos. When she's maybe 20 yards from the blind, in the rig, I say hi.....she almost jumps out of the kayak. She had no idea we were there and thought the decoys were really ducks. I've seen people fooled by decoys from a distance, but not within 10'. I suppose it's a compliment. She came ashore, I had a nice talk with her and Gunner gave her kisses so I think we made a non-hunting friend. What seemed to surprise her the most was that we would sit for several hours, shoot nothing, and still enjoy ourselves. Speaking for myself anyway, Gunner has his own thoughts on such matters.

I'm not sure how I would handle the example given in the thread, but might consider heading out for a friendly chat before declaring war.
 
ALWAYS start with polite and give everyone the benefit of the doubt. If they refuse common decency, then all bets are off for me.

Running full throttle through the area or banging on the side of the canoe like Dani does should make it pretty unfishable for a while and it's not like you're gonna kill any ducks with him fishing there anyways!
 
Good morning, All~


I just watched the clip and read through the posts. I've been lucky to have had very few such conflicts over my many seasons - but they do happen. And, we have surprised a couple of kayakers who were lured unsuspecting into our saltmarsh rigs....


I was reminded, though, of one run-in where it paid to stay on the High Road - an approach that has stood me well in general.


On this particular morning, the scene was a small nearby river - one of the spots we move to late in the season when ice forecloses the beaver ponds and small marshes we hunt earlier. The river meanders through corn fields owned and worked by a local farmer. As is our standard practice, I had arrived before my partners. It was understood that they may or may not partake of our favorite pastime on any given day - but that I could always be counted upon to hunt. And, I almost always arrived before my erstwhile companions. As it happened, I was still in my car when I saw headlights headed my way, bouncing across the chopped corn. I had not yet set the rig because it was quite early and quite cold. I had squeezed into my waders but not carried my 10 or so Black and Mallard decoys and my Model 12 to the river bank about 40 or 50 feet away. I usually set the rig just a few minutes prior to gunning when the river will be making ice on the stool.


When the new vehicle pulled up beside me I learned that it was neither of my partners but 2 other "gents" (?) and a big Chesapeake. I had met the driver many years before - but we were neither friends nor acquaintances. He emerged from his car "in high dudgeon". With no preamble and no response to my "Good morning", he announced - in a loud and menacing tone not too far from my face - that he and his partner were going to hunt there that morning with no regard for my "first come" status. Whilst he let his dog amble around me for effect, I think, he "explained" how he had hunted there for 20 years, et cetera, et cetera... I decided to say nothing at all until he had exhausted his tirade. I did not tell him that I had - at that time - hunted there for about 19 seasons.


I finally countered with: "You know, there's a different way to handle this...." I used terms like "neighborly" and "gentlemen". As I had truly not yet decided which spot I wanted to hunt that morning, I offered to go upstream about 200 yards. To his credit, he offered that his dog could retrieve any birds I might down - always a help on a flowing river. I accepted the offer and drove eastward. I still had plenty of time to rig and move my car across the cornfield.


It was still 10 minutes before legal time when I heard their first shots. I had watched a few Canadas fly toward them. I could not see if anything fell, but I was surprised that they would should so flagrantly early when they knew I was within earshot. I suppose I smiled a bit....


There was very little duck activity early on. This was surprising because it is common in this setting to have birds either fly or swim downstream into the rig before shooting time. I usually enjoy watching them right close to my decoys. I've long been impressed how well the old Herter's Model 63s resemble live birds. The 63s were Herter's "life-size" foam decoys - from the early 1950s - and are in fact just a tad smaller than our Blacks and Mallards. I like them for river gunning because over-size decoys are unnecessary and I have to carry them in, sometimes for a quarter-mile or so.


Finally, around sunrise, I noticed a pair of Black Ducks flying over the corn field opposite me, to the North. They were on the same line as the Geese had been, headed toward my "neighbors". Although I have never mastered a duck call like some of my partners have, I can often get the job done when needed. This was one of those times when everything worked "according to plan". Upon detecting my vocal entreaties, the pair altered course, turning hard to port to give my rig a closer look. They passed downstream of me and over the treetops a long gunshot away. They then made a big counter-clockwise circle over the cornfield behind me. and then re-crossed the river upstream, losing altitude all the way. As they cupped up intent on the tail of my rig, I remember thinking - pretty sure I did not say the words out loud - "This is why I hunt!".


I should explain that this year happened to be the first year in about 30 that it was now legal to take 2 Black Ducks in one day. As a young duck biologist, it had fallen to me all those seasons ago to explain to Long Island's waterfowlers why we could shoot just a single Black Duck each day - even though the species was by far our most common puddler. I am happy to report that my old Winchester had not forgotten how to shoot 2 Blacks Ducks in a single "at bat". The first bird fell dead right outside the decoys. As I swung on the second bird I recall thinking: She's going to fall mid-stream and will be tough to retrieve in this current. I will have to take my new "friends" at their word. So, she, too, died in the air. I did not need the "Perfect Repeater's" third shot.



Walking is treacherous on the cobble bottom, in a current that is maybe 4 or 5 knots. One needs to replace the firearm with a wading staff to try to stay upright on the slippery stones. Thus, I did what I usually do. I "ran" along the bank as quickly as I could, then - after rapid computations involving vectors and the "coefficient of reckless rambling" - plunged into the water and tried to make my way out into the thigh-deep midstream waters in time. In this case, the duck was quicker than I. I abandoned her to the current and the downstream Chesapeake and easily grabbed the nearer bird. I then proceeded to pick up the stool and trudge across the cornfield with all my gear. I had a thoroughly enjoyable hunt and had no need to wait longer for a Mallard or two.


After extricating myself from my neoprene prison and firing up my Honda Element, I drove down to the lower rig. Sure enough, I was greeted wordlessly by the younger hunter, holding my second bird up by the neck. I could not tell whether his demeanor was intended as a flourish - proud of his dog - or maybe a bit sheepish.


As sharp eyes will know from the Salt Hay, this is not the pair, but you get the idea..... I grinned all the way home - and probably the rest of the day.


Bio 04 - A - Biology - Black Duck pair.jpg



Oh, and I shot my first-in-30-years Black Duck double on Long Island a couple of weeks later. (They could be the pair shown above.)



All the best,


SJS

 
I like Mr. Sanford's style in this as in most things. Since I could never muster it, nor the ability to be cheerful while being ranted at, my general approach is to hunt spots as remote as possible and when that's not possible always have a Plan B in mind in case someone has the same Plan A and gets there before me.

My most egregious personal sin in such an encounter may be instructive. My normal home wood duck hole is a ~1/2 mile walk to a small pond where I keep a canoe. I tend to avoid it on opening days and weekends when there might be another party or two on it, although it's plenty big to support 2 parties and big enough for three if they think about how to spread out.

On this morning I expected no such competition, found nobody else parked at the access trail, and saw no other lights on the far side of the pond where another trail comes down to the shore. But halfway across the pond on my paddle--in the dark, as there was a little moon and the stars were bright--my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light (apologies to Paul Simon) that split the night. It was a big side by side ATV with blinding lights on the front end, parked at water's edge not far from where I intended to sit. The lights stayed on as the two occupants set their decoys in the blazing light. It was literally strip-mall parking lot bright on their end of the pond.

As I said, the pond is big enough for two, so I altered course towards my Plan B spot. I was a little late getting there, and by the time I set 3 woodies and 4 black ducks and hid the canoe and got my face mask on it was pretty close to legal shooting and the other party had turned off the light-of-ten-thousand-suns and were sitting behind a quick brush blind. (They had not moved the side by side next to the pond edge. Perhaps they thought, since it had a nice shiny woodland camo paint job, the ducks would assume it was a small cubist clump of trees in the middle of the cattail marsh.) I unfolded my little stool and sat down and reached into the canoe for the gun case--and realized that I had left it back on shore when I launched the canoe.

So, not wanting to be "that guy" and be out in the middle paddling back for my forgotten gear just as the ducks started to fly, I resolved to sit where I was, let the ducks work to the other party, and wait until they were picking up birds before I ventured across.

For the next 30 minutes wood ducks, along with a few teal and 2 solo black ducks, just poured into my decoy spread. Most of them circled the pond on their way in, passing high over the other party, and landed within 25 feet of where I was sitting. At one point there were over a dozen birds down on the water around my decoys--the biggest group of wood ducks I have ever had in the spread. Not one of them had given even a passing look at the other decoy spread. Every once in a while I'd stand up to take a look and scare them all off, hoping that one or two might stray into the other decoys and give me cover to boogie over and get my gun. No such luck. After more than an hour, as the birds kept ignoring them and coming to me--the mysterious duck hunter who never bothered to shoot--they finally packed up and left. At that point I figured the flight was pretty much over, so I picked up my decoys to do the same.

As I landed across the pond, still standing on shore, the duck flights resumed, and this time they were settling down about 50 yards down the shore from me. I grabbed the shotgun from where I'd left it, along with two wood duck decoys, and walked down the shore to the spot, putting up the 4 woodies who had settled in. I tossed out my two dekes, sat on a stump surrounded by alders, and put three shells in the gun. The four ducks circled the pond, swung over my head, and on the second pass two of them dropped in. I took one of the pair and was contemplating a going away shot at the other when I saw that the two that didn't land were still circling. So I sat back down, let them work, and took a second on the next pass.

I asked around among my neighbors and duck buddies--I usually know anyone else who is hunting in there--and I never got any intel on who the other party might have been. If I could have found out who it was I would have introduced myself, apologized, and invited them to come back with me some time. Alas, I never found out. I suspect that somewhere they are still ranting about the anti-hunter with magic decoys who broke the hunter-harassment laws to ruin their duck hunt that day.

First time I had ever hunted either of those spots on that pond. They have now become my go-to Plan A and Plan B.
 
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