Duck Blinds

Andy,

I will give you a different perspective.

I have had this conversation several times with my bro in law who is a Judge (who duck hunts by the way) and several local DNR wardens over who owns the blind and who can hunt from it.

Who bought the wood? built it, put it in the location it currently is in? Who has to legally put their name, address and DNR hunting license number on the blind? Who is gonna get the ticket if it is placed too early? Who is gonna get the ticket if it is not removed? You the guy who did all that.

That means it is phyical property which is owned by someone, as in you the builder. Comes down to the definition of ownership and how that is defined legally. Long discussion, but I will summarize it below.

Now the location is open, free for the taking, but the blind however, IS NOT!!!

If I legally leave my boat (say a sailboat, but it can be any boat I own) in open water or on the edge of the grass in the marsh. If I place the white beacon on the top of it legally marking it for night time navigation, I am legally able to leave this boat unattended in public water. Just think of any marina that has people tied up to a bouy in the bays...It is NOT LEGAL for you to board this vessel and abuse/use/do whatever to the boat. This is private property that has ownership, and as such is provided legal protection.

Your blind is essentially the same thing.

BUT, the DNR will not comment and often leave it open or vague or even offer the "first come" theory, yet for whatever reason it has NOT gone to court yet so there is no legal precident set. What has happened is the "first come" crowd has won the court of public opinion, but nonetheless it still illegally tresspassing.

You may of course, hunt the location EXACTLY in front/side/behind the blind and even if said owner would arrive, you are not forced to move. THAT is the FIRST come theory. Unfortunately in WI we have NO mininum distance one must be from other parties which would force the 2nd guy to move farther away and leave the blind open.

Now, I used to be the blind in the bay guy, but I no longer do it and I don't prefer it. I hear Ray's comment though loud and clear on the getting older part.

This issue always draws strong feelings.....hope this helps, problem is you will still lose unless you persue this legally.
 
One of the lakes that I hunt is part of a state park. there are only so many designated spots for blinds which are given out in a lottery system. You can only hunt a blind site, so hunting from shore or a boat is against the rules. The person who gets the site must build a blind or he will be inelegible the next year to enter the lottery. The rules are that anyone can use the blind on a first come basis. I do not hunt the opening morning there because I feel it is the builders right to have that time. But come the afternoon or other days I will hunt someone elses blind. I try to be courteous and respect someone elses blind. If its a morning hunt I always wait till a half an hour before shooting time and then put decoys out just in case the owner of the blind shows up. I have on occasion been hunting a blind and have had the person show up well after shooting time has started. If the guys not a jerk then join me otherwise too bad.
 
Andy,

Permanent blinds on public waters are no-no's down here in Arkansas on all but two areas. In those WMA's, the existing blinds are allowed to be used and maintained, though once one falls into disrepair in the sole discretion of the G&F, it cannot be rebuilt.

Some of these blinds are huge, and I mean big'uns, that have been around for many years. They are "supposedly" open to the public, and maps/GPS coords are on the G&F website. However, there are a great many stories of people getting into an empty blind and then being asked to leave by the "owners" of said blind who showed up at or after shooting time. Hell, we've even had the same thing happen over holes in the flooded timber. Certain individuals believe that certain spots belong to them, for whatever reason - they've hunted there for XX years, blah, blah, blah - and it entitles them to run others off. As I recall, there was a pro bass fisherman that believed he owned a certain portion of Bayou Meto. I have no tolerance for that crap, and since the WMA's are in the NE part of the state, I don't even bother going up there.

I've also hunted blinds on the Mississippi in the Andalusia chain in Illinois; back then, the blinds had a "claiming time" whereby the builders of the blind had up until 30 minutes prior to shooting hours to take the blind, no questions asked. The builders' names were on a DNR card; blinds were also inspected by the DNR prior to the season. If they were not there prior to claiming time, the blind was open to anyone. We only had one bad experience with a group that showed up 5 minutes to shooting time and told us to get out of their blind. Claimed they'd been out, set decoys, and went back to the launch. No gunning box in the blind, didn't leave anyone there with a light, no nothing to prove it.
 
"I've also hunted blinds on the Mississippi in the Andalusia chain in Illinois; back then, the blinds had a "claiming time" whereby the builders of the blind had up until 30 minutes prior to shooting hours to take the blind, no questions asked."


Hi Rick

You ought take a google satellite look at the bottoms. Man it's bad anymore. NO WATER! I've been out the past two weekends doing a little scouting. I'll bet 60% ofthe blinds sites are unhuntable.

This first picture was opening morning 2006. There was 3 feet of water in most places.

image6.jpg

Same chute. Yesterday had roughly 2" to 4" of water. The photo shows that it's a big mud flat now and this picture is a few weeks old. In the top picture the chute is a good 20 yards across. Yesterday it was it was maybe 10 yards across and I had to get out and pull the boat.

image7.JPG

It's going to be interesting to say the least if the corp of eng doesn't raise the pool a couple of feet!

Take care,

Ed L.
 
It's the lowest water I've ever seen in N. Indiana and SW Michigan. You walk across the St Joe River in spots and never get your knees wet. The same spots are usually 4 feet or so when the water is LOW! It's just crazy.
 
up here in canada nova scotia where i reside we have very similar problems on the tidals flats and bays where we hunt from tubs [jack ups or stationary] and of course blinds on shore.now we used to have permission to use a few tubs if the owners says so we would use it.But i tell it was a sure pain if we didnt get ahold of the owner and ask first and then we have to move all our gear when the owner showed up but i did it with out growning outa respect for those who have come before us and have paved the way and payed the way to build the tubs.
Me my cousin probably hunted two of the most contested pieces of water realestate in our province espeacialy on the eastern shore for 20 years we both lived there but we were outsiders still but could we come and go without being harressed YES and a HELL YES to that why??RESPECT!!! is why .we spent years gaining respect hunting the hard way from rock ledges on ice flows hunt when the big storms come in then one day having lunch on island during a blue burd day at high tide a few boats come in and have lunch with us,they all wanted to get to know these youngins who hunt so hard and put everything into it the hardway.. from that one lunchin on the bay we had permission to use 3 different tubs anytime they were not being used ,you know the story you hunt the spot for years watching the old school guys in the prime tubs take burds and your on the shore wishing it was you some day...tho you got burds but never as many...then it was you out there with the pros and now your one of them...

he who builds it it is theres repect it and the owners..i will move on always unless i have permission and know the owner..I was hunting a deer stand and buddy tried to get me to get out of his deer stand wrong it was mine he left quickly...

with the extra pressure means one good thing tho the art and the heritage of ducking is being passed on and that means we have stewarts for our fair fowl in the future...

we generaly place our tubs 200 yards apart in the bay or more...but ive gone to boats as they say and i love it more as i can hunt where most cant ...

my 2 cents worth.

shermie
 
The difference between hunting water in a boat blind and hunting public land that has a blind built on it is that the public waterway is Federally protected that anyone can hunt/use the waterway as long as it use meets certain requirements (must keep feet wet, be below the 100 yeard old high watermark, etc....)

People who build blinds on public land do not own the building as they do not own the land that the building sits upon. They may own the materials but that does not allow them the right to squat on that piece of land for the entire hunting season and using it as it fits their schedule. I don't have to own the water that my boat is on as it is federally protected in that I don't have to own the water.

I respect the builder of the blind and I have never used one as I put the blinds on my boat and hunt that way to avoid the situation described in Andy's note. But, I will not hesitate to put my boat next to the blind and hunt right from that spot. I have just as many rights to that area as the person who built a blind on public land. Or let me put it this way, the builder of the blind has no more rights to hunt that area than I have. Where I live, public hunting areas are very crowded. If every person who built a blind thought they would own that piece of hunting realestate for the season, there would be o more available areas for others to hunt as all the good spots would be gone.

Mark W
 
Eric,

A boat is a vehicle; the assumption is that the mooring is temporary (marsh) or that you have secured mooring from a licensed marina on a longer term basis. It's no different than saying "I park my car in the parking lot, and I expect that people will leave it alone."

Your comparison to a duck blind doesn't hold water for me. How can you claim title to a structure built upon public land? You can certify that you are the builder, but what document gives you an estate in the property? Can you go build a cabin at Yellowstone and claim exclusive rights to it? Or, what about a house on one of the islands in the river/lake? Or in that parking lot?

Now, if your state does not clarify with language that addresses some preference (like the claiming time I outlined below), why would people go through the process of building a blind if they have to be named on a registration card and can be ticketed? Also, with no minimum distance provision, a guy in a duckboat who sets up next to the blind can (and does) get screwed by the blind owner who wants to hunt "his" hole...because you see, the implied ownership of the blind tends to start translating over time into ownership of the land, no matter how much anyone denies that. The feeling is not, "well, he beat me here, I'm headed elsewhere", but, "stupid dumbass set up right next to my blind...sucks to be him..."

In my mind, that's the risk you take with a blind. You are investing your efforts and money to build the structure, on public ground, with no lease, ownership, etc. By building and leaving it on public ground, you are essentially abandoning it.
 
I would say in Tennessee, hopping in a blind before daylight, if it is a good blind on public water, would be a waste of time. Most of those guys have been occupying those blinds for many years and are there every day of the season. If the shooting is good, every hole in the blind would probably be full, so you probably couldn't count on an invitation to stay. I remember 27 years ago the blinds that were on the public waters that shot thousands of ducks. Same guys still hunting them today and still shooting thousands of ducks. There are lots of blinds on public waters in the region that don't get visited very often, mostly" breakfast blinds" as some call them, they don't have much luck shooting many ducks, unless the conditions are ideal.
 
Who bought the wood? built it, put it in the location it currently is in? Who has to legally put their name, address and DNR hunting license number on the blind? Who is gonna get the ticket if it is placed too early? Who is gonna get the ticket if it is not removed? You the guy who did all that.
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NOBODY WILL GET THE TICKET. Maybe someone with more knowledge of the state goverment will chime in here, but I would be willing to bet that no citation was wrote last year for early/late blinds! They are not enforced period. Also any enforcement would be coming form a warden and the hunting regs clearly state "Placement of waterfowl blinds on public land does not restrict others from using or hunting on the public land where the blind is located. Remember to be courteous of other hunters while in the field."
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BUT, the DNR will not comment and often leave it open or vague or even offer the "first come" theory, yet for whatever reason it has NOT gone to court yet so there is no legal precident set. What has happened is the "first come" crowd has won the court of public opinion, but nonetheless it still illegally tresspassing.

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I so disagree with you. A person who builds a blind may have bought the wood, screws, ie. materials. But once the blind has been constructed on public property, the materials should be public domain as well. Obviously I can't prove this to the letter of the law like you did, but I have a very hard time believing that you could get a tresspasing charge brought on you buy hunting in a permanent blind you didn't build! A blind is a permanent structure, and when you enter said property, it is to carry out a lawful activity. Your sailboat example, the only reason anyone would enter said property would be to commit a crime, such as theft. Apples to oarnges.
 
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