Hunting Etiquette in your area

Eric,

Since you asked: CT regulations; "[font=Verdana,Arial,Geneva]A hunting party shall include no more than six individuals, with a minimum distance of 100 yards between parties." Still way too close but opening days on state marshes can be a zoo. It's been a long time since I played that game. Best way was to have multiple boats spread out down the creek with small decoy sets by midnight to keep others away. Then quickly consolidate into two groups with a bit more room for the ducks to work. Not ideal, but then no one was out there with tape measures. My 100 yards may be different than what someone else called 100 yards. And is there were enough guys around who were desperate enough you could end up with someone tucked into the fragmities 40/50 yards down around a bend.
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[font=Verdana,Arial,Geneva]I do have fond memories of spending the nights in the marsh, Bogs walking around on deck listening to the ducks talking all night.[/font]
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[font=Verdana,Arial,Geneva]Scott
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You are correct, there is no "first come-first serve" law or regulation.
 
Yep, tidal area of VA you wrote about is one of the those areas that does not follow common law doctrine due to over-riding statute.
I believe, as mentioned by BenP, parts of NC are similar. I think parts of Maryland as well??
Whole different ball game in those areas.
 
None of the things being talked about are the most irritating....

FISHERMAN!!!!! At least here, they have all year to fish... yet they have no issue fishing right infront of ones decoy spread. I would imagine you could call a warden on them for hunter harassment.

To the original question. If it is legal for them to be there.. and they simply beat you to the spot... that is on you, and not poor etiquette for them to be there.
 
In Md. you as a property owner have the option of licensing your property either each year or in 3 year increments. By doing so no one can hunt directly in front of by boat or from your property. There is a yardage limit on the hunting from boat stipulation depending on body of water. On adjoining licensed properties blinds have to have a 250 yd. separation and if you were the first to put blind site right on property line other owner must move into his property to be in compliance. Within your licensed property you may note blind sites on license application. Fee for this is $20 per year or $60 in the 3 year increment. You are required to post your license numbers on property. All this is done by end of June. August 2nd there is a drawing for squatters right blind sites in each county. There are various propertys belonging to State, Nature Conservancy, Military Installations, Public Hunting Areas and previously licensed private property that squatters can,t license a blind site on. All blind sites are supposed to be marked with number and name of licensee and have to be staked in the water so that your not hunting from shore. This licenseing day numbers are drawn in a lottery system with only licensed hunters that are present able to draw. Many locations there will be over 100 people trying to get their chosen spot. Those yearly blind site licenses are $20 per site with each hunter able to obtain 2. Many people leave after drawing high numbers.
 
I think you have to do some research in Mass and in the town and county you live in to see if you do have riparian rights. The states in the northeast have some of the oldest laws because they were settled first(duh), and this can vary by state and sometimes a smaller division. I think it is more common in the states like Maryland and Virginia where there were large land grants given by the King of England. There are a few places in New Jersey where the landowner can own and control the submerged ground. The one place I know about and used to lease property in was near the Delaware Memorial bridge, but the area had been diked and that enlarged it and made it like a big tidal lake. You can navigate those areas but not hunt them without permission.

I hunt all public land. If somebody is in or close to one of my spots, I go to another. Sometimes you end up doing better anyway. But if you in fact own the ground, to me, you own the ground, just like the rest of the property. And if you don't, you don't. Good luck whatever it is.
 
I guess I stirred up some strong opinions. First, let me say that I TOTALLY agree that if you access a site by boat and hunt from the boat or below high tide, you have EVERY right to that spot for as long as you want to hunt that day. We frequently have to adjust our setup when someone gets to a spot that we hunt before we do. In our area, some, but not many people, hunt from their boats. Most use a boat to access the marsh or a piece of shoreline, then pull their boat up and hunt from shore. On a low tide, you can hunt in the public domain, but a large part of the day, you would have water in your waders. My son and I hunt this way as well. We do not use permanent blinds because we adjust our setup to the current conditions. On a low tide, we are down in the mud below the marsh grass. The specific point I was asking about is what are the local "understandings" in your area for setting in on shore (above high tide) on private property. On public property (the salt marsh), I agree first come has dibs, even if it means we row an extra half mile. The specific incident that I took issue with happened a couple of years ago. My wife's cousin has a property just a couple hundred yards south of our family's property. It is a cove with a freshwater brook entering at the apex, and it is a hotspot. Since the cousin passed away a few years ago, my son and I are the only people with permission from his widow to hunt the cove from their property, and she wants us to use it often enough to discourage strangers from trespassing. On the morning in question, when we rounded the point and headed up towards the brook (1-1-1/2 hrs before sunrise) we got flashed by lights from the shore. We rowed on in to the brookway and pulled the boat up, then I went to talk to them. They had set out a few dekes, and were set up well on shore, on private property. They made the claim that they were there first, and we should leave. I replied that we were on private property, which I had the right to hunt and they did not. I told them that we could combine and hunt together, or my son and I would take the brookway and they could continue to hunt the point (about 80 yards between, but huntable as long as the parties respect the birds). They were younger guys, by my standards (mid-twenties to early thirties). They expressed that they wanted to train their dog (which I assured that our dog would honor, but we later heard them talking about shooting sitting ducks for training). They were standing up talking to each other about what to do when shooting hours arrived and mallards started piling in. My son and I started lighting them up, while these guys were kibbitzing, including talking about the dangers of hunting around a kid (my son was 16 or 17 at the time, and has been jump shooting ducks with me since he was 3, and carrying a gun since he was responsible enough). They eventually decided that they wanted to hunt alone somewhere else and left. Later in the day, they went to ask my cousin's widow for permission to hunt there, and she told them to pound sand. I did not intend to run them off, but neither was I inclined to change locations when hunting private property. I have not deer hunted in a long time, but I tend to think in terms of, if you are on private property, you have to have permission, or at least yield to those who do.
 
I didn't read through all the posts honestly. Someone posted some sound advice.

Carl really knows this clearly and explains this subject well. I would listen....actually anyone that is hunting by private that does not know the laws.

My advise is to understand the laws in your area prior to having confrontations. I deal with this on both sides from time to time.

If the hunting/fishing spot in question is a good spot..hopefully the law works in your favor. A lot of traffic is never fun to deal with private or public.
 
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Well in that situation if they are on private property without permission then they are trespassing and you have every right to ask them to leave or call the law. But people are idiot (especially my generation) and will be jerks sometimes and just set up just into the legal zone to mess you up.

Similar story on how people are idiots and disrespectful is hunting deer with dogs is legal around here and these people will hunt on days after a rain so the paths are wet. Respectful people would tear the path up but no these guys destroyed the path which they did have permission to be on but the farmer said to not go on it wet. So after the farmer saw they did tear it up he posted his land and said you can't hunt here no more. The hunt club then set his combine on fire in the middle of the night, couldn't be proved in a court of law but everyone knows they did it. Also put nails and racks on another land owners driveway because they wouldn't allow them to hunt.
 
The situation you describe is different: they were on shore, as in above mean high tide, on private property.
Once they step foot on your late cousins property, they were trespassing and you had every right to ask them to leave the privately owned area.
If they didn't have boat blind and they had to pack it in and go somewhere else, so be it. You were within your rights.

Sounds to me like you handled it very well.
 
Carl said:
The situation you describe is different: they were on shore, as in above mean high tide, on private property.
Once they step foot on your late cousins property, they were trespassing and you had every right to ask them to leave the privately owned area.
If they didn't have boat blind and they had to pack it in and go somewhere else, so be it. You were within your rights.

Sounds to me like you handled it very well.
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I agree!
 
Phil Nowack said:
None of the things being talked about are the most irritating....

FISHERMAN!!!!! At least here, they have all year to fish... yet they have no issue fishing right infront of ones decoy spread. I would imagine you could call a warden on them for hunter harassment.


Fisherman! That is a hoot!!

Many we encounter during waterfowl season admit that they used to hunt waterfowl, but wised up. Now they fish in the fall, while the fish are lardin' up, and the bite is good.

As for the hunter harassment good luck with that... More stress while trying to enjoy the outdoors.

At times they are irksome, but are also part of the deal and crap shoot of waterfowling.

We are gettin' pretty deep into the malady called waterfowling that we all suffer from.[;)]
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Public land laws are quite different in Oregon vs. Washington. In Oregon All Beaches are public below the High tide line. In Washington property extends to the Low tide line. For Rivers in Oregon any "Navigable" river, so if you can get a canoe down it it qualifies, is public property below the high water mark. In Washington the property line extend to the middle of the river. So as long as you do not drop anchor you are not trespassing. I have lived in SW Washington for 7 years and continue to hunt Oregon because there is much more public land available to hunt and I don't quite understand all the laws yet. I agree that it is important to understand the laws as much as you can before you go anywhere.
 
Michigan has the "first come first served" approach to any blind on the Great Lakes and Lake St. Clair. It doesn't apply to blinds on inland waters. When I got into duck hunting in the early '70's, there were lots of permanent (seasonal) blinds scattered all over the place on Lake St. Clair. I even had one myself for a few years. Now I very rarely see one. Seems like everyone who wants to hunt from a blind now hunts from a boat blind.
 
Hunting the Mississippi River where I hunt is quit a bit different being a federal waterway. The following rules stop a lot of the bickering associated with hunting public areas. I'm talking the Illinois side of the river beginning in pool 16 and going south down river. The Iowa side is the wild west. There are some locations that have had gentleman agreements for decades where in August hunters will place a sign with their contact information stating they claim this spot for the current season. That has severed well up until the past few years when a number of duck blinds were burned down. That unfortunately has scared a lot of old timers that understand gentleman's way of waterfowling. Apparently some have decided the gentleman's agreement system doesn't work for them. Oh and for the fishermen the law states they must stay 200 yards away from hunting parties. The problem is most fishermen don't seem to know the law or do know and don't care about the law. I think they feel that lunker bass is hanging out under the decoy closest to my blind. The pool I live in is still open hunting because there is two islands in the pool so hunting is mainly the Iowa side. One interesting thing about hunting my pool is I live on an island which has access by bridge. There is a so called bird sanctuary on the mainland the city observes but the state does not so it's the only place you can place a boat blind that is not within 150 yards of an occupied dwelling which is another law in Illinois for discharge of a firearm. There is no law that states you have to be a certain distance from the bridge. Hmmm you say? There is a bike trail on the far side of the bird sanctuary and the law states you have to be 75 yards from the bike path. Hmmm you say? Who would be shooting towards a bike path along a highway? Now the thing is there is only one spot along the shoreline you can be legally be anchored that places you 75 yards away from the bike path and it just so happens to be right across the river from my house. Just thought it might be interesting to someone.

GENERAL WATERFOWL HUNTING REGULATIONS
1. Waterfowl hunting is restricted to legal registered blind sites, except that scull boat hunting is allowed pool wide and open hunting is allowed in the Upper Pool Area. A minimum distance of 200 yards will be maintained between hunting parties.
2. No person shall buy, sell or commercialize hunting rights either directly or indirectly.
3. No person under 16 years of age shall hunt, or attempt to hunt, on these areas unless accompanied by an adult.
4. No person shall perform any weed or brush control around any blind without receiving prior approval from an authorized Department of Natural Resources (IL-DNR) representative.
5. No hunting party shall remain in a blind after having taken its daily bag limit of ducks or more than 15 minutes after close of shooting hours on the area.
6. No person shall lock a blind.
7. All hunting parties shall hunt over a spread of at least 12 decoys. The decoys shall be staked, placed, or floating, be individually visible, be at least 8 inches long, and not be within a boat, blind or container.
8. No person shall claim, or attempt to claim a blind which is legally occupied and /or harass, in any manner, the occupants of a blind which has been legally occupied.
9. Blind builders must occupy their blind site one-half hour before the opening shooting hour each day to claim the blind site for that day. After this time, unoccupied blind sites will be available to anyone.
10. Statewide seasons, bag limits, and shooting hours shall prevail.
 
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I think Maine has the most progressive law (by my standards) to help resolve this issue, though it only applies to one relatively small, but important, area. In Merrymeeting Bay, in response to a guide/outfitter/lodge a long time ago who was locally known as "Dastardly Darton" and attempted to appropriate one of the better sections of the Bay to his clients by establishing and policing a set of private blinds, the state passed a law banning permanent blinds anywhere in Merrymeeting Bay. You can hunt where you like from a boat, and are free to put together a temporary blind with brush or cloth on other materials that can be taken back down, but nobody can "claim" a spot. It's also illegal to leave duck decoys out overnight, though, for reasons I have never understood, goose decoys can be left out permanently.

It's still a zoo because it is heavily hunted, but it's a zoo without arguments about "this is my blind, I built it". In other tidal areas, there are some permanent, private blinds. Etiquette (which, like ethics, starts where the law ends) is mixed here. In some areas I hunt, there is a general acknowledgement that the blind builder has appropriate a public resource, and that if other members of the public want to use they blind they can. Some blinds even have signs inside them to that effect: "If I'm not here, feel free to use my blind. Please don't trash it." In other places, the local custom veers more towards "the blind belongs to whomever built it", but if they are not in it, nobody would hesitate to set up nearby.

Since Maine follows the old colonial law where anyone may "fish, fowl, or navigate" below the high tide line, or on any "great pond" of more than 10 acres, waterfowling remains accessible to anyone who gets up early and gets themselves to a good spot. Our only restriction is that we can't hunt within 100 yards of an occupied structure, or 100 yards of a public boat launch.

This works well here. Most of the conflict I've ever been while hunting have been with inexperienced hunters, and best dealt with by, "How about you guys hunt with us" instead of setting up so close, or by leaving if it looked like a group we wouldn't want to hunt with. If duck hunters were more numerous and our waters were more crowded, perhaps we'd need more "structure".

I'm damn glad we don't.
 
John Bourbon and I build a box blind that we would place on the north side across from a refuge adjacent to Sandbar State Park. Along the perimeter of the refuge there would be a dozen or more blinds, but on our side, rarely more than 3, and those were not hunted much. In Vermont, public waters are to the high water mark. It is a great resource. Like Jeff commented, I would leave my name and phone number posted in the blind, along with a 5 gallon bucket. I asked anyone wanting to use the blind to please contact me so that we might avoid the frustration of arriving to an occupied blind, and also contain any trash. It worked well for us.
 
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