Not from where I sit

Eric Patterson

Eric Patterson

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A duckhunting magazine, Waterfowl & Retriever, showed up unannounced today in my mailbox. While eating dinner I perused the article A Disturbing Trend where it cited a USF&WS survey,

The number of migratory bird hunters dropped a whopping 22 percent in just the past five years.
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That stat may very well be true nationwide but I say without hesitation the number of hunters using public land in my area has dramatically increased over recent years. Maybe N. AL is an exception to the rule, maybe the amount of available hunting area has significantly reduced thereby increasing hunter density, or maybe even fewer hunters are actually spending more hours afield but whatever the total numbers are I definitely see more participation waterfowlers every year.
 
Saturday morning, Blake and I got up at 4:30 to pop across the lake to where we wanted to hunt. We did this because last year we didn't take off till 5:30 and all the good spots were taken. Saturday we were the only ones hunting the lake and it was the OPENER. Rutgers and I spent Sat. night and went across at 6:30 and we were the ONLY hunters on the lake Sunday. Granted, it was hot but there was some shooting we could hear from other lakes. I've read those stats for the last few years but it sure didn't seem like it with the competition. You may be right about less land available so it's squeezing more people into smaller spots.
 
Eric,

I think it tends to cycle in the areas I hunt. There are a couple real popular marshes close to home that seem to most always be crowded at least on the weekends. I tend to stay away from these and find my spots along the local rivers. Some years spot "A" seems to draw the other hunters while next year it is spot"B". I've seen this during the times I was heavily into bow hunting for deer.

Some of the spots I have historically duck hunted are shrinking, not from lack of water but from shoreline development. In order to comply with the 200 yard safe hunting rules, the capacity of any given spot to hold a given number of hunters is decreasing by one or two rigs each years. This either forces them to find a new location or crowd closer together at the present location. I'm sure some of the "hunter migration" I'm seeing is from this effect.

Lee can consider himself lucky if he only has to get up at 4:30am. I would say that on average if you go to a recognized duck hunting destination, here in the state of Iowa, there will be at least two rigs leaving the boat ramp at midnight, which is the earliest our law allows. Then there will be a lull till around 3:am when a couple or three more arrive. The main push will be about a hour and half before legal, right up till time.

Course then you always have your straggler which arrives ten minutes into the day and motors around for the next 45 minutes looking for a spot to squeeze into. Can you see why I stay away from the well know spots,,, hehe!

Cheers and happy hunting.

 
Our regular season hasn't opened in OH yet. The past 2-3 years the public area I typicaaly hunt has seen dramatically increased use. Three seasons ago my now 4 yo lab was 1 and wenon his first duck hunt. I got there about 1 hour before shooting time. I was the only vehicle in the lot. When I left there was one other vehicle and they were squirrel hunting. There were a handful of other hunters on the lake.

The past two years that lot has been full by one hour before shooting times. I can still find a good spot but, I need to get further out. I've been hunting in a spot where the boats can't get to. Hitch in an airboat could get there but you don't see many of those in OH.

It isn't a big problem now getting up earlier. It was when I worked until midnight with an hour drive home. I still get ther at the same time and walk further to get seclusion. I just don't trust people I don't know. It takes all the fun out of it worrying about someone walking up on you.

Tom
 
# of hunters is confusing. When times are good, and you come to arkansas to hunt with me, and maybe mississippi to hunt with someone else, and hit pool 9 up north, and then hunt in alabama, your 4 hunters. But when things suck, you don't drive to other states to not kill ducks. Ergo you go back to being one hunter. Used to think nothing of having 3 liscenes, and on a promisng roadtrip buy another one. first time in 3 years Ive even bought a ms liscene, and i did that for a big dove shoot... so for the first time in 3 years, im 2 hunters. travis
 
Travis makes a good point I used to have VA, DE, and ME licenses w/ waterowl stamps etc. Now it's just ME. I wonder how many people simply aren't travelling as much?
 
Travis makes a good point I used to have VA, DE, and ME licenses w/ waterowl stamps etc. Now it's just ME. I wonder how many people simply aren't travelling as much?
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Same here. I buy full season tickets for GA,AL, and a week long pass for MS.
 
That stat may very well be true nationwide but I say without hesitation the number of hunters using public land in my area has dramatically increased over recent years.
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To quote what someone here said a long time ago (yeah, I know they didn't actually coin the phrase):

"There's lies, damned lies, and statistics."
 
Eric, Unfortunately for us, our distance from Atlanta and Birmingham puts more pressure, i.e. hunters, on our resource up here.

As you know it didn't used to be that way, but when we were in high school, Atlanta and B'ham weren't nearly the size Cities they are today.
 
Accordig to statistics in MN, hunter numbers are down. Heard the same about Wisconsin but have not seen the numbers. I went out to the Northern WI opener where Iwould usually run into a fair number of rigs in the swamp. I was going to be late so I took my Hoefgen figuring the good spots would all be taken and that I would have to paddle upstream where the bigger rigs can't go. I get out to the swamp around 8 am (for a 9 am opener) and find I am the only one in the swamp. I recheck reg to ensure that this area was still classified nothern zone (it was), I then check the dates (had the right date) and then recehcked the opener time (9 am it was). I was then concerned that this particular township had outlawed hunting so I called the local CO who had a good laugh over my concern. He confirmed that everything was cool and to have a good time.

Went out the following day and same thing - only this time one other group showed up later than me.

Our typical southern zone huting area was more crowded than normal but I attribute that to the area being clsed beginning in 2009 and it is the only decent hunting spot within a couple of hours from the Twin Cities.

I know of many who have just tired of hunting. These are the guys who if they don't shoot at a duck consider the trip to be a total waste of time and money. I'd bet these are the guys who are not out in the field this year.

I'm purchasing 5 licences this year, MN, WI, ND,SD and Canada. Man, that's a lot of money. I'll have to use the 3 price rule with the wifey: 1. The price I paid for all the licenses, 2. The price I tell the wifey I paid, and 3. The price I'll pay when she finds out the price I paid..

Mark W
 
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