“On the Ebb” - Black duck hunting film by Field & Stream

J. Overland said:
What Steve has said above is absolutely correct. As a NY resident (but not a LI resident) it has been somewhat infuriating learning how/where to hunt LI. LI has a late season that lasts almost an entire month past when my local season has closed. The variety and number of ducks is also remarkable. Trying to figure out how to access places is frustrating beyond words. I've spent many, many hours driving all over LI, searching Google Earth, and looking through various Town regulations, as well as calling DEC officers.

I want to be legal at all times. Unfortunately, information on where to legally duck hunt on LI is very challenging to locate. There are several areas such as Captree where the boat ramp and access is fully legal and well known. Unfortunately it is often not the greatest hunting. I did locate one new-to-me legal access this past season and will continue attempting to navigate LI access in the years to come. It's the only place I know of that is so, so restrictive on a Town by Town basis.
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And even at Captree - State owned and open to all - they add restrictions that preclude my gunning boats: No craft under 14-feet LOA (my Sneakbox is 13'5" - as are South Bays and the classic 13' Whalers) and no manually-propelled craft (my Great South Bay Scooter is 15'9").

As I have often observed, regulation (of a wide variety of activities) is absolutely necessary in our society - BUT good regulation is very, very difficult to achieve. The Law of Unintended Consequences is always lurking nearby. State Parks set their launching regs at Captree with the wrong people/experience/knowledge on the team.

All the best,

SJS
 
Steve Sanford said:
And even at Captree - State owned and open to all - they add restrictions that preclude my gunning boats: No craft under 14-feet LOA (my Sneakbox is 13'5" - as are South Bays and the classic 13' Whalers) and no manually-propelled craft (my Great South Bay Scooter is 15'9").

As I have often observed, regulation (of a wide variety of activities) is absolutely necessary in our society - BUT good regulation is very, very difficult to achieve. The Law of Unintended Consequences is always lurking nearby. State Parks set their launching regs at Captree with the wrong people/experience/knowledge on the team.

All the best,

SJS
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Wow! In all my attempts to be fully legal, somehow I missed those guidelines. I've launched a scull boat (without taking a motor with me) as well as a kayak there, on numerous occasions. I've never had any trouble and have certainly been observed by official craft. Dumb laws are dumb...but still binding.
 
J. Overland said:
Wow! In all my attempts to be fully legal, somehow I missed those guidelines. I've launched a scull boat (without taking a motor with me) as well as a kayak there, on numerous occasions. I've never had any trouble and have certainly been observed by official craft. Dumb laws are dumb...but still binding.
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It has been years since I first read that sign. Perhaps they have changed it? I will look next time I am on LI.

All the best,

SJS
 
Steve Sanford said:
Eric~

One of the amazing circumstances is that almost all of the saltmarsh that is not attached to the mainland is public land. It is open to waterfowl hunting on a first-come, first-served basies.



SJS
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That is good to hear! I know that Maine and Massachusetts, and I think also NH, CT and RI, all benefit from old Colonial laws that allow a public right to "fish, fowl or navigate" anywhere in the intertidal zone, no matter who owns the land above high tide. The only restrictions are distance from houses and other areas closed to hunting by law. I've been to at least one place in Massachusetts--to striper fish, not hunt--where we encountered a "Private Intertidal, No Public Access" sign, and on a busy Saturday said sign was being enforced by a very busy town official. I'm not sure what the history there is. I was fully prepared to get a ticket in the cause of enforcing the rights my ancestors got from the King of England, but we were in my BIL's boat. As a product of Florida--and the guy with the expensive boat subject to seizure if it was used in fish and game violation--he took me around the point to another chunk of unposted marsh.
 
Jeff Reardon said:
That is good to hear! I know that Maine and Massachusetts, and I think also NH, CT and RI, all benefit from old Colonial laws that allow a public right to "fish, fowl or navigate" anywhere in the intertidal zone, no matter who owns the land above high tide. The only restrictions are distance from houses and other areas closed to hunting by law. I've been to at least one place in Massachusetts--to striper fish, not hunt--where we encountered a "Private Intertidal, No Public Access" sign, and on a busy Saturday said sign was being enforced by a very busy town official. I'm not sure what the history there is. I was fully prepared to get a ticket in the cause of enforcing the rights my ancestors got from the King of England, but we were in my BIL's boat. As a product of Florida--and the guy with the expensive boat subject to seizure if it was used in fish and game violation--he took me around the point to another chunk of unposted marsh.
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You're correct Jeff, the states you mentioned all have some sort of public right to use areas below the high tide line. I've hunted quite a bit on the coast of all of the New England states except NH.

My experience in MA has been all good when actually hunting, not so much at the boat launches. On the Cape, we sometimes hunt from the beach. Folks out for a walk will sometimes saunter right up for a chat, which I'm glad to do since it helps non-hunters see hunters in a positive light. My dogs have always been very friendly, which also helps. Hunting there since the 70's, I have yet to meet an anti or have anyone scream at us for hunting on "their" beach, marsh, mud bar etc.. The gun laws there suck however.
 
Thanks everyone for the info. I guess I could summarize it by saying hunting is open to the public, have a boat that can safely navigate the waters, and good luck finding a place to launch if you aren't from around here. Like so many other places hunting just isn't an option unless you have contacts or pay a guide.
 
Eric Patterson said:
Thanks everyone for the info. I guess I could summarize it by saying hunting is open to the public, have a boat that can safely navigate the waters, and good luck finding a place to launch if you aren't from around here. Like so many other places hunting just isn't an option unless you have contacts or pay a guide.
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See! Now you have another reason to visit us up here on Long Island! Just bring yourself I got the fleet ready ;)
 
SJ Fairbank said:
You're correct Jeff, the states you mentioned all have some sort of public right to use areas below the high tide line. I've hunted quite a bit on the coast of all of the New England states except NH.

My experience in MA has been all good when actually hunting, not so much at the boat launches. On the Cape, we sometimes hunt from the beach. Folks out for a walk will sometimes saunter right up for a chat, which I'm glad to do since it helps non-hunters see hunters in a positive light. My dogs have always been very friendly, which also helps. Hunting there since the 70's, I have yet to meet an anti or have anyone scream at us for hunting on "their" beach, marsh, mud bar etc.. The gun laws there suck however.
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Brings back memories SJ. I grew-up hunting the Cape in the late '60s, early '70s. I never realized that the Colonial New England tidal laws didn't exist everywhere until we moved to the Chesapeake. It was quite a shock.
If you want to read a funny story about coastal Cape Cod gunning and "issues" back at the landing, read Steve Mulak's 'The Naming Of Sawbuck Point.'
 
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