Selfish thoughts during waterfowl season

Blake K

Blake K

Active member
Since acquiring and developing my 88 acre moist soil property approximately 17 years ago, I constantly pray that the local river(about 300 yds from my property) doesn't flood, and if it does--pray it recedes quickly. Before acquiring my property, I constantly prayed that the river would flood and stay flooded the entire waterfowl season. You see if the river doesn't flood, then I am basically the only shallow water property around for many miles. In fact I am the only truly managed wetlands in at least a 20 mile circumference.

The reason I bring this up is that we had an about 2" of rain two nights ago and the river is coming up. Several of my buddies have been texting me all excited that the river may flood. Dont get me wrong-I love to hunt the flood waters but despise the rat race which occurs. I must be getting old, but I feel a little selfish/guilty not wanting it to flood which in turn would give other hunters options of places to hunt. It is really nice to be able to waterfowl hunt and not hear the constant gunshots of others. Another good thing for me is that with no flood waters, I don't have hunters trying to hunt or scout near my property which keeps the traffic down to a minimum.

Is this wrong of me?

This leads me into this--What selfish thoughts do you have during waterfowl season?
 
Batter up! HHEEEeeeHHHHEeeeeeHHHEeeeeee



To quote my late great mentor. "If ya gotta ask ya already know."

Was also taught without all the other hunters supporting waterfowling, it's doubtful we would be waterfowl hunting at all.

Don't know if it's selfish, but sometimes ya like em, and sometimes ya don't. Pretty much like family.


Flooded wetlands in flood plains holding birds makes me smile, no matter the season. It just seems natural.

Having never owned property I cannot chime in on that. Yet can understand to a degree. If a balance can be reached then all the better. Conservation organizations have been working on that balance for a longtime.


My selfishness is I want to see waterfowl, and the older I get the more important that is.


my 2 cents
 
You're invested differently than most people for starters.

If anti-hunters setup an ice-eater and corn-pile which affected all nearby hunters I would not approve. If duck-hunter has most favorable habitat in an area that produces nicely and he elects to hunt only twice a month holding birds for weeks that's fine.

It's a matter of perspective. If duck-envy is a thing, duck-guilt can be too. Bringing it up seems like a sign of solid ethics. I hope it goes just right for you.
 
How much time and money have you invested in this property? There is your answer? Not at all unreasonable hoping you are the only one able to hunt YOUR property.

Here i something that may affect you. In WI, anything up to the high water mark over the past 100 years is huntable. If it floods once and then never does again, that property that was once flooded is considered huntable to the public. And here is the worse part, if there is a structure (land for instance - might have to be a man made structure not sure) in-between the old high water mark and your property, the public can walk over or around the structure and still hunt it.

So yeah, I'm on your side.

Mark
 
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Well the water never did get as high as everyone thought which kept hunters away. Unfortunately the birds I was holding decided to leave Thursday. Here's to hoping some new birds decide to move in midweek with the stiff NW winds projected!
 
Blake, if I had what you do, I would have thought I died and went to duck hunting heaven. I'm glad you are having a great time. Remember that if the river floods, that is great for the waterfowl because they are finding lots of food to eat.
Al
 
Mark W said:
Here i something that may affect you. In WI, anything up to the high water mark over the past 100 years is huntable. If it floods once and then never does again, that property that was once flooded is considered huntable to the public. And here is the worse part, if there is a structure (land for instance - might have to be a man made structure not sure) in-between the old high water mark and your property, the public can walk over or around the structure and still hunt it.

So yeah, I'm on your side.

Mark
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I have ancestors who came to the US from England because they hunted on "the lord's land" to feed their families, which made them criminals. The migrated to New England rather than going to jail,

Here is New England, they and others like them enacted various "public trust" laws to provide access to and public ownership of fish, wildlife, and navigation rights.

Those public trust laws in their current post-colonial form as state laws protect access to fish and game for anyone who buys a license. I'd be unable to hunt most of my coastal spots without Maine's law that allows anyone to "fish, fowl, and navigate" in the intertidal zone, which is otherwise owned to the normal low water mark by the abutting landowner. Ditto for our "Great Ponds" law, also a colonial holdover, that provides for public access to lakes or ponds larger than 10 acres for the same purposes. Montana's stream access policy is another example--if you access from a public right of way, you can travel up and downstream on a river or stream so long as you stay below the normal high water mark.

Take those--and, for those of us lucky enough to have them, public lands like national and state forests--away from us and hunting in the US would look a lot like hunting in much of Europe. A privilege for the wealthy who own large tracts of land, and not available to those of modest means.
 
Results of this mornings hunt with my long time friend, but his first time waterfowl hunting. His smile is what is all about--Let's just say he may be hooked!! LOL

Hunts like this help ease those guilty feelings--HaHa!!

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Vince Pagliaroli said:
Hope he likes eating duck. [;)]

Jet Sleds, where would we be without em.
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We will make them into ground duck jerky, so not all bad.

Yep love the Jet Sled! Nice to be able to wade out and back to/from my willow tree island thru belly deep water and have all our gear floating inside it. It carried 2 dozen decoys, 2 pulsators, 2 marsh stools, 2 blind bags, and 2 guns this morning plus 10 dead ducks.[cool]
 
Gotta love it when it works out!
Whats that funny green headed thing on the end doing with all those cool divers????
 
Carl said:
Gotta love it when it works out!
Whats that funny green headed thing on the end doing with all those cool divers????
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It was lost and was looking for its diver buddies-lol!!
 
Results of Sunday mornings solo hunt. Hunt took well less than a hour. The 6th drake ringneck was snagged up by my friendly bald eagle. Glad I did a solo hunt, but could have had a couple more hunters and all of us would have still shot limits in well under an hour. Only 7 days remaining in duck season here so I am hoping to get a hunt or two in before duck season goes out. It is sure great to be able to hold water when the river bottoms aren't flooded.

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Congrats on a great hunt!
I love ringers, fast little divers that think they are puddlers.
 
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