What’s not so pleasant is sitting quietly in a duck blind and having steel shot from an unscrupulous group of waterfowlers rain down on you like a hail storm.
Such was the case a few years back while hunting a state wildlife area near Sacramento, California.My group managed to navigate the early-morning fog deep into this increasingly popular piece of public land, after which we set up decoys and waited for shooting time to commence.
We made our presence acutely known, talking loudly and waving our flashlights in every direction. Soon, another group of hunters, apparently oblivious to our presence (that’s my diplomatic interruption, anyway), set up 50 to 75 yards from us in the same hole.
At shooting time, a flock of widgeon, if memory serves, wheeled in the morning sky right between us, and a rapid volley of shotgun blasts echoed across the marsh. We didn’t fire a shot, but our friends certainly did, sending nontoxic pellets into our blind.
“Incoming,” someone yelled. We all scrambled as the pellets started to land.
The short story: Hunting public land is a self-regulating enterprise, and we regulated the situation. Still, we got lucky; the above mini drama was an accident, perhaps even a serious one, waiting to happen.
Hunter etiquette, especially on crowded public areas, often defines a quality field experience. It takes but one bad apple—in our case, a group of three hunters—to sully an otherwise perfect morning.
To avert such problems, I asked Scott Terning, Delta Waterfowl’s director of recruitment and education, how hunters should comport themselves on public hunting areas. Here are some of his tips and/or thoughts:
# Treat other hunters with respect. If you want to be treated well, treat others in the same fashion. In other words, observe the golden rule. Bad behavior begets bad behavior.
# First come, first served. If another group of hunters gets to “your” spot before you do, find another place to hunt. Don’t encroach on other hunters, period.
# No sky-busting waterfowl. Learn your maximum effective range and respect the birds and other hunters around you. Sky-busting, after all, is a recipe for wounding losses.
# Do not call ducks working another group’s spread. That’s dirty pool.
# Do not block public boat launches by being ill-prepared. Make sure your gear is loaded and your boat is ready to go before you launch it. Time is of the essence. Also, make sure your truck and boat trailer are parked in the appropriate spot—you don’t want your rig in the way.
# Plan ahead and have multiple options for a public hunt. You might find someone who has the same plan as you do.
# If you’re a guest at your friends’ favorite public honey hole, don’t go back there without asking permission first. And never, ever bring someone else there. That’s a no-no.
# Don’t be late. Show up for the hunt at a reasonable time. You don’t want to infringe on the hunt of others by being tardy.
# Pick up all trash and spent shell casing—even if the trash and spent shell casings aren’t yours. Leave your public area in better shape than you found it in.
Many of these people are "oblivious" to these common sense rules of etiquette and others just don't care. Hopefully more hunters will see and follow these rules.
ReplyDeleteUnfortuneatly, the story of raining steel shot is all too familiar to me. Same thing happend to us south of Calgary in a public area. There is no way these guys didn't know we were there. It was an evening hunt and they walked right past our set up and said hello.
ReplyDeleteA father sent his teenage son racing past me to reach a "honey hole" before I arrived there at a state refuge many years ago. That's the type of waterfowling heritage we hope to avoid. Sadly, those who take the time to read a publication like Delta Waterfowl are not those who need to adopt a courteous attitude toward hunting.
ReplyDeleteI had the same scenario happen on our own land by the adjacent landowner's son. I had to call the sheriff after he threatened me. Fortunately, no one got hurt and my guest still got his limit while I dealt with the situation.
ReplyDeleteMy uncle got shot in a similar scenario in ontario at hullet marsh many years ago. One single pellet went through his neck, he told me that his doctor at the time said he was very lucky to be alive. The pellet missed all vital veins and nerves. This is going back 30 years ago! Be careful lads. You can never be to safe always remember safety first.
ReplyDeleteYou need to hunt bayou meto!!! Crazy public spot in Arkansas!!! It's the wild wild west of duck hunting!!
ReplyDeleteIf you don't wanna pellets raining on you (harmless btw) then don't hunt areas frequented by the masses. Deal with it. Other hunters on public land may not regard their hunt as a highly orchestrated gentlemen's sport like you may, some may hunt more leisurely. Deal with it. Instead, why not invite a fellow hunter to join you? Then, maybe, hunters may not sound so much like pretentious whiny little bitches bickering about what everyone else is doing wrong.
ReplyDeleteStories like this make me dread opening day on public land. I hope more people read this.
ReplyDeletePerfect! Too bad the bad apples won't read it and I'll be stuck with sky busters again! Love going to out of the way places that no one hunt's. Not a big marsh that attracts ducks. I may see fewer ducks. But I can work them and not worry about someone shooting at them just because they passed with in 100 yards of there blind! It seems to be the younger crowd that does the sky busting! My expierience! I've hunted aroug some of the same guys for 30 years and don't know where they live. We just know how we act. We ask them or the other way around to take the point next to us. Just to let the birds work. We may all call but when we see who's blocks they are working, Just let them work them! It's fun to watch!
ReplyDeleteI even had a former High School principal infringe on land I had permission to hunt in SW Manitoba.. They had a smaller decoy spread but did better than our group because of our layout. Ethics can be absent from even so called professionals.
ReplyDeleteIn Quebec we used to post our chosen spot for opening day and most hunters respected your spot and gave each other a healthy margin. Today many seem to feel that a cardboard poster is a perpetual reservation for years to come. These people act in a negative fashion if they feel you are crowding them and will confront you or threaten you or otherwise spoil it for us all.
ReplyDeleteHarmless pellets! [btw] Your too close! Go find a different spot! If your pellets can reach another group, your too close! If they set up next to you,If you were there first, Rain down on them! I love my duck hunting! But nothing spoils it more than a sky buster setting up in within my site! Even if they are busting birds that I probably have no chance at!
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