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Duck hunting Sunday 11/12

3K views 22 replies 14 participants last post by  Hogheaven 
#1 ·
Went out to my duck blind Sunday morning only to find that someone had attempted to tear it down. I hunt in the marshes around Gal bay and I understand that this is public hunting, but, I can't understand why someone would do this... I built this blind back in August and have hunted it every weekend through early teal and the current season, there are no other blinds in the area. Has anyone else ever had this happen? Anyway.... patched her up and hunted anyway... 2 mottled.
 
#2 ·
My guess is you are close to one of those high dollar ranches and they want to discourage any one from hunting too close. The game wardens back them pretty good back there too so make sure you're absoutly legal when you go. (not making assumptions, just a warning)
 
#5 ·
Not in the back of Jones or Caranchua(however you spell it) We are around Chocolate. I don't think it was ranch hunters, but who knows.... Whoever did it though was a p#$$, because they did'nt do a very good job. If i'm gonna tear something down i'm gonna make sure it's tore down!
 
#6 ·
I used to hunt around Chocolate around 7 / 8 yrs. ago. Once at a huntin' show came across a guide booth that had a map of the area. Told the guy, "Hey, I hunt there" and the dude just about jumped across the table trying to tell me that anything on the south side was preserve & illegal & that he had everything leased on the northside so I couldn't hunt it. I don't think the guy was a full time guide & was trying to claim the whole bayou as his own. Maybe he was the jerk who did it
 
#7 ·
Well, one thing is for sure, there are some sorry S.O.B's out there that take fun out of everything that others enjoy. We all (most of us) can't afford a lease, and shouldn't have to. there is plenty of backwater for everyone, a little respect goes a long way. I have had run in's with some lease hunters that were A-Holes that think no-one else should infringe on "their" sky, land or water! I have to think their day will come.
 
#8 ·
They're right about that south side of Chocolate being a preserve. You can't hunt there. The North end is all lease land. Sorry someone tore your blind down and dont forget that if you biuld a blind in the water...it's first come first serve.

Dani California
 
#9 ·
Dani California said:
They're right about that south side of Chocolate being a preserve. You can't hunt there. The North end is all lease land. Sorry someone tore your blind down and dont forget that if you biuld a blind in the water...it's first come first serve.

Dani California
Remember the".....in the water..." part. If it is an open public bay or backwater lake then you better make sure that you don't setup or build on the shore, because alot of the "land" adjoining the lakes and bays is privately held and building a blind along the shore is tresspassing.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Dani California said:
They're right about that south side of Chocolate being a preserve. You can't hunt there. The North end is all lease land. Sorry someone tore your blind down and dont forget that if you biuld a blind in the water...it's first come first serve.

Dani California
So what exactly are ya'll calling "south" of chocolate? and why it may be first come first serve legally.. it is just ****** poor to jack with someone elses blind that they worked on. i know i wouldn't roll up to another's blind and climb in and just wait for someone to show up and have a possible altercation. that is just plain stupidity.

but i am curious with regards to the preserve ya'll are referring to. is there a map or a website you can provide?
Thanks
 
#11 ·
I thought as long you were in the water you were legal. If someone has built a blind in the water that does not affect any land then it's legal.....right? I think its BS that certain individuals will do whatever to make others hard work and efforts fruitless. I got off an awesome lease for this reason. The guys I thought were good guys were not so good. I have gone back to hunting the bays and have found that your not the only one that this has happend too, so for what its worth your not alone.
 
#12 ·
Same thing happend in Greens 7 or 8 years ago. I was always told that tidal water can't be claimed as private property. Had a guy tell me he was gonna burn my blind if I didn't move. Never happened.....

LW
 
#13 ·
Anything within the tide line is public - but then again landowners on the shore will argue where that tideline is. There's been court cases over this & some places have purple posts delineating where private land starts. On the issue of big box blinds out in the water. Technically it's anyone's ballgame but try & tell that to a guy who spent lots of time, money, & effort putting one up. That's when airboats run over decoys etc. Personally, I think birds start avoiding those aircraft carriers later in the year anyway.
 
#14 ·
I want you to know that I personnaly would not crawl into someone elses blind period. I wouldn't pull my boat into one either. But I know that you don't have the right to run anyone out of your blind if it is built on public water. It is first come first serve.

What I am calling the South side of Chocolate is actually the Western Shoreline to make it more definable. That is all preserve. What I call the North end is actually the Eastern Shoreline up towards Halls. That is all lease land.
If you want to hunt good federal land you need to move your operation a short distance into Oyster Lake. This is federal land and you can hunt there and no one can mess with you. When you find the roost pond don't set up on it. Cause all the early morning flyers are on the other side and don't go round the roost pond in the mornings.
I used to have the federal map which showed all the boundaries but i chunked it. I got it from TPW. They were very aware of the boundaries I was referring to and had no problem faxing me the map.
Them boys up in Halls hunt a lot of ducks. I went up into the bayou a couple weeks back and they had deeks and blinds up in the cuts. We fished a little bit and took off. They were hunting the lease and they watch it real close.

Dani California
 
#15 ·
sorry to hear that happen , about 10 years ago i worked for a hunting club and i spent most of aug and sept building blinds , never had any problem till one monring up pulls a guy in an aire boat and tells me he has hunted that cove for years and to get out of his area , i told him it was all state water . he then tells me if i dont leave he is going to blast a hole in my boat if i dont leave NOW , the gap to the cove was narrow so told him to do it , he laughed and ask how we would get back to port , i told him i would just use his boat , "how " he ask i just told him it was state water and to move on and if he blew a hole in my boat i would just put a load of #2's in him and take it back to the
gw well he left but next time we went to that blind it was burned down
 
#16 ·
texas realestate law code 11.001b states if you can get to it by boat it can be hunted fished , heck go out and have sex but dont touch the land . it is called prior appropriation , you can even go to the king ranch and if the tide is up and your boat will go then you are free to do so by law , but if tides goes out and you get stuck you my loss the boat for tresspassing
 
#17 ·
pilar said:
texas realestate law code 11.001b states if you can get to it by boat it can be hunted fished , heck go out and have sex but dont touch the land . it is called prior appropriation , you can even go to the king ranch and if the tide is up and your boat will go then you are free to do so by law , but if tides goes out and you get stuck you my loss the boat for tresspassing
True, but the new law states that no projectile can cross onto their property....might want to read up on the law before giving out information like that.
 
#18 ·
Common courtasy goes along way. I use about 6 diferent blinds in the marsh. If by chance someone beats me to them,(hasnt happened yet), they have the right to hunt it. Not Nice but thats there perogative, and in this day if I were to get upset or disrupt their hunt it is now a case of interfering with their right to hunt and now I am breaking the law. If your in a blind and the bulider shows up irate and is disrupting your hunt, Call the GW. I guarentee he/she is on the hunters side.

The very last thing I, and plenty of other peolpe want to have to deal with is a Blind burning Spree. IF this were to happen I have no doubt in my mind that some sort of permit system per blind would be the outcome, or the outlawing of blind builds. I deal with the GW every weekend I am checked up to 3 times a day, this topic has come up in our conversations.

Flexability and following the birds it what produces a solid hunt. Some times a blind is good, other times a need for sitting in the elements is whats call for.

just telling it how I see it. Everybody has a right to the bays.
 
#19 ·
if your shot is going on private property then so may your birds ! if your bird falls over the line / land then you just lost out . ps that bird goes agaist your limit
just use common sense and keep it on publice land / water ! if your dog goes over the line and you have been a pain in the *** you may have your dog gone too some laws are ment to serve the public and some to protect !!!
but choclate lake cant be owned by a private holding ... just give your self some shooting room
 
#20 ·
Hogheaven said:
Common courtasy goes along way. I use about 6 diferent blinds in the marsh. If by chance someone beats me to them,(hasnt happened yet), they have the right to hunt it. Not Nice but thats there perogative, and in this day if I were to get upset or disrupt their hunt it is now a case of interfering with their right to hunt and now I am breaking the law. If your in a blind and the bulider shows up irate and is disrupting your hunt, Call the GW. I guarentee he/she is on the hunters side.

The very last thing I, and plenty of other peolpe want to have to deal with is a Blind burning Spree. IF this were to happen I have no doubt in my mind that some sort of permit system per blind would be the outcome, or the outlawing of blind builds. I deal with the GW every weekend I am checked up to 3 times a day, this topic has come up in our conversations.

Flexability and following the birds it what produces a solid hunt. Some times a blind is good, other times a need for sitting in the elements is whats call for.

just telling it how I see it. Everybody has a right to the bays.
I agree with you 100%. If someone were to show up in my blind then its like you said first come first serve ( I may not be happy about it) but I understand it is public water; even though I would'nt hunt in a blind that someone else built unless it appeared to be abandoned(not brushed out, falling down). I don't have any understanding of someone tearing someone elses stuff up. If you have a problem with me, or where I'm hunting come talk to me or call the game warden. Tearing stuff up is chicken @#$% in my opinion.
 
#21 ·
My buddies and I had a blind along the South shore of East Matty for years that we had built and maintained over the years, brushed it up each fall and such, but knew that if we weren't sittin in it by about 5:00 each mornin then we would have to find somewhere else to hunt. There is no tellin how many times we had other people pull up on us after we were already setup and start to get a little piizzee cause they had planned on hunting that blind. Our standard reply was to invite em to join us and hunt our spread, otherwise we would direct them to several other points and coves near our blind that would produce a good hunt.

As long as there are blinds built in public areas this is gonna be an issue and hopefully whoever these idiots are that are tearin down and burnin blinds will catch a clue and ease up.
 
#22 ·
Personally, I wish permanent blinds on public waters would be outlawed, plain and simple. They are an eyesore, a hazard to navigation, and are a constant source of fights and arguments. In a sense, they are also littering.

For some reason they bestow on folks a sense of a private lease, which is a fallacy. But, this lends problems to people who hunt public water but don't want to erect an eyesore - especially when blinds are built where perfectly suitable shoreline cover exists. I have had many shorelines and points that I hunted frequently using natural cover ruined because somebody built a blind where one wasn't needed. Up here on the upper coast, birds will avoid the area all together. On the middle coast around Rockport, you can usually shoot birds out of blinds year round - but the birds learn to skirt them, providing for longer shots on the average.

The airboat guides are particularly bad about them, even to people who didn't squat in their blind, but set up near it. I have had decoys run over, been cussed, been peppered, and been threatened many times. These are times when I was there an hour before they showed up. Many times, they weren't even hunting and were still upset! Heck, I even had an airboat come park right in the middle of the spread and walk off, saying it was our fault we set up where he liked to park his boat. I've had other non-guides do those same things, but 3 out of 4 times it happens, it is guides. To be fair, ONE time, and this is the only time, I had a guide track me down at the ramp and apologize to me for the actions of his partner that morning when he heard about it. I was floored.

Now mind you, it is very rare for me to set in a permanent blind on public hunts. I'd say I do it only once or twice a year out of 40 hunts. I find them a detriment. Yet, I still have to deal with the blind owners.

It would be much easier to outlaw them, and allow people to hunt using temp blinds, boat blinds, or from the shoreline. I'm sick of not being able to take my kid out on public water because I might have to argue with some yahoo who showed up late and was upset that a spot I like to hunt is in the same cove or pond as his blind.
 
#23 ·
I'll say it agian.
Harassment of Hunters, Trappers, or Anglers (Sportsmen's Rights Act) is punishable by a fine of $200 to $2000 and/or 180 days in jail.
Parking a airboat in your spread to impead your hunt...I think would qualify.

Strait from TPWD handbook...it not just for anti hunters. I dont know of any guide that could make a living behing bars or with continual fines. All it takes is one complaint to get your point across.

Rockport leo office tpwd.
Rockport - 715 S. Highway 35, Rockport, TX 78382; 361/790-0312
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fishboat/boat/owner/office_locations/

With that said, understand that every walk of life has it worthless peicies of ________. It aint just guides, It aint just tourney fishers, ...etc.
I aint no saint but I do my best. And a freaking duck aint worth getting tempers in a rage. If it happens smile and call the gw.
 
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