Page 1 of 2

Public Water (Oxbows and Streams) in MS

Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 11:33 pm
by Wingman

Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 11:50 pm
by legends of the lower mars

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 10:13 am
by Po Monkey Lounger

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 3:30 pm
by Roach

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 8:49 pm
by dawg-n-duck

Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 3:01 pm
by Wingman
Re-read the other long thread and I pretty much explained everything I know about it there. http://www.ducksouth.com/phpbb/viewtopi ... ght=oxbows

All I know is that every oxbow is different. I just checked the topo on one particular one, and the natural bank is 3500 feet through the willows from where the water is now. Let the river rise a little and all of this will be submerged. You can look on a satellite map and see the difference in vegetation. You can really tell where the natural bank is way back in the timber. That 3500' feet of timber is willows that have grown up in what used to be the bottom of the old channel. You've got to remember that some of these oxbows were created by man back in the 30's and 40's. There's 70 years of siltation and timber growth in the old river bed. The deepest parts of the channel are what holds water in the summer but the winter rains will innundate that timber that has grown in the exposed bottom. When it's dry, you can't walk through that timber, but when it's wet, you can legally wade or float anywhere in there. When the water gets higher than the bank at that 3500' mark, going past it will be trespassing. Floodwater that is outside the natural banks is not public water. The bottom isn't flat; in some cases it is in steps. The outside of the bends are the deepest and the inside is the shallowest. The outside natural bank will usually be very obvious...a very sharp rise in elevation from the water level. The inside will be more subtle because of years of silt deposits in the slower moving current when the river used to run through what is now the oxbow. Get a good topo map or even better, topo software that you can zoom in and see the lines of elevation. It will be very plain in most cases where the earth drops off sharply into the old river channel.

This diagram is rather silly, but this is what I'm talking about.

Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 10:22 am
by Roach

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2006 2:31 am
by Wingman

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2006 10:52 am
by DUKLUVR
WINGMAN and the Q'S asked and answered have provided good information that will allow everyone to feel confortable in their outings.

Everyone knows what and how to do. If we choose not do it right the only thing to do is say, WHUT? WHUT? WHUT?.....

Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 4:07 pm
by Po Monkey Lounger

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 6:51 pm
by Wingman

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:18 am
by CW

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 11:22 am
by Wingman

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 11:47 am
by CW

Wingman, I have a question

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 10:07 pm
by Dukelane
What if you own private property , not accesible from a public waterway but does have a drainage ditch that runs through the middle of the property that will flood up, and other people own tracts of adjacent properties say north and south of you, can they and their guests put in on their property and cruise on down hunting?