Leaving decoys overnight

[steel shot]

Im just wondering if this reserves the spot for you the next day?
We got to our honey hole this morning well before daylight to find it full of decoys,is this a common practice on public water?naturally we moved on with very little success the entire morning.
Just wondering how many people do this and if anyone ever had someone set up on their decoys??

[RB]

Steel Shot....
Seems as if somebody saved you some trouble from putting out decoys.. I would have hunted it until they arrived and either asked them to join me (which you know they wouldn't) or get their decoys up so you can put yours down. Public land is just that.. public land.. nobody owns any one spot. Now if they had already arrived to claim the spot before you then courtesy would apply, which very few people seem to have nowadays. For somebody to put decoys out and leave them for the next day is kinda stupid in my book. I don't know about you but decoys are pretty expensive and I wouldn't leave mine on any public land for anybody to hunt or take home with them.

[WarEagle2002]

There are several trains of thought on that subject. I sometimes do it to hold my hole from the 'shot-chasers'. Sometimes if you leave the decoys out you have to contend with the lazy hunter that sees the decoys and says to himself 'I think I will hunt those decoys and save myself all the trouble of putting mine out' and then you have the down right rotten scoundrels that will steal your decoys if you leave them out. I personally do what you did if I see decoys out, I assume there is someone hunting them and they are actually there and move on.

[landscaper]

I believe that public land means exactly what it says, PUBLIC. No one should try to "reserve" a spot. If you've seen me slaying ducks in a particular spot and want to hunt there, get there before me or ask me which days I plan to hunt and do your hunting on the others. I don't, however, think that it is very sprotsman like to hunt over someone else's decoys. Whether it was right or wrong for them to leave them there, the fact that the decoys are there tells me that someone is planning to hunt there and I should find another spot.

I have, though, seen guys leave their decoys in a spot all season (assuming they don't get stolen). In a case like this I just might have to go against my preaching and hunt there whenever I feel like it.

A funny story on this subject: Years ago my dad left about 4 dozen decoys on the water overnight. When he got to his hole the next morning, he found that the water had frozen pretty solidly and a pack of coyotes had walked out on the ice and eaten the heads off ALL the decoys!

[steel shot]

Thats pretty funny about the coyotes!!
Not far from the honey hole someones got about 4 dozen decoys scattered up in the trees where the water went down,maybe a dozen in the water the rest tangled all up in the bushes and trees,Im sure they'll be tickeled to see that!!!!

[GulfCoast]

Down here it is very common to leave a stash of decoys in a spot in decoy bag so you don't have to carry them in or out across 1.5 miles of marsh. Other folks will use them, but I have never heard of any being stolen, or had any of mine stolen. I would NEVER leave them out in the water, though, for a host of reasons.

[BigGun]

I will prob. be having the same problem. A guy hunting about 50 yards from a spot i hunt has been leaving his out. He has beat me to the spot the past two hunts but will not the next. I will be there to shine him off as he has me the last two hunts. Will see what he has to say, but whatever it is it will do no good because I pay taxes just as he does.

[CaptnT]

Years ago (before I knew better) I used to put out dekes to reserve my spot in Askew. (That was before they posted the sign) I came in as a couple of guys were coming out with a bag........BEFORE sun-up. I could, of course, see that they were mine, by the unique weight I was using. I was alone and only a teenager, but I was determined to get them back. We stood there arguing until a truck came up. Out steps the game warden, and he listens to both sides, then looks at me and says, "Sorry bub, but when you leave the area with your decoys out, they are considered abandoned, and are fair game for anybody. Its just like these guys picking up your garbage".

What could I say? He was the man. He ended up talking the guys into giving them back to me, but I learned a valuable lesson.

A few years ago I asked a park ranger the same question, and he gave me the same answer. If you abandon them, that is leave the "immediate area", you are giving up yours rights to them, and they can be removed by anybody.

Now this only becomes an issue when the parties in conflict are in the area at the same time. I just don't see the point in leaving them out if you don't want to loose them. One guy in the area I hunt doesn't take them, he justs shoots them all, which is really worse than stealing them, in my opinion.

[Anatidae]

Yes, it reserves you a spot on somebody's $#!+ list! [img]images/smiles/icon_eek.gif[/img]

No, it isn't acceptible, particularly on areas that have printed regulations regarding such practices like leaving decoys out and erecting permanent blinds. It's a blatant lack o'consideration for anybody else that has the right to hunt there and it shouldn't be tolerated. It's folks like that, that cause 'restrictions' to be placed on the use of those areas. [img]images/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]

If I had planned on huntin' that spot (and found somebody's decoys there), I'd probably pile'em up on the bank and put mine out.......'don't like the idea of huntin' over someone else's spread.....or havin' some 'dickhead' tell me where I can't hunt, (which is essentially what they're doin' when they leave'em out). [img]images/smiles/icon_razz.gif[/img]:

Contact the officers in charge of the area and inform them of what's happening. If you can, get a boat registration number and/or name, and report'em to the officer(s) responsible for that area.....let them handle it. [img]images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]

[ January 07, 2002: Message edited by: Anatidae ]

[damnyankee]

I like it when people leave them out, less work for me and I can shoot cripples no matter where they are in the spread.

[Bigpoppa]

Steel Shot ,
Was it the same guys gettin a biscuit? It is a rough deal. On refuges this act is illegal and is a ticketable offense.

P.s. I got 2 new calls today. Even I sound good. Holler at me.

[featherduster]

On WMA's, it is illegal to leave out decoys or blinds on the property. Pick up the decoys and turn them in to the check station and let the warden figure it out. One paticular lake around Vicksburg has the same problem and it isn't a WMA so the law doesn't apply. I completely agree that unless you have a lease, leaving out decoys is completely unethical. It definitely doesn't reserve a right to hunt that spot and if left unnatended would be fair game for anyone to pick up if so inclined.

[Model12]

Had a funny situation happen last week in "The Delta". We sent one of the young guys in the group to get the hole at about 3:00am. When we get there at 4:00, he's sittin in the hole with a lantern hanging in a tree. We ask him what the heck he's doing and he tells us that when he got there, there were Dekes in the hole an a latern hanging there. We gathered the "abandoned" Dekes and placed them at the edge of the hole. We put our dekes out, turned off the latern, and started cooking breakfast. About 5:30 we hear the guys coming to the hole. They went right by it because the were looking for a lantern that was not shining. They turned around and figured out where the hole was and you could hear a "oh Shi!" when they saw about a hundred dekes in place of their dozen. We gave them the lantern, showed them their dekes and explained that they had to have a warm body of some kind the hole to claim it. They told us we would have to be pretty early the next day to get it...they never came back the whole week. Well, those out-of-staters learned the true meaning of "southern hospitality" that morning....hehehehe.

[luger]

We had the same problem this past weekend we got to the hole real earley and found 12 new g/h decoys. There was nobody around. To top
it all off they had left a lattern burning
hanging in a tree. Guys showed up about an
hour before daylight. We informed them that
it was illegal to leave decoys out over night. They were kinda peed but left hadnt
seen them since. They said they were from
out of state. And didnt know it was illegal.

[blacklab101]

HMMMM.... Didn't know it was illegal? Isn't one of the sportsmen's code of ethics to read and know the rules and regulations of the game hunted?