ARREST THREAT FOR CHOTARD HUNTERS

[BR549]

I don't see how you getting that was the sandbar. How did you derivve at that? Only way I know how is by infared satilite photos. We are not talking about what's been added or taken away we are talking about the natural bank of the lake! Go fishing down there when the river is out of the lake and you will see where the bank breaks over some 6 or 8 feet above the waterline on the west side. THIS IS THE NATURAL BANKS OF THE LAKE!! Anything beyond that is trespassing on someones private property! They've never tried to stop you from fishing in there and in the past they were always ok with "some" duckhunting in there as long as it did not get to far back and interfere with their primary buisness of deer hunting. Trust me they can and probably will get tough if push comes to shove. That is a big buisness down there and they are just another landowner standing up for their rights just like you would if it was yours! If it were mine I would be doing the same thing! I join Walker's Cottonwood Farms up there and stand behind their lawsuit and ruling. They didn't have a judge in their pocket and I believe the ruling was not only fair but the ONLY correct one that could have been made! This was the same situation that's brewing on Chotard. Keep it up and you won't be able to hunt fish or do anything beyond the natural banks of the lake!

[1deadduck]

After reading the article in the Clarion Liar about the Lake Gassoway fiasco, I now know why they deputies were on the lake last Saturday. I have been following the case for the past year and knew there would be a ruling soon, but I didn't know it had been settled yet. One question I have is when was the natural bank boundry established for the Chotard and Albermarle oxbows established? Seems to me if it was back 50 years or more than it surely wouldn't be the existing tree line we see today. There are many years worth of new willow growth that should be taken into accoun,t. Maybe Louisiana is using this ruling, where landowners property lines increase with each years new willow growth, as a way to offset the the acerage the state loses each year in marsh erosion along the gulf coast.

[Seymore]

Sounds to me like we need the El Camino crew to come down and settle this matter once and for all.

In this corner we have Richey Rich bow hunter from Tara. Kentucky dueling pistols, 50 paces, under the oak tree, and at dawn. Followed by Kentucky bourbon and cigars on the veranda.

And in this corner we have Billie Bob duck hunter and a locked up cage match, loser leaves town, and gets his hair cut. Followed by some white lightnin' and a little weed

LET"S GET READY TO RUMBLE.

[1deadduck]

Also, I was just wondering if the depuyies did actually write some trespassing citations there on Sunday or did the warn all the hunters off. I was one of the few who was hunting there on the Mississippi part of the lake and only found out about the deputies from some friends who were given warnings. The deputies were very polite, I was told, and took their hunting license number and boat registration numbers for future reference if they ever go back. I was assured they have no intentions of going back. I pointed out to them that the deputies could have given actual citations instead of warnings so they should count their blessings. I called all the people I knew who hunted there to warn them. I hope everyone else was informed by word of mouth before Sunday.

[BR549]

Chotard was still the river till the 1937 flood! Abermarle cut off in like 1897
And yes the natural banks are not far inside the willows in some places. Of course on the east bank (the high bank) it's very definitive. But on the west bank its not. Like I said go into it when the river is out of it and look You will see it. It's as plain as the nose on your face! It's at about 15-16 foot on the Vicksburg guage. You look at that stage and see how far or little trees are in the water and that's about all you have to play with PERIOD! Anything beyond that is trespassing.

The deal with Gassoway is a little more than someone just coming in out of the river too! They came across the man's fields blew out several dams went down several miles of ditches to get to this lake. It's not like it was very navigable! It's clearly marked where it crosses from MS to LA also. It was like that before Mr. Bill bought the place too! We bought our property over there back in the 30's and it's always been some kind of controversy over it. For the most part nothing was ever said till he started making some rather expensive improvments and folks started getting destructive with some of those. Then he really clamped down. He's fought with the state of LA over there before he died too. They are not trying to pick on anyone just protect their investment. They are nice people too. Just like the folks that run Tara. But rights right and wrongs wrong. Will's running it now and they are pretty strict when it comes to going back in there cause they do do a lot of duck hunting in there.

[Wildfowler]

I don't see how you getting that was the sandbar. How did you derivve at that? Only way I know how is by infared satilite photos.

I don't know about infrared. I'm just looking at what the Henderson island peninsula looks like as a whole and compared it with other similar formations that are currently found up and down the river today. In every modern day example that I looked at, I found some sort of "sandbar like" formation on the slow moving side of the river bend. It could be sand, silt, gravel or whatever. In every example the formation always occurs between the current existing "natural banks" of the river. I can only assume that when Chotard lake was the river, that bend in the river was no different than any other bend that can still be found in the river today.

If you look at an aerial photo program online, and "fly" from one end of the river to the other, you'll see that they all have the exact same characteristics that are found in the photo of Chotard. And if you've ever traveled a river by canoe or boat, you might have noticed that in front of every slow moving bend in the river, you'll find an area of sediment, sand, silt, whatever that's been deposited right up to the natural bank. Though it may not be as obvious as the huge sandbars found on the river today, there is most certainly a buildup of water deposited aggregate of some sort between the two banks.

My point is that this land mass looks like any other bend in the river that still exists naturally today. Something appears to have been deposited right up to the banks of that peninsula. I don't know what it is, but this photo appears to illustrate the natural boundary of the low bank side of the what was formerly the river channel. Surely you can spot this formation in MDWFP photo?

[hunterb4427]

we were checked by the l.a. sheriff sat. morning and before they told us what we were doing wrong they asked what are occupations were. (weird) this makes me think that he was afraid that someone in our boat maybe a law enforcement offical or game warden that may make a scene and make them look like idiots for not knowing what their talking about. he also told us that their was posted signs everywhere along the lake. Didnt see a single one, maybe their under water. the chotard camp owners say they tried this 6 years ago and after a couple of phone calls it was dropped. l.a. sheriffs dept must be getting a kick back $ to scare people off that side of the lake. we saw the deputies again on sunday and they didnt know what side they were on. so who are they to make bounderies.

[HOGAN]

I have heard that if your license # was taken you will be getting a citation by mail with a court date. I think you can simply mail your check in or plead your case in court. The fine should not be that expensive, couple of hundred bucks if I had to guess.

[BR549]

Don't have to rely on a map I can see it with my own two eyes! If you got to rely on maps and gps and all these other gadgets just so you can stand on someone else's line with one foot hanging over then maybe you need to just quit hunting all together! That kinda bullshot right there is what's ruining the sport for everyone! You people that think someone owes you something just because you may or may not have something fancy and they do need to just back off! Go buy your own or stay within the law. If you can't do that then don't whine when you get a ticket for trespassing. You gonna spend 10k trying to defend a no win situation in court? Well if you can afford to do that then you can afford to go get you a place of your own. It's not going to cost Tara anything. All they have to do is sign the papers. It's up to the state to protect their rights from there. Remember in a game violation you are assumed guilty till proven otherwise!

[Wildfowler]

If you got to rely on maps and gps and all these other gadgets just so you can stand on someone else's line with one foot hanging over then maybe you need to just quit hunting all together!

You're right, I think I'll just quit.

Since we're not standing at the edge of the water when the vicksburg river gauge is reading 15 feet, I'll defer to the map for this discussion. I'll be happy to meet you over there next time the river is at 15 feet so you can show me exactly where I can and can't go. I don't ever want to be accused of having my toe over the line.

[BR549]

I don't have to wait for 15 feet I can go find it at whatever stage it is. All you need is something to tell you depth and know where to check it! I could meet you there tomorrow after we get thru huntin

[qckmstr]

I have heard that if your license # was taken you will be getting a citation by mail with a court date. I think you can simply mail your check in or plead your case in court. The fine should not be that expensive, couple of hundred bucks if I had to guess.

cheaper than dues !!!!

[flockduster]

I guess Lake Centennial or Eagle Lake will be the next off limits hole but then no one would care. Just take a Jig pole and swear your just fishing, it must be O.K. cause I"ve seen dozens of boats in them there trees and I swear one of them was that there sheriff just a smiling!

[qckmstr]

all this stuff makes no sense to me.. sounds like everyone is just getting greedy.. i used to hunt the river south of v burg years ago.. we never ran into any of this chit. we just hunted. there was times the river was high and people came through runouts on us.. we didn't bitch and call the law.. if the river was high...most of the time deer season was closed by LDWFP anyway.. we did the same.. high water.... great... further in the woods we could get... seems like there's a group of folks over that way that don't want anyone to kill ducks.. i'm gonna take seymore's advise.. if you know your in the right... take a camera.. when the LA law shows up... tape it..ask them every question they ask you. if you really want to get them... tie some hooks on you decoys... tell'em you're running jugs !!!

[pntailhntr]

Chotard was still the river till the 1937 flood!

If this is true and you know so much then why is that State line picture someone posted on here show both lakes in 1932 and Chotard is a LAKE, not a river?????????