attn public hunters

[litlhitch]

if any of you on here were hunting friday morning on public land and got a chewing that the whole area could hear, please do us all a favor and dont set up within 200 yards of anyone else this year. even better, keep your sorry butt at the house.

i was about 40 yards away from the dumbest duck hunters that i have ever been around. a duck landed dead in between us and that group (by the way, they sat up on us, we were there first) and i saw it coming. as i ran around to the back side of the tree and pulled my 2 huntin buddies in the water with me, a load of shot came right at our tree (not a sprinkling, but on a line). i got hit in the hand but only by one pellet and luckily it just bounced off. i dont know exaclty what i said to the guys but i couldnt stop shaking for 20 minutes i was so ticked off. i know everyone within a one mile radius could hear me hollering at the idiots. some of ya'll may have heard me

anyways, i can't believe they let people like that have their licencse. and they even had the audacity to ask us if we had fun when we walked by them on the way out.

what would everyone else have done in that situation?

[BR549]

"self defense" well if there was three of us there would have been nine shot going back in their direction! I know that wouldn't be right but why would anyone in their right mind shoot at you first unless??? Like I said "Self Defense"

[hbrown]

br549
I was in the same position last friday morning.. We got there around 4:30 or so got set up and were shoot'n the breeze when some jacka** set up around 60 yards away from us all our deeks got peppered, but they were in such a position that all the ducks they missed (which was almost all of them.) we got to shoot.

[Stano]

The joys of public hunting.......Try getting up at 1:00 and get the spot ya want to have not one but 3 jackasses set up within a 100 yards we had a group so close when they shot it sounded like one of us......I hate lazy Sobs scared to walk a tad further to get away from someone It reminded me of the shoot don't shoot videos we managed to wait them out and finish up a 4 man limit but it was more like a dove hunt at first..........I know it would suck to have a draw on public spots and im sure there is sombody out here waiting to jump on that topic but I would rather have a couple of awsome uncrowed hunts on public land than a bunch of CLUSTER FLOCKS!!!

[tunica]

and people wonder why we get all huffy about those that announce ducks galore in public waters....

[Don Miller]

Lilhitch, if you were hunting on Malmaison, I know who it was that shot you. The same guys got pissed off at another group of hunters and at close range intentionally shot their decoy spread which sunk 8 of their decoys. Oh the joys of hunting MS public land!!!!

[dukbum]

pubic... oh i mean public hunting!! i used to love it no more buddy! i will admit i have a group of friends that drag me out 1 time a year to hunt (non pubic) land i guess i do it for the excrise. never had been shot though! i think i would have to SHOOT back! if they shot at me like that. good luck... limits every day!

[Model12]

Good news!!! Most of the idiots, (and I do mean idiots) are through by now. The rest are pissing off some poor deer hunter somewhere. One guy came up to us Sunday morning on public land, brought us two green-heads that we shot and that sailed into his location, and gave them to us. He told us who he was and asked us where we were from. Super nice guy. I'm gonna try to be a little more like he was that morning, patient and courtieous. Ya'll be carefull, and have fun....

[chadrideduck]

I've been there and done that on public land. The public hunting in Mississippi is getting out of hand. Way too many people and you have to fight way too early in the morning to get to a spot that 50 people will be hunting around. Way too frustrating....

[Hammer]

So what does all the above tell you? Here's my two cents:

A- The feds and state own way too much land...If that land were in private hands, you could lease it, buy it or at least pay a guide to take you hunting on it...Isnt it worth a $100 for a half day hunt with no work and not having to put up with getting shot at, guys spending the night in "their" holes, etc? Note that the more good hunting land on the market, the lower the price for everybody- lessees, guides, buyers, etc...

B- At the very least, the NWRs and WMAs should have a draw system such that you draw a blind or area, kill your ducks and get out, so somebody else can then come in to hunt...I read about such a system in California over 20 years ago and have since met California hunters that say it is awesome...Yet we still use the old "free for all" system here in MS...

3- Last but not least: DONT HUNT PUBLIC LAND ON OPENING WEEKEND! Either book a hunt with a guide, hunt your own land/lease or go deer hunting instead...

[dawg-n-duck]

Hammer
I have to disagree with your first two options, the third is a good idea. Not everyone wants to pay $100 dollars everytime they want to go hunting or even wants to hunt with a guide. The draw system would solve a lot of the overcrowding problems and hunters spending the night in the woods to get good spots but this would also penalize the hunter who is willing to put forth the extra effort to scout the area and know where the ducks are and maybe even spend the night in the boat. If there was a draw what would be the point of scouting everyone could just show up and see who was the luckiest. I personally hope to never see Ms come to a draw system, because even though it is a hassle sometime it makes public land hunting more of a challenge and we all know that after the first few weeks of the season the crowds tend to lessen.

[teul2]

Hammer,
I agree with the 3rd option. I hunted private land Saturday morning, single split tails saturday night, and whitetails sunday morning. Makes for a much more enjoyable weekend when all the guys are at deer camp, all the women are out at the local watering holes.

[Hammer]

Oh yes...Back in the day I was known to rub my neck on more than a few barstools around jackson, vicksburg, bovina, oxford, lexington, etc but I digress...

As for the draw system, it would be in advance like deer hunting at Mahannah...You would show up to draw only as a standby hunter in case somebody did not show up or if you were on standby waiting on a group to limit out...

As for the "challenge" "extra effort" etc, if that is why you duck hunt,
I suggest you take up deer hunting...Duck hunting is about the fun of seeing birds, working birds, belonging to the duck hunter fraternity, etc and is a ton of fun but the biggest challenge in North American hunting (by far) is trophy (170 inch +) whitetails...

Ever heard of a "trophy" duck? I rest my case-

HAMMER

[mallardchaser]

Hammer:

Where can I find a $100.00 1/2 day duck hunt?

I dont' think a draw system is the way to go. The last thing we need is more govt. control over our hunting on public land. I prefer to spend my time scouting and get a way from the idiots. Hope you're having a good season so far.

See ya.

Keith

[Double R 2]

A fourth option is for Mississippi NWRs to make MORE quality hunting land available to waterfowl hunters. It's disappointing to see 900 acres solid rice on Morgan Brake NWR remain unharvested and left for waterfowl only. It's also disappointing to see an entire refuge like Coldwater River NWR (below Crowder) completely closed, Dahomey NWR's timber undermanaged, alot of open fields planted to trees, and Tallahatchie NWR's majority of waterfowl habitat behind closed gates. I concede that refuge ie sanctuary is a necessary component to waterfowl management, but in these specific instances, shooting weekends or Saturdays only, with or without limited draw, would be delivering wildlife-dependent recreational opportunities to Mississippi waterfowlers. And while I'm going I'll add this: how many of y'all were made aware by public notification that Tallahatchie, Dahomey and Coldwater River NWRs recently had public meetings specific how these refuges will be managed and under Congressional mandate to incorporate public comment? Twelve - TWELVE - people showed in Cleveland for the Dahomey meet. Fewer for Tallahatchie and Coldwater River. Maybe if they'd run teh notification in papers other than Grenada, Cleveland and Greenville - for a whopping 1-2 days - we'd of all heard about it and raised such issues as the ones being now discussed and cussed in this thread. Now, before I get labelled anti FWS - and I'm not - the problem is attributable primarily to lack of personnel and funding (for positions and weekend pay), too many chiefs (administrators) and not enough field personnel. But per notification or the lack thereof soliciting comments from taxpayers nonethless, one might otherwise infer that it is a gross lack of federal interest in what I or anyone else has to say about how much refuge land is available for WATERFOWL hunting. Good subject guys. But if anything's going to change we're gonna have to make our voices heard to folks that aren't in teh choir.