who else is getting up at about 2:00 a.m. to hold a field tomorrow!

[bigeyes]

It really sucks, we don't have many spots to hunt and they are hunted by a few other parties if we don't go hold the spot. I sure hate getting up this early it kinda throws off your whole weekend, but I sure love hunting honks. Anybody else in the fieled before 3 a.m. ?

[jblabsnduck]

No need, I have sole permission on my field.

I know what you are saying though. Been there done that.

We used to sleep in our trucks and block the entrance so if anyone wanted by they would have to wake us up. When that happened we made SURE they knew where we where hunting.

[cmoredrakes]

nope, don't have to. If you do your scouting ahead of time, you can get a field and be there at 5:00, not 3:00. Like us, we did our scouting ahead of time and got a great field and shot 19 geese in it on opener. We put at least 200 miles on the truck searching within 50 miles of our house find a field. We got it, all of our troubles paid off. Goin' to that field tomorrow, going to a field in centerville on sunday. hoping that this fielsd pays off for us too

[sheepheadslayer]

jblabsnduck, what you described is just like a time we pulled into the the access of a lake at 4:30am and there sat a truck backed in the access with the boat on the trailer. Here the guys were sleeping in the truck. They finally got up and started to get ready. We waited 25min for them to get out of the way. Needless to say had my old man not been there to hold me back these guys wouldn't have been able to focus on the bead that morning. Well dad said as soon as they are out of the way back er in. We did just that and to my surprise dad had the thing all planned anyway. No need to be mad here these guys had just a 6 horse motor so we sprayed em when we blew past them on the way to the best spot on the lake. When they came by the only had bad words. (Contact US Regarding This Word) like that is what makes me not hunt public ground until late or during the week.

[Benny]

It didn't help the guys a few years back to block the entrance.

We drove right up to them and unloaded the canoe, walked around them and put our gear in and launched off all before they ever woke up.

They had to wait till we pulled up to get thier truck out of there as we were now blocking them from leaving.

We called the CO right away so he was there watching to make sure they didn't trash my truck.

He thought it was funny as all get out, they complained to him but he just said they were wrong in the first place to block the road.

Benny

[jblabsnduck]

Let me make this clear, we did not sleep in our trucks and do that on public land. It was on a private land and we kind of knew the other party hunting the field. I told the farmer what we wherer going to do and he laughed and said "well you guys have first rights for where you want to hunt and the other guys know that".

We where doing just to make sure they wouldn't set up to close to us.

Like I said,been there done that and we have done what you guys have done on public land(opening weekend). Guys sit there and block the boat launch, well we just pull my flat bottom down to the water and take off long before they even get unloaded. It's funny, they figure we can't get my boat in but it sure does drag pretty easy over tall grass.

[Benny]

Well if your on private land and have first rights then I don't see any thing wrong with it.It does give the impression of poor sportsmanship though, same as the other people setting up too close to you.

I think the better aproach would be to talk to them first(unless you have already), then if it is still an issue the owner should be notified and have the bad apples tossed out.

The landing we went to was a WMA and the other party had no rights to block the landing.

In fact the CO said that he would have had us all towed if we had not called to let him in on the problem.

The CO sure lit into the other guys for blocking the path, there was room in the turn around for three trucks.

So we all could have had a spot to park off the main path.

As it turned out they got the spot they wanted any way, we like to go way back into the channel , but they couldn't get thier 14 foot boat in that far even if they wanted to.

They wanted the only point on the pond, which is a good spot, but the channel is like a funnel from the main lake so we get shooting before the rest if they follow the channel.

Benny

[thaJman]

Which WMA is this?

[kurtkwe]

As I read these posts I'm reminded of much of what is wrong with our sport and our world in general. My approach to this situation is to talk to the other party and offer to hunt as a group. Most of us do not have unlimmited finances so combining our decoys makes sense. More important I have made numerous friends by using this approach. What better way to get to know someone then spending a morning in the blind with them. Sharing a cup of coffee, whatever donuts or snacks you bring out, and of course, stories of previous hunts and adventures. I just did this past Saturday and had the good fortune to meet a couple of dog trainers who I intend to buy a lab from. I got a chance to see one of their dogs in action and what better way to evaluate their training skills and the quality of their dogs. This intense competition for hunting spots and refusal to work together dooms our sport going forward. Maybe that other group has a couple young hunters who say why get up at 3:00 find another group at the spot and decide to stay home instead and shoot ducks on their play station game. Just my opinion.