manners

[DelDuck]

when you are hunt public land, or in the blind??

I have 2.

1st is the guys who think they have to get on the duck call 10 mins before shooting time and stay on the darn thing all day long. It drives me nuts.

2nd are the guys who think they have a mountain howizer for a shot gun, and sky bust. I have seen "boys" take shots at birds that are flyin so high they have nose bleeds.

[TreeDoc]

1. Running out of espresso in the Latte Machine in the blind.

2. Forgetting to turn on the handwarmers on the ATV when I'm on my way to the blind 15 minutes before shoot time.

Duck hunting is a horrible B*tch Goddess, I'm sure I'll think of more terrible peeves like those above when I put my mind to it.

[DelDuck]

forgetting to turn the hand warmer on is bad but running out of espresso is unforgivable

[TreeDoc]

[fabsroman]

Skybusting is one of the top ones.

Hunting with people that cannot shoot worth beans and watching a bunch of cripples fly away is another.

Hunting next to a bunch of idiots in the next field is probably on the top of the list (i.e., the guys that pass shoot the birds as they are headed to my setup).

Last but not least, watching other hunters break the rules by shooting before or after legal shooting time and/or shooting over the limit.

[skeet]

My biggest pet peeve is attorneys that can't hit an EASY pheasant.... Hey guys..we have to go shootin again..soon. Gonna warm up. I'm 4 for 5 on geese now. I actually missed a goose at under 40 yds. I really am annoyed. BTW the SBEII really does shoot well. Kicks a bit with 3 1/2 in Hevi Shot. Lets go shoot!!

[M.T. Pockets]

I'd have to say rude hunters. I've run into more rude hunters this year than the last 10 combined.

A couple weeks ago I was boating out in a marsh on public water about a half hour before shooting time and stopped on a point to begin setting up. About then a voice in the dark hollers a bunch of swear words and tells me what a bad hunter I am. I asked "where are you ?" and a little flash light came on about 100 yards away. He was cussing me out for as long as I could hear as I pushed my boat down the marsh.
I know of one hunter out with his son that set up early on this same public land, close to the border with private land. When the owner of the private land arrived he hollered at the other hunter and actually fired a shot at him and peppered him with his pattern at about 100 yards. Law enforcement got involved in that one.

I've noticed waterfowl hunters are much more competitive now than a generation ago. I think it has to do with less land to hunt, better equipment and promotion by decoy, call & ammo manufacturers bragging about "Wacking", "Straight Meat" and other ways to kill, kill, kill. If you don't kill as much as the rest you're a failure.

[DelDuck]

Originally posted by M.T. Pockets
I'd have to say rude hunters. I've run into more rude hunters this year than the last 10 combined.

A couple weeks ago I was boating out in a marsh on public water about a half hour before shooting time and stopped on a point to begin setting up. About then a voice in the dark hollers a bunch of swear words and tells me what a bad hunter I am. I asked "where are you ?" and a little flash light came on about 100 yards away. He was cussing me out for as long as I could hear as I pushed my boat down the marsh.
I know of one hunter out with his son that set up early on this same public land, close to the border with private land. When the owner of the private land arrived he hollered at the other hunter and actually fired a shot at him and peppered him with his pattern at about 100 yards. Law enforcement got involved in that one.

I've noticed waterfowl hunters are much more competitive now than a generation ago. I think it has to do with less land to hunt, better equipment and promotion by decoy, call & ammo manufacturers bragging about "Wacking", "Straight Meat" and other ways to kill, kill, kill. If you don't kill as much as the rest you're a failure.

You got that right. Some of my best days were the ones I shot 1 or 2 birds, but just had an absoulute ball with my buddies, or seeing my dog make a great retrieve. I has become so much about how much you kill and not so much about how you kill and just haveing a grand 'ol time. I wish I could have gone this morning but my wife had to work and nobody to watch the kids, so I have daddy duties today.

[fabsroman]

Okay, rude hunters would be on the top of my list. You should see some of my posts from two years ago.

I hunted one field that I have been hunting for the last 10 years and another guy, who happens to guide, was setting up in the next field right on the border of the field I was hunting in because he knew the geese were coming to my field. I walked up to him, and tried to start talking, but he wasn't very nice. At the end, I asked him not to sky bust if the birds were coming to my setup and he made a stupid comment. My response was that if he did sky bust I would have no choice buy to park my truck right on the edge of the two fields and ruin the hunt for both of us. His response "You gotta do what you gotta do."

I try to be a nice guy as often as I possibly can, but sometimes I end up getting the short end of the stick and that turns me mean.

That day, my dad and I shot our 10 bird limit in 30 minutes, just as those guys were getting frustrated and trying to shoot birds a little too far. After we limited out, I got the truck, picked up the decoys, and left the area so they could try to get their limits.

I had another instance with some other idiots that made us move our decoys some 50 yards because we were over the property line, which was our mistake, albeit an honest one because there were really no marked boundaries. They wouldn't hunt in with us and we ended up setting up about 150 yards away from them. Within viewing distance, there was 3 different setups. The birds were flying that afternoon, but none of them came into any setup until about sunset. We had a pair of mallards circling our decoys for 5 minutes, but thought it was after shooting time so we didn't pull the trigger. The other guys kept on shooting so late that I could see flames out of their barrels and I knew it was well after legal shooting time.

"Why can't we all be friends?" Who cares if 5 guys have to waterfowl hunt with 5 other guys. Personally, I look at it as a way to make more hunting friends and friends in general. If the birds are coming, everybody has some fun, if they aren't we can still have some fun.

As you can see from the length of this post, it really does piss me off.

[M.T. Pockets]

Fabs, you're right on with the attitude of why can't we be friends.

I've hunted in one slough since I was 15 in 1980, it is a public area, about 250 acres of good cattails & water. There were about 3 or 4 groups that hunted there regularly for many years, they were very respectful of other hunters, if a group of ducks was working someone else's decoys - the other groups would quit calling. Very few shots were taken unless the ducks were commited with wings cupped. I was told early on that as a rule of thumb "don't shoot unless the feet are down". If a flock of mallards was working someone's decoys, nobody would take a shot at a teal or other duck til the mallards came down. The guys had class.

I hunted alone, it was very common for one of the groups to invite me to set up with them and we hunted together. Other times we would ask where everyone planned on going and we spread out. If a lone hunter without decoys was pass shooting at ducks working decoy spreads he was often invited to join in and hunt over decoys. We were shooting 2 3/4" #4 shot and killed as many ducks as hunters today shooting 3 1/2" #2's. We helped each other find cripples and if one group finished off a bird for another group, it was given to the group that knocked it down. I learned a lot from these hunters, they didn't have the best equipment but they had skill and class.

[skeet]

MT...that is exactly what it was like hunting around here years ago. But then everybody knew everybody else so it was much more cordial. Now it seems as though it's snarl and bark time when you're near another group of hunters. My daughter has a place not too far from me and they had a group of hunters come up ..park in the yard..take a bunch of tree stands out of the trucks and then proceed to cross their property going to a piece of woods that they own. Didn't ask.... nothing. Just parked in the lane(so they couldn't come in or leave their own house. Daughter told them to leave and move the vehicles off the property. Come to find out..the guys had bought the piece of woods and had no legal access to it. Just figured they would go and do what they wanted where they wanted. Of course they were from Baltimore and had no manners. If they had asked my daughter would have probably told them to park in a different area and go ahead. She is a hunter too. Not now. Ignorance breeds stupidity..or vice versa. They even got nasty when she told them to leave her property. The moral of this story..if you are going to be stupid...Don't be nasty too!! BTW this just happened 3 days ago. And we found out that the reason they came to her place ..seems as though thye were allowed to cross somones property to get to theirs..and lost that right when they cut trees etc to make a road through someone else's woods to get to theirs. Without even asking!! DUH!!! Fabs...Del//Let's shoot!!

[fabsroman]

Skeet,

Let me know when and where and I will be more than happy to do some shooting. I have to work on a tax return all this weekend, but am open for any other time next week. I am going to miss the first day of deer season for the first time in 10 years. There are a lot more circumstances involved than just work, but it would take way too long to list them all right now.

God, I wish I knew what it was like to hunt with strangers that are friendly.

As far as somebody parking in my lane, blocking my way out, and not even asking if they can do so, you can bet that I would be calling the game warden and the local authorities about trespassing and showing up in Court for the trial.

Then, hunters wonder why they are not welcome most of the time. Then again, it is always a couple of bad apples that ruin it for all of us.

[M.T. Pockets]

Fabs, I know what you mean. I still will run into some good, friendly hunters out there, but not nearly as many as a generation ago.

A few years ago on opening day of duck season a buddy & I were walking with our gear to the slough where we were going to set up. Just then a truck door slams behind us & a young guy about 18 jumps out and hollers "What the #$%&* are you guys doing here !!. This was on public land, apparantly he'd been scouting it for weeks and felt some ownership interest in this spot. My buddy didn't even break stride and replied "We've been hunting here when you were still pooping yellow" and on we went. The kid's father came and apologized, we had a good visit and together put together a plan on how each group would set up, both groups had a great hunt that day.

Sometimes hunters can be their own worst enemy, we need to work together if we're going to keep this sport going.

If you boys from Maryland ever make it to the Mid-West, I'd be glad to take you out.

[Aim to maim]

Many of the incidents described above are simply a reflection of the larger issue of a massive decline in civility that permeates our society today. Ill-mannered boors abound at every turn, not just among hunters. The challenge is to avoid becoming one of them.

[DelDuck]

I am up for some more shooting. Looks like tomarrow duck hunting is going to be a bust again. I miss my mother dearly but it is times like this i really miss her. Oh well my kids come 1st, it is early and there will be plenty of other ducken days left to come. Specially if I can get down and go with skeet