Can't Hold my tounge any more

[irishevox]

Please I ask people to please be ethical.  I was over in Coupeville hunting.... and a guy in a small duck boat posts up about 50 yards from where I was set up in my lay down with about 2 dz decoys out plus a wind mojo... All morning long I had birds working  before daylight, one even bumped my blind screaming in to my spread.  So shooting light comes and I shoot a drake teal no big deal right... well I had no idea this guy was there at first.... A. I didn't see him and B. he had no decoys, and I see a huge flock kind of high working in.... actually committed cupped and started circling getting lower and lower... still way out of range this guy points straight up in the middle of my calling and shoots 3 times!  I let the first one go... but after that any bird that flew by no matter how high or far he was shooting.... I finally had enough sat up and said " Why are you shooting at that! All you are doing is flaring the birds!  You won't hit anything like that"  After that he continues, I yelled at him every time after that.  I am guessing he ran out of shells and realized he couldn't hit anything and left at like 0930, but it didn't matter the birds weren't coming back close to me.  The point is if you see someone set up regardless if it is your normal "go-to" spot etc... go somewhere else. Find another location.  I mean you can even ask if someone is hunting alone if you can hunt with them, if they say no then go away don't be rude or anything....  But lets please learn a little freaking ethics.  Sorry for the rant.... 

[boneaddict]

If he didn't have any decoys it sounds like he did that on purpose?

[irishevox]

Yeah he had no decoys!   And I agree! 

[Ice Cap]

I'm confused.
You state that you didn't know he was there only 50 yards away.
Is it possible that you set up on top of him?

[h20hunter]

He says in the beginning....he was hunting and the shooter came in and posted up on him. Sounds like he was clearly there first and possible the other "hunter" set up to take advantage of his spread.

[ghosthunter]

Wow another one of these threads.

It seems that what happen to you is standard operation. There is a new breed of hunter out there, they are lazier,disrespectful,self absorbed,competative and willing to do what ever they can to get game.

And in waterfowl it is the worst. No decoys no problem. Just sleep in late go out find some guy who got is butt up early and has decoys out. Then park down wind of him and skybust every flock.

You are not alone.

The only solution I have seen that works was years ago I hunted with a guy who was a nice guy. But he was a hot head and if we were set up and other hunters moved into our flight pattern he would stand up and hike right towards them screaming as he went. Most scurried away.
What I do is I just stand up pour a cup chocolate, pull out a bumper and whistle and start doing water drills with my dog.
Any flock comes close I get on my whistle. These types of guys are lazy, they wont last long before they go bother some one else. 

[irishevox]

No b/c I walked the area prior picking up trash before day light..... and there was no one around.  There was some stuff left behind by other people like drink cans etc...

[Badhabit]

So, if the guy set up 50 yds from you without decoys you already knew it was going to be a bad day. The guy was alone, why instead of yelling at him didn't you go over and ask him to hunt with you? A perfect opportunity to educate someone on some finer points of waterfowling. You would have been able to call the shots and control the situation. It could have been a win-win situation.

[irishevox]

the guy had like the lil one man blind boat thing.  those are like 400 bucks I would guess before you buy one you would know what you are doing.  I could have walked over to the guy,  maybe it could have been a win-win, but it was the fact of the matter the guy, had zero ethics and I would rather not hunt with someone like that.  I mean I could play the what if game, but I could tell you there was probably no talking to this cat....

[Ice Cap]

A perfect situation for the ACME Mini Torpedo!

[irishevox]

I do agree to some extent.... that I could change the situation, but walking up to someone that has a loaded shotgun could potentially put my life in danger

[boneaddict]

I wonder if there is any chance this was an anti hunter.  Pretty sound tactic to save some ducks.   

[Kuduman]

Irishevox
 This is what happens on public land.
When I first moved to Washington I guy invites me out for a morning duck shoot. We go to public property and he sets up 35 yards from another blind. To say we were too close is an understatement. Hell we could hear their conversations in their blind. As a matter of respect I insisted we hold off shooting until their limits were reached. Even though we had decoys out you could tell the birds were working their spread. We didn't realize we were that close until the first shot rang out and then it was either leave or Waite it out. Even though we tried to be ethical we never should have set up so close. I don't hunt with that guy or that public land anymore.

[NumaJohn]

Irishevox,

When I was in college, I "thought" I knew what I was doing as a duck hunter, but then one day I set up on a public land dyke near a river and shot a duck or two from a couple flocks that were flying right by me and my few decoys. It wasn't until the hunter down the dyke walked up to me and calmly talked to me about "stream ethics" that I got educated. He had been you, basically, and I was the dumb-arse down the way. To this day, I really appreciate the way that guy approached me: not screaming, not swearing, just making a calm plea to wake up. So, maybe it wouldn't have turned out this way had you taken a different approach with your situation, but you never know until you try. Guess I'm just echoing others' comments about the potential for a win-win.

John

[ghosthunter]

Ya know I am a nice guy and give most folks benefit of the doubt.

But my experience is most these guys just don't give a ?%$#@.

The only thing which has helped some, is after I get to a spot I put out a blinker.
That way the ethical guys see where I am and move away. The guys who set up close well then you know their true colors.

I had a guy show up at the Feel free to Hunt sign one am at 3:20 am. I was there at 3:15 am. I walk over to talk to him and he starts chewing on me that I was there too early.  Really???
Since I was alone I invited him to hunt with me. No ducks but had a nice visit.

If you get your butt out of bed and beat them out there , than you are too early. If you come 5 minutes behind them you are too late.