Brant Hunting - Would you consider this too close? Why or Why Not?

[sakoshooter]

I wish people would set that far away from me.  200yds is plenty far no matter where you hunt.  I have had guys at our local marsh row their boat through my decoys and stop less than 40 yards away and start setting up.  Public hunting is what it is. 

Wrong. Public land is what you allow it to be.

[cryfowl]

So you're saying if you drive two hours to get to your hunting spot and someone else is on the "X" you are going to drive the 2 hrs home, or are you going to sit as close to the "X" as you think is reasonable so that you might get a few birds?  Just saying, there are no laws saying how close is too close and I have no right to tell someone else they can't hunt the area I am in just because I want it all to myself.  It comes down to individual hunting ethics.

[jeepster]

i would be very irritated, but there isnt anything i could do about it other than burn hunting hours finding a new spot or just sit it out.

hooray for combat hunting.

[sakoshooter]

So you're saying if you drive two hours to get to your hunting spot and someone else is on the "X" you are going to drive the 2 hrs home, or are you going to sit as close to the "X" as you think is reasonable so that you might get a few birds?  Just saying, there are no laws saying how close is too close and I have no right to tell someone else they can't hunt the area I am in just because I want it all to myself.  It comes down to individual hunting ethics.

For one thing, I get up damn early. If anyone beats me to my 1st pick spot, so be it. They earned it. I'm not going to encroach on them just because I drove 2 hrs. Distance driven or walked or rowed doesn't mean you deserve to hunt a given spot. I'm then paddling for my #2 spot.
Public land means that you can probably plan on sharing the area with a few other hunters. Not sharing the same circliing flock of ducks.
IE: The last day of season on the HUGE Columbia River, my partner and I set up at a spot 5.5 miles from the boat launch. Lots of distance from other hunters. About 9:30am two hunters in a boat motored past our set up and set up about 200 - 250yds up river from us and on the same shore. They shot a lot of shells and killed a few birds. Our hunting just got cut in half since we no longer got any other opportunities from that direction plus the amount of shooting they did screwed up our chances at ducks coming from other directions. Rather than motor over and give em the 'what for' like I usually do, we picked up everything and moved a few hundred yards the other direction and finished up our limits. Ethical is what we did. Unethical is what the other group did.
In this situation the published 200yd minimum wasn't near enough room. They cut us off completely. Had another group done that on the other side of us, we'd have been screwed. Just because there are a lot hunters at a given boat launch does not mean we all have to sit in the same duck blind. Public land means "Get your ass out of bed early".

[singleshot12]

T RIP, I just looked at the pics you posted again and were you even Brant hunting?  It looks like you are using mallard decoys, so you must have been duck hunting and not Brant hunting right? 

[seth30]

Too close, and if they sky bust then your just watching them hunt.  Thats why I will not public duck hunt again!  Forever will I hunt private, and federal land

[singleshot12]

Ya back in the old days (about 3 yrs ago),lol, when Brant hunting was a gentlemen's sport those boys would have had a firm talking to.

[T-Rip]

T RIP, I just looked at the pics you posted again and were you even Brant hunting?  It looks like you are using mallard decoys, so you must have been duck hunting and not Brant hunting right? 

It was Brant hunting, but we didn't have enough actual goose sized decoys so the guys I went with painted up old Mallard blocks. Worked for them the wed. before as they limited over the spread, but our day we just watched the ducks and kept the guns silent hoping for the black geese to gravel up...They never did for us.

I'm planning a trip to Mexico for them next season - should be a BLAST!

[Guzman]

Growing up hunting the Burbank area that would be a ton of room. I have had set ups where your decoys basicaly butted up to the next blinds spread. Not that I liked hunting that way it was just how it was. From what I hear Brant hunting is that way with a lot of people hunting small areas. Just wait another 10 years as there are more people and twice as many people hunting the same area. The 200 yards will seem like the good old days.